Mike
10/15/2009, Deltaville, VA

October 12th, 2009 Solomons, MD to Deltaville, VA
As you may remember my day started a 2:39 am when the wind came up and "Sapphire" started rocking and rolling like crazy. We should have known better but there was 10 kts forecast which is fine but 20 is not. We made some coffee, watched the GPS to make sure we weren't moving and waited for the sun to come up.
We left a few minutes before 7 and headed out into the Bay. The seas were manageable but the wind on our nose held us to about 3 knots. Once we turned south though and rolled out the jenny, we were making over 7 knots in a lurchy behind the beam reach. Kathy couldn't get comfortable, so went below and tucked herself between our mattress and the wall.
"Sapphire" rolled along making good time. We really didn't have the best sail combination out for the weather but I wasn't about to change things at this point. Kathy showed up about 10:30 and around noon things smoothed out a little, although the wind held at around 20 kts.
Although Jackson Creek was reasonably full, we found a good spot and were anchored by 3:00 pm after averaging 7.3 knots for the 60 mile trip. Our plan is to spend a day here to do laundry, make a trip to the hardware and then pull out tomorrow morning for Norfolk. However, the weather which looked good a day ago is not as appealing today and there is a chance that we may get stuck here longer than anticipated.
It was beautiful here today-sunny and 75 degrees.

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Mike
10/15/2009, Solomons, MD

October 11th, 2009 Annapolis, MD
It was clear and cool this morning so with most of our work in Annapolis complete, we prepared for departure. It took a while getting the anchors out of the mud and cleaned off, but eventually everything was secure and we headed out Spa Creek. We had to wait 20 minutes for the 9:30 bridge opening and then were on our way. There was no wind, and the sun was beginning to warm things up a little.
We began the morning with a slack tide but within a couple of hours caught a fair current of about 1 knot and motored easily at 6.5 to 7 knots. Although we had no particular destination it began to look like Solomon's was the place to stop.
The day was uneventful, warming up to about 64 degrees in the afternoon. We had the cockpit side on and the sun made things toasty inside. Arriving about 4, we decided not to go inside and anchored out in the river mouth. It was an exposed position but the forecast was favorable so we decided to take the chance. We've done the same thing here before and everything was fine.
We cooked a flank steak for dinner and had a salad and some potatoes as sides. I was tired and went to bed early while Kathy stayed up a little later watching "24."
At about 2:45 am the wind began to howl in the rigging, so I got up to check things and turned on the anchor alarm. By 3:15 waves from the NE had built to good and "Sapphire" was hobby-horsing to the point that sleep was impossible. Kathy got up and played computer games while I kept my eye on things. We made pot of coffee around 4:30 and waited for daylight.

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Mike
10/15/2009, Annapolis, MD

October 10th, 2009 Annapolis, MD

(One quick post before we pull anchor and leave Norfolk. I'll try to catch up later)
Greg and Jo had to the day off so I dinghied over to talk to them for a while and then went in to see if David was heading to West Marine any time soon. I still had a couple of things to pick up before left Annapolis. He wasn't really planning on a trip but always keeps a running list of things he needs so a little after noon we drove over.
It took awhile there but eventually we both were finished and headed back to Shearwater.
We had purchased tickets for a party at the Eastport Yacht Club, which was to start at 6 pm and with some last minute errands to run in town, left the boat at about 4:30. We left the dinghy on the Annapolis side of the Creek and walked to town. On the way, we ran into Bob and Deb who live aboard in Vero Beach during the winters. We really didn't expect to see them for a month or so, but promised to talk more when we get south.
After a visit to Fawcett's to see Bess and Christy at work, we took care of business and returned to the dinghy and the ride across Spa Creek to tie up...on the way over, Kathy remembered that our dinghy lights were still on "Sapphire", so back up stream we went to get them. Driving without lights after dark in Spa Creek during the Boat Show is asking for trouble.
On our way back, we spotted "Viking Rose" rafted off a trawler at Sarles Marina so we pulled over to talk to Penny and Richard. We didn't see them last winter, although I did hear Richard on the radio a few times. They were heading to the same party ... so we continued on our way.
With legal lights aboard we returned to town and tied up at the access behind the Chart House and walked over to the party.
The night was spent friends both old and new. Craig, Pat, Randy and Ken were there from Michigan. Nancy and Jim had taken the train up from Florida. Jeff and Tess, who live here in Annapolis, were there as were Richard and Penny, who had spent the summer in Maine. When we left, Greg and Jo were bidding on a haul-out, which was being auctioned off, along with a ton of other donated prizes.
We made our way back to "Sapphire" without incident and watched some video before going to bed.

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