Mike
09/23/2008, Edgewater, MD

There were 3 islands where we anchored in the Rhode River. This is a picture of High Island, which has nearly washed away.


September 19th... Rhode River, MD


I worked on the wind bugger all day while Kathy dealt with computer/ printer/ driver/ installation... problems.

We got cleaned up in the afternoon and headed to shore for the first of the SSCA GAM activites which entailed ... mostly drinking wine. We met Mark and Julie of "Rachel" whom we saw in the Bahamas but never really met.

The wind bugger is working great but no electricity is getting to our batteries. There is an ancient controller (basically just a diode) that must be bad. I will probably just buy a controller and see if it works ... before taking it back to the store.




September 18th... Rhode River, MD

After coffee... I removed everything from both of our anchor lockers. There is enough stuff stashed in these lockers to outfit a third world navy... and it was time to get rid of some of it. One of our reasons for attending the SSCA Gam is to attempt to sell or give away some of our unwanted items: Kathy's old sewing machine, a printer that is in good working order, at least one anchor and some other small things. The anchor lockers however, gave up mostly junk.

After sorting, I had a good sized garbage bag to show for my efforts and moved on, without pause, to the WindBugger. We had hoped to add a wind generator this season but it's not going to happen. So...it was time to repair and use the old one or get rid of it.

Tearing it apart was not too big a deal... I'd done it before, and the electrical components looked fine. There were some magnets that needed to be re positioned and epoxied to the casing but after a good cleaning ... there might be hope. I cleaned everything and put the magnets back where they belonged and hoped for the best. We'll see tomorrow if the thing works.

We worked another crossword puzzle and then lowered the dinghy and took a ride around the anchorage before supper. The anchorage here is large there is easily enough room for 100 boats...currently there are about 25, none of whom we know.






September 17th.... Rhode River, MD


We left the anchorage about 8:30, saying good bye to Rick and Linda as we passed. The weather was great but the wind was on the nose for the whole trip north to the West River. We had some good sailing, but in truth, most of the time the motor was running. It was quite a hike from the Solomons to the West River and we didn't want to deal with this place in the dark... hence the motor.

In the Rhode River we found lots of room to anchor among the 15 boats that we found. It seems like a very nice place to spend a few days. Mostly trees... not too many "starter mansions."

We spent a pleasant evening working out a Times crossword puzzle and watching our chili simmer.

Comments [0]

Mike
09/16/2008, Solomons, MD

Septemper 15th... Solomons, MD


With a leaky hot water heater we have to keep the pressure water off most of the time. We still have a foot pump but our filtered water is plumbed into the pressure line. After our coffee this morning we turned it on for a few minutes to take showers and then headed to West Marine to see what they had in stock in the way of utility pumps.

It was a slow walk with my bad foot but we made it eventually to find that they had a pump that was almost an exact copy of the old one.

Back at the boat and after some lunch...(did I mention that it was a slow walk) we got to work. Kathy set up the sewing machine to finish some cockpit cushions for the seats over our propane lockers while I installed the new wash down pump and repaired the leak in the hot water heater.

By about 4 pm my jobs were finished and Kathy had sewn about as much as she could for the day so we quit and sat in the cockpit for a while before frying some fish and chips for supper

It was another beautiful day with temps in the high 80's and a nice breeze.


September 16... Solomons, MD


The wind blew from the north during the night and it was considerably cooler in the morning. We wasted an hour or two drinking coffee and reading the news on line before getting fired up for some work. I put the sink back in ... it has to be removed when I work on the water-heater.. and Kathy plugged in the sewing machine to finish the second jump seat.

It was cloudy and spit rain for most of the morning. We did take notice when our friends Rick and Linda on Sojourner pulled in and anchored behind us. They are on their way to Deltaville for a haul out to check some bottom work done last spring. We'll see them again at the boat show if not tomorrow morning before we leave.

After lunch we put stapled the cushion to the seat base for the second jump seat and finished up the helm seat cover.

The rain had stopped so I took Kathy to shore for a walk to the grocery and a return trip to West Marine. While she was gone I washed dishes and got a big surprise when I drained the sink... the drains were not attached properly and most of the water was on the floor. It took about 10 minutes to fix the problem but probably more to clean up the water.

Kathy radioed me about 3pm that she was ready to be picked up at the dock... and when we were back aboard I spent quite a bit of time attaching the new jump seats so that they wouldn't interfere with our lazarette door like the old ones.

The sewing machine was still in operation as Kathy finished up the cover for the helm seat. Unfortunately, when it was finished we couldn't fit the foam into the cover so it's back to the drawing board... and the store. The only solution is a larger zipper.

The sun should return tomorrow and we'll head north to the Rhode River which is just south of Annapolis.

Comments [1]

Mike
09/16/2008, Solomons, MD

September 14th... Solomons, MD

As I hobbled to the cockpit this morning with my coffee there was a splash close by which turned out to be a porpoise... with about 10 friends. They played around for a few minutes before heading up-stream.

We left our anchorage at about 7:30 and on our way out the Wicomico, were entertained by our porpoise friends for a mile or so before they tired of our company. We had great wind for a while but were forced to turn to a down-wind heading in an hour. ... or end up in the wrong place. We poled out the jib and prevented in the main in the opposite direction and for a couple of hours were looking good wing on wing.

NOAA promised 10 to 15 all day but by about 11am the wind calmed and when we fell below 4 knots... started the engine. Rounding Smith Point (southern side of the mouth of the Potomac) we changed course, reset the sails on a port tack, and turned off the engine. This was to become the pattern for the day... good wind for a while and then nothing. The last two hours were great with about 18 knots just abaft of beam.

The area that we like to anchor in the Solomons was quite full but we found a spot just behind friends on Fawkes, and settled in for what looks like a couple of days. They stopped over on their way to dinner and wanted us to join them but we're saving our pennies. (Since its last repair work, I am just about at the point where I think that our dinghy might last another season but Kathy says no... so were saving our pennies for the dinghy fund.)

It was 85 and sunny on the water today... a wonderful day to be out there. Up stream here in our anchorage it has been over 90 until about 7:30pm. With the breeze, it's been comfortable.

Comments [0]