Stardate: 06112011.0500
Our first night out at anchor on the new Midnight Breeze was at Cantlers around the corner from Annapolis. Our sail over came off with no problems. We only needed one try to set the anchor and oh what a difference a windless makes. Last year Mary had to do it by hand! We spent Monday night on Miles Creek and had a great dinner with our margaritas. By the grace of the fair winds our dinghy engine even worked. Last year we had nothing but problems with it and finally took it back. The first time I returned it I told them I thought it was bad gas. When we got it back they said I had oil in the carburetor from laying the engine on its wrong side. We went on our honeymoon cruise to St. Michaels and guess what, it still didn't work. So back it went, this time they had the whole winter to fix it. When we picked it up this spring they said it was bad gas. I'm not a rocket scientist but I thought I had told them that the first time around. On the old Midnight Breeze the angle on the engine lift was all wrong and Mary had a hard time getting the engine on the dinghy. On the new Midnight Breeze everything lined up just right. The only problem we ran into happened when we returned to our dock. I had the worst time backing her into her slip because of the wind. I should have installed the bow thruster like I wanted to. We were all over the place for at least ten minutes until we wrestled her into the slip. Had a run in or two with the side of our slip but thank the powers to be we did not hit any boats. The only thing that was hurt was my ego!. So a new plan of action has been developed. I ordered two 25ft extensions for our 30 amp power cords which will allow us to pull straight in hopefully giving us better control. Without the extensions the only way we could pull in is back in. I'll try this out for awhile and if I still have problems I'll have the bow thruster installed this winter. Doing it this way will also give us a better view of the bay and we won't have to put up with onlookers walking the docks and looking right into our cockpit while we are there trying to relax. All in all I have to say the trip was a success. Mary even tried our new inflatable kayaks. She complained that it was too complicated to inflate and then have to reverse the process to stow it. I told her once we do it once we'll remember and the process will go all that quicker.(I'm ordering a better inflator the inflator that comes with the unit is one of those cheap foot pumps, don't like them.) I've had inflatable kayaks before and they are very comfortable to sit in, especially with my bad back and stowing them is a hell of a lot easier than having to tie them down on deck and tripping over them every time you need to go up front. All in all we had a great time and we are looking to forward to this weekend, weather permitting.
Dave