Just The Two of Us - Vicky's Last Day for the Season

This time it was just the two of us... our planned guests canceled so we took Seas The Day out by ourselves.

But first, there was one detail to take care of.  We had been pumping out (waste, that is) at nearby Gratitude, but their pump-out system was broken, so I had to try pumping out at Osprey Point.  It was a bit of a challenge to pull around the other side of the marina, spin the boat and back into the slip by the pump-out station.  Only then did I see this... yes, a big sharp angle iron to hold the dock to the piling.  How many ways could this destroy our new boat?

It took a couple of tries...

Words were said (in both directions)...

I had to apologize afterward...

Somehow we avoided noticible scratches in the boat, got tied up and pumped out.

Then we departed for the bay.

We finally had wind and Vicky wasted no time trying to squeeze every last knot of boat speed from the 6 or 7 knots of wind we had.

She worked on the boom vang...

She watched the telltales...

Then adjusted the mainsheet...

And the jibsheet...

We had a few moments of calm when we could sit and enjoy the ride.  I was tired from just watching her... I'm much more of a "set it and forget it" type of sailor.

But then a gust came up and she had to push harder...

The sail had a great shape, but I told her the jib needed some adjustment... she had to look for herself.

After it got chilly... we took a break for noodles and chicken broth!

She even tried to work (but that's just for show... she learned that you can't charge a computer while you're away from the dock - it was dead).  I'm not sure you can run the generator underway.

The best speed was 5.8 knots from 9 knots of wind!

She even remembered Red Right Returning on the way back to Swan Creek!

A Day Out with Greg and Judy

Today we went sailing with Greg and Judy.  Judy was the gem of a Realtor I found when moving down to Delaware.  (Vicky was in China, so I searched the local Real Estate sites looking for a Chinese woman Realtor.  It was a stroke of genius on my part - if I do say so myself - because the house hunt went quickly and they became great friends.)

I'll let the photos tell the story.  Sandwiches for lunch followed by a day of mostly motoring (wind speeds were in the 3-5 kt range... we did pull out the sails when we hit a few 6 or 7 kt gusts).  That allowed me to get much needed hours on the engine before winter storage.  Of course, we ended up at Waterman's Crab Shack (because Osprey Point was hosting another wedding this weekend).  And, yes, Miss "I'm so tired of crabs" Vicky picked apart 3 more.

It was a great day on the water with some good friends.

Below is the same iPhone photo of Osprey Point Inn as above, but with some processing from Lightroom!

This photo won the Agilent Eye photo contest!

Look closely... this is evidently how they do conference calls in China.



Some photos from Vicky...

A Day of Sailing with Neve and Her Family

My good friend, Neve, decided she wanted to practice her seamanship skills so she brought her parents sailing...

Or something like that... (coincidentally, Neve's mother, Xiaomi, happens to work with me).  They came out on Seas The Day (315) earlier this year and decided to come to see the new boat.

It was an active day at Osprey Point Marina.  There was a corporate training event going on at the three commercial boats near ours, which made me think that maybe I should suggest this for my workplace.  (It can't hurt to try?)

Xiaomi and her family got here right after Noon and brought great sandwiches from the local liquor store.

Neve is seven years old and intensely curious about all aspects of the boat.  Here she's showing her mother how you can look down through the hatches to see what's going on in the salon.

I usually offer to let kids drive for a bit - usually the answer is a shy "no" or maybe a quick few minutes at the helm.  Neve clearly was into it, so I gave her the port helm right after leaving the marina and told her what to look for (green on right, red on left while going out).  She actually steered Seas The Day right out of Swan Creek... I only had to give a rare bit of steering input.

Quite impressive and better than most guest helmsmen!

I'll let a lot of the photos speak for themselves.  It was a great day.  Neve was eager to try all aspects of sailing including manning the winches!

It wouldn't be a trip on Seas The Day if some time wasn't spent on the foredeck.  Vicky also made sure we had lots of snacks.

We made our way across the bay (tried to sail a little, but there was very little wind) to Baltimore Harbor Light, which is a remarkably well-preserved lighthouse that has marked the way into Baltimore for over 100 years.

The day was wearing on and so after seeing the lighthouse, we headed back.  Neve took time out from her seamanship studies to work on her drawings, and then enjoyed the view from her favorite pushpit seat.

Look below for any possible photos that Gabe caught of me trying to dock...

After docking, we went out Waterman's Crab House to eat crabs (again) with Capt. Andy (who showed us his oyster replenishment project - clearly needed as we ate a TON of oysters at Waterman's).  We ended the day by taking photos of the sunset over Rock Hall Harbor.

Here are some photos from Xiaomi...

And some photos from Gabe!

And a final photo... the card Neve sent this time.