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.