Sailing with George and Vicky: First Vacation of 2020

Day 1

We ended up waiting until Wednesday (until we were able to verify that all the commissioning work was completed) before we went back down to Rock Hall. The first task was to ensure all the safety checks were completed.

We checked all three fire extinguishers.

Checked the filter locker in the port aft cabin

Checked the oil in both the engine and the generator

Checked charger and steering items in the aft starboard cabin

and checked the emergency drawer to ensure everything was charged and read to go.

Finally I applied dark film to the wine cooler's display (it had been bothering me at night).

With those tasks completed, I was finally able to move outside. We had just signed up for Navionics and had to install the new cartography card into the chart plotter. For some reason the chart plotter isn't recognizing the bottom card, so I got to spend some time with the Raymarine help desk.

I keep promising a blog post on all the issues in getting a new boat, but I'm waiting to get them all resolved before I attempt that. We're still working on the list.

Following a day of working and sorting we had a dinner of seafood and veggies before Vicky started the night shift and I went to bed.

Day 2

With the COVID issues, for the past quarter, I've been pushing really hard to get in at least 25 min of exercise five days a week. That meant we had to figure out how to keep that up while on-board. Thursday I started with a walk to Grattitude Marina (about 1.5 miles round trip).

That completed, it was time to head out. I recorded this show of the engine panel so I would know we started the season with 49 hours (and the 50 hour service just being completed).

It was a beautiful, if relatively calm, day.

It was just a day sailing out into the bay and back.

Thursday was also the day when problems with our hatch became more and more apparent. Again, we'll post more about this at another time, but let's just say we were trapped a few times this week.

(Sorry... videos don't seem to be working right now.)

We finished the evening with dumplings and veggies!

We had advance warning that evening of some massive storms coming our way. I had retired early only to be woken up by the boat lurching from side to side and hearing the creak from the doc lines. In the forward berth it sounded intense and my radar app confirmed it, but when I went out, there was my beloved just working and mentioning that there's a storm outside.

I tried to capture some lightening strikes for a bit before deciding to get back to bed.

Day 3

By Friday morning we were getting alarmed emails from China that were concerned about us over here in the USA. (For context, the protests over the George Floyd police killing were growing.)

I went outside to film a look around our berth to show that we were safe.

(Sorry... videos don't seem to be working right now.)

It was another relatively calm day. Vicky enjoyed her sun pad and we again went out and around the bay.

We again had a series of storms move through as evening approached.

Day 4

Saturday was even calmer, so we motored south and went around curve into the Chester River. We saw a wide variety of different vessels.

I don't have many videos from the day as navigating on the river requires more concentration. We did witness a dock party as we returned and we had some nice steaks for dinner!

I ended the day watching the sunset. A few minutes after sunset, I found this view from the bow.

Day 5 - Fishing with Rob & Jenn.

Vicky has been wanting to fish from the boat for some time. For the record, I've been against it because it doesn't seem to mesh with her desire for a pristine clean boat. As you know by now, I lost that argument. Vicky applied for a fishing license and on Sunday my brother Rob brought some fishing equipment for her.

I hate fishing... I'm not sure why, but have my whole life. So my job was to drive the boat and take the photos. We even anchored for a while while they fished.