The plans for this weekend started out a lot bigger than it ended up. Originally, I was clearing my Friday schedule with the intent of heading down and maybe trying an overnight to Baltimore, but as the week progressed and it began to look like I could do that, we noticed predictions that the remnants of Hurricane Laura were heading right over the Chesapeake on Saturday.
Friday, what started out as "I'll take the day off", ended up with Vicky needing to work Friday morning, then needing to sleep Friday afternoon. I didn't complain because a neat project at work caught my attention and next thing you know, it was Friday evening. Friday night had storms moving through both Newark and Rock Hall areas and the reports for Saturday morning was lots of rain from the hurricane, so on to plan B...
Which was to watch Tiffany Poon's piano concert. (She's a rising pianist who has been working hard to keep some form of classical music alive during this COVID Summer. So we got a ticket and settled in to watch over lunch.)
After the concert, the weather predicted there would be a lull in the rain later in the afternoon, so we hung out a bit and then headed south late in the afternoon.
In the evening once aboard Seas The Day, I noticed that the wind had picked up and that the floor was leaning a bit as Seas The Day strained on her dock lines. Later in the evening there was a rhythmic slapping sound of the waves hitting our stern, but that only lasted for part of the night.
Sunday morning I started some boat chores - mostly putting up the flags we had removed for the storms, and some general cleaning, but also finally putting the anchor markers on the rode. These are little tabs that get inserted in the rope so you know how much rode has been let out. (This is important to know as it affects the holding ability of the anchor... we have been anchoring blind so far.)
To get this done properly, I had to bring all the rode up out of the anchor locker and at that moment, she struck! Boatus Cleanus in her natural habitat saw the empty anchor locker and pounced! A fury of buckets, brushes and spray bottles suddenly appeared beside her and she was at it!
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the cleanest, brightest, most sparkly anchor locker in Rock Hall, no make that Maryland... maybe even the East Coast!
Once released, boatus cleanus was unable to stop and proceeded to show how she was able to scrub the sides of the hull (and that I should NEVER pay someone to wash the hull again - I'll leave that story out for now).
I was finally able to release boatus cleanus from possessing my wife by aiming the hose I was assigned to rinse with closer and closer to her until she fled.
We were able to go sailing mid-morning. Winds were a bit stronger than recently so I had to modify my departure plans, but with a last minute help from a dock mate, we were off.
WHAT A DAY!
We had really nice wind... 10 knots steady but with frequent gusts up to 15 to 18 knots. Perfect to keep the sailing fun and exciting. We had no guests today to worry about sea sickness, so we just let Seas The Day play in the wind. We had a nice 15 to 20 degree lean going for a while and there was enough of a swell on the bay to give us some great splashes. It was the most fun sailing day this season.
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