Sailing with George and Vicky: A Day with Deb and Her Family

Deb is my cousin's daughter. She and her family have been sailing with us for years starting back in 2016 when they picked the hottest day of the year to go sailing. (Here are the other links... 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.)

Originally, we had big plans for the weekend with them... we were going to take their family down to Saint Michaels, MD and spend the night at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. But it was not only 2016 when they selected the hottest day of the year. In fact, if you were to read all those posts above, you'd find that Deb, who frequently schedules their weekend early in the season, has an uncanny ability to select days when the heat index is around 100F.

This weekend was no different... Thursday, Friday and Saturday were expected to be (and proved to be) extremely hot and humid with a Real Feel (aka Heat Index) of 104 to 106F. Finally on Thursday - after going out to simply check the mail on a 106F heat index day, I called off the trip to St. Michaels.

(That turned out to be the right move... I spoke to several dock mates who were underway on Saturday and none of them enjoyed it.)

But Sunday! Oh blessed Sunday... made up for the past few hot weeks. We were expecting a glorious clear day with temps in the high 70s to low 80s and nice moderate winds.

Since the power was still off from the outage/electrical issue at the end of last weekend, we decided to go to the boat Friday night and begin turning everything on and cooling everything (boat, fridge, freezer) down.

We arrived Friday evening at 7:30 to a very low tide. It wasn't quite as bad as a blowout tide (where a strong wind blowing from north to south for several days blows the water out of the Chesapeake Bay), but it was one of the lowest low tides we've seen in a while.

We knew storms were approaching - you don't have these hot days without a lot of energy being taken up in the atmosphere. But shortly after arriving, it felt like it was time to "cue the flying monkeys". Incredible gusts came suddenly and down below in the salon, we found ourselves suddenly heeling over 10 to 15 degrees... while tied to the dock.

The worst of the storm passed to the north of us... I can't imagine what that was really like up there but the light show we saw from Rock Hall was impressive.

Each gust caused us to lean.

It was just as the storm was beginning that I realized I forgot my meds at home. We both said "NO" to the idea of going back through the storm, so instead we decided to spend the night on the (wildly rocking) boat and heat home early on Saturday morning to retrieve my meds.

And that's what we did. Headed home... watched a couple of movies (one was Wizard of Oz - to illustrate the flying monkeys reference)... waited for the heat to dissipate and head back to Rock Hall late in the afternoon, trying to get there before the next storm.

Which was another doozy!

A couple of Storm Videos are here.

Finally, the storm finished in time for a wonderful sunset to present some incredible colors.

We woke up early again to give Vicky time to clean Seas The Day.

Deb and her family arrived around 9:30 AM and after a safety briefing, we headed out.

I'll let the photos tell the story of a wonderful day in the water. We motored to the #3 can buoy and then set sail across the bay, just making it to the channel near the Baltimore Light before motoring back to try kayaking.

Vicky, Marianne, Deb, Brian and Nathan.

Marianne was a big help in running Seas The Day.

Did I tell you it was a gorgeous day? Temps were perfect... high 70s to low 80s as predicted. Wind was from the north at maybe 5 to 8 kts and clear blue skies. We easily sailed across the bay until the wind died as we approached the Baltimore Light.

A choice was presented... continue on to see the horse farm at Eagle Cove or head back to try the kayaks at Osprey Point.

Marianne had the call and decided on Kayaking.

After we made it back to the dock, we sat and talked in the cockpit for a while until 3:00 (the time for our reservation at the picnic tables).

We went over and used the Osprey Point kayaks. Vicky and Deb and the two youngsters headed out.

I only got photos of them departing and returning.

Eventually, the kids returned and Deb and Vicky stayed out for a kayak tour of the marina.

Once finished with the kayaking, the kids got out Vicky's gift of a slime kit and began working with that while the grill was started.

We then enjoyed a nice meal of hot dogs and brats.

Then we had a rousing game of Hues and Cues! Deb's family always brings the best board games

Then a crisis erupted! Brian was touching Marianne. Or was Marianne touching Brian? Either way some seat shuffling was called for.

It was a perfect evening and a fun way to end an exhausting day. One of those days you just want to hang outdoors. The sun was warm, the shade was cool. A light breeze felt good without being strong enough to interrupt the game.

What a Day!!

We finished with a family portrait before saying our goodbyes.

Deb's photos

(Scroll down to see great photos of a garage heading into Rock Hall that has an old rusty tow truck. Over the years they have added graphics to make it look more and more like Mater from the movie "Cars" and I see they even added Doc. So far they only have a cutout of Lighting McQueen.)