Taking Mike and Eliana to the Horse Farm

 

After a busy day yesterday with my cubicle neighbor, Paul, and his family, Today our neighbors, Mike and Eliana, came for a day on the water.  Last year their whole family came with us but Denise and Ryan weren't able to join this time.

Eliana is about to turn 13... a week or so short of not having to wear a life jacket.  She arrived full of energy and quite eager to help with the boat.

We headed down the channel out of Swan Creek and turned at green #3.  From there despite light winds, we did bring out the sails.  The bay was flat so we weren't really bobbing around, but we also weren't moving much.  Temps were in the high 80s and winds around 4 to 6 kts.

We finally decided to bring in the sails.  Given a choice of destinations, Eliana jumped at the chance to see the horse farm and was eager to take the helm.

She proved a capable sailor... easily passing "Georges Executive Capability Exam" (able to steer a straight line)... I would willingly work for her in the future, but I do hope to be retired by then.

Eliana steered us across the bay, pausing only for a brief photo op at Baltimore Light.

Given the choice, she kept the helm and even steered us through the channel at the mouth of the Magothy River.

We made it to the cove next to the horse farm (some call it Eagle Cove, but that's not listed on my charts) around 1:00 PM, and dropped the hook for a wonderful lunch that Vicky had prepared.

After lunch, we did it all in reverse.

Eliana kept the helm the whole way back to Green #3 at Swan Creek.   After a while, I took a brief nap while Vicky guided Eliana.

I took the helm back for the trip back into Swan Creek.  Eliana (at age 12) probably had the helm for 3 of the 4 hour trip!

We made it back to Osprey Point around 4:00 PM and after a brief visit to cool off in the AC, Mike and Eliana headed to home and Vicky and I cleaned Seas The Day to get ready for the next big thing.