What a Ride! (& VSC & Cell Antenna)

Studying Engine Maintenance while under sail.
 

We went to Rock Hall on Thursday night, planning to work from the boat on Friday.  Before that, though, we  set up the new cellular antenna.  The travel data modem we added over the winter was able to just keep up with watching a video on the HDTV, but it did stop from time to time to finish loading content.  When I reached out to the company, they noted that I had a weak signal and suggested a high gain antenna. 

I'll spare you all the playing around, but show the before and after.  Note that upload speeds come and go, but it was a nice improvement on the download (and therefore playback) for HD (1080P) movie content.  It will also add T-Mobil to the Verizon, and AT&T choices we have for supplementing the marina Wi-Fi on busy weekends.

I went for my normal sunrise walk on Friday morning and then we worked from the boat all day.

No need for more working from boat photos - they all will look the same.

Rich and Terry from the USPS joined us for dinner.  The conversation must have been great because after they left I realized I totally forgot to get a photo!  (That is very unusual for me.)

My walk on Saturday began with a beautiful sunrise.

We knew that intense heat was predicted for Saturday so we departed as soon as breakfast dishes were finished.  We expected it to be very calm with winds around 6 or 7 kts.  With that being the case we headed down to the #4 buoy to give Vicky a chance to practice motoring in reverse.  (She's getting closer and closer to bringing Seas The Day back into her slip.)

You can just make out the green buoy in the distance in the photo above.  The reason for this exercise is driving in reverse is very different than in forward.  Captain Gary had shown me the trick of standing on the "wrong" side of the wheel so you could steer to left or right as expected, but Vicky just needed some stick time to get used to the weird idiosyncracies of reverse motoring (e.g., if you steer too far to one side or the other, it can cause water to stop flowing over the rudder and you loose all steering).  There's also these things called prop walk and prop wash that can spin your head (in addition to the boat) while you're learning.

After a good bit of practice, we decided it was time to set the sails.

And WHAT A SAIL IT WAS!!!

Seas The Day was a bit anemic at first... wind was maybe 8 kts and I had some trouble getting the boat speed up.  Around that time I looked ahead and noticed that wind ripples were clearly visible in the water maybe a mile ahead of us or so.

So I just waited.  I was making enough speed that i was gaining on the wind line, and as soon as I crossed into the windy part of the bay, she took off.

Here are some videos.

Video 1 (Prop shaft spinning in neutral - from studying the owners manuals)

Video 2 (Vicky - mostly studying for her exam)

Video 3 (George at the helm - "We are hooning!")

We had fun tacking back and forth in the middle of the upper bay passing this modern day lighthouse.  (I think it was the rear light for the Tolchester range.) 

At one point, Vicky went below to prepare her pork dumplings for lunch.  We were at about 15 degrees of heeling so she was able to use the gimbal feature of our stove (it swings on a bar so it can keep somewhat level during sailing).

On our way back in to Rock Hall after lunch, we went into Rock Hall Harbor to look for the Vessel Safety Check that the USPS was doing.  We circled twice but couldn't find anywhere that looked like they were doing boat safety checks so we headed home.

Scene in Rock Hall Harbor

Once we docked, Vicky noticed that several other dock mates were scrubbing down their vessels and she helpfully pointed out that husbands and wives worked together.  (We can't do that.  I'll gladly give Seas The Day a wash down, but I'll never be able to scrub and scrub for hours like Vicky can.)

After getting some showers and ice cream, my phone rang and it was Gail from the USPS offering to come by for a VSC.  We sprang into action to get everything out and organized perfectly for the annual inspection.

Yea, right... that photo is a lie.  I took it after the fact.

What really happened was Gail's call woke me from a nap and I sprang into action... that much was true, but then I realized many items were in different locations than I expected, and I couldn't find my Rules of the Road book (required on vessels over 40 ft.)  That meant that as they were heading over to us, I got more flustered and couldn't find some of my documents (all nicely kept in Capt. Gary's "Ship's Papers" folder in the documents box supplied at orientation).

Gail (a new VSC examiner, and a fellow Osprey Point slip holder) showed up with John (who was training her) and we somehow got through the check, I received the coveted VSC shield (guaranteed to ward off evil spirits - or at least hopefully encourage USCG and marine police patrols to spend their time elsewhere) and quickly affixed it to the mast so I wouldn't loose that to a cleaning session.

Of course shortly after they left, Vicky remembered that she moved a pile of my books off the end table in the salon and stored them in her "Flyswatters and Headphones" locker.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening madly cramming for the Engine Maintenance course final exam that was scheduled for 10:00 AM Sunday at nearby North Point Marina.

Of course we saved some time for sunset wine & ice cream.  While enjoying that Gail and her husband Peter stopped by for a brief chat.  

Later Vicky had discovered the remote for our cockpit lights so we played around with those for a while before settling on a nice dim red (to help preserve night vision).  Time for me to start studying.

On Sunday's sunrise walk I grabbed these photos of the flag at Osprey Point and we studied during breakfast.  Finally it came time to head over to the small pavilion at North Point Marina to take the Engine Maintenance exam.  This was 100 questions with a "fill in the oval" exam sheet.  I felt like I was back in high school!

We finished with lunch at Muskrat Alley before heading back to Seas The Day to pack and head home.