1st Cruising Anniversary!

366 days ago we brought all the lines in and left our home marina in Maryland for the full-time cruising life! That day was emotional for some of our crew, but what followed was a year of new places, new friends, new experiences, and great memories. Was it always easy? No. We had plenty of weather challenges, a few “joys of living in tight spaces,” and of course COVID-19 to contend with. We were somewhat fortunate on the COVID front as we were already homeschooling, able to isolate for long periods of time, and already used to living non-stop with just our family unit.

Just for fun, the Skipper ran the numbers to see how we spent that first year (yes, he keeps thorough logs)!

Total distance traveled: 4926nm (5669 statute miles)

# days underway: 166 (44%)

# overnight passages: 14 (4%)

# nights at anchor: 187 (51%)

# nights on a mooring ball: 80 (22%)

# nights docked: 77 (21%)

# nights on the hard (in a boatyard): 8 (2%)

It was interesting to see how many days we spent on the move! I think another fun breakdown would be looking at how many nights we spent docked where we didn’t have power/water—I would bet at least a dozen nights were docks where we didn’t have services.

Last October we also started slapping stickers on the cowl of our dinghy engine. It’s partly an anti-theft measure, partly memory collector. We didn’t get stickers everywhere we stopped, but this is what she looks like after a year!

As we sit in Cambridge, MD getting drenched by the remnants of Hurricane Zeta (wow, 2020!!!), we are chatting with other cruisers and planning the next year of cruising. 

Safe sailing, everyone! ⛵️

Lehe Paine gets interviewed by Poppin' Smoke!

I forget exactly how this came about, but I'm pretty sure Stephanie at Poppin' Smoke posted a question on her Facebook page asking about any regrets RVer's had after downsizing and hitting the road. I chimed in with my take on the shift to a sailboat and that piqued her interest! We did some remote interviews with her and the result was a 2-part interview! Poppin' Smoke is a great resource for military retirees to learn about using their travel benefits. It was fun to add "traveling via boat" to the list of topics. And Stephanie is a way better writer than I am. Check out her interviews with us here!

Part 1--Living on a Sailboat With Kids: This Family Loves Life on the Water

Part 2--This Full-Time Sailing Family is Making the Most of Their Kids' Pre-College Years

St. Michaels escape and some warm fall weather

Having skipped really cruising the bay on our way north we wanted to spend this month cruising and enjoying our old home. St. Michaels was at the top of my “must do” list. At first glance, it’s not my type of town—pricey shops, upscale eateries, art & jewelry—but this town won me over in our early years with plentiful parks, a great museum, and ice cream. It has stayed at the top of my list due to the fact that the anchoring is good, it’s walkable, and there are some great dining/drinking options. And I still love the museum! 

This visit we mostly stuck to the waters around the boat as the weather was PERFECT for paddling! Warm and calm! We anchored in San Domingo Creek and Baby Owl Cove, and we made a few trips to town to visit our old favorites—JoJo’s Cupcakes & Ice Cream, Eastern Shore Brewing, and Blue Heron Coffee. It was great to relax and enjoy some wonderful fall weather!

On-water fun

In-town fun

At home on the Chesapeake

We’ve been back on the Bay for a few weeks and have had all the excitement of a visit “home.”

We spent the first week on a mooring ball in Annapolis. The weekly rate basically gives you a free day, the showers are pretty good, and the boat-watching can’t be beat! A friend delivered our car to us so we were able to hit the local marine chandlers and head off-boat to visit family for a few days. I even got to spend a day hitting the marine stores with a fellow cruising mom—it was fun!

We ended up spending the next week in and around our old marina, Herrington Harbour South. It was great to see old friends and neighbors, and we even tied up to a dock for a few nights—hello, power and water! The kids got to go to a paintball park with Frank, so they were happy! We knocked out a few boat chores/projects while there including installation of a new nav light, a new shower drain pump guard, and a holding tank vent filter; gave the boat a good bath; cleaned the bilge; re-sealed the teak seats; blew out the air conditioning lines with fresh water; deep-cleaned the composting head and refit it for a larger liquids tank; and applied fabric guard to all of the canvas. We almost thought we were going to have a big project on our hands—the charger/inverter wasn’t working when we got back to the boat last night, but after reading up on it the Captain got it reset and working!

Work

Play

I really highly recommend Herrington Harbour South for transiting cruisers. The facilities are immaculate, the staff is wonderful, and the adjacent restaurant and market are really good!

It’s a race!

Get any two sailboats going in the same direction and it can become a race! Over the past few months we’ve met (both virtually and in-person) other kid boats. On this run from RI to MD we were in the company of S/V Jelanea, S/V Sargo, S/V Mrs. Chippy, and S/V Twig—all kid boats! As we headed for Annapolis today we managed to get close enough to Sargo to actually say hi, which was awesome as we have chatted in social media groups, but never met in person.

Then Sargo and Twig took off under spinnaker while we continued our lazy sail. They were both headed a little further south so we took photos of their beautiful boats as they headed off!

S/V Twig and S/V Sargo on a downwind run

Blue skies and a good breeze

Offshore prep and a run from RI to MD

Having dodged a bullet with the over-forecast wind in Newport, we were ready to head south! The debate—via Long Island Sound (something new!) or direct to Delaware/Chesapeake Bay (the reverse of our summer trip north)? While we would love to see some new places, the forecast was just too good to pass up—we would make the two-night push offshore. 

I don’t mind overnight/offshore transits. The kids, on the other hand, usually groan when we talk about transits like that. They equate it to rolly conditions, Trent getting sick, and rough weather because to be honest, that’s all happened on some of our transits. But not all of them! That’s just what they remember. 

So how do we prep? Other than the basic check weather, fill water, fill diesel...

On deck, jack lines are run bow-to-stern so we can tether safely if we need to go on deck while offshore. Offshore life jackets, tethers, and safety kits (EPIRB, knife, mirror, emergency blanket, personal flare) are brought out for the two main watch-standers. The dinghy is lashed to the arch to limit its motion (we could stow it on the forecastle for extra security, but we don’t generally plan long, rough passages). The Garmin InReach is charged and accessible at the nav station.

Down below we secure computers, books, glasses...anything prone to flight. I pull out our seasickness arsenal (Bonine, DōTerra ginger drops, Trent’s Relief Band). And...I prep food! What I prep depends on the conditions we expect but in general it’s stuff that can grabbed and consumed easily. For example:

- Pasta...ideally something that can be eaten cold. And stay away from tomato sauces if it will be rough—that stuff burns on the way up! My fave is some sort of Mediterranean pasta salad. We also love Mexican or Thai quinoa and chickpea-based salads for a quick meal. We make all of these vegetarian as half our crew is vegetarian, but meat can be added easily.

- Chili or Sloppy Joe’s. These are great, low-splash options for a cold passage. But...see the warning about tomato sauces above and plan a more gentle back-up if needed! Our warm, less volatile go-to is cheese quesadillas—mmmm...bread and cheese!

- Grilled chicken. You can add it to just about anything and it’s yummy even when it’s cold.

- Cheese/crackers and pita chips/hummus. Cut up the cheese before you get underway to save from dancing in swells with a knife in hand.

- Deli meat and stuff for quick sandwiches. 

- Peanut butter. 3/4 of our crew could live off only PB.

- Bagels, a.k.a. my mid watch companion. 

- Jerky. The Skipper would be irked if I failed to provision the jerky stash. There is even vegan jerky now!

- Nuts. Another easy, filling, nutritious grab-and-go.

Ok, that’s a lot of food info but it’s truly a huge part of keeping the crew comfortable and happy no matter how long the journey is. 

So how was this passage? Pretty awesome! We touched out some rough conditions on the first day and had a fantastic second day, including Katreina’s first solo watch as we were off NYC. On the second night we were within reach of several other boats (and many were kid boats!) making the same run. On the third morning we entered Delaware Bay with perfect conditions and a favorable tide. We were able to run up the bay, through the C&D Canal, and up to a nice anchorage on the Sassafras River. I’d do it again!