Little escape to the Little Choptank

Yesterday we headed out in light winds for a weekend of decompressing. We mixed it up, sailing, motoring, trawling along and attempting to land a rockfish (striped bass in my old stomping grounds). Frank rigged up 2 Cuban yo-yo hand lines and actually got a fish! It wasn't big enough to keep, but it was still exciting. We anchored in Hudson Creek off the Little Choptank for the night and relaxed with some fishing, movies, and popcorn. Headed back to the marina now, with hooks in the water, to cook up a dock party for one of our neighbors that is departing to cruise up to New England.

Some chores around the house

This weekend's unseasonably cool, brisk weather made it a perfect weekend to wrap up some lingering chores. For me, that meant starting off my weekend in retail hell, trying to find "the" thing my preschooler needed to take to class this week. It also meant goofing off with the kids, going to a movie, and completing some chores. Off the list--windlass maintenance, chain and rode wash-down/inspection/re-paint, dinghy oar lock install, and the official naming of the dinghy, "Saratoga." If you haven't seen the movie "Captain Ron," you won't get it. So overall a decent weekend considering it was spent at the pier!

A Spring Break tradition?

Yesterday we had 20-25 kt winds al the way from Baltimore to Rock Hall. Not a big deal as we were reefed appropriately, but the quarter seas were tough to handle down below. A few sent the art supplies flying about the cabin and the result was not unlike the near-knockdown we experienced last year on the way to Baltimore. A little later Swab succumbed to the motion and threw up in his bed. Katreina rallied to clean her brother up, then read to him while he lay on the cabin sole.

Having weathered all of that we were headed for the free wall tie-up and on the hunt for the G1 buoy outside of Rock Hall and simply couldn't find it. Frank used all his tools--chart, Active Captain, the appearance of the water--to find the deep channel but we grounded. Flashback to Coinjock last year! We got off for maybe 10-15 seconds before we grounded again, and were getting set toward the jetty. Good times! This time he made it off and stayed off, and we headed to a slightly less precarious anchorage on the other side of town. Still shallow, but not as crazy. The Manson set easily and we rode out the afternoon of 20+ winds in comfort.

Today we will head into town, maybe do some laundry, maybe stay another night. There's a good chance we won't ever be heading back here! Next year we may have to travel sans sailboat to avoid crazy wind and groundings!

Spring Break! First stop--Baltimore!

We decided to head north this break and explore areas around Baltimore and beyond. We sailed up Saturday under a reefed genoa and made our anchorage in the inner harbor well before nightfall. Sunday morning I was literally shaken by the Constellation firing her morning gun! We registered for the dinghy dock and headed out for a nice day of touring historic ships. We hit all four and the lighthouse and while Constellation is still our favorite, Taney was a nice surprise.

With the weather going downhill and snow falling, we spent Monday cozy and warm in the aquarium. The kids were really enjoying all the dinghy driving practice, too, as we let them ferry us around.

Tuesday we were surprised by big field trip crowds at the Maryland Science Center, but really enjoyed the IMAX film about Shackleton's journey to Antarctica. Worn out from 3 busy days we returned to the boat early to receive our annual USCG boarding. :-)

So after three days of fun, four nights of movies at the boat, and our final visit from law enforcement this morning, we are out of here! I got to use the nice, new wash down pump to rinse off the anchor as we brought it in, and now we are heading out with around 20kts on the stern. Rock Hall, here we come!

Safety for all!

This past weekend we went on our first sail since Christmas. It was nice out so we were all up on deck when our little girl asked to bring her new doll up. We quickly realized she didn't have a life jacket! So as we came up the Severn River I hit my phone to search for one. Etsy ended up being a winner, with the April Junebug storefront (http://www.etsy.com/shop/apriljunebug) offering a great jacket in 2 colors. Maybe two hours later I had an email from the seller that our purchase had already shipped! Today we got it and we couldn't be happier! Sparkle is now allowed to come on deck with the rest of the family. :)