Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Monday, September 28, 2015
and off we go.
after practically sitting in place at regatta point for about two months, we were starting to get antsy about cruising again. we sat because it was HOT and it was nice to be plugged in with the A/C running. we sat because there were things to do. tom drove up to new england to see his kids before driving down to orlando to drop off my car with my brother so that we would have a car when we got to florida. we also emptied out our 10 x 12 storage unit - that certainly was liberating! we ruthlessly got rid of stuff. my keepers went to my brother's house. tom's keepers are currently up on the flying bridge on their way to his brother's in oxford. and, in the meantime, there was regular work for me and projects for tom. we were busy. aurora grew tall with long legs and while tom was away, i worked with her - relentlessly - she is better now, i.e. terrorized into submission. basic dog training, as far as i am concerned, is that the worst thing that could possibly happen in a puppy's life is for mommy to be mad. that is the end-all and the be-all: "at all cost, do not make mommy mad!" we are getting there. honestly, i do not understand why this is so hard, but then she is daddy's girl and after ten years, tom still has lapses, not to mention that i did not get him as a puppy!
we had planned a trip out to tangier island to see milton but that got canceled when CJ's dad ended up in the hospital and we had to babysit her. the girls did get a lot of play time in for five days before we finally sent CJ to her mom who was camping out in richmond. i'd say that poor little puppy had about reached her limit of being without her people.
we hauled out last friday and because we had sat for so long, we had barnacles in the running gear so those got scraped off and bottom paint touched up and put in some hull waxing time as well - just a short haul - and then back afloat. tom watched the weather very carefully - we had sustained high winds for over a week. we left today because it was one of those deals where you get beat up now and then you might be okay or wait and find out you left too late and then get beat up even worse. the original plan had been solomons for a night and then oxford to drop off tom's stuff at henry's but that got changed to a straight shot to oxford instead - a very L-O-N-G cruising day - 12 hours! from there, it's off to mill creek in annapolis, doing our usual overstay at john and heidi's - they are such good and patient friends! more weather is coming in later in the week and we want to be settled in annapolis for the boat show and the ten million other things that need to be done before that happens. at least this time we don't have a wedding to attend on top of everything else. we are fortunate in that we do not have to battle it out with other cruisers for an anchorage spot at spa creek - thank you again, john and heidi!
tom went to bed early last night because we were supposed to leave at first light. not me - i watched the supermoon lunar eclipse along with the other luna-tics. the mega-hemorrhage blood moon was fabulous! and then it was up at o'dark early to get going.
it was initially rough when we started out - a lot of banging and crashing and poor aurora puked (and pooped) sigh... apparently, she does not have consuelo's cast-iron stomach (yet). i'm glad that i did not feed her this morning or the cleanup would have been worse. things settled a bit once we crossed the MD/VA border and then turned downright pleasant after we crossed the mouth of the potomac river. with the humidity dropping off nicely. later, the wind picked up but it never got nasty again. still, it was a long day - 11 hours underway. an hour got bumped off from the predicted 12 hours with the help of the current. aurora slept most of the way until we got deep into the choptank river, at which point she was full of beans so i had to quit working and play with her.
tom's brother, henry, was waiting for us with a slip at the hinckley yard in oxford and helped us tie up after which we all went for a walk to stretch our legs. it is nice to be secured and plugged in with the A/C on and doing laundry as that puke had been sitting in the washer for a while! TADHANA got a nice little rinse because she was very salty. tomorrow morning, we will unload all of the stuff that is up on the bridge and bring them over to henry's for safekeeping. thank you, henry!
so... what are the plans? well, tom has to work the sailboat show and we have to see our friends. after that, we head down to hampton for the snowbird rendezvous and then co-lead the 2015 SAIL rally down the ICW with mark and diana doyle. yes, we are doing it again good grief...
we had planned a trip out to tangier island to see milton but that got canceled when CJ's dad ended up in the hospital and we had to babysit her. the girls did get a lot of play time in for five days before we finally sent CJ to her mom who was camping out in richmond. i'd say that poor little puppy had about reached her limit of being without her people.
we hauled out last friday and because we had sat for so long, we had barnacles in the running gear so those got scraped off and bottom paint touched up and put in some hull waxing time as well - just a short haul - and then back afloat. tom watched the weather very carefully - we had sustained high winds for over a week. we left today because it was one of those deals where you get beat up now and then you might be okay or wait and find out you left too late and then get beat up even worse. the original plan had been solomons for a night and then oxford to drop off tom's stuff at henry's but that got changed to a straight shot to oxford instead - a very L-O-N-G cruising day - 12 hours! from there, it's off to mill creek in annapolis, doing our usual overstay at john and heidi's - they are such good and patient friends! more weather is coming in later in the week and we want to be settled in annapolis for the boat show and the ten million other things that need to be done before that happens. at least this time we don't have a wedding to attend on top of everything else. we are fortunate in that we do not have to battle it out with other cruisers for an anchorage spot at spa creek - thank you again, john and heidi!
tom went to bed early last night because we were supposed to leave at first light. not me - i watched the supermoon lunar eclipse along with the other luna-tics. the mega-hemorrhage blood moon was fabulous! and then it was up at o'dark early to get going.
it was initially rough when we started out - a lot of banging and crashing and poor aurora puked (and pooped) sigh... apparently, she does not have consuelo's cast-iron stomach (yet). i'm glad that i did not feed her this morning or the cleanup would have been worse. things settled a bit once we crossed the MD/VA border and then turned downright pleasant after we crossed the mouth of the potomac river. with the humidity dropping off nicely. later, the wind picked up but it never got nasty again. still, it was a long day - 11 hours underway. an hour got bumped off from the predicted 12 hours with the help of the current. aurora slept most of the way until we got deep into the choptank river, at which point she was full of beans so i had to quit working and play with her.
tom's brother, henry, was waiting for us with a slip at the hinckley yard in oxford and helped us tie up after which we all went for a walk to stretch our legs. it is nice to be secured and plugged in with the A/C on and doing laundry as that puke had been sitting in the washer for a while! TADHANA got a nice little rinse because she was very salty. tomorrow morning, we will unload all of the stuff that is up on the bridge and bring them over to henry's for safekeeping. thank you, henry!
so... what are the plans? well, tom has to work the sailboat show and we have to see our friends. after that, we head down to hampton for the snowbird rendezvous and then co-lead the 2015 SAIL rally down the ICW with mark and diana doyle. yes, we are doing it again good grief...
 |
| and off we go once more into the sunrise |
Thursday, September 24, 2015
proptalk magazine, october 2015
proptalk magazine, october 2015, p. 44
icw cruising and the slow pass
others: tom's magazine articles
icw cruising and the slow pass
others: tom's magazine articles
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