Breeze On

Breeze On was recently hauled out of the water and is now "on the hard", as boaters say. George and I were pleased that all of the zincs that we could see looked good. The bottom also looked good, with the exception of the lower end of the rudder. We weren't surprised. There were a few times this season, during exceptionally low tides, when the rudder was stuck in the mud. The first time it happened after we returned from a sailing trip. We got everything packed up on the boat and were ready to leave. I tried to pull boat over closer to the finger pier but it wouldn't budge. It took us a while to figure out we were stuck. George was able to jump off but I was afraid I wouldn't make it. I stayed on the boat for about an hour while George went to borrow a passarelle (gang plank) for me to use. We have had incredibly clear water in the Chesapeake Bay this fall. I have heard that the local watermen say it hasn't been this clear for decades. In many places you ca...

It is always a little bit sad when our sailing season ends and we put our boat away for the winter. We could have kept her in the water a few more weeks and enjoyed a day of sailing here and there. But, the holidays are coming soon and I am scheduled to have cataract surgery in a few days. I have been told that I shouldn't lift anything heavy for a week or two so it seemed wise to unload the boat and remove the sails before my surgery. The winds were light and the temperatures relatively mild for the past few days so the conditions were good for removing the sails. After the jib and mainsail were tucked into the cabin we untied the dock lines, pulled out of our new slip and took Breeze On back to her old slip to await being winterized and hauled out. We already miss seeing her in front of the condo. It was such a treat to be able to see her and work on her so easily. Now, on to winter projects!   Removing Reef Line One   Removing the "cars" the hold the sail onto t...

Yesterday we went for our last sail of the season. When we were finished we docked Breeze On in her new slip, right in front of our condo building. The TideSlides which enabled us to keep her in a slip that is 20 feet too short had finally been installed the day before.   I tried my best to be patient during the month the TideSlides sat in our storeroom floor waiting to be installed. I wasn't always successful. Anyway, I am so grateful to have them installed and have Breeze On in the slip that came with our condo. She won't be there for long. We spent today unloading food and linens in preparation for having her hauled out of the water for the winter. Since we have about a foot clearance between the boat and the dock, it was so easy to step onto and off the boat and to unload everything. We love being able to see her from our windows and deck. When we start sailing again in the Spring we will enjoy being able to have our guests meet at at our home before we take off. It wi...

Since much of our sailing this season was limited to day sails or short cruises, I had a lot of practice leaving and returning to our slip. I was getting pretty good at it...until I wasn't. We were returning from a few nights at anchor a few weeks ago. As we were approaching our slip the wind was in the high teens coming from the WNW. Those aren't the best conditions for our marina since it isn't protected from NW winds. As we were motoring down the creek I thought about how I could compensate for the wind and I believed I would be okay. I made my usual approach, turning to starboard, then backing toward the slip and turning the bow to starboard to line the stern up before backing in. I told myself not to turn the bow too much, or the wind would catch it and turn it too much. I also told myself not to back up too much or the wind would push me past the slip. Well, in spite of my efforts, the bow was pushed too much and the boat was pushed past the slip. No problem, I wou...

Last Fall we tried an inexpensive way to heat Breeze On in during the cold evenings and mornings. It was less than effective. This year we wanted to try something else that would heat the boat more effectively and allow us to extend our season a bit longer. I read about the Mr. Heater Little Buddy propane heater on The Boat Galley blog. We tried our new Little Buddy this morning for the first time. When we woke up it was 51.9 degrees outside and 55.2 degrees inside. George fired up the Little Buddy and the inside temperature went up to 61.5 within a half-hour and 65.3 after an hour of use. Not bad. We are quite happy with our Little Buddy.   Posted with Blogsy

We love where we live. We love our town and our condo. The view from our condo is stunning and always interesting. Our condo also came with its own deep water slip. The only problem is that the slip is 23 feet long and our boat is 40 feet long. Photo of our slip taken from our balcony We have tried and tried to find a solution. George even talked to the Army Corps of Engineers to find out if we could add pilings to extend the slip. He was told that we couldn't since the slip is adjacent to a federal channel and turning basin. This issue actually has to do with dredging. If the channel were to be dredged in the future there needs to be a buffer zone. The law states that the width of the buffer zone has to be three times the depth of the channel and/or turning basin. Although Cambridge Creek hasn't been dredged in years and there are no plans to dredge it in the future it would require an actual act of congress to change the law. We briefly considering going for the act of cong...

So, last week we didn't have enough wind to circumnavigate the DelMarVa peninsula. This week we have had too much. Too little, too much, but not just right. Right now in Cambridge it is blowing in the mid-twenties and gusting into the thirties. This is what it looks like on Assateague Island, on the Atlantic side of the peninsula. Here is the forecast. Some more experienced sailors may be willing to set out I n these conditions but the reason we want to do this is to gain experience and confidence. I am already feeling very nervous about sailing in the dark and we don't think it would be a good idea to start our trip knowing it is going to be really windy. So, we won't be doing our circumnavigation this month. If we don't fit it in next month it will have to wait until next year.       Posted with Blogsy

When George and I set up our post-cancer sailing "schedule" we set aside two full weeks for our DelMarVa peninsula circumnavigation. The trip would take about a week but we scheduled two weeks so that we could work around unfavorable weather. Well, last week was the first week we had set aside and it looked as if there wasn't going to be enough wind to do any sailing at all, let alone around the DelMarVa peninsula. Then, on Tuesday as we were driving over the Choptank River after buying groceries, we saw that the wind had picked up. Even if the wind wasn't expected to last, we could at least get some sailing in. We drove home, quickly put the groceries away, packed up clothes and food for four days and set sail for the Tred Avon River. We started off with wind just over ten knots and we were traveling at 6-7 knots. Then the wind started to drop and so did our speed. We calculated how long we could wait before turning the motor on and still get anchored before suns...

About a month ago George and I sat down with our calendars to plan the sailing trips that we would take after my radiation ended. There were a few reasons for doing this; we wanted to make sure we blocked out the time to make some trips that each lasted a week or so, and I thought it might help me feel less depressed about losing so much of our sailing season to cancer treatment. We took our first trip the day after treatment ended and had a wonderful time. We prepared to take the next one that was scheduled on the calendar but, once again, we weren't at all sure where we were headed. The winds were forecast to be light the entire week but we decided to not let that stop us. We spent our first night at Dun Cove. Since it was hot and humid we were sweaty after we anchored. We didn't attempt to swim, though, because there were a lot of sea nettles in the water. Atlantic sea nettles are a type of small jellyfish that live in the brackish water of the Chesapeake Bay. The sting i...