Breeze On

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...

I finished the last of my 36 radiation treatments on August 26. The next day we took off for 5 days on Breeze On. We didn't have a particular destination in mind, it depended on the direction and strength of the wind. The freedom to spend more than one night on the boat without rushing home for my radiation treatments mattered more to us than where we were going. As we were leaving Cambridge we sailed by this little vessel. It is on the market for a mere seven million dollars! The wind was predicted to be very light on the day we left but, in fact, we had 8-9 knots of a lovely cool breeze. It was so cool that George positioned himself to be in the sun just to stay warm. We sailed 28.5 nautical miles and dropped our anchor in San Domingo creek, the "back door" to St. Michaels. St. Michaels is a busy, popular tourist town on the Eastern shore of Maryland. From San Domingo creek we can take our dinghy and tie up to a bulkhead next to a dock used by the watermen. From there...