Breeze On

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...

Two weeks ago I had a lumpectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer. The instructions after my surgery included being very careful not to lift anything heavier than five pounds with my affected arm for at least a month. That includes using my arm own to assist in hoisting my body on and off the boat. Hmmmm...so how to get on and off the boat? Breeze On has gates on each side but our single finger pier is too short to reach the gate. That means I have to step over the life lines to get on the boat. I normally put one foot on the boat, grab the bimini supports, pull the rest of my body over to the boat and step over the life lines while squeezing under the bimini. The farther Breeze On is from the dock, the harder I have to pull. In any case, I am quite certain I put more than five pounds of pressure on my arm when getting on and off. So what is the answer? A GANGPLANK (otherwise known as a passerelle). A friend of a friend recently sold her boat and not longer needed hers. Pa...

Today, on our return from Dun Cove in Harris Creek, we finally had the right conditions to try our gennaker. We were really pleased with how easy it was to use. It comes in a sock that is raised when the gennaker is opened and brought down when you want to douse it. I will take a photo of it in its sock the next time we use it. It made sailing downwind in light winds much more interesting. We are so glad we decided to have one made. Our trip out to Harris Creek yesterday seemed so much faster, but actually took about the same amount of time. We were sailing and had to tack the entire way in winds that were about 14 knots with gusts in the low 20's. We encountered a friend on the river and we each took photos of each other's boats. We love the way Breeze On sails. Dun Cove in Harris Creek was beautiful. This might become another one of our favorite spots. I did say we had light winds today, right? Well, that was until just before we arrived at Cambridge. The winds picked ...