Last Stop Before ICW

We really enjoyed our weekend in St. Marys. It is well off the path of the southbound cruisers so we had the place to ourselves. We stopped in at the college and while there bought some groceries at a small store in one of the campus buildings. We considered lunch in their cafeteria but our appetites weren't ready for the all you can eat pricing plan. The selection looked great though. The weather did not permit touring St. Marys City which is a reconstruction of the original settlement. We have put this on our list of places to return to. They held small sailboat races both weekend days with St. Marys hosting Salisbury University.

Leaving St. Marys we saw our first pelicans on the Potomac River. There were actually several and they were busy feeding. We hadn't realized that they were this far north. We stopped in Deltaville after leaving St. Marys. We are not so sure about returning. We ran aground going in which was my fault. I was desperately trying to locate the next red buoy when we came to a stop. At least it gave me time to get my bearings. We go so slow in these situations so that it was just a nudge and we were able to back off. The next morning we left at low tide and ran aground in the channel. We took a guess and moved to the left a little and proceeded out in very shallow water. Traveling to Hampton we were in company with at least 20 other sailboats and a few trawlers. We are now anchored in the downtown area in Hampton and plan to stay a few days as high winds are predicted later in the week. It is very close quarters as it is packed to capacity in the anchorage. We are using this time to do laundry and shop for groceries.

Rough Day But Great Location For The Weekend

While the forecast was for rain all day, we decided to move on to Deltaville. We pulled anchor at 7:30 and on the way out of the creek noticed the open sign at the fuel dock with a very good price posted for diesel. It was still raining but we got out the fenders and dock lines and tied up at the fuel dock. The problem was no one was around. After searching to find the attendant without success we decided to leave. Just then the attendant arrived saying he wasn't expecting any business in the rain. After pumping about 10 gallons of the 60 or so we needed they ran out. We should have known by then that the day was not going to go well. On entering the bay, the waves were really steep having been driven by two days of strong winds These waves reminded us of Lake Erie which is also shallow. This wave pattern creates a very uncomfortable ride. We continued on and after turning more southerly put out a highly reefed main sail to help stabilize the boat. The winds continued to build beyond the forecast, and the rain and sometimes fog continued as well. We had been considering a stop in St. Marys which is off the Potomac. After a few hours of being pounded by the wind, waves and rain we decided a weekend in St. Marys sounded really good. We are anchored just off St. Mary's College of Maryland. St. Mary's City is the site of the fourth permanent settlement in British North America, and was Maryland's first capital. We hope to explore both the college and the old city this weekend if the weather permits.

Heading South Again

Solomons

Linda returned home Monday. She was so happy to have been able to spend time with Pamela, Scott and Camyrn and was sad to leave but at the same time wanting to get back. After a month at the same anchorage we were extremely anxious to get going, but decided to stay another day in Annapolis to give Linda a day to get settled in again. The forecast for Wednesday through Friday was for rain and windy conditions. We decided to leave anyway and made the 9 am bridge opening. The day turned out pretty good with only a couple of brief showers. The skies were very grey and the winds were moderate, but variable. We did get in a little sailing in the afternoon. We were amazed at the number of boats on the bay with the poor conditions but noted they were all also on southerly courses. We anchored near the mouth of Back Creek in Solomons. We were expecting to leave in the morning and with the conditions did not plan to go ashore. The wind increased overnight and the morning forecast was for high winds for the next 24 hours. We decided to stay another day so we moved further up the creek to a more protected area.
We have our new laptop now and what a difference. I was just trying to push the old one beyond it's ability and it wasn't working out. Linda had quite a heavy load on the return trip. In addition to the laptop we had repair parts and other boat stuff sent to Scott and Pamela's. I learned after the fact that the Harbormaster in Annapolis provides package receipt service (free) and that they even contact you when the package arrives. Now we know.

Go Bucks

Scott and Pamela are OSU alumni and fans as you can tell, as are we.

Click to see the incomparable Script Ohio by the OSU Marching Band.

Repairs Complete - For Now

We have our chartplotter back and it is working well. It should as it was a very expensive repair. They replaced the main processor board, which I have to believe is the most expensive component. Unlike personal computers which support older technologies for quite some time, it is not the case with marine electronic equipment. Our chartplotter uses C-cards. These cards which plug into the chartplotter contain the charts and are purchased by region. Raymarine has since switched to Navionics for their chart cards which uses an entirely different format. Before investing in our chart cards last spring we considered replacing the chartplotter with a newer model, however at that time it was working fine and had never had any issues so we stayed with it. Once we invested in the chart cards we were committed to our chartplotter. We did accomplish a software upgrade during the repair and the problems we were seeing before the complete failure are gone. The timing of the failure worked out as we were without the chartplotter for three weeks, but since this coincided with our plans to remain in Annapolis it was not an issue. Our backup system which is displaying charts on our laptop which has a GPS unit attached worked extremely well. We used this to travel from the Sassafras River to Annapolis. The drawbacks to this system is that the PC draws a lot of power (comparably) and the display is difficult to see in sunlight.

As of right now everything is working on Ariel so we are good to move on after Linda returns next week.

What a beautiful baby

Grandma Helping Out

Linda is with Scott, Pamela and Camryn. I happened to call her just as she was walking into the room to see Camyrn for the first time so I could at least hear her excitement. She will be there to help out until a week from Monday. Scott was able to stay overnight at the hospital as Linda was at their home and looking after their dogs Dolly and Sophie. Meanwhile back here in Annapolis, what a change in the weather. A front came through Wednesday night with very high winds. Several boats dragged in Spa Creek but none in our immediate area. Some damage resulted and one ran aground. We pulled in the anchor off the stern as the wind was from that direction allowing us to swing around and into the wind. Last night high winds were again forecast so we all conferred here in our local area and decided we would all add second anchors off the bow. I added our Fortress FX37 at about a 45 degree angle off our primary anchor. This is our storm anchor so I knew I would sleep well with little concern about the wind. There are no boats in front of us so I didn’t have to worry about anyone dragging down on us. We now turning the heat on in the morning to take the chill off. Once the sun it up it stays comfortable all day.

Our New Granddaughter Has Arrived

She is Camryn Jayne Supelak. She was born at 2:25 on October 10. Both mother and baby are doing well. Camryn was born at 7 # 14 oz and 19 1/2 inches. Congratulations to new parents Scott and Pamela.

Doug From About Time Is Back

We had quite a surprise visit on Sunday which at first had us totally confused. We heard a knock on the hull and checking to see who was there found Doug from About Time. This did not compute since they had left Annapolis a week ago this past Thursday bound for Norfolk. He had Paul and Jane, fiends from Bayfield, Ontario with him in the dinghy from I Wanda. We invited them aboard for drinks so we could sort out the story. Doug and Sharon were in the Solomon Islands when they got the call that the granddaughter was two weeks early. They reviewed the options and decided to push on to Norfolk covering the 110 miles in one day. Sharon flew home and Doug found a marina to put the boat up for a couple weeks. He then rented a car to return to Annapolis. He is staying on I Wanda and now will ride home with Paul and Jane who were in Annapolis for the boat show. They will continue on in a couple weeks and we fully expect to see them somewhere along the ICW. Ella Sibley ..... is the newest member of their family. We are anxiously awaiting for our call from Scott.

Annette On Ariel

We had very special company on Saturday. Annette Newland, a long time family friend with her son David and his children Katie and Matt, along with Katie’s boyfriend Chris came to visit for a few hours. David and his family live in Virginia and Annette is vacationing further south on the Chesapeake. Annette had invited us to bring Ariel to their waterfront vacation property which we really wanted to do, but the timing was such with Pamela’s due date that we could not risk being away from access to the BWI airport. Not to be deterred she decided to come to us, which is very much in character for her. We called the water taxi to bring her out to Ariel as the step up from the taxi is much more manageable than from the dinghy. This was a very challenging visit for her and we cannot express how much it meant to us to have Annette and her family visit. We were happy to show off our floating home. Most of us did some dinghy touring of Spa Creek and the downtown waterfront while Annette and Linda visited. Matt took over dinghy operation for the return trip and quickly mastered handling the outboard. Annette was very interested in our new sewing machine as she is very knowledgeable about sewing and sewing machines and has done similar projects herself. We think she would have liked to jump in on our sewing project herself.

Annette and Norm’s mother Gladys have been friends for a very long time. In 1972 hurricane Agnes dislocated Norm’s mother from the home she was living in. She and Annette jointly purchased the land on which their homes are located. Their friendship has extended to a very special relationship between our families.

Friends Visit And Boat Show Time

This is the United States Sailboat Show week in Annapolis. This is the largest in-the-water sailboat show in the world. Many new models and products are introduced during the show. Don and Janet Leech, friends from Pittsburgh we know from when we lived and sailed in Ohio were here for the boat show and to spend time with us on Ariel. We were very happy to see them and to catch up. They had a great summer with an extended trip sailing on the Great Lakes traveling from their home port on Lake Erie up the east side of Michigan on Lake Huron to Mackinaw. They were away most of the summer and plan to do more next summer. They arrived on Wednesday and after spending a little time visiting on Ariel we went out to dinner. On Thursday we did a dinghy tour of Spa Creek and Annapolis Harbor and saw the boat show from the water vantage point. They picked us up Friday and we went to the show together. All of us have been to the show many times and our interest is in the vendors exhibits in the tents. We passed on inspecting the boats. The crowd seemed lighter than usual to me.


A few years ago Don bought a Sailrite sewing machine which can handle the heavy materials used in the sails and canvas items on board. He has made many items for their boat saving a lot of money by doing it himself. Inspired by Don’s success and that of some friends in Rhode Island we bought a sewing machine at the show. Our first project will be a cockpit enclosure which will more than pay for the machine in savings over the commercial price. These will be side curtains that attach to our bimini and dodger to fully enclose the cockpit from the elements. Luckily Don and Janet had their car to haul the very heavy sewing machine back to our dinghy dock. After the show they were on their way. Don is a Ham (Amateur Radio) and they were off to a Hamfest later during the weekend. Once we add a SSB radio to Ariel we hope to make contact with his rig in Pittsburgh.