More Hanging out and the US Sailboat Show

Day 11 & 12, Saturday & Sunday, October 8 & 9, 2016

You can monitor our trip at the link: Second Winds Progress Live

 

Watering Hole near where we docked in St. Michaels

It’s raining again.  The remnants of Hurricane Matthew swung past us to the east providing a whole bunch of rain.  It started as we were leaving to head for the United States Sailboat Show here in Annapolis and it rained all day and throughout the night. 

Jim and I walked to the show where there were hundreds of huge boats in all price ranges – mostly very expensive.  I did see a couple of small boats but the number could be tallied on one hand.  We saw one 30 foot daysailer that reportedly sold for over $200,000.  We went aboard a 39 foot Hallberg Rassy that sold for over $200,000.  Needless to say it was really

Neat catboat in St. Michaels

beautiful.  The tents, of which there were about 5 huge ones and hundreds of tiny ones, were filled with all forms of things on which you could spend your hard earned cash. 

I was pretty good.  I probably sent less than $100.00 on two magazine subscription renewals, a shirt and a mug.  I was dressed in my out of fashion ”Frogg Toggs” attempting to stay dry but by the end of the day, my Toggs had let me down and I was wet and cold.  This rainy situation was in amongst boats and buildings with no wind.  I became concerned about what it would be like to be on the boat cruising along in similar conditions so I broke down and bought a somewhat expensive foul weather jacket.  I immediately put it on and became one of the in crowd.

One of a number of ocean going ships we encountered on the Bay

After Jim and I had a sandwich, we walked around a bit before Jim decided that he had seen enough. I had received a call from Stuart Harshbarger that he was coming to meet up with me so I stayed around.  Stuart and I walked around for another couple of hours before we retired to Jim’s boat for a cocktail. 

I was completely soaked.  I went to the boat, put on a complete change of clothes and settled down for a nice spaghetti and meat sauce dinner.  I must report to those who know me well that I also ate a healthy serving of PEAS!  I read for a while before finally crawled under the covers at around 9:00.  As I mentioned, it was still raining.

Sunday, October 9

I awoke to more rain.  I checked the radar and it appeared that the rain would

One of the any nice homes that line the Wye River

soon be ending.  I fixed pancakes and bacon for my first meal of the day and spent the rest of the morning reading. 

At around 11:00, I joined Jim on Little Star for a cup of coffee and conversation.  We decided that we needed to make a trip to a grocery to pick up a few supplies and also to stop at a Staples to have some copies of a deck log made.  Jim is a well-organized skipper who records various bits of data on a regular basis in a log that he keeps in the cockpit with him.  I have vowed to do the same.  It makes for an interesting chronology of the happenings and conditions that he encounters though out a trip.

The sun came out about mid-morning and the sky was a spectacular blue.  The wind was really howling with a gale force.  The north wind had an interesting effect of the water level in the Bay.  Since Hurricane Matthew was off to the east and was basically huge low pressure, his winds were rotating in a counter-clockwise

St. Michaels

direction.  This caused the north winds at we were experiencing.  As a result, the water lever in the Bay and where we were moored fell dramatically.  Jim commented that in all of the years that he had been moored in the Annapolis area, he had never seen the level this low.  A number of the boats around us seemed to be sitting on the bottom in shallow water.

Upon returning from the store, Jim headed north to New Jersey to visit a friend while I puttered around the boat.  I read some and finally decided that I should do a few chores.  I swabbed the deck, emptied the water out of the Dink and topped of the water tank.  I will be in a seminar all day tomorrow and hope to be underway heading south first thing Thursday morning.  I think I have all of my duck lined up for the long southbound trip.

I was quite cool in the evening so I fired up my new propane radiant heater which took the chill off of the cabin.  I also am carrying a small electric heater that I can use if I am tied up to a dock. As usual, I was in bed by 9:00.