From the Captain

If the wind before the rain, you will soon set sail again. But if the rain before the wind, halyards and topsails mind....Old nautical saying.

St. Michaels and south.

10/6/12  Leeds Creek to St. Michaels Harbor, Higgins Marina 1.2 nm.

I awoke determined to find the source of the electrical problem encountered yesterday, and I think I have found it. I removed and cleaned all the wires connected to the batteries. And I traced the ground wire from the battery to its attachment to the motor. I found the bolt slightly loose. I cleared the contacts there and wrenched down hard on the bolt. On the way over to St. Michaels, the Garmin worked even when the motor idled.

We had called Higgins Marina the day before to reserve a slip and arrived there at noon. In short order, two other Vermont boats arrived: Phil Mozeika and Nancy Zahniser on Emerald Sunset, and Jim Taylor and Barb Potter on Blue Jay. Two other Vermonters, Craig and Donna on Mighty Fine are here also. We are all staying two days because heavy rain and high winds are expected for tomorrow.

Aiden, Jon, Naomi, Veronica and Carol in St. Michaels

Carol and I have another agenda. My niece, Veronica, lives there with her husband, Jon, and their two year old, Aiden. We have not met Jon or Aiden yet. We meet for lunch. My sister, Naomi, drives up from Virginia to join us. Veronica suggests a seafood place on the docks, and we have the best-yet crab cake. She takes us on a walking tour of St. Michaels afterward as Aiden sleeps in the stroller.

We have dinner on Emerald Sunset, and Phil and I talk about checking out the Luna's charging

Phil and Nancy on their sailing catamaran, Emerald Sunset

system in the morning. Phil has nearly everything you could want in the electronic gadget department, and if it were edible, Nancy would know how to cook it.

Sure enough, in the morning, Phil walks over with an ammeter to check the current and voltage from the generator. It checks out. Everything seems to be working. There is a frayed wire going to one of the battery terminals, and I take that to the shop where the mechanic cuts the end off, strips the insulation off a fresh segment of wire, and crimps on a new connector. He does not charge for this part and service.

A day in the marina is a time to do other chores on the boat. I changed the oil in the motor: the engine has run 125 hours since the last time I did it in June. Then Carol and I had some time to walk downtown to the stores before the sky turned black and the rain started.

The storm brings a strong north wind and lots of rain. There is an unusually high tide, and when Veronica came to get us for dinner, the water was nearly up to the docks and 6 inches over the top of the parking lot. We had wet feet when we arrived at her house in Claiborne for a pizza dinner.

October 8. St. Michaels to Oxford, MD 30 nm.

It's a very windy day, and there are small craft advisories on the lake for 15kt north winds gusting to 20 and 3 foot waves. This does not sound excessive for Luna, and with no squalls in the forecast, we decide the north wind would help us get southward. The other Vermonters feel the same, and in the morning we leave for the little harbor of Oxford on the Tred Avon river.

Luna moved right along, running before the wind and seas with her small genoa. The north wind has brought cold weather back, however, so we're anxious to arrive at the harbor. We motor sail the final few miles to the north, rather than tack back and forth against the wind. A dinghy ride into town, a short walk and  a beer in a local tavern with our friends, then back to the boat.

Saying goodbye to the sun in the face of a rainy forecast.

There are lots of marinas in town, and Hinckley, the famous builder of high-quality boats is here, but it is late, and we don't spend a lot of time looking around. We are debating whether to continue south to Solomons tomorrow. Forecast is for strong north winds again and rain. If the rain holds off, we'll probably head out to take advantage of the strong push from behind.

October 9. Oxford to Solomons, MD. 26.9 nm.

Oxford is an historic Maryland town. Originally, with Annapolis, it was one of the only two ports of entry into the colony. British ships would come, laden with trade goods, and load up with tobacco from the large plantations on the rich eastern shore. Matthew Tilghman lived here. He attended the Continental Congress and eventually left to write the laws for the new state of Maryland. He is called the "father of statehood." His nephew, Tench Tilghman, was an aide-de-camp to General Washington and conveyed the articles of surrender from the British general Cornwallis to the Continental Congress.  We rounded Tilghman Island on the way up the Tred Avon River.

Unfortunately, with the revolutionary war victory, the fortunes of Oxford declined, as the British merchant ships no longer entered the harbor. Around the time of the Civil War, the commerce in the town improved as  new techniques to can and preserve oysters, bountiful in the waters of the Chespeake, fostered a prosperous canning and oystering industry. This, too, declined, and now Oxford propers with the recreational boating industry. Tech Tilghman is buried here in the cemetery, and there is a monument to him there.

We didn't see any of that. The weather forecast once again posted small craft warnings and called for 15-30kt northeast winds and rain after 2 pm. We got up early, hoisted and lashed the dinghy onto the foredeck, stopped at a nearby marina at 8am to pump our holding tank and take on water and diesel fuel, and set out for Solomons on the Patuxent River about 30 miles to the south. Our goal was to reach Calvert Marina down there by early afternoon, when the rain was forecast to start. We ran before the strong wind and 3-4 foot seas with jib only, and also ran the motor which increased our speed by a knot. We were making 7-8 knots per hour. Surfing down the waves was like a Vermont sleigh ride. Luna loved it.  We arrived in Solomons about 1:30 pm, just before the rain.

Our friends, Barbie and Jim and Donna and Craig, were already here. They helped us tie up into a slip to await the heavier weather.  Barbie found the marina that, with a discount for BOAT U.S. members, charged only a dollar per foot  ($35 per nite for Luna).Phil and Nancy came in right behind us. Later we gathered for happy hour on Blue Jay. Each boat's supply of beer, wine, and other spirits, is limited, so tradition has it that when you are invited over for happy hour, you bring your own drinks. Carol and I made gin and tonics and joined the group.

Living on a sailboat, we find it interesting and at the same time difficult to travel with power boaters. I am not one of those sailors who has a personal vendetta against power boaters. We enjoy being with our friends. But their boats are commodious and well appointed. By comparison, Luna is small and efficient,  but cramped. It's easy to start to crave more space and fancier quarters. The feelings of envy were assuaged somewhat when they told us what a hard time they had controlling their boats in the following sea down the bay from Oxford. Luna provided an exciting and fast 5 hour sail.

October 10. Solomons , MD

This was another layover day. The wind and rain from last nite continued and is forecast to do so for the next few days. We have a tarp tied over Luna's cabin, and this keeps the rain from the leaky windows to an extent. As it will do, water still finds its way in here and there.

The marina has a courtesy car to lend, so several of us make a trip to the nearby West Marine and a hardware store. I bought a couple 25 foot dock lines. Luna does not generally tie up in slips as she lives on a mooring back home. But I can see how this trip is going, and a couple longer dock lines are necessary. I also bought some instrument cable to renew the wiring to the auto pilot. From the hardware store, I got a couple new battery terminals to replace other frayed ends I found, and two LED lanterns so we don't have to use battery capacity to power our cabin lighting at night. Carol took the car with some of the others and did food shopping.

October 11. Solomons, MD. More rain and wind. We're staying put. There is a stationary low pressure just off the coast, and the counter-clockwise flow of air continues to bring wind from the northeast and more moisture from the ocean. Not like Vermont, for sure, where they say "if you don't like the weather, wait 30 minutes.."  The rain and cold drizzle seem to go on and on.

Another layover day means more time to sort out problems on the boat, and I'm still concerned that our battery capacity isn't what it should be. I took both house batteries off the boat and to the shop at the boat yard for testing: they are fine.  (Captain to marina office: "How can I get the batteries all the way over to the shop?" Marina: "Here are the keys, take our truck."  They are so nice here.)The shop manager said must be a poor connection somewhere. So, back into the port side cockpit locker I dive, pretzel myself into the engine compartment and take out the grounding bolt, which, sure enough, is loose again. They gave me some sand paper at the shop, and I cleaned off the wires going to the bolt. I borrowed the courtesy car again and drove to the hardware store for a longer bolt, tightened that down, and am sure, now, I solved the problem. The engine starts without hesitation. Hopefully, the GPS will not go off intermittently. If you work hard enough, you don't think about the rain.

With all the spare time I start to wonder: what would happen if you took all the boats on the Chesapeake Bay and put them up on land? How far would the level of the bay drop? Luna weighs 13,000 pounds. At a pint a pound and 8 pints to the gallon, she displaces 1625 gallons of water (slightly less for salt water). Multiply that by the bazillion boats we see everywhere we go. That's a lot of water displaced. No wonder the seas are rising. Clearly I have too much time on my hands here.

We do some laundry, and the commander straightens up and cleans the cabin. It's looking pretty nice in here.

The group of eight Vermonters meet in the local cafe for happy hour and decide to push on in the morning. Forecast is for intermittent showers and 10 kt north winds. The bad weather is starting to lift. We'll see. The long range forecast mentions showers for the next 3 days until Tuesday. In the meantime, we have Phil and Nancy over for dinner and make spaghetti with clam sauce.

I'm thinking that with moderating north winds, we might get a chance to fly our asymmetrical spinnaker for the first time tomorrow. Something to think about beside standing at the helm in our yellow slickers.