Shocking News!

We left Cobb Island on July 7 with high hopes and excitement for the next months of adventures in sailing.  It was a gorgeous day as we traveled out of Neale Sound into the Wicomico, the Potomac, and then the Chesapeake Bay.  When you're in that really wide part of the Bay, it can sometimes feel like ocean sailing.  We saw other awesome boats, fishes, schools of rays, Cove Point's natural gas terminal, and the Pride of Baltimore II.  It took us two days to get to Wye Cove, off the Wye River in Maryland.  We were going to anchor at Gary's parents' house early to prepare for their annual crab feast, which takes a day to set up, a day to party and eat like crazy, and then another day to take down.  The first night we spent in a little bight off the Patuxent River; you have to be careful there as there are rules, rules, rules as to where you can anchor.  We must have obeyed them all as we were not shot out of the water nor boarded that night.  

At dinner that first night, we celebrated with a bottle of Prosecco that some dear friends brought as a boat-warming gift; I sure slept well.

After breakfast and another full day of sailing, we ooched into the cove and found that our plans were dashed for siding up to the docks as the water was only around 4 feet; we draw 5-1/2 feet.  So we anchored smack in the center of the cove and used the dinghy as our transport back and forth to the house.

Setup went as planned and, the best part of all, was a visit from my daughter and her family.  Saul loves the boat and we fed on that excitement.  We gave them our cabin for sleeping, though Saul missed his bed at home and woke around 5am, so they went ashore early for breakfast.   The crab  feast that day was well attended and we had a good time with friends and family, some of whom Gary took on boat tours.  We saved some of the breakdown of the party for the next day, which was Monday, July 14.  We worked a lot of the day, sweating and sweating.  Storms were coming in, so we battened down the hatches to the boat and had dinner with the family on shore.  Loud crashes of lightning and grumbling thunder swept in, with side blowing wind splattering the windows of the sunroom with rain.  I usually find storms ultra fascinating, but with our boat out in the cove, this one made me a bit nervous.  And for good reason.

Shortly before sunset, Gary saw a lightning strike right over the mast of the boat and said that the strike came down in the center of the cove, but seemed to stop 65 feet above the water (the exact height of our mast).  It was surreal to think we may have been struck because it just didn't make sense; I mean, we were just starting out on our 15-month adventure.  This couldn't really happen, could it?

But it could and it did.  After a cursory check on the boat after the storm died down, we learned that she had been struck and we had lost some of the electronics.  We felt so sad, but we knew we had to keep going, so we made a list of the things to check and what we had to do.  Next morning was the claims call, which went very well.  We've only had one claim before and that was many years ago when our older boat's lines had been moved with a dock repair at the marina and she incurred an injury via bolt to her side.  You would think that docks could be designed not to have such pieces of steel sticking out to poke the boats.  

Anyway, plans were made to move the boat to a marina where the repairs could be made, which, interestingly enough, was the location of Gary's first job (at C&C Charters, where he cleaned, repaired, and maintained the boats and did charter checkouts.

The only issue with moving there is that we had to pass under two bridges on the way there, both at the same place.  One was a drawbridge and the other bridge is 65 feet high.  Our mast is 65 feet high.  With our spate of luck, we were a little bit nervous.

Next Post:  Bridging the Gap