After being on the hard and then stuck in the marina
awaiting repairs for several months, yes, MONTHS, we finally got out for a
second sail this weekend. We motored out
to St. Michael's to meet up with Gary's parents for the OysterFest; we anchored
and they appeared by our side in minutes and rafted up to us for the day.
We enjoyed the Fest and while a few of us went to
watch the Chesapeake Retrievers in their fetching contest, Gary waited in line
for fresh oysters. We met up with him
after the winner of the contest was announced and found him with two dozen
oysters on his trays. While I had no original plans to join him in the
gustatory treat, I piled on the cocktail sauce and had three scrumptious
oysters. Salty goodness all the way
down.
Elliott and I walked over to the Boat Yard. Elliott talked to the guys there and asked
about the Caleb Jones (a skipjack berthed at Cobb Island and one on which he's
done some of the cleanup work). They
remembered it being there while undergoing a great restoration, but hadn't
heard anything about it after it left.
They were glad to hear where the boat was calling home and that it does
go out occasionally.
After a quick lunch with the in-laws and getting
them back to their boat, we walked around St. Michael's ourselves. Our dog, Tuxedo, met so many new canine
friends and some human ones, too. We got
a rum raisin/raspberry ice cream cone to share and we didn't fight over it
awful much.
After we got back to the boat, Gary announced that
there would be a stiff breeze the next day, so we would want to leave early. We all had problems getting to sleep, but
finally we slumbered.
In the morning, I woke knowing we'd be doing some
serious sailing and my already tender stomach (oysters? hope not!) started twisting up. I decided to be proactive and sat outside in
the morning sun and closed my eyes and did a short meditation. I also grabbed my natural stress relief Bach's
Rescue Pastilles -- I had one, then decided two would be even better.
I was at the helm when the sails were set and stayed
there for some time. Gary told me that I
had a good intuitive touch at the helm and to just keep what I was doing (my
stomach was in knots, though). We
averaged about 8 knots in 25-30 knot winds, with crazy gusts throwing in a few
tricks now and then. We were quite
pleased with the graceful way in which Nalani handled the wind and the flukey
changes.
At one point, we were heeled so far over that we saw
water come up above the ports and got a few good splashes over the dodger and
bimini.
I got nervous a few times, but Gary said something
that really resonated with me.
"Don't make any decisions now; wait until later to decide how the
sail was for you." I relaxed a bit
then, and did my best to just be in the present and attempt to
"enjoy" the ride. (But I'm still a Nervous Nellie.)
The Kent Narrows bridge was in sight, so I knew in
just a little while we'd be back in our slip.
We were struggling to not have to tack yet stay out of the shallows when
we noticed another sailboat had run hard aground off our starboard bow. Gary said we had to help them, so we anchored
across the deeper water from them and he and Elliott got in the dinghy with the
spare anchor and extra rode.
I watched through the binoculars and noticed that
one of the men was outside the boat in knee-deep water. Yikes.
My guys circled around and at one point, Gary got on board to help them
with unfouling an anchor line that the sailor had been using to try to kedge
himself loose. Finally, with one person
outside pushing on the boat and Gary on board manning the winch, the boat turned
into the wind. That seemed to satisfy
the grateful boat owner and he said he'd wait for the higher tide, as he had a cottage
right on shore.
While they were gone, I coiled all the lines and
straightened up the deck because I knew, considering how close we were, that
we'd be motoring the short way to the bridge and into the marina.
We had our battle plan when we got near the slip; E
was to grab the bow line and I had the aft.
Unfortunately, the crazy winds messed up our first pass. Second pass was good and we tied up
soundly.
I made soup and rice for lunch, Elliott went to
visit his friends, and the dog was very grateful for a traipse around some
sweet dirt and grass.
P.S. Gary and
I are having a very romantic evening; he's reaching blindly under the forward
head platform trying to find out where a leak is coming from and I'm hugging
the bowl expertly wielding a socket wrench loosening bolts. Oh, it's a sailor's life for me!
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