Rail in the Water

I'm not sure you can properly call the teak capping on our 8 inch bulwarks the "rail," but we had enough wind and we were sailing sufficiently close hauled so that our bulwarks were submerged and the decks were under water on the leeward side.  Holy cow.  The poor dogs were terrified.  Probably should have reefed, I really don't think these old barges are meant to be sailed like that.  The major downside of this activity was that the spreaders managed to sag down again.  We clearly need to have actual spreader hangers installed to keep them in position.

It was a nearly perfect day to sail to Still Pond.  We anchored outside where we normally do.  The prediction was for gusts into the thirties around sunset and boy howdy did that materialize. It was actually really comfortable and pleasant, but our dinner guests had a less than satisfactory experience. Their anchor dragged and by the time the boat next to us shouted the alarm (we weren't paying attention . . . for shame), their boat was drifting sideways onto the bow of a fifty foot motor yacht . . . Even in an extremely inebriated state the power boaters fended successfully and no damage occurred. They announced that they had defended the house and confessed the following:  I wanted to whistle, but I realized that I don't know how. So I asked my wife to google how to whistle, and then I remembered that I could just yell.  That put an end to the evening's festivities, which was fine, and we all settled in to watch the sunset and enjoy the breeze.

We also got to watch the most absurdly over-scaled speed boat I have ever seen pass behind a thirty foot sailboat. 

The next day we lazed on the hook, had Prosecco and fruit and cheese, and then a lazy motor back to HPYC.  I've committed to try to make the most of all weekends, so we are trying to spend more time on Sundays actually on the boat instead of rushing home.  This means a bid of additional meal planning and packing but this weekend seemed to be a success.  

Fourth of July

We took a four day cruise around and about.  First night was at Lloyd's Creek on the Sassafras river.  There was decent wind for most of the day so we got in some fine sailing.  

The fleet anchored safely, knowing a storm was rolling in.  The radar showed a band up and down the entire east coast that was quite narrow but sweeping rapidly from west to east.  

Here is the leading edge of it rolling in.

 

The sun was still beating down from the east, making this boat glow.  

When it swept over us we had pouring rain and a few minutes of 40 mph winds. 

This cool shot of Hobo came from the glowing boat.  

Then within a half an hour it was over. 

Just in time for a beach party. 

Took the dinghy out and about in the morning to go see the lotuses on Lloyd's creek but I forgot how far it is upstream so we didn't make it. 

The next day we were off for Havre De Grace for their fireworks display.  We anchored in our usual spot near the channel to the city dock, but the city moved the display from the island that protects the city marina to a barge right off of the point so we weren't as close as we might have liked.  It was still an excellent display.  

Then for the third, we went home to Hances Point to watch the North East fireworks.  Their display was, I have to admit, a bit better than Havre De Grace.  Plus we had a bonus gorgeous sunset.