The Wanderings of Windspell

Our daughter, Jenn, arrived with her boyfriend, Eric on August 28th for a one week visit. We cast off from the marina the next morning to head to Annapolis, but encountered a mechanical problem when the starter battery seemed to be receiving too much charge. We returned to the marina and had a technician check the wiring job Walter had performed while adding to our battery bank the week before. After a quick addition of a cable to add the starter battery to the bank of house batteries, we were ready once again to depart. We motor-sailed the next day to Annapolis.
We arrived in time to tour the Naval Academy. It is equivalent to the Canadian Forces Royal Military College, but much larger!!! After viewing a short video that showed the training the young men and women receive over their 5 year program, we were impressed and wishing we were young enough to do it. They choose only 1000 freshmen out of 20,000 applicants. They spend their first summer being indoctrinated with military rules about dress, etc. They have a rigorous physical training program. By September they begin their classes. They are allowed off campus one day per month. Classes end by 2:00 p.m,. but then they have 2-3 hours of fitness training in their choice of sports...and they have many choices such as rugby, soccer, swimming, sailing, rowing, etc. The grounds of the campus were stunning. All of the students stay in the one dormitory, Bancroft Hall, where they also have their meals. There is a museum that outlines the history of the Naval Academy and its role within world history. For example, many of its graduates are astronauts. The museum also has a huge collection of model ships and a workshop that builds and repairs model ships. If you are ever in Annapolis, take the tour. It's worth it!
Later that afternoon we motored over to Whitehall Bay, Mill Creek to eat at Cantler's Restaurant, famous for its steamed crabs and other seafood.
The following morning we had a nice wind to sail to St. Michael's. We anchored there and dinghied ashore to explore the town and indulge in ice cream. Back on board, a quick swim off the boat was enjoyed by all to cool off.
Early on Saturday morning we hoisted anchor to sail to the Corsica River which is off of the Chester River;. a distance of 50 miles. We had a great wind (15-20 knots) that allowed us to fly along at 6 -7 knots until we reached the Bay Bridge where it subsided. We had to motorsail the last few miles up the Chester River.
We met up with a few other boats from our marina. They had organized a get-together where each boat chose a country to represent through decorations and hors d'oeuvres. Jenn & Eric had brought Canadian decorations, clothing and ice wine for us to use. There were boats representing the Netherlands, Mexico, Italy, France, Great Britain, to mention a few. We gathered together aboard a raft of boats to share stories, food and drink. Upon returning to our boat, we heard on the radio that a thunderstorm with winds exceeding 35 mph was heading our way. Concerned that the group of boats rafted near to us would swing too close, we quickly picked up our anchor and re-anchored at a safer distance. We just got settled when the wind, lightening and rain struck. We were cosy below decks and settled into our dinner, quiet reading, then a deep sleep.
The next morning we returned to the marina and enjoyed the pool here. On Monday we went shopping at the outlet malls where Jenn amazed her mother at how quickly she can fly through a store picking out clothing that looks and fits great. All too soon the week flew by. On the last morning they helped us hoist Walt up the mast again to replace a VHF radio antenna. We took them back to Baltimore to catch their flight back to Ottawa. We are now doing chores such as creating a dipstick to measure the water level in the tank, changing the oil on the engine, securing jacklines that you can attach to in stormy weather if you have to go forward on the boat. The time is quickly approaching that we will begin our sojourn south.

Until our next blog,