Wednesday 2 May 2012





Today is our son's birthday.  Andy turned 22 today!  Happy birthday, Andy!  It has been one week since we arrived in Rock Hall.  We have transformed Windspell from a shrink-wrapped chrysalis into a sea-going sailing vessel.  We have completed 4 coats of varnish to the teak toe rails, painted the bottom of the boat with another coat of anti-fouling paint, then cleaned and waxed the hull.  The sails have  been installed,  and the canvas awnings over the cockpit are reinstalled and sprayed with a water-repellent coating.  It only took us 3 attempts to properly configure the main sail.  We provided lots of entertainment to the ospreys.  We drove over to the marina, Spring Cove,  and arranged for our boat slip where we will be staying after we launch. Our first docking at our slip appears somewhat daunting because we haven't performed this type of docking before.  There are 4 posts that we have to lasso as we come in and stop the boat (hopefully) before we plow into the dock.  But first, we have to learn to drive this 9 ton boat!  We have permission from the marina dockmaster to practise in an area where there are no adjacent boats!!!  We're losing a bit of sleep over this as the time gets closer.  There is a dead tree nearby our boat where a number of vultures roost.  They are waiting in anticipation  for our docking attempt!