Two days ago was a big day for the crew of Windspell with many new firsts. The main thing was that the local vultures did not get a meal of us-yet.
We waited for calmer weather and left our marina slip early in the morning (that way we also had no spectators) and Walt got his first chance to drive our 9 ton home through a maze of docks, piles and costly boats. We popped out of the marina unscathed and headed for open water and a chance to practise turns,backing up, spinning on a dime etc before entering our home slip at Spring Cove marina. By 0930 we were safely suspended between six dock piles. We celebrated with coffee and Danish and sat down by our laptop and viewed our very first webinar - the subject was the use of radar.
After lunch we braved another docking experience and headed out for our first sail by ourselves on Windspell. The conditions were perfect and our new friend, Garmin, the GPS made the navigating in unfamiliar waters like driving in a car similarly equipped. Knowing where we were at all times allowed us to relax a bit and focus on the actually sailing.
Windspell behaved herself very well, so much so that we went for another sail the next morning in a bit more wind. We practised reefing the sails (making them smaller) and sailed with various sail combinations.
Our good friend, Dexter, who was on business in Baltimore came to visit yesterday afternoon and he is our first guest. Ironically, he was also our first guest when we went cruising 27 years ago! We will be celebrating
our new lifestyle on Windspell and our long friendship with the Champagne that Dexter kindly brought. He will be with us for a few days of sailing and R&R between his business meetings in Baltimore.
Donna was delighted to hear from both our kids for mother's day and we had an evening meal of BBQ fillet mignon.
It is raining today so it's a good day to do laundry and various other boat chores and of course composing this blog.
Donna and Walt
