Annapolis to Solomons. Wet wet wet.
Catacaos
Graham Shaw
Sun 18 Oct 2009 17:09
Well, Annapolis boat show, the biggest in the world??? No - maybe the
biggest in Maryland, but certainly not the largest in the world. Had a day
at the boat show, nosing at the Catamarans - is the word dreaming? Spent
some time on the Fountaine Pajots, but surprising enough the only one I
liked was the 39 foot Lipari which is 41 ft with the bowsprit. Forget the
42 and the 48 ft not impressed at all, so bigger is not better? All in all
we are still very happy with our little 38 ft unless we had enough money for
a Switch 55, which of course is never going to happen, so no upgrading here.
Generally we spent little money, I think all our retail therapy was done in
the Newport show. Isabelle, Sergej, Katie and Alec from Seawalk showed us
a great play park, which Lucas loved. Bumped into a few people we had met
on the way up and down the States, all in Annapolis for the boat show. Had
the best hot beef roll in the States, so good we had to go back the next day
for another one. Have been spending alot of time with the Seawalk folks
which has been great fun.
Decided to head down to Oxford with Seawalk, sunny but no wind. Last time
in Oxford it was a buzzing place, this time a ghost town. Stayed a day or
so, to do the boat chores, then sailed down to Solomon's Island.
We had a good sail down, around 17 knots of wind most of the way. We were
only about 2 mile out from Solomon Island when the wind jumped to 26 knots.
It still amazes me how quickly everything changes in the Cheasapeake, and
how quickly the boat accelerates into double figure speed. The sun was
warm, little did we know we would not see the sun again.
Solomon Island, rain rain rain, and now getting really cold. Aparently
normally not this cold, cold front coming in and we do not have a heater on
board?? Why no heater, that is the question!!! So all the winter clothes
out and PJ's. Very jealous of Seawalk as they have a heater, the only
trouble is when visiting them we still have to return to our boat, which
then feels really cold.
We are also struggling with keeping the power up on the boat, no sun so the
solar pannels not working and the wind has not been that strong so the wind
genarator not kicking in, hopefully not for long as they are forecasting 39
knots of wind for today?
We have purchased an SSB (long range) radio so Gray is busy fitting that, and as soon as
we are sorted, off down south again, towards the bottom of the Cheasapeake -
or for me where the sun is. The cold front is moving so the temparature
will be increasing from tomorrow.
We are heading to Beaufort, North Carolina so we can do the crossing
straight to the BVI from there. Caribbean here we come, so looking forward
to getting back to sun, beautiful clear water and warm sailing. The idea is
to leave early November and of course depending on the weather for crossing.
Sorry not many pictures as it's raining too much.
Loz.
