Preparing to leave Annapolis

Saxon Blue's Blog
Harvey Jones and Andrea Stokes
Tue 7 Dec 2010 01:17
Monday night

It's been absolutely freezing in Annapolis since we returned from Charleston - although Andrea's mum said it was minus 15 degrees in Leeds last night so we've not had it so bad as that. Andrea and I were doing some Christmas stuff yesterday, then we walked up the shops, had some lunch and walked back by which time we were frozen. I rang Penny Lane at our lunch time, just before Josh's birthday party got underway so it was wonderful to speak to all the family. I loved hearing about Nathan's new music system with which he can share his music collection with the whole family. Apparently, he's only allowed to play it at number 3. No going all the way up to 11, then.

Bill arrived from Charleston at 11pm, carrying the biggest, heaviest kit bag I've ever seen. I wondered if he'd brought his family in there with him. We were sitting chatting when Kali turned up half an hour later, carrying a much smaller bag filled mostly with yoghurt mix. It was great to have our whole crew together although I think both the new arrivals were shocked at the temperature.

Luckily for us, Bill got the heating on this morning so it was slightly less painful to get out of bed - although we still had ice on the inside of our window. We had breakfast and then a quick chat about what we had to do to get Saxon Blue ready to depart - hopefully on Wednesday. Kali spent most of the day shopping for our supplies while Bill did boat things. I tried to organise paying our local contractors for their work and tidying up a few loose ends. Bill and I then got stuck into sorting out the various problems with our fresh-water plumbing. We managed to get the gauges to work properly again and investigated the way that water leaks into the bilge. We didn't come up with an answer but we now know that it only leaks from the starboard tank and only when it is filled above capacity so at least we can carry our designed amount. We'll have to use the bilge pump alarm as a signal to stop putting any more water in.

Kali then dropped me off to see Chad Stellwagen and get our tender back. The guys in the shop were all making a fuss about taking the tender around the point in the wind but I was sure it was less windy than when I'd delivered it and that it was blowing from the same direction. As I'd been going into it then, I reasoned that I'd have the wind at my back today. Indeed I did and had a pleasant ride into Back Creek and moored up next to Saxon Blue just as the sun was setting.

After writing a couple of boat emails, it was time to assess the day. I got most of my pre-departure jobs done and I can do most of the others quickly tomorrow morning. Bill and I may fit a new light up the mast to illuminate our Windex at night and Kali has a bit more shopping to do but it looks as though we'll be ready to depart on time. I'm not sure that the weather is going to co-operate as the forecast shows some complex low pressure areas in the Western Atlantic but we'll have to see what transpires.

We're still being buffetted by freezing wind but the heating is on, we've had one of Kali's lovely risottos and the day has been a success.

Harvey

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