Herrington North Marina, Deale, Annapolis

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Tue 2 Oct 2012 11:33

38:46.32N 76:33.76W

 

 

Sat, Sun & Mon  –  29th, 30th Sept, 1st Oct

 

For once we both overslept so it was a bit of a rush to get ashore for the 0830 hours start of the various talks we wanted to go to, and despite carrying my shower things around all day I never managed to squeeze one in until we were late for something else on Sunday evening....

 

During the day we attended talks on:  energy management by Nigel Calder again (funnily enough only Rob went along to this onewhilst I went along to hear about para-anchors & drogues (but due to technical difficulties they never really got on to the drogue aspect which is what we have on board,  and I wanted further tips on - and yes the speaker sold para-anchors...);  David & Candy's brilliant talk (the best of the Gam) on sailing in High Latitudes, (Chile and Cape Horn), it was astonishing to hear what they achieved, they have now reached godlike status in our eyes!;  Lin & Larry Pardey on ‘Creating the Unstoppable Boat’ (which was so poor we left early - weirdly there was always lots of coming and goings in the halls throughout most talks, very un-British where we would normally have felt compelled to stick it out);  I went to the weather forecasting talk (another disappointment) and then Jeff & Karen Siegel's emergency medicine presentation (which was very well handled and a good brush up for us).   Basically a lot of the weekend was aimed at sailors new to the living on board aspects of sailing, so we felt quite grown-up!

 

Immediately after this we hardly drew breath and it was a drinks party, followed by dinner and a very amusing talk by Nigel, yet again, about what lessons he has learned along the way.   Nigel appears to be a very slow learner and has repeated some spectacular groundings and many other mistakes which he is very happy to share, making us all feel that our own stupidities are just part of the game.   His poor long-suffering wife, Terrie also featured strongly in the talk mainly for her long-suffering, distinct lack of enthusiasm for sailing and acute sea-sick abilities.   We met her several times over the weekend and she and I had a good bonding session over managing sketching/painting on board (no I still haven't done a thing).   They are a lovely couple and very happy to muck in - we are definitely finding that all these very experienced, erudite sailors do not suffer from airs and graces and seem delighted to go on sharing their knowledge, when we must sometimes seem complete idiots in their eyes.

 

Next morning we dragged ourselves out of bed for the flea market, ferrying all our kit ashore and we (well really Rob) were pretty successful in shifting nearly all our stuff - and we didn't come back with a single purchase which is a record!   I also attended a round table discussion on the future developments within and in alliance with Active Captain - they really do have some astonishing things planned.   And as ever, all we can say to any cruisers reading this is ‘get involved’:  their system is spreading through the world, they even have information being submitted from sailors in the Arctic!

 

Early in the afternoon, Craig joined us for a sail on ‘Hawk’ with Evans Starzinger who had very kindly offered to show us his system for working a Code Zero sail, which was just brilliant and we even had some good  wind.   His aluminium yacht is only 2' longer than Serafina but is a sleek, aluminium yacht with a very much bigger rig, and feels a huge and completely different animal.  This is their second boat and it is very much a working machine for high latitude sailing which is their passion.   Rob couldn't contain his jealousy for all the exposed plumbing - none of the time-wasting of unearthing the fittings of anything from behind smart panelling. Evans and his partner Beth Leonard have done several circumnavigations on Hawk and seem to also enjoy sailing in the extreme northern and southern oceans of the world.

 

We had a lovely sail on Hawk in conditions that were at the top end of carrying the Code Zero wind-wise, so it was perfect to discover just how easy it is to use and more importantly stow and lower.   I did much of the helming which was a treat as Hawk is so well balanced and fast, but a little nerve-wracking with crab pots to avoid and Evans' competitive streak (well more like a very wide band) being exercised by any other racing boat in the vicinity. 

 

Then back to Serafina for a couple of hours to catch up, but this became another session of visiting dinghies and then a drinks invite from Byron and Cynthia on their boat ‘Perelandra’ built by Nordhaven which is like a sleeker version of their motor yachts but with a sailing rig.   It looks quite strange but is total luxury below decks with a galley I would kill for at home!   Then on with Evans to join Steve and Carol on Il Sogno, where we dined with Craig and Karene in the style we are becoming far to used to - the best beef-burgers we have had all year.   Can't think how we will cope without them over the winter, although our waistlines have a good idea!

 

This morning we got up slowly as we couldn’t rush round to Herrington Boatyard until the tide started to rise.   We have now started the ‘lay-up’, but luckily (probably not from the viewpoint of actually finishing the work we have to complete!) we have now discovered that David and Candy will be in a boatyard just round the corner and Scott and Freddi are being hauled in the same marina just about the time that we leave.

 

We got settled into our home for the next 9 days and soon got the sails off and bagged ready for sending to the sailmakers for inspection, repair and washing.