New Halyard

The old main sail halyard (line with which you hoist the sail) was beginning to disintegrate. The halyard runs from a cleat at the bottom of the mast, up to a pulley at the top of the mast, and back down to the sail. You might think that you would have to climb to the top of the mast to replace the halyard line, but that's not the case.

Sewed the ends of the old and new halyards together.

Taped the ends together.

Pulled the old halyard and then the connected new halyard through the mast. Cut the old halyard away. Tied the new halyard to the shackle with a bowline knot and cleated the other end.

Eyes of a Beginner

Bought a new Delta anchor from West Marine. Any advice on its proper usage is much appreciated. It's made of thicker and higher grade steel than the danforth anchors I'm accustomed to. But if anyone can find a way to bend the shank, it would be me.

Also bought a new main halyard line, which I'll replace today. The old is almost certainly original to the boat, and is beginning to disintegrate.

Admiral Crankypants

Yesterday we hauled a bunch of my toys off the boat. Golf Clubs, Bow & Arrows, jib that needs repair, etc. Today I organized my remaining stuff and cleaned out a space for Amy to use as a closet. Amy speaks:

I’ve been a little out of sorts for the last couple of days. As Scott has mentioned, we’ve both spent the last several years living alone and now, we’re together in a space no larger than about 150 square feet. We’ve had a lot of errands to run before we leave Baltimore next week, and so have been running around for much of the day. On top of that, I was still living out of my duffel bag, and feeling not at all settled in. Most of you that know me would also know that this is a recipe for crankiness.

More on Admiral Crankypants' blog

CWCS: Nectarine Chicken

Cooking with Capt' Scott (CWCS)

Grill chicken

Cook rice

Make chutney sauce to pour over chicken:
Chop up nectarine and zucchini. Mush equal parts banana and water. Add nectarines and zucchini to banana mush and heat in pot until hot. Add hot sauce until desired spiciness is reached.

Grill nectarine garnish:
Cut a nectarine in half. Stick a fork in each half and grill over stove top flame like you would a marshmellow. Try to char the nectarine a little. It's done when it falls off the fork.


I like to grill chicken thighs and legs because they are nearly impossible to overcook. They are so fatty that they don't dry out. The only problem is that they are so fatty that they start grease fires on my gas grill.

At the supermarket we smelled the nectarines as we passed them in the produce aisle. That's always a good sign of a fruit that is ripe and will be flavorful. We passed strawberries, raspberries and blueberries too. They all looked good, but had no smell.

The zucchinis looked good at the market. My initial plan was to slice and grill the zucchinis as a side dish to plain grilled chicken. I didn't have a plan for the nectarines.

I guess the nectarine chicken idea was inspired by our dinner at Bicycle last week, and the mix of flavors in their dishes. I like the balance of sweet and hot in a chutney. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any hot sauce on the boat. I ended up borrowing a couple packets of Taco Bell hot sauce from a marina neighbor.

Negotiations

Amy and I are trying to adapt to life aboard and going forward together. It doesn't help that I've lived alone for seven years and that we are now constantly together in a confined space.

One of the minor issues I'm trying to resolve is whether to steal Amy's boat posts from her blog and post them here, or just link to them. In any case, if you want to comment on her posts, you can do it here or there. We read each other's blogs and comments. Amy just posted The First Week Aboard.

Infrastructure

Just because I'm taking a break from blogging doesn't mean Amy is.

The Old Fart Club

Grampa Speaks:

Visit with Scott on the occasion of his officially joining the old fart club (as he puts it)

The Salty Sea Dog, Sho-Me, and I paid a visit to Split Decision today to celebrate the big 40 and inspect the boat to see how he and it survived the trip. Both look in fine shape.

We embarked on a short sail (motoring) over to the Broadway Pier, where we expected to tie up and walk the short distance to the Wharf Rat, a favorite of Scott, me, and Sho-Me. Unfortunately we did not get far before the motor began missing and stalled out. Scott observed that we were apparent jinxes for his boat and began working on the motor after anchoring. I guessed that the problem sounded like water in the gas, and that may be it, but the full diagnosis is not in. After drying the spark plugs and letting the cylinders dry out (while we enjoyed a beer), we started up again toward Broadway.

But alas, the same thing happened again after beginning well. So repeat the previous paragraph, but change the last sentence to back to the marina.

And alas, again, repeat the previous paragraph, at almost back to the marina. But we did finally make it back.

When we (Scott, me, and Sho-Me) went to Nick’s, the bar/restaurant just up from the marina, we found discrimination is alive and well in Baltimore. Poor Salty Sea Dog was not permitted to join us on the outside patio and had to sit out lunch in the truck (more to add insult to injury, the truck belongs to Wookie, my regular truck dog).

But we enjoyed a couple of beers and fish sandwiches and good conversation about Scott’s adventures and plans, and my plans for retirement.

See the attached photos to see Scott actually at work.




Pic of Grampa and his Admiral:

Trip Retrospective

Found out that pictures posted to the blog are also in a Picasa web album. Unfortunately, only the pictures from this year are in the album, and I can't organize them without screwing up the blog settings. The first few pictures are NASA shuttle pictures, but soon after are pictures taken on Split Decision.

I Could Use Some Advice

Another post stolen wholesale from Admiral Amy's blog:

A variation on the desert island question, only for real: If you were moving yourself to a boat for two months and knew you had limited kitchen space, what items in your pantry would you not be able to do without? I have a pretty standard cupboard of condiments and spices, and have to decide what to pack and what to give away/throw away.

I don’t need to bring any cookware, since we already have the basics on board: cast-iron fry pan and a couple of sauce pans. There will be no baking, and we have limited and erratic refrigeration. So far, my list contains:

-cornmeal (for frying fish and other things)
-bouillon cubes
-any pasta, beans and canned goods I have in my pantry

Home Sweet Home

I spent the first few nights back in Baltimore, tied up to the Broadway Pier in Fells Point. Checked up on my house, and did a bunch of laundry.

Today I cruised over to my old marina. I hadn't called in advance, but figured they would have room for me. I motored down my old pier, and my old slip was empty. Hurray! My neighbor in the photo is still here, as is Bill, the old coot who helped me get the boat in shape for the cruise. Sadly, my buddy Mike in the slip on my other side, is gone until June. But his boat is here, and Bill ran an electric line from Mike's boat for me. Guess I'll have to buy Mike another case of beer.

Seems like nothing has changed since I've left. Except they're replacing the decking on the piers and installing new electrical pedestals. I hope they're not going to start raising the rates at my trailer park marina. Even if they are, the dockmaster was nice enough to pro-rate my slip fee for the couple weeks I'll be here. Nice.

Oh, Say Can You See?

I bet I've now seen all the lighthouses on the Chesapeake. And of course, coming into Baltimore I passed Fort McHenry and the location where the Star Spangled Banner was written.

I motor-sailed this morning from the West River to Baltimore, about 40 miles. Before this trip, I would have considered that a long cruise and quite an accomplishment. Now it's just a morning's work. I sure am a lot saltier. My new major accomplishment is cruising to Florida and returning with the boat and me still in one piece.

Shhh!

The Admiral will be aboard soon. We celebrate her half birthday in June. Her birthday is in December, and its conflict with xmas is a sore spot.

I got her this wetsuit today. I hope it fits. Also picked up another anchor. Don't ask.

And please don't tell her about the wetsuit. I want it to be a surprise.

Smooth Sailing

I'm in Maryland! Actually dipped the hulls into Maryland waters before tucking into Smith Point last night. (The Potomac up to the Virginia shoreline is part of Maryland.) Unfortunately, I'm only in Solomons Island. I've got another 70 miles to go to Baltimore. A small craft advisory was issued starting at 6pm today. I decided to duck in here rather than searching for a port on the Eastern Shore. (The Western Shore lacks inlets between here and just south of Annapolis.) The weather looks to be unsettled for the next few days, so I may be here awhile.

I'd be pulling into Baltimore now, if I'd done an overnighter last night. But I've put the kibosh on singlehanded overnighters. At least while I'm cruising day after day. I've had a couple scares on my past overnighters. I get too fatigued at a certain point and am apt to make bad decisions. Once I get myself in a bad situation, adrenaline kicks in, I get pretty clear-headed, and am able to get myself and the boat out of the jam. But I'd like to avoid those bad situations altogether.

Passed the boat in the pic down by Deltaville, VA.

Back in the Bay

Sailing out of Norfolk I tried to stay on the edge of the channel. When I saw this guy coming towards me, I moved over even more. Then he sounded four toots, and the two tugboats pivoted him directly towards me. I looked over my shoulder and saw a side channel leading to a landing where hundreds of containers were stacked.

Fortunately, he passed in front of me, not on top of me. I snapped the pic after he passed.

I enjoyed an easy motor-sail into the mouth of the bay, listening to A Prairie Home Companion on the radio. But when a cooking show came on, the wind started picking up. In a matter of minutes, the cruising went from enjoyable to white-knuckle. I can imagine how nasty the conditions could be on this part of the bay, if the weather turned bad.

Oh wait, no need to imagine. This is the stretch of the bay where I busted my rudder. In fact, I'm holed up in the same creek that saved my ass that time. I might spend the day here. It looks like conditions will be more favorable tomorrow on.

The not so Dismal Swamp

Rafted up with some trawler folks and enjoyed happy hour at the visitor's center.


Went through a couple locks



Entered Virginia

The Dismal Swamp Canal reminds me of the C&O Canal back home, but without the towpath and with more boats.