The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

I believe we've managed to live a lifetime in a week.

But not in a good way.

Because of blustery weather, (and I just love NOAA's weather reports because ten knots gusting to fifteen really means twenty knots gusting to thirty and in the complete opposite direction forecasted!) we were forced to anchor in St. Michael's which isn't a bad place to be but we really needed to get to Annapolis.

Yesterday's winds were supposed to be favorable for our trek across the bay.

Supposed to be.

We are now minus a very big and very expensive sun pad. It took a flying leap off the front of the boat and is now happily floating somewhere in the Chesapeake.

I watched in horror as our dinghy zig zagged in an alarming fashion as we dragged it behind us, and the outboard motor (which is far too large for us) bucked and heaved like a crazed stallion. At one point when the dinghy was riding higher than us, with the motor jerking back and forth, and appeared to want to join Hans in the cockpit, I went below with the dog and shook.

We ended up in rolling, nauseating waves, with winds that gusted over forty knots at times. We were screaming along with the jib but finally had to take it down and use the engines in an attempt to get around Bloody Point (aptly named!). Then Hans put out a tiny amount of jib for the final ride and the wind took it in it's teeth and we flew into Annapolis where we landed at the City Dock. The Knotty Cat does very well in strong winds.



Our evening in St. Michael's lulled us into a false sense of security, and Wilbur and I beat Hans in a game of Sequence.

The next morning just before our trip across the Bay of Hell our (new last year!) water pump broke while I was brushing my teeth.











A monohull followed us from St. Michael's and they looked just like a giant dolphin. They would rise high up out of the water and then slam nose first into the bay. Again and again.
We ended up docking directly behind them at a bulkhead in the City Dock and we took each others picture.

"That was quite an exciting trip, wasn't it?" the captain of the other boat observed.

That's not quite how I saw it.












We originally wanted to go to Annapolis to get our newly repaired radio installed and ended up having to have the water pump temporarily hard wired.

Now when you use water you have to turn on a faucet, switch on the pump, and then turn the water off before switching off the pump.

Tomorrow we hope to have it fixed along with our spreader lights.




Here we are at the dock. I didn't realize we were tied up at Ego Alley. Apparently people like to tie up their fancy yachts here and show off for everyone. I was standing on our deck when a man in a very loud shirt asked me if I knew whether there would be room for his 80 foot yacht. I really don't think anyone with an 80 foot boat is going to ask me for help.

He was probably a serial killer.

I did feel like a big fraud though and tried not to see if the other boats were sneering at our poor needy cat and spent this morning fixing our many light switches that decided to quit working. Using a screwdriver, butter knife, and a corkscrew (my favorite tool) I was able to get all but one switch in working order but only after I took the dog for an hour walk and before Hans woke up.

Right now I think Chlorox the Cat and I are of the same mind about this trip