The best sail ever

That's what Hans says we experienced yesterday as we zipped up the Potomac on our way to Washington DC.

We kept up a pace of 5 to 6 knots for 35 nautical miles and sailed for about six hours. It was a beautiful day and after anchoring we managed to grill a steak before the dark set in.


Today is a different story.

The rain moved in around midnight and by nine this morning it was just pouring. Of course the wind direction today is exactly opposite of what we need and we're now motoring into the wind and against the tide.

We have about 25 more miles to go so needless to say we'll be anchoring again tonight.

Here is Hans in his foul weather gear.

Wilbur is lying as close to the helm as possible in an attempt to keep out of the rain.
He wouldn't mind having a set of his own foul weather gear.















We're using our running lights and radar since visibility is a bit hazy with the rain.

This is a split screen of the chart plotter and the radar.











Maybe we should have been using radar the other day when we went by one of these markers.
We had the jib pulled in close which of course cut off our view on the starboard side of the boat. We knew we had markers ahead but since it was a nice slow lazy sail we didn't pay as much attention as we should have.
All of a sudden I thought I saw someone walking along the side of our deck (which I also knew wasn't possible). I no sooner jumped up than a marker just like this slid on by us. I could have reached out and touched it!
I don't even want to think of how much damage it could have caused if we'd hit it head on!

Ouch!