First stop, Tilghman Island

We motored a whopping 15 miles yesterday (all of it into 20 knot winds) and pulled into Tilghman Island just ahead of a big blow. A bit of weather had been predicted but this kicked up pretty quickly, giving us the impression that Mother Nature had been stewing about something all day and all of a sudden decided to have an hysterical fit. For about an hour she screamed and threw lightening at us to let us know who's boss then someone gave her a Valium and she went to sleep. As a matter of fact, she was so calm that we were able to hoist the jib at our dock.

Crazy weather though. Hans' first night on the boat was cold enough to need a heater but yesterday was hot and humid, and we were swatting at mosquito's.

Tilghman Island is very pretty but beware of the channel current. We only had 2 knots to contend with but apparently 6 knots can be the norm. The Chop Tank is the cause of this and that's why Tilghman's Draw Bridge operates on command. With 6 knots of current you wouldn't be able to idle in the channel and wait for a scheduled opening. We were told that this makes their drawbridge one of the busiest in the world.






In an effort to hopefully get an extra knot of speed we tied the dinghy up on the back of the stern. This will also help keep the bottom of it clean. After towing it for two months this summer it had about in inch of green junk on the bottom.























Hans and I took advantage of Knapp's Narrows Marina's continental breakfast, and shower facilities.










Hans is always working. Here he is reading emails while taking our garbage to the dumpster.

Blogging is a bit difficult for me because I have to use his phone for the internet. The connection isn't very fast and then when I'm downloading pictures etc... his phone will ring and either a happy german or an unhappy frenchman will need to talk to him, and oops there goes everything I was working on!

So if I don't respond to your comments (or leave comments on your blogs), I apologize as it's all I can do to publish one post. But I'm still reading everyone's blogs when I can.








The gulls had a feast on our deck last night but they're very rude and in addition to not cleaning up their messes, they leave all kinds of colorful poop behind.











We had a feast too thanks to Betty Crocker and her tasty Tuna Helper.

My mother gagged when I told her we'd be eating this stuff so I'm glad Hans isn't a picky eater.

















Here is our girl shortly before we left this morning. We are currently heading south towards the Patuxant and are sailing nicely at 5 to 6 knots in 15-20 knot winds.


Maybe we would sail faster if we had the main up all the way but since we discovered a huge rip in it this morning that won't be happening. The tear is at the bottom so luckily we can keep that part rolled in the boom.


If/when we get to Florida we'll get it repaired then.