A Glorious Day! ! ! ! !

SHIP'S LOG:

Today was glorious though it didn't start out as such. I needed fuel( 35 gallons worth), a pump out and some ice blocks. I hit one marina that had the fuel and the pump out but no ice. i took on more fuel than I expected and had to pump out more than I expected. This particular marina has a pump out hose with a clear plastic section that allows you to view the "holdings" of your holding tank. A great way to start the day! Actually, most marinas will not pump fuel or anything else because of insurance concerns. The most they will do is hand you the hose and get out of the way, but it seems to work out OK . . . .so long as you don't "have a spill." Then the EPA and all those other agencies get involved and the fines get ridiculous.

I tried to get ice at three other marinas. As I approached the first two, boats slipped in ahead of me. It was really frustrating but the third one, which was literally "up the creek" and looked sort of run down had no one at the dock so I swooped in, got my ice and beat a hasty retreat.

I motored out into the Patuxent River, raised a reefed Main and Genny and took off down the river to the Bay. I hung a right at the mouth and made it all the way to the Potomac on a single tack. I was accompanied by the boys and girls from the Navy flight training school at the Patuxent Naval Air Station who today were doing "Touch and Go". This maneuver is training for aircraft carrier landings. When you land, you slam the throttles forward so that you have enough power to take off again should your "hook" miss the arresting wires. It is amazing how much noise can come out of one of those little planes and there were whole squadrons of them doing it all day. My course also took me by the Naval Targets in the bay and while no one was dropping bombs or firing missiles, there were lots of planes doing low-level attack approaches to the targets in the water. While I am sure they missed by miles, the noise rattled the filings in my teeth.

The sail was glorious.The winds were between 10 and 15, with gusts to 25, which churned up 3-4 waves in the shallow bay. It was warm and the sun was shining, I could not have asked for a better day. IT was one hand sailing all the way. I seriously would have used the wind-vane steering, but it has been too long since I actually sail ABISHAG. The only sour note was the trip up the Potomac River. Turning up the river, the wind was on the nose and so were the waves. I had hoped to get up to St. Mary River but settled for Jutland Creek instead. If all things go as are hoped for, I will be in "Anti-poison Creek" in "Little Bay" in Virginia tomorrow.