Day Sail from Annapolis to St Michaels

September 20th, 2008
As usual, Captain Jim awoke first and began to prepare his list of chores and things to buy. Meanwhile the crew ( Tim Mehl and JT McBrier ) slept soundly in their bunks to ensure their batteries were fully charged for the day. Once awake, JT and Captain Jim headed off to Grumps for breakfast and West Marine for supplies while Tim offered to stay behind and prepare the boat for the day's journey. But before leaving the boat there was a little foreshadowing when Tim mentioned feeling not quite up to First Mate but more like Able Bodied Seamen. Off in East Port, Grumps served up some wonderful pancakes with strawberries and piping hot coffee. Meanwhile back on the boat, Tim had begun to fill the water tanks to ensure readiness for the passage. Upon the captain's return, he was surprised to find water just starting to crest the floorboards. Tim stated they had been filling for a while, perhaps longer than one would expect. A thorough investigation found that the recently cleaned water tanks had not been properly sealed ( ie. missing bolts ). The captain and crew sprang into action and began using the whale pump and electric bilge pump to empty the bilge. This delayed our departure by a few hours but gave the boat yet another sea trial to ensure its readiness for the open oceans in the weeks ahead. We then departed Sarles marina, headed through the bridge across from the Annapolis Yacht Club, motored past the Severn Sailing Association and sailed out into the open waters of the Chesapeake under jib and a little help from the iron genoa. About 5 hours later, we arrived in the beautiful St Michaels Marina and docked on the outer break wall behind "Branch Office", a Hatteras Sport Fisher. Cocktail hour included our friend Chris from the yacht Rachabel, as well as Chrissy and David Wainer currently motorsailing on a 60' Choylei and 2 other guests. All 7 of us then headed to The Crab Claw for dinner via dinghy. We immediately ordered 2 dozen Blue Crabs and began hammering, eating and telling stories. After a quick boat ride back to Yacht Nyanza, the crew prepared for bed....enough fun for one day.
JT McBrier