This week is the Whitby Rendezvous and the Annapolis Sailboat Show. No real work this week, but cruising at a blistering pace. Really.

While cars can whiz from Deltaville to Galesville to Annapolis in a day, it's a two or three day trip by boat with fair winds, favorable tides and early starts. Then the rendezvous consists of all-day meetings followed by (and including) socializing until well after dark (2200 becomes "cruiser's midnight", the end of party time for people who wake up at dawn.)

Then a day to go from Galesville to Annapolis, a busy day at the boat show, and a day back to Solomon's. This creates an exhausting week of cruising. With eight-hour travel days and busy non-travel days, we're pooped.

1st. Monday

Whitby Rendezvous Day 1. Docked 38º50.74'N 076º32.35'W.

Got the BU-353 GPS button antenna working with the MacBook Pro. The Mac OS X Mountain Lion upgrade meant that the USB driver from Prolific needed to be upgraded. The old MacBook OS hasn't been touched in years.

• Engine topics with Bob Smith of ADC, Kilmarnock, VA. The slight oil consumption? Normal. The slight water consumption? New circulating pump on the horizon. A rebuild kit may be appropriate.

• Pot luck dinner. Met with Terry of Island Time to review his Bahamas itinerary via Google Earth. Go to Georgetown first. Circulate counter-clockwise for the rest of the winter.

  

2nd. Tuesday

Whitby Rendezvous Day 2. Docked 38º50.74'N 076º32.35'W in the West River.

Power Squadron Safety Inspection with Mr. Haynes Lee. He called us out with one deficiency: the aft white running light was out. Ran over to Hartge's for a replacement. It was pleasant to know that we've got the bare essentials covered.

• Storm experience. We need a Jordan Series Drogue or the Series Drogue kit from Sailrite.

• Hull Construction Questions and Answers.

• The SPOT Tracker. Have it, like it, need to configure it a little more intelligently.

• The newest members of the Whitby Family. Pictures of hull #10 in a state of disrepair. However, they know it's a project and they like our "Whitby Family" vibe.

• Marine Canvas. We think we might know what we're going to do for our Dodger replacement and a new Bimini structure.

3rd. Wednesday

Whitby Rendezvous Day 3. Docked 38º50.74'N 076º32.35'W.

Today's topics.

• Osprey Prevention. Not a problem we have, but we now know the recommended product: Bird-B-Gone Bird Spider.

• Spinnaker Sock. Based on diagrams and kit instructions, this was built from scratch.

• The Incredible Hull update: Nine things to update. We're now thinking more seriously about pulling and replacing our chainplates. Not an easy job because of the whole "support the rig" part of the job. The woodwork needs to be cut apart in a few places in the main saloon.

• Our presentation on "Cutting the Lines": how we moved from shore-side life to living aboard.

• Business meeting for the association. Change in leadership.

4th. Thursday

Whitby Rendezvous cleanup and departure.

We motored and sailed and motored some more up to Mill Creek in Whitehall Bay. There we were able to raft up with Indefatigable. Winds were light, but fair for Whitehall Bay and Mill Creek.

Did a little geocaching with Indefatigable: one could not be found, but the other was a successful find of a difficult water-access cache; it was made easy with Indy's tender.

Had dinner met Tim and Julie, friends of the crew of Indefatigable.

Start 38°50.737′N 076°32.240′W

Finish 38°59.57′N 076°27.08′W

Time: 4 hrs. Distance 10 nm direct; 10 nm run.

Travel

5th. Friday

Sailboat show.

Anchored 38°59.57′N 076°27.08′W in Mill Creek off Whitehall Bay.

Lots and lots to see. Mostly, however, we're focused on low-tech items like water pump and chain plates. We don't need new things. We need repairs to old things.

We're so grateful to Indefatigable for letting us hitch a ride with their friends Tim and Julie. It made getting from Mill Creek to the show a simple operation.

6th. Saturday

Up anchor and head out into the bay, bound for Solomon's Island. Started out motor-sailing back and forth down the Bay under yankee. We did okay until we got past Thomas Point lighthouse and ran into the race fleet. We decided to motor straight down the rhumb line until the wind switched to the W. With a wind about 60° off the bow, we could motor-sail at 7+ knots.

Then a squall off Cove Point scared the pants off us. We doused the sail and motored into the Solomon's. Wind was blowing pretty briskly way up Back Creek as we dropped the anchor.

Start 38°59.57′N 076°27.08′W

Finish 38°19.876′N 076°27.554′W

Time: 7 hrs. Distance 40nm direct; 44nm run.

Travel

7th. Sunday

Kicking back in the Solomon's. The wind today is fair for Norfolk, but a bit "sporty": gusting to 25 is predicted. Tomorrow might be better.

The Krogen Rendezvous in the Solomons ended this weekend. That appears to mean that every Krogen at the dock here in Back Creek had to blow their horn an 0830 this morning. On our down day. When we were trying to sleep in.

Met with Joie de Vivre to discuss the Whitby-Brewer Sailboats Association web site; we're going to become stewards of the content. Also, as their guests, we did laundry at Spring Cove Marina as well as grocery shopping. The Food Lion is about a mile away; their Jetty Express bikes are nice.

Our ancient Nissan/Tohatsu NS8B engine 8HP two-stroke is on its last legs. The lower unit seal seems to have failed, allowing exhaust gasses to bubble out randomly from all over. We really want another two-stroke dinghy motor, so we need to nurse this unit until we get to the Bahamas where two-strokes are legal and common.

Our ancient Achilles dinghy has an air leak that we can easily fix and a water leak that may be more challenging to tackle. Once we fix the air leak, we can assess the dinghy's future.

Anchored 38°19.876′N 076°27.554′W

This Week

Engine Hours: 11. Diesel Gallons: 0. Nautical Miles: 54.

Travel