November and December are chilly in the Chesapeake too so when an opportunity came up to help some cruisers in Annpolis get to the Bahamas came up I jumped on that. Jerry and Tina had started their journey on WhatKnot, a Catalina 470, 6 months before in the Great Lakes. They sailed down the St. Lawrence Seaway and down the east coast to Annapolis. They wanted extra crew to sail around Hatteras to Wilmington NC and then on to the Bahamas. They liked that I was a sailing teacher as they didn't have much experience sailing before this journey. We hit it off and had a great, but chilly time sailing the Chesapeake to Norfolk. The weather then sent us to the ICW to get to Wilmington rather than around Hatteras. Our ICW trip included a full turky dinner underway on Thanksgiving. I left them to family matters in Wilmington and then rejoined them a week later when a weather window opened to Green Turtle Cay. It was a great almost due south run with wind at our back and following seas just about the whole way. I stayed with them to Hope Town till it was time to head home for Christmas. That added another 22 days to my year on the water.
Century Club: Hilary Howes
at anchor in Hope Town
The oceanside of Elbow Cay
Guana Cay
Tina cooking Thanksgiving Dinner in a Catalina 470 galley
My common watch, early morning, generally included sunrises.
May 29
May 14
Being a yacht broker and friends with a real estate broker means we get to sail week days. On my boat and his boat. Floyd is also working on his currency for a Captain's License so we tried to sail one of our boats every week, weather contingent. Here are the days we did on his boat the Blue Heron a 1983 Hunter 34
with students on the dock
with students in the Rainbow 24
In ASA 204 class with Duncan Hood
I love teaching sailing in part because it gets me out on the water. But also for the wonderful students I meet. Teaching classes of 3 or private instruction accounted for 40 days of sailing for me this year. Sailing primaraly Rainbow 24s that are engineless keelboats but also larger vessels up to 41'. Also I got to take my ASA 203, 204 instructor classes which added into the days
It's Chilly in the Chesapeak in Feburary so when the opportunity came up to crew in Florida came up I jumped on it. I joined Ceri Ann Lewis on her Tayana 42 in St. Augustine and cruised with her to Key West when I went back to work and she had new crew coming on. Motoring on the ICW and Sailing through the Keys all added another 31 days to my year on the water.
January 13
On January 2nd
April 2nd
August 30
Aug 18
With my friend Floyd July 21
Checking on my boat in January
Aug 2
March 31
Being a Yacht broker meant sailing with potential clients on my own boat the Laughing Spirit, on sea trials and on deliveries. Here are my days on the Laughing Spirit, my Catalina 30 from 1990
Travel from Back creek to Herring Bay on Friday, Race on Saturday and return on Sunday