Century Club: Cheryl Duvall

It was supposed to be a 13 day sailcation, with stops in the Rhode River, Solomon's Island, St. Mary's City, and Leonardtown. But Hurricane Ian and then a cold front off the Atlantic altered our plans. We were stuck in Solomon's for 9 days. But we met new friends---other cruisers who were also stuck. And I started watercoloring again, making a sketch log of our experiences. None of that would have happened if we would have made it to our intended destinations. And it was still 12 days of being on the water! And we had a nice stop in Cambridge on our way home.

We've never been to the Little Choptank before, so we set sights on that for a stop on our way to Solomon's Island. We had a glorious downwind sail on Friday, with winds from NNE. We were able to fly our colorful gennaker for more than 2/3 of the distance. We anchored just before sunset. But on Saturday morning, just after we weighed anchor, we noted that our engine was overheating. So we dropped the anchor just a few hundred yards from where we had spent the night, so we could troubleshoot. Unfortunately we were now anchored in a popular fishing hole, and I'm sure those powerboaters were wondering why we were ruining their crabbing and fishing with our odd choice of anchoring. After a few hours of bleeding air and other troubleshooting, we returned to our original anchorage for the everning, abandoning our hopes of getting to Solomon's Island. Alas. We wanted to be sure the engine problem was solved. Rather than risk a further distance, we returned one day earlier than planned on this holiday weekend. The engine didn't act up again, which was good because we had to motor most of the way to Annapolis on Sunday due to light winds.

Sailed to the Severn River. Chase Creek was too tight for anchoring (lots of boats there when we arrived) so we continued to Little Round Bay. We had the place to ourselves. Evening was warm so we slept in the cockpit on new portable berths that my husband made for nights like this!

I spent a staycation in the Annapolis Harbor on mooring ball #31. My husband helped me sail the boat from our marina to the harbor on July 19. I stayed for 5 nights in a heat wave, sleeping in the cockpit every night to catch a few breezes. I had a great time, using the dinghy to get to shore for restaurants, sightseeing, and picking up friends. I returned home sooner than expected due to excessive heat. But I had a blast. My first time staying alone on our boat away from the slip.