>My son Rob and I were joined by our good friends Joe and Luke for our “annual Guy’s Weekend”  in Annapolis aboard Pandora.  On Thursday evening we rendezvoused, arriving from NJ, CT, NYC and Pittsburgh to spend a few days together aboard Pandora and see some of the sights of the Chesapeake and Annapolis.   Unlike some past years when we have faced rain and challenging conditions, this weekend had really terrific weather.  On Thursday evening we had dinner aboard with the plan of heading out the following morning.  The weather patterns for the weekend called for moderate to strong SW winds on Friday followed by a shift overnight to fresh NW on Saturday.  With this in mind, we headed out on a reach to Rock Hall on the Eastern Shore, a much different, and decidedly slower pace than near Annapolis.  We dropped the hook around the corner from Rock Hall Harbor in Swan Creek.  

After we arrived, we headed for shore and rented bikes.  This marina just past the mooring field in “The Haven” was a very nice place to get ashore and for $5 each we headed out to explore Rock Hall.   This is a nice shot of the Club House at the marina.

As predicted by the weather service, which called for 50% chance of thunderstorms, we were treated to a fantastic light show from the passing cold front.  This shot of the growing thunderhead to the west was a clue as to what would happen next.  Later in the evening we were hit with some pretty impressive gusts, enough to knock everything that wasn’t secured onto the floor.  I would guess that the brief gusts were upwards of 40-50kts. It was impressive but brief lived.  It’s a good thing that we have a big anchor, a 65lb Bruce and lots of heavy chain.

With a strong NW wind the following morning we headed out to Annapolis.  Our trip was quite lively as the wind increased to a gusty 15-18kt breeze and hard on the wind we blasted along, sometimes as fast as 8.5kts, nearly 10kts with the ebbing current, our way toward Annapolis. 

Annapolis on a busy Saturday is quite a scene and this visit wasn’t any different.  A view up Main Street gives you a feel for how crowded it can be. 

The harbor and out into the bay has all sorts of craft but it’s always busy.  This boat is a sandbagger, one of two, Bull and Bear.  These two identical boats are owned and campaigned by a wealthy New York financier who fancies wooden boats.  He supports these boats, in partnership with The National Hall of Fame and Sailing Center, as they are trucked around for various events. I am told that moving these around is quite an operation.  They are wonderfully maintained and quite impressive.   The program is designed to help expose young people to sailing.  Bull and Bear have a very nice website where you can learn more about these wonderful boats. Perhaps you can even find a way to get aboard for a sail.  Not a bad idea.

We also decided to spend some time walking around the Naval Academy and I have to say that I was impressed with how wonderful the grounds look.  It reminded me of the Naval College in Greenwich England.  I expect that the founding fathers were trying to say something about the young United States by evoking the look of a similar institution.  And, to this day, your tax dollars are hard at work.  What a view of the harbor. 

And, what’s a view of the harbor without a shot of Pandora on her mooring?

 And a shot of the Academy 40 footers, that they race on the bay and further away.  These are not cushy yachts at all.  They are beefy and powerful in every way. 

The buildings on campus are quite amazing to see.  No denying that there is European influence here.

 Several views of the dome on the chapel where John Paul Jones is entombed.

One of the many wonderful old historic homes just outside of the Academy walls. There’s lots to see in Annapolis and no shortage of folks doing just that. 

>Jessica Watson returned home to Sydney Harbor on Saturday to a crowd of thousands after sailing alone and unassisted around the world in seven months.  An amazing achievement by any account and yet not a record according to the world sail speed record governing body.  It seems that in order to earn the record itself, she would have had to sail a minimum number of miles that would have taken her higher into the northern hemisphere than she did in actuality.   This link provides a video of the reasoning behind the ruling.  To me, and thousands of others who welcomed her back to Sydney, her achievement is, non the less, an amazing feat by any measure.

This video is a very touching view of her homecoming and first steps on land.   More to come I am sure in the coming days.

It’s going to be a difficult transition for many, including me, as we have to adjust to a “Jessica blog free world” now that she has returned home.   Oh well. 

What an amazing achievement.

>After seven months at sea Jessica Watson is scheduled to arrive back home on May 15th after having circumnavigated the globe on a small boat with no outside assistance.  This is a major feat for anyone and especially for someone so young.  Jessica is only 16 years old. There has been considerable controversy about someone so young making such a voyage.  I, for one, am really impressed with how she has handled herself and with her crew for making sure that she had a boat that was easy on her, as easy as ocean sailing can be.

Jess’s trip has been widely followed in Australia with regular television interviews and even a call from the Prime Minister on “Australia Day” a while back.  Because of a desire to bring her in to port at a predictable time, she has made a point of timing her arrival for May 15th, tomorrow.  

I, for one, will miss following her voyage and will surely have a bit of withdrawal when she stops posting.   Today’s post, Thursday, is a particularly good one and worth reading.  While I know that she has been well coached to always put her best foot forward, it surely comes through that she has had a life changing experience.  In some ways she has changed things for many who have followed her for this last seven months.

Brenda and I surely wish that we could be there to welcome her home.  It’s been fun to follow along.

A video of a discussion with Jessica, her Mother as well as port officials was posted today and it certainly provides evidence of how her trip has captured the imagination of Australia.  I can only imagine how excited she, and her mother, must be. 

Here’s to one tough, determined lady, Jessica Watson on Ella’s Pink Lady about to complete a successful circumnavigation of the globe…alone.

>It’s amazing how quickly it became summer in Annapolis.  We spent the weekend on Pandora as our first real weekend aboard, beyond sleeping aboard while getting her ready for the water.

This last weekend we actually did some sailing, and with two other SAGA 43s.  Both couples, one we had met briefly prior to launch and the other that sailed down from Baltimore.  On Friday evening we made a very brief run from Sprig’s Pond, where Pandora is docked for the next few weeks, off across the Magothy River, north of Annapolis, and anchored behind a small island where we joined our new friends aboard St Somewhere.  Dave and Barbara, who retired last year, were just back from a trip south down the Inland Waterway and the Bahamas for the winter.

It was fun talking to them about their trip south for the winter and comparing notes on the details of their boat. It’s amazing how similar and yet different two identical boats can be.  As with most larger sailboats, SAGA 43s are built to order and are all semi-custom.

It seems that most folks don’t have photos of their boats sailing so I try to take shots of any boats we are with so I can share them.  Here’s a shot of St. Somewhere close hauled headed toward the Rhone River, south of Annapolis.  That’s about what Pandora looks like with only minor differences.

As I mentioned in previous posts, I am working to get Pandora in shape for offshore sailing and have been focused on heavy weather gear such as storm sails.  My current sail configuration is good to about 30kts (33mph) of wind and above that it’s very difficult, and dangerous to handle the boat.  With this in mind, I had a running forestay installed to hold a storm jib.  My largest forward sail, the genoa, is 600 square feet, a lot of sail. My inner staysail or jib, is about 400 square feet so I wanted to have a sail that could be set when it’s too windy for the outer larger sails, hence a storm jib of less than 200 square feet to be hanked on the inner, running stay.  A running stay is one that is designed to be attached and removed as needed so it won’t get in the way of the working sails.

In this case, the inner stay is attached to the deck about four feet behind my inner fixed stay.  Here’s  a shot of the stay in place.  Notice the lever setup that hooks it to the deck.  It’s pre-adjusted so that when it’s installed it’s at the correct tension.   As there is so much tension on s storm sail when the wind is up, this rig is backed up under the deck by a massive plate that is bolted to a firm bulkhead in the chain locker.   This way the stress of the sail is spread over a large area and is sure to hold.   Without the strong attachment point, the stay would rip the deck right off in a blow.  Not a good thing to have a gaping hole in the deck.  That would be bad, very bad.

 This is the same stay removed and stowed on the side of the mast, and out of the way.  It’s a pretty elegant solution, one that my rigger figured out.  Notice the curved stainless channel to the left.  It’s designed to ease the stay in a curve and get it out of the way.  Nice work.

A detail shot showing how the stay is attached to the port stay at the deck.  It’s a snap to move it from here forward, something that’s a necessity in storm conditions.  It’s got to be easy when the boat and deck are heaving all over the place in rough conditions.

Sometimes some of the most satisfying projects are the simplest.  This shot of the aft head shows a nifty addition that I made to the seat.  The problem is that when the boat is jumping around and you have to “use” the head and sit down, the seat tends to swing to one side with the motion of the boat, thus breaking the hinges. This neat edition of retainer blocks (the ones in the middle of each side) project down from the seat by  1 1/2″ and keep the seat stabilized so it doesn’t slide off and stress the hinges. I can’t take credit for this idea but did make the blocks out of Starboard, a hard plastic material.  Pretty slick if I say so myself.  Now, when was the last time you saw a picture of a toilet on a blog?  Often?  I didn’t think so.  It’s a first for me.  One certainly needs to know that their “throne” is secure, doesn’t one?

The Chesapeake is a world of contrast with the old mixed in with the new.  As we were headed back up to our slip on Sunday afternoon, I spotted this old wooden oyster buy boat chugging along.  A very pretty sight in the evening light. 

Just out of frame was a much different view, one of nearly a dozen massive ships waiting at anchor to be called into Baltimore to drop off or pick up a load.  It’s impressive to pass one of these behemoths at anchor so close.   We were indeed very, very close.

Finally, no blog post of a weekend trip is complete without a shot of the setting sun following a wonderful evening sail.

Back to reality and work.  We will be headed back down with some friends for a weekend Rendezvous with our friends in The Corinthians.   More then.

>Pandora launched as planned on Friday morning in Annapolis.  After all of the preparation it always amazes me how quickly it all happened and then we are floating.  With months of preparation and organization when it comes time to launch.  The guys show up with the lift, rig up the straps and off they go.  Aside from my sanding and painting the underside of the keel, the whole project couldn’t have taken more than 15 minutes from when they showed up until Pandora was afloat.

That’s a big lift but the mast is even higher.  At just a shade under 65′ tall, Pandora’s mast will just fit under the bridges on the Intercoastal Waterway to Florida which has a 65′ controlling height on the bridges.

Amazing how big she looks in the slings. Actually, the closer to land she gets the bigger she seems.  Get her off shore in nasty conditions and she seems down right diminutive.

After hitting the water, we moved to the other side of the lift dock to begin finishing up on the last minute details.   How serene it all looks.

It would seem that after the countless hours of work that getting the boat ready entails, that we’d be ready to go once she splashed.   No, no, no…

Let me list the ways, the many, many ways.

The chart plotter and all of it’s interconnected wind direction and speed, boat speed, water temperature, auto pilot, GPS, radar, repeaters are all interconnected and ALL DIDN’T WORK!!! Blank screens, mindless blinking boxes, NOTHING WORKED.  Did I say that NOTHING WORKED?  I made a quick call to my friendly electronics guy and two hours later we were back in business.  Fortunately, when I called he picked up immediately (you have to love those cell phones) and within 10 minutes he was aboard.   I was sure that he was going to say “I’ll be able to come by next Tuesday” but he didn’t.  He waved his magic wand (after tearing apart a slew of interior cabinetry) unplugging all sorts of things, plugging them in again and putting them back together again.  After that, everything magically worked again.  Pretty unsettling that it can all be that easy/hard but Pandora was happy again. 

Meanwhile, the sail maker, no, make that two sail makers, were aboard taking measurements for a new storm jib (more about that in my next post).  I had hoped to buy a used one but no such luck.   Getting the fit just right is a trick with the new inner forestay wasn’t in the cards with a used one so I caved and ordered a new one.  Brenda was thrilled, as you can imagine. Another “boat dollar” later it’s on order.

To complete the moment, the rigger was back on board for a rig tune the new rig and a bit later his assistant was back to finish up on a few last minute details.  It’s amazing how there’s always “one more thing” to do, and to charge for on a boat.   The good news is that the rigger walked me through all of the details of tuning the rig so now I understand how to do it myself.  Which is good as it will need adjusting again after the new standing rigging is used and stretches a bit as is worked into shape.

My good friend Chris Blossom, the marine artist, loves to tease me about Pandora, with all of her complexities and constant repairs.  His boat, a 30 year old Luders 33, fitted out for offshore sailing as well, is much less dependent on electronics and his bills are much, much less as well.  It’ fully a fully capable boat but it’s a lot less complex.  There’s something to be said about low tech.  However, I do love all of those things that go beep.

Meanwhile I spent over an hour on the phone with the HP printer guy in India trying to get my new on board printer to work with my laptop.  This is critical for business as we will be splitting our time between home and Pandora this season.  On the boat I now have all of the technology that I need to stay connected, just like a “real office”.

Along with everything else that was done to the boat over the winter, we put a flat screen TV on board last year.  However, it was never connected to an antenna and to date have only used it for watching movies.  Now that we have this slick new mast head TV antenna (I don’t even want to think about what that cost to watch “free” TV) we have HD TV aboard Pandora.  The real trick will be to see if our solar panels will be able to keep up with the power demands of a TV, refrigeration, printer/scanner, navigation computer, Brenda’s laptop, my laptop, multiple instruments, microwave, water pumps, GPS, plotter, radar, cell phone chargers, lighting and all of those shiny electronics that go beep (when they work) that keep Pandora happy.  Yikes, it better be a sunny summer on the water as solar panels don’t put out much when it’s cloudy.  Perhaps it’s time to get a wind generator.  More on that later.

Until mid June Pandora’s home port will be Sprig’s pond near Annapolis in a slip.  Here’s  a shot of Pandora (across the dock, stern too) near Lumen, another SAGA 43.  Lumen is just visiting as her owner Peter recently arrived from Florida where he had her for the winter.  Peter keeps Lumen in Maine and will be back in a few weeks to continue his trip back home.

For now, Pandora and Lumen are docked together.  Not exactly a flock of SAGAs but more than are usually on the same doc.