Sailing Corgi

Morty is an experienced sailing dog: he grew up on a sailboat and has been sailing since he was a 8 weeks old. At the age of 3, you can tell his favorite parts of sailing are. 

He will sit out in the wind, smelling the air that blows over our boat as we power through the waves. He sifts through scents from beyond the horizon while resting in his comfy seat on the deck. 

The massive rope fenders are a new favorite place for him to relax. He likes to lean into them when he goes forward on the deck. I think he feels comforted by their size and weight. Before the fenders, he would snuggle up in a jib that was flaked on the bow. He was only able to do this if the jib (Josh) was not raised. Under full sail, he would need to find something else to snuggle up to.  

He will  always have us when he needs some pets, and we are easy for him to find on board the boat while underway! 

Stereotypes

Maddie and I grabbed a mooring ball in Annapolis, Maryland for the night and rowed to shore for a delicious meal of epic quantities at Chick and Ruth's Delly . Annapolis is very boat focused, after all it is considered the sailing capital of the world (by people who live and sail out of Annapolis); so each street ends in a dinghy pier. 

This is wonderful because you can take your dinghy to the street you want to walk on, tie up, and walk to your destination!  

Our dinner destination is located on Main St., and the dinghy pier is located at the end of Ego Alley, an alley where the biggest, flashiest, most extravagant boats go to show off.  

Tied up on the sides of ego alley were immaculately restored wooden motor yachts, 70 foot sleek yacht with under water lights, and cigarette boats; all glistening in the lights from the city.  

Up ego alley we went, in our wooden row boat I built two years ago. The paint is chipping, the bottom paint is almost gone, and the oar locks squeak on each stroke.  

Sailors always arrive in style! 

Rainy Days

We are anchored in Town Creek, next to Oxford Maryland at the moment and it has been raining all morning. The rains started at 4 AM and have not let up all morning. 

The gray and gloomy skies take all the desire out of going outside our rowing to shore. 

Maddie is still sleeping and I am looking into the gray skies with Morty and Sammy, waiting for the weather to change.  

The good side to this rain is I can collect some water off the sails to do laundry with. This rain has no wind accompanying it, so I feel confident about opening the sails to serve as make-shift rain collectors.  

Once the buckets are a bit more full, I can get to the laundry. Until then, I sit looking out the companionway at the raindrops hitting the water.  

Ghosting

The questionable cold front, with its harsh cold breeze has retreated, leaving us with warm sunny skies and little wind. 

We are on a run towards our favorite creek in South River,  Harness Creek, and the light airs make for lazy days and slow passages.  

We raised Dill, our drifter and began ghosting along towards the mouth of the river. 

Our bottom is very dirty, so we are fortunate to be on a run at the moment. If we can time it right, we will be able to ride the tide up the river and into our favorite anchorage for the weekend.  

Storm Front

We're setting off for an 11 day sail for part two of our honeymoon flying the stay sail (Stanley) and one reef in the main (Marge) as we watch the weather front in the distance play out. 

This cold front was creeping towards us, but now seems to be retreating. 

Cold wind continues to blow onto us, sometimes close to 20 knots, then dropping down to 5 knots. It is unclear at the moment what this weather system is going to do, but we will continue to watch with our reefed sails.