Thursday 15 September – Friday 16 September

After our maiden blog post yesterday, we headed out into the Chesapeake with high hopes and many plans for a full day of sailing – and quickly realized that we had three faulty batteries.  So back we went to the marina.  Almost as soon as our new batteries were installed, some deliciously fearsome thunderheads rolled in, and although they didn’t end up bringing much rain, it was heavily overcast and extremely windy for the rest of the day, so we had no choice but to stay in Annapolis that night.  The downside?  A lost day of sailing.  The upside?  Well…

In the end, our second night in port wasn’t so bad.  We cracked open the moscato and made the best of it.  After a false start, a gorgeous sunset, and a good night’s sleep, we were ready to go – for real this time!

Second mate Susannah provided an incredible captain’s breakfast this morning, and a second breakfast (thanks to our lame-o oven) of biscuits and jam, and we were out on the bay before 10am.  It was a great day for sailing – we passed a few other sailboats enjoying the water and a whole bunch of empty freighters waiting for cargo in the shipping lane.  For the first half of the day, it was all hands on deck.  We were hoisting the main and trimming the jib and tacking and gybing and I’m probably embarrassing myself so I’ll stop.  The point is, we were a well-oiled machine.  Check out these lines:

Ship shape!  The second half of the sail was pretty rocky rolly, and first mate Townes was not digging all the heeling La Mia Stella was doing, so he and I retired to the stateroom to ride out the waves with a little GTG (green tea gingerale, for those of you unversed in the ways of the Mannings) and a good two hours worth of reading material on the Kindle.  We finished Pirates Past Noon and made some serious headway on Harriet the Spy, if you were wondering.

When the wind died down, we furled the mainsail and let the jib drive us the rest of the way into St. Michaels harbor.  We spent the leisurely hour of smooth sailing up in the cockpit, enjoying the weather as well as the enthralling features on my camera.

Yeah, we thought these were pretty hilarious.  Townes looks a little seasick in the second one.  And a little like a Smurf in the first one.

We got to St. Michaels, anchored out in the bay, and then changed our minds and docked.  We took a quick walk around the waterfront to stretch our legs and picked up some pumpkin ale and fresh rockfish in town before heading back to La Mia Stella for dinner, where we were joined by a surprise visitor…

Kiwi flatmates together again!!!  Mikaela and I hadn’t seen each other in almost a year, and this was only the second time we’d been together since getting back from New Zealand last July.  We lived together for five months in NZ and saw each other essentially 24/7, so needless to say, the separation anxiety has been pretty intense.  We’ve been trying to work out a visit this summer, and even though this sailing trip was taking me relatively close to where she’s currently living in Maryland, our plans were so tentative and likely to change that it didn’t seem worth it to even try to get together.  Out of the blue, a couple hours before we left Annapolis, Paul decided to set a course for St. Michaels at the same time that Mikaela told me she lives five minutes from there.  That’s pretty freaky, Bowie.  It was so wonderful to see my dearest Riccarton again, and we all had an awesome evening eating fresh fish barbecue and s’mores while being entertained by Townes’ sugar dance.

We obviously reminisced about NZed (as we’re sure to do every time we’re together for the rest of our lives), caught up on our summers, and talked about everything in between.  (Side note: Hi, Mikaela’s aunt!!)  It was crazy but so cool to see one of my best friends, who I’ve spent the most time with in New Zealand and seen only once in the United States, sitting on our boat and hanging out with my family.  It was rough saying goodbye, but we’ll make sure we see each other again soon.  Plus, it’s tough to be too upset about anything when you’re on a sailboat and all is right with the world.

TR Quote of the Day:

While doing the “sugar dance” and cracking us all up…

“Am I killing you guys right now?”