We spilled some water on our computer damaging the keyboard but we have a new one and are back in business. Since our last post we: rerouted our Caribbean 1500 crew from Rhode Island to Maryland due to unpredictable hurricane Dorian; Amy passed her US Sailing Safety at Sea training; we properly re-christened the boat with its new name; we journeyed south; and returned north to where we last left off. We started the week inviting aboard our good Atlanta YC friends Tracy and Darryl for a long weekend. They are eager to crew on the upcoming rally to the Caribbean and we all thought it would be a good idea to get them familiar with the boat before the big trip. We have chartered with them in the past and had a great time catching up. We journeyed south under light winds to stay overnight on the Magothy River and moved on to Annapolis Harbor to drop them off on Monday.
While in the big city of Annapolis we utilized Lyft to replace the computer and get some boat parts. The shower and laundry facilities at the Harbormaster’s office were convenient. There are several boats moving around the harbor at all times so the scenery is always entertaining. We also brought our electrical contractor aboard to diagnose and fix our secondary battery charger issue. We can now charge under the generator in half the time it has been taking.
We took off on the 13th when good breeze was forecast. This was the first time we have been able to sail the boat in sustained 20+ knot air. We sailed upwind all day with a reef in the main throwing in a couple of tacks. We received regular puffs in the afternoon in the upper twenties. We now know we have a boat that is more than comfortable in these conditions. It was so fun Jim hand steered for most of the 43 miles and gave the autopilot the day off. Renegade romped along and seemed happy with an apparent wind angle in the low 30’s. Out pointing and passing other boats on the same tack was a strange sensation for one design sailors.
