Baltimore to Annapolis

July 8 thru July 12

—Blogpost written by Bob

Monday, July 8

The sky was overcast and storms looked imminent when we woke in the morning.  We delayed leaving our slip in Baltimore until 11 AM.  Small craft warnings were in effect for the bay but we didn't pay much attention to them.  The conditions were nice and relatively calm as we left our slip and headed out into the Potapsco River until we reached the Key Bridge.  There, the Potapsco River made a slight bend toward the east and the wind picked up to about 30 knots and it was rough making much headway against the winds out of the east northeast.  At one point a large wave hit us slightly off the bow and a huge wall of water came smashing into me at the helm, thoroughly soaking me.

At 1 PM we made the turn southward toward the Bay Bridge and the ride became a little more comfortable.  At about 3 PM we went under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and by that time, the wind had subsided considerably.  We came into our slip at Annapolis Landing Marina at about 4 PM.  We got the stern dock lines tied in place while a dock hand held the bow of the boat in place.  I went forward and got off the boat to tie the bow lines.  As I stepped onto the finger pier, it wobbled so much that I fell off into the water.  For me, it was as if the entire mishap was occurring in slow motion.  I was surprised at my inability to swim very far with my clothes (and flip flops) on.  Maggie had to give me a safety cushion we had in the cockpit so that I could make it to the nearest ladder out of the water.

My wallet and a $10 bill drying out on the
LED light in the somewhat messy
navigation station.

Of course, I was wearing flip flops (which I was able to save) and had my wallet and my (electronic) car key in my pants pockets.  (We won't know if my electronic car key will work until this weekend.)


At 5:30 PM the sky cleared up and the sun came out, I changed into dry clothes, and all was right with the world.

s/v Rainy Days in slip #D-5 at
Annapolis Landing Marina.

Tuesday, July 9

Lola sitting by a foredeck winch for shade
from the bright morning sun. (I deliber-
lately overexposed this image.)

A reflection of boat colors
in the morning sun.

The morning was beautiful, very calm and quiet--a drastic change from our Baltimore slip which is usually very noisy.  This might be a day of photographs telling the day's story.

Our new dodger windows were installed today.
They slide onto tracks fastened to the
underside of the hardtop.

This was a view from the helm.

This is a photo of the nice tight seam 
where the front panel meets the
side panel.  (TENARA-brand 
PTFE thread was used 
throughout for  
longevity.)

We had a delicious lunch at the Wet Dog
Cafe at Port Annapolis Marina.

One of many sailboats for sale at Port
Annapolis Marina.  This one was
from Hamilton, Bermuda.

By the end of the day our dodger-to-bimini connector was completed and installed--what a relief from the hot sun!  We spent some time in the pool in the late afternoon, generally relaxing.

Wednesday, July 10

A beautiful sunny day awaits us as we discover that our dodger's front window does not completely zip out like the old one.  This is a feature that we use a lot and it has to be corrected while we are still here at Annapolis Landing Marina.  Our canvas work is at a high state of refinement, achieved over many years of use and continued improvement.  We are making more improvements in the back windows of the enclosure that will easily allow us access the the swim ladder and the dinghy's outboard without removing the entire back window.  Also, we've made design improvements which will allow access for our barbecue grill while the cockpit enclosure is in place.  The patterning for the enclosure was completed by noon.

We went out for lunch at the Wet Dog Cafe (again) and after lunch I took a much needed shower.

Young sailors taking a swim break at
the mouth of the Severn River.

In the middle of the afternoon we took a break (I'm not sure from what) to go into town via dinghy and get some ice cream at Storm Brothers.  It was a wet ride back against the wind-created waves but the ice cream was worth the trip.  If it weren't for the wind today it would have been downright hot.

Thursday, July 11

There was a nice breeze and sunny skies as our dodger's front window was installed with total zip-out capability.  Rain was in the forecast for the afternoon.


At 9 AM I started to work on splicing the instrumentation cable to the wind instrument (the one Maggie accidentally cut a few days ago).  It took me 4 hours to complete this simple job of spicing 4 light gauge wires plus a ground wire because I was working in a very confined space in the starboard cockpit locker, between the primary fuel tank and the underside of the cockpit floor.  

During the latter part of the above effort, we discovered that one of our fenders was missing--one of the two that was placed on our stern to prevent the dinghy from banging into the swim ladder.  So, we went on a search mission to find our fender.  We drove the dinghy all around Back Creek looking for it.  We thought we found it near one of the marinas on the other side of the creek--in fact, it looked like ours but it had different line than we used.  We picked up the fender but continued looking.  When we returned to the boat, we realized that it WAS identical to our lost fender (Polyform F-5)--we kept it, knowing that it wasn't ours but someone else may have found ours.  The odds of finding a fender that was identical to ours was astronomical and its not like there were not a lot of loose fenders floating around Back Creek.  (The Polyform F-5 fender currently costs $80.00 each.)

So, all the effort expended today puts everything back in the place it was a few days ago.  Happy Hour couldn't arrive soon enough for me...

Friday, July 12

We went out for breakfast this morning at Naval Bagels since we still had the marina's loaner car.  On the way back from breakfast Maggie nonchalantly mentioned that there was a yellow blinking light on our refrigerator control panel last night.  This is how my day started.

I have all the equipment manuals on my laptop--so, I looked up in the SeaFrost manual what "three blinks" mean--it meant we had a motor start problem or too much refrigerant.  I called SeaFrost and got instantaneous help.  They narrowed it down to a burned up control module.  After considering several shipment options, they mentioned that Horton Marine Services in Annapolis might have one in stock.  I used the marina's loaner car and dropped by and picked up the little $300 black box.  Installation was relatively easy--I installed it within 30 minutes and our fridge was up and running again!  (I will probably buy a spare control module before we leave for the Exumas in the fall.)

The old control panel after removal from the
compressor housing.  It measured only
4" x 4" x 2" but was vital to the
operation of the fridge.

Our next task was to changeout all the lines on the dinghy because of wear.  I also added new lines to our new/old fender (the one we found yesterday).  We used 3/8-inch Nylon yacht braid for everything.  So, today was another day of simply restoring things to normal--I'm getting tired of this!

This is our last day in Annapolis Landing Marina.  From here, we go to Hartge's Yacht Yard for our annual haulout.  We will be staying in a guest cottage at nearby Hartge Yacht Harbor (a different business) while our boat is hauled.

Stay tuned for the things we find during our boat's annual haulout...


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