Un poco loco

They say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result. Well, when it comes to me trying to acquire an open (free) Wi-Fi signal, that is a pretty good description of my actions. Although I may not be expecting the previously locked channel to miraculously become open, I sure am hoping it will. And considering I get more and more frustrated as the minutes without Wi-Fi tick by, I’m positive that Rebecca is really hoping that a free signal will suddenly appear!

Our trip up the Sassafras River was nice but uneventful. We stopped briefly at the Georgetown Yacht Basin for fuel and to visit their ship’s store. This marina was recommended to us by our new friend Kirk who, when it comes time to haul his Lagoon 44, uses their facilities. Even though we were only there for a small amount of time, we received some good info from one of their young employees, Austin, on where to anchor. The anchorage we had in mind, the previously mentioned hurricane hole, was above a bascule bridge, where apparently Austin lives. Not only did he give us some local knowledge on the area, he also came by our boat in his launch after his shift was over, just to check on us and make sure that we didn’t need anything. Georgetown Yacht Basin… if you are listening, give this kid a raise!

Although we have plans to visit some areas a bit further north, we decided that given the unknown nature of the pending hurricane, to head south a bit to the Magothy River, where Kirk lives. While on route, we noticed that the wind instrument on top of our mast appears to be broken. No matter which direction we want to go, it appears that the wind is pointing directly at our bow! How is that possible?

Seriously though, although the wind instrument is functioning (we are just having some bad luck with wind directions), we did notice that two of the 3 connectors which hold our wheel’s self steering mechanism on have snapped (one fell off completely into my lap)! This is not good. Not wanting to have the third one break off, we have been hand steering the last two days. We’ve come to the realization that, although both Rebecca and I still enjoy hand steering while sailing, hand steering while motoring sucks!

The 6 or so hour trip to the Magothy River went smoothly enough. We were able to break up the monotony of motoring by dodging the bazillion or so crab pots that litter the Chesapeake’s shallows. We found a quiet anchorage just inside the river behind Dobbin’s Island and set the hook for the evening. This quiet place is one of the areas where the above-mentoned Wi-Fi struggles have taken place. Oh well… you can’t have everything I guess. By the way, for those looking to follow in our footsteps, we have heard that this anchorage is anything but quiet on the weekends, so be warned.

This morning, just after mentioning to Rebecca that we should spend some time cleaning our boat before we met up with Kirk and his wife Donna, we got a call on the cel phone saying, guess what… he was right outside our boat in his dinghy! Even though we had never met Kirk in person, he not only came bearing some gifts of cruising necessities (ice and BEER!), he also offered us free run of his house for water, electricity, internet and laundry when we move up the river. Can you say “Awesome?” You don’t get any cooler than that!

Oh, by the way, in addition to the ice and beer that he brought us, he also presented us a gift of two custom t-shirts with his boat’s name on it, Ainulindale! Now we need to get some shirts made!!!

Our baby ZTC rafted up to Kirk and Donna’s Lagoon.

By the way, I’d just like to mention that yesterday’s post has to be in the running for the highest number of comments that we have received on a post to date, but only one of them mentioned my ukulele playing and that comment was “cute!” I guess this falls into the category of “if you can’t find something good to say…”

LOL 🙂