Settling in to the very small and busy Harbour in Back Creek, Annapolis where I’ve taken what feels like the only place any yacht could anchor here, it’s such a small space. Trying to be careful so I don’t swing into any of the docs just meters away.
Lots of public dingy docks here – and you don’t have to pay to land your dingy like in St Augustine.
Passage from St Augustine to, around and from Cape Hatteras up to Annapolis in the Gulf Stream, always dead into the wind, was a long and tiring slog. Pounding into the heavy, square waves caused by the Gulf Stream against the wind doing 25 – 35 knots made doing anything aboard very difficult. Did not hardly venture up into the cockpit, let alone forward on the deck. I kept the washboards in the companionway to stop the spray coming in and for warmth. It felt like driving a submarine at times, enormous waves submerging Nakee’s deck and windscreen. Cold too – had to double up blankets at night and started wearing shirts and shoes again – feels like first time since the Canaries, back in January.
North Sail here in Back Creek has started the sail repair work and I’m set to go into the Bert Jabin yard, 100 meters from where I’m anchored on Wed morning for some rig work.
My father arrives here tomorrow evening from Philadelphia with some special tools to help us to unjam the (new) staysail furler and repair it with pars my father made and some ones I’ve had shipped in from Admiral Marine in Turkey.
If we are lucky and all the repairs can be wrapped up by Thursday and the mainsail is reinstalled in the mast, then we will set off for the passage North and then through the Delaware Canal and South down the Delaware Bay to Cape May, NJ, hopefully to arrive Saturday or Sunday.
Getting into the dingy today to go and take my first steps on terra firma, this fellow swam over to me to say hi!
