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Wednesday, March 31, 2021

The Eternal Spring Question

 So yesterday was the first really nice day we'd had this year.  We sat in the sun in the cockpit with a glass of wine and contemplated the coming year.  It's always the question, isn't it?

Where do you want to go?

I'm so done with this bit
This led me to ponder on all the options available to us h
ere in the north end of the Chesapeake, and, boy, are there a lot.  I started thinking about the kind of decision tree we always go through before making plans.

In our case its more like a decision-shrubbery, but I digress.

Here in the upper Bay, we have a glut of wonderful places to explore.  This is Gunpowder Creek.


So I thought I'd lay out the kinds of things that go through our minds as we contemplate setting out for the spring.

First and foremost:  How much do I trust the boat right now?  It's not an idle question.  Your faith in your boat tells you how far you're willing to go away from civilization, how far off shore, and in what kinds of weather.  For us, we've gotten our venerable Atomic 4 cranking along beautifully, but our sails are iffy, and the Genoa is trash.  That, for us, means light air and more an eye to gunk holing than to any grand cruising.  

Be realistic.  How far do you really want to go?


Second, how long can we be away?  In my case, I write, and my wife is an artist, so we work from where ever we happen to be, so schedules aren't an issue.  Things can get in the way, though, even without work commitments.  Family events, doctor's appointments, any number of must-do social events (rather done in this year by the plague), all have to be figured in.

Third, what does the wallet look like?  How much fuel costs can we bear right now, how much provisioning.  Not so much an issue on a liveaboard sailboat, but if you're cranking twin 450's on a Sea Ray, you could discover yourself washing dishes on the Eastern Shore in order to get home.

Then there's the raw question of how long we feel light being away from dock?  How long without a proper shower, easy internet access, and the occasional pizza.  Living aboard, there's frankly not much difference for us, but there may be for you.

And finally:  What haven't we seen?  What sounds like fun?  What would we like to revisit?  What sings to us this year?

The answer to that last one is:  A lot of things.

We can't wait!


This spring is shaping up to be lovely, weather-wise.  We're getting our inoculations this month, so we're feeling a bit better about calling at strange ports (and we're smart enough to be careful and take precautions, and you should as well).  After a long winter and the lockdown, a few weeks on the water sounds like just the ticket.

M

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