Day 19

From Peter Ver Ploeg:

Our night in Betterton was fitful at best. The wind and current kept the Strolla creaking and groaning against the fishing pier all night but, it was the ice chunks coming down the Sassafras River and slamming into the hull that had us all racing out on deck every couple hours to see what was the matter.

We woke up before the sun and quickly put Betterton on our stern in the gathering light. The forecast had called for snow but we saw not a flake all day and, with a fair North wind blowing us South, we happily bobbed along, wing and wing under a steel gray sky.


Mid-morning we set the jib boom for the first time. I'm fairly confident we had it rigged correctly (at least nothing broke), and then I hopped over the stern rail into the dinghy to take some photos. Pete H. let me out behind the boat on a rope about fifty feet where, without even paddles, I was quite helpless.


Our dinghy is an inflatable zodiac and has a couple of pinhole leaks we've been unable to isolate. Not having pumped it up since Cape Cod, it was about as firm as a limp noodle when I hopped in. Any shifting of weight caused the dinghy to nosedive and threaten capsize. The pictures, I think, were worth it though. Our first of the Strolla under sail.


We cruised in to Annapolis harbor with time to spare and spent the remaining hour of daylight tacking back and forth, working on our boat handling, and getting a good view of the U.S. Naval Academy and its athletic fields from the water. Then, as the sun slipped below the horizon, we slipped into a marina and headed in to town for burgers and beers and a Friday night out.