Goodbye Irene, Hello Katia ?

Everything worked out great for Annapolis, as the hurricane Irene's track was ofshore and the expected storm surge came at low tide with a west wind to cancel everything out for us. The water never even came up to the top of the docks and the highest wind we saw was 64 mph.  The marina here in Annapolis just got power 54 hours after the hurricane ended. We had no problems in the boat as we have solar and wind power with a Honda generator backup if the solar and wind don't keep up with our electrical demands. We have all of the extra dock lines removed, the dingy back inflated and hanging on the davits, and all our storm gear stowed. Now we have to worry where the next tropical storm,  Katia tracks.

Hurricane preps.

We are presently getting ready for Hurricane Irene, the marina that we are at is up Spa Creek past the lift bridge off of Annapolis Harbor. We have extra lines run to the six large pilings that surrond us at the dock here in Petrinis Shipyard, all of the sails have been lashed tightly down multiple times, the bimini has been lowered and lashed to the frame, the dingy has been deflated and is lashed to the deck, The generator has been fuled up and is ready to go and the watertanks have been filled. I have also secured the solar panel and lashed the wind generator blades so that they will not over rev and possibly damage it. The last prep will be to remove the drop in air conditoner and batten down the forward hatch as the storm approaches. All of our dock lines have been checked and are ready to be loosened or tightened if need be depending on the state of the tide. We will send out Spot Messenger messages to let everyone know our status as the storm passes in case the phone system is down.

Land Roving

 For the past month we have been on the road while the boat gets lots of boatyard work done here at Petrini Shipyard in Annapolis.We inquired about having the bottom scraped and painted and ended up having Awlgrip paint applied to the sides also.She is now seafoam green  with a teal stripe, the paint job done here was amazing, the painter was such a perfectionist who worked  on our old sailboat.We also had a new thru-hull put in for the watermaker and deck wash.We can`t say enough about the talented and caring staff here at Petrini's Shipyard in Annapolis. John Petrini oversees all work done and hires the best assistants available.
While the work was ongoing we spent time in Seattle with the kids and grandkids and had a
great visit.We all went on a cruise of the harbor in a Sparkmans and Stevens oceangoing racing sailboat.Little Evangeline was on watch for whales and sharks and unfortunately she saw none but still enjoyed the sail.Next we returned home to Madison,Ohio and got to go to a barrel tasting party at our favorite winery-Harpersfield Winery.The owners are such great friends and we enjoyed an overnight stay above the press house followed by dinner.They just released the new Gewurztraminer wine and we stocked up the boat.
Now we are back to Annapolis and catching up with cruising friends and resupplying  for the trip back down the I.C.W. in Sept.Our next week will be spent making the topsides sparkle a bit as they  need lots of  TLC  compared to the new Awlgrip on the sides.