Day One

We left the dock in Annapolis at 4 p.m. on the dot on the 14th of May after all.

Our wonderful friends and neighbors, Shelley and Eric Rubin, and granddaughter, Zoey, brought us brownies and a letter to open after we passed Thomas Point Light. The contents are yiddish words that might come in handy on the voyage. Example:

Schlep, as in: "You really expect me to schlep that dinghy up on the beach because you don't want to get your feet wet?"

Or, Oy Vey ist Mier: An expression of alarm or semi-despair that pertains to the personal circumstances of the person using the term, applied to an event such as falling overboard at night without a life vest.

Beth Newbold and Pat Winkler are ideal sailing companions. They fix things. They take charge. The organize. The know what they're doing. And they're just doggone nice people. They drove from Gulfport, Fl yesterday, leaving around 5 a.m., and arriving at our place in Annapolis just after 7 p.m. Whew. A good nights sleep was all they needed to be up and at 'em and dive into last minute preparations for the journey.

The winds are from the southeast so we're going to press on to Norfolk through the night. This is a slightly better circumstance than what we thought we were going to be facing as we thought we'd be heading right into the wind. If you've ridden a bike on RAGBRAI you know what I'm talkin' about not wanting to ride into the wind.

Pat just put a pot of coffee on, we downed a few of Shelley and Zoey's brownies, and away we go.

We are enormously grateful for good friends, our mutual spirit of adventure, and the opportunity to do this kind of thing.