We went over to check on the boat today, and to rig the de-icer. It seems strange to rig this when the temperature is in the 50s, but we had skim ice last week, and we expect it to get cold again in a week or so... We also dug out the canvas covers for the dorade boxes and handrails and put them on to protect the teak.

Today we finished most of the winterizing tasks for the boat. This mostly consists of running non-toxic antifreeze through all of the systems that use water. For Silence, this is about a 7 hour job, but I got some of the work done last Thursday.

We also take stuff off the boat that won't make it through the winter: beverages, food, the cockpit table, and anything else that can easily come home. You know the season is really over when the alchohol comes home...

A quick follow up on our Labor Day incident: we've had estimates for the repairs, and the insurance company has settled the claim (less our deductible). The insurance people didn't pursue the responsible parties, and we don't have the time to pursue them ourselves, so the culprits are going to skate on this one. The repair work is scheduled for this month.

In other news, our marina in Back Creek has notified us that they are raising our rates by 42%, so we will be moving on come spring. It will be sad to leave the creek that we've been calling home for 14 years, but we are being priced out of the market. Too many boats and not enough slips have driven up the cost of being in Annapolis.

We'll probably end up keeping Silence on the West River, or perhaps the Magothy. My winter pastime will be looking at marinas in the area to find a new home port.

We sailed our last sail of the season yesterday. It was a perfect day, with 70 degrees, plenty of sunshine and plenty of wind (15 knots from the SW). Silence stormed out of the harbor on a starboard beam reach, then we hardened up and worked our way down to Thomas Point Light. We sailed rail-down for an hour or so. Then we tacked over to port and sailed easily back into the Severn River, up to the Naval Academy where the 150 year old Constellation was temporarily berthed. The sun was low in the sky, backlighting her rigging and glinting off the water.

Finally, we struck and lowered the sails, to be folded and stored for the winter below decks. Back at the dock, we made a toast to a great sailing season, and appealed to the sailing gods for a short winter.

We sailed to Langford Creek over Labor Day weekend. There was no wind on Saturday, so we motored to a small cove, up a creek off the Chester River (north of the Bay Bridge). Along the way we ran across one of our marina friends (who we won't name here) who were planning to meet us. Oddly, they were anchored, just off the mouth of the Chester, in the Bay. They had run out of fuel, so we tied up along side and tried to figure out how we were going to move 5 gallons of diesel from ourboat to their boat. This would be easy if we had a proper siphon pump, but of course we didn't. So, we had to open an access panel in the top of our fuel tank, down in the bilge and draw the fuel from there. With the boat bouncing around it was a miracle that we didn't spill half our fuel insidethe boat! We had some leakage, but it was manageble with paper towels. After the fuel transfer, we were on our way, once again.

All was pleasant and quiet until Sunday. We had met up with three other boats, so we were all tied up together with fenders between the boats in a wooded cove. I was napping down below, when a large wake started the boat rocking. I went up on deck to see what was happening, when an even bigger series of waves struck us from the side. A wake 4-5 feet in height tore through our raft and all the boats started rocking wildly. Sadly, we did have some damage. Our teak rub rail came down on the edge of one of the other boats, and was split and torn away. The boat adjacent to us didn't have any damage to their side, but the tri-color at the masthead was broken, and their Loran antenna came down. The idiot power boats that caused all this were well away and it was hard to see the boats' names. Several of us launched dinghies to talk to the other boats in the anchorage to see if they caught a name. We found one person who had seen the name of one of the two boats responsible, so we are hoping to track them down.

Yesterday made up for Sunday. We had an east wind at 15-20 knots, which allowed us to sail home more quickly than we had motored the distance on Saturday. Everyone felt great about the sailing, and time will put the bad experience of the boat wakes behind us...

On Saturday we prepared the boat for hurricane Charley. The forecast was for 50 knots in our area, so we doubled lines and secured everything that looked vulnerable.

The forecast turned out to wrong, fortunately, and we only saw about 20 knots at Thomas Point Light. Dodged another bullet...

Today was de-winterizing day. Started the engine, generator, fridge, heat pumps, etc. Everything is working OK after the long winter, so we could sail next weekend if the weather is good. It feels good to know that the first sail of the season is just around the corner!

Snow today! We received 6 inches of the white stuff overnight. I went by to check on the boat yesterday: the creek is freezing over, the marina has the de-icers running. I have an extra de-icer that I install at the bow for when it gets really cold. I turned it on since there was some ice forming at the bow.

Six months after our return from Bermuda, it seems like we never went. Suzan has the same sensation. It's odd that something so intense could become so distant. There is only one fix for this: another trip! We're planning to stay in the Bay this summer, but maybe the next season we can make another journey. I'm thinking of going North, maybe Maine or Nova Scotia. Stray winter thoughts...