Thursday,  May 24, 1990
 We leave Sherwood at 1300 hours cruising at 60 knots on a course of 90 degrees.  For the laymen reading this, we leave at 1 p.m. going toward Memphis at 65 mph.  Robert carefully packs all our gear in his well-cared-for Jeep Cherokee.
 The car was filled with discussion of sailing terms.  You never heard so much about halyards, shrouds, gibes, jibs, mizzens, ketches, and yawls in your life.

 In Nashville we ate at the Spaghetti Warehouse.  I had the lasagna special with spumoni ice cream.  Bob told of eating clams in Maine.  He and another man drank the bowl of wash water intended for washing their hands.  Bob said, "This sure is clear soup."  A man in the corner watching them almost died laughing at them.
 On our way out, a black man sitting at the entrance was playing a guitar and singing with a box on the ground for donations.  He sang, "It's a sin to tell a lie!"

"Robert, are you an anesthetist or an anesthesiologist?"
Robert: "I'm a nurse anesthetist."
"What's the difference?"
Robert: "About $150,000 a year."

Bob: "Charley, did you know Floyd J.?  You know, he told me he drank his own urine.  That's right!  He said Mahatma Ghandi did too.  Floyd says he gets his inner strength from doing that.  I guess I just never wanted inner strength that bad."
 

Friday, May 25
 We left Lebanon 4:35 a.m.

 Who would have thought that almost everybody in our group likes classical music.  Robert brought only one classical tape because he figured the others wouldn't like it as much as he did.
 Bob is an expert on Wagner.  "Did you know he wrote a symphony that takes five days to perform.  I have the whole thing on tape.  Something else about that guy - did you know he was a poet?  That's right."  Bob proceeded to give us a lengthy lecture about which composers were homosexuals and which ones stole their best friend's wives.
 He also knows about painters.  "Did you know Renoir painted a picture of Wagner?  Wagner had an oversized head too, did you know that?"
Bob: "You know, my wife wouldn't let me listen to some classical music for a long time.  She said it was based on Scandinavian mythology.  But she talked to our minister about it and finally agreed to let me listen to it."
 Bob drives to the music - shaking his head, moving his fist to the loud crashes of music.  His foot must like the music too; he's going 75 mph.

Robert:  "Looks like some bird's been trying to buy that van.  That's right, he's made several deposits on it already."

 We quiz one another from Dutton.  "Do you know what a neap tide is?  How about diurnal tides?"

Sign on Washington beltway: "Prepare for sudden aggravation.  Road work ahead."

 Arriving at the Lanham Ramada Inn, we spot Darl walking in front of the Hotel.  He was going to explore on foot since he didn't expect us for several hours ye.  He had flown in just a few hours earlier and had taken the Metro to the hotel.

Bob and Darl have hit it off great.  Both are big talkers - alligators to airplanes.

We walk across the street to the Red Lobster for supper.  Darl led the way across the busy intersection, showing us country boys how to get around the big city.  We ran back in the rain.

Robert became the driving navigator, and a good one.  He didn't hesitate branching out from the beaten path.  Most of the time we headed the right course, although sometimes we ended up headed the wrong way.
 

Saturday, May 26
 We left the hotel at 7 a.m., drove to Annapolis on #50, and found school, but we were early.  So we went out to eat breakfast. We asked someone on the street where a good place for breakfast was.  Navigator Robert had no trouble finding it, but it wasn't open yet.  The place was not going to open for breakfast until 8 a.m.  We thought that was late.  We waited until 8:05 and left.  We ended up eating at a Jewish Deli which is crowded.  The people at the next table are talking about racing strategy for sailboats.  A tall, young man at the table has a T-shirt with "Hobie 33 International" on it.  It is a rainy day, and everybody here is wearing foul weather gear in the rain.
 

At the school we registered and met Dan Daniels, our instructor.  We debated about whether Dan was 65 or 75 years old.  He was a pleasant man, but he mumbled to much for Bob to hear him.

D. R. Daniel
3808 Glencyle
Baltimore, MD 21215

We also met Ken and Mary who were taking Coastal Navigation and Piloting with us.
I asked, "Are you two married?"  He replied, "That's close."

Mary Beals & Ken Takahashi
59 Morse St.
Cranford, NJ 07016

 Ken has a BS from MIT and a PhD from Illinois in chemical engineering.  He is 30 years old.  Ken is Japanese.  With a last name like Takahashi, you might have guessed.  His grandfather owned Mitshubishi Company.
 Mary is 30 years old and works for a brokerage on Wall Street.  She lives in New Jersey and takes 2 1/2 hours per day commuting to work.  She has a birth mark on her temple.   They are a cute couple.
 Dan passed out dividers, rulers, speed-time-distance calculators, and charts to everyone.  We moved to a room with tables and a chalk board for the beginning of course # 322 Coastal Piloting and Navigation.

Notes from Dan's lecture:
 We will anchor out for lunch tomorrow, so bring sandwiches.
 Tomorrow, come at 8:30, and we will get an early start on the water.
 You should buy chart #1.
 If the writing to indicate a buoy is vertical, it is a fixed marker.  If the letters  slant, then it is a floating marker.
 The blue colored area represents the one fathom line.
 Depth is measured at mean low water, which is the average low water.
 The height of bridges is measured at mean high water.
 The signal for bridges to open is one long and one short signal.  Or you can call them on channel 13.
 You should get the Local Notice to Mariners from the Coast Guard.
 Do a Dead Reckoning position on the chart every hour on the hour or whenever you change course or speed.
 Six knots = 10 minute miles.
 Mark estimated positions with a square.
 On a Running fix:
 Make sure the line from Estimated Position to Line of Position is perpendicular to Line Of Position. Find the position closest to the Line Of Position.
 We talked about Danger Bearings.
 Correcting compasses:
  True
  Variation
  Magnetic
  Deviation
  Compass
 Remember it by: "True Virgins Make Dull Companions."
 "If the Error is west, compass is best."
 You should keep a log of all the time spent on sailboats.  When you try to get your Coastguard license, the hardest part is documenting your time on a boat.

 Rules of the Road:
  Right of way boat should hold his course.
  Windward Watch Out.
  Leeward boat has the right of way.
  Starboard tack has the right of way.

Dan: "Here lies the body of Dennis O'Day,
 Who died defending his right of way."

 A sailboat is not a powerboat until the motor is in gear.  It must be propelled by power.

Homework:
Figure the course from #2 at Back Creek Channel to #8 Annapolis Channel;
 From #8 to C "1" in Whitehall;
 From C "1" to point "X" 180 degrees True, .5 miles from #2 in Whitehall;
 From Point "X" to #2  in whitehall.
 Figure the course and distance from each.

Answers:
 #2-#8    = .65 miles   C107M
 #8 to C "1"   = 2 miles   C94M
 C "1" to Point "X"  = 1.2 miles   C306M
 Point "X" to #2   = .5 miles   C10M

We take a lunch break at 11:30.  As we walk to lunch, Bob says he can't hear a thing Dan is saying.  He is becoming very frustrated.  He says he is catching a plane back home tonight.  We all begin to try to talk him out of it, but he is very frustrated.  Dan just mumbles too much and goes too fast.
 We have lunch at Davis Pub.  Robert says a nice prayer.
 We are back to the school by 12:30.  We walk two blocks to the boat.  It's a Morgan 44 named "The Alert."  Wow, what a boat!
 I had given Darl my rain jacket this morning because we found out he was going out on a boat.  I thought we would be in classroom all day, so now I'm the one going out without foul weather gear.
 "Greater love hath no brother-in-law than that he loan his foul weather gear on a rainy day."
 We went over the checklist of items aboard the Morgan.  It is very similar to the Morgan Out Island 41 that Darl and I chartered two years ago, but it sure seems big!  I did take special note of where to check the transmission fluid.
 Two years ago, when Darl and I were motoring out of Government Cut in Miami, the engine quit because it had run out of transmission fluid.  We almost panicked with the rocks of the jetties close on both sides and boats whizzing all around.  Slowly we sailed the boat back across Biscayne Bay and into a slip  at Dinner Key Harbor.  The other guys were very impressed that we had sailed a 41' boat into a difficult slip without any power.  I was impressed too after it was all over, and we had not crashed any of those expensive yachts all around us!
 We motor out Back Creek, taking turns at the helm all day.  As soon as we are in the channel, Dan starts asking for bearings and distances.  I am kneeling on the cockpit seat with my head down on the chart drawing lines and trying to move the parallel rulers without them slipping on the chart.  It is very awkward using the parallel rulers.  Lots of big boats are coming by making monster waves.  Within five minutes I am getting dizzy.  I decide to leave the chart with Charley so I can glue my eyes to the horizon.  Dan lets me take the helm to get my mind off seasickness.  It works, and I am feeling better.

Dan: "If you make a mistake in your navigating just say, `Damn, the wind changed.'"

   I am surprised at the number of boats in the bay, but this is Memorial Day weekend.  I can only imagine what it will be like Monday if the weather is good.

Dan: "When you wave at power boats, don't ever move your elbow.  And if you want to lift your middle finger just a little, that's good.  Just enough to make them wonder what sign you really were giving them."

There is a Navy missile cruiser anchored in the bay.  We get into a big debate about whether it is a frigate or a cruiser, nuclear powered or what.  We later decided it was a missile cruiser.

 When we pass another boat from our sailing school, Dan leans over the side and hollers, "Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?"  They replied, "But of course."

 Ken and Mary are pretty good sailors.  Both have Tilly hats that we all admire.  I had never even heard of one.  Ken and Mary are taking the bareboat certification course over a three weekend period.
 Dan says we will not be able to get our bare boat license next week.  He says he teaches that course, #335, and doesn't see how we can get it.  He has me worried.  I keep going over the conversations I had with the lady on the phone.  Twice she has assured me that we can get bareboat license.  We'll see.
 At the end of the day, we took a turn through Annapolis harbor.  Dan shows us "Ego Alley" where everybody goes to show off their boats.  The Naval Academy is stately and beautiful.
 We return about 4.  Docking the 44 is a tight squeeze.

Dan: "Remember boys, curfew tonight is 9:30 and lights out at 10 p.m."  I think he thought we were really going to do the town.

 We wait 30 minutes for Darl to return on his boat.  Bob is doing much better now.  Practicing navigation out on the water was better than the classroom situation.  However, he is still having some trouble hearing.  Once Dan told him to head for the "Dome", and Bob headed for the "Spider."
 Everybody really likes Darl.  He is a hit.  His airplane stories and navigation technicalities enthrall these guys.  Bob called Darl "Dar" until Wednesday.
"Hey, Dar, how do you remember all this stuff?"
Darl: "Keeps me alive!"

 On the way home, we go by a Marine Supply store.  Everybody buys a little something.  Bob talks to them about parking his truck and trailer there when he comes back with his boat.  He also checks on renting a dinghy.  He plans to come back in two weeks with Joanne.
 We can see Endeavor and Shamrock's masts high above the football field lights in the Academy.  We walk by "Ego Alley" and through the school to the place where Endeavor was docked.  Unbelievable!  Huge is hardly the word.
 The Endeavor comes from the famous America's Cup races of the 1930's.  Only ten of these huge boats were built.  Shamrock raced and lost in 1930; Endeavour raced and lost in 1934.  Elizabeth Myer, whose family owns the Washington Post plus a whole lot more,  found the Endeavor in southern England in 1983.  It was a near-derelict hull not far from rusting into oblivion.  She spent $10 million rebuilding the boat completely.
Get a load of these statistics for Endeavor:
LOA 130'
LWL 86'
Beam 22'
Draft 15'
Disp. 164 tons
Ballast 70 tons
Sail area 8,476 Sq ft
Mast above waterline 165'

Robert:  "The spinnaker pole would cost more than my boat."
Bob: "The braided sheets would cost more than my boat."
I am too embarrassed to decide what on that boat could possibly be as cheap as my boat.
 Charley takes all his pictures.  We are impressed with the boom, winches, huge shrouds, and long overhangs.  Everything on this boat is incredible in its size.
 As we walk back to the car, we pass the naval academy's fleet of sailboats.  Because of graduation they are all flying their colors.  They have nautical flags flying from the forestays and backstays of all the boats.  What a happy slash of color!
 I call Sarah.  Will has hit five home runs in two games.  He is sure excited telling me about it.  Andy got to play some in his game, but didn't see much action.
 We had supper at Davis pub again.  There were lots of drinking guys and beautiful girls crowded around the bar.  We had to take a table near the entrance and right by the bar.  People were standing all around with beer in hand, laughing loud - many talking about sailing.  The volume of noise was so great we could hardly hear ourselves.  We ordered crab cakes which were a universal hit.  Bob said a nice prayer before we ate.  I bet that was a first for a busy pub.
 In the motel room, we spread charts over all the beds making the plots for our assignment from Dan.  We read up on navigation in Chapman.  It was heavy duty navigation study tonight.  We even calculated the tides for the next day from the tables in Reed's Nautical Almanac.

Sunday, May 27
 Bob does Marine bark reveille for us:
 "Okay, you marines, up and at 'em.  Jump out of this plane and let your hair fly."
 "How long you been in the Navy, young man?"
 "All day, sir! And I love every minute of it!"
 "You know what they say in Mexico - `chili today; hot tamale!!'"

Notes on Sunday's lecture:
 points of sail - close hauled, close reach, beam reach, broad reach, run
 The boom determines whether you are on a starboard tack or not, even if you are sailing by the lee.
 Tack = coming about.  Say "Ready about?"  Response "Starboard ready, Port ready." Then "Helms - Alee!"
 Gibe - be careful with boom.  When you are ready to gibe, get the main centered first.
 Say, "Ready to Gibe". Response - "Ready"  Then "Gibe-ho" or "The helms aweather!"
 

9:00 left for our day's sailing
 We practiced navigation from one buoy to another.
 I took Dramamine which worked well.
 Winds were 10-20 mph making for good sailing, but the wind dropped through the day.

 The Blue Angels put on a long show.  They buzzed right over us several times.

 Far across the bay we can see Endeavor and Shamrock racing.  All the other sailboats look like miniatures compared to their lofty sails.  It was a beautiful sight.

 I go to the bathroom and find that we were taking water through the head.  That could be an alarming development.  I told Dan about it; he showed me how to dry flush it.  On such a boat, everything is complicated, even flushing the toilet.

 It was a glorious day, strong winds and cool this morning.  We sailed to near the bridge entrance and back toward the 1200 foot tower, up Whitehall Creek and into Ridout Creek.
 The winds died about 12:30.  We motored up the creek to look around at the quaint and lovely houses.  Must be tough to have a house right on the bay with your own mooring dock.... and a big sailboat docked there.
 We had stopped at a Quick Stop store to buy sandwiches for lunch.  So we had a big picnic on board at about 1 p.m.

Dan asks if anyone wants to go up the mast.  At first everyone is hesitant, so I volunteer.  I figure I'm paying a lot for this school; I want to get all the experience I can.  But Dan says it is traditional to see the lady of the group up first.  I'm not sure, but I think Dan enjoyed catching Mary when she came down.   After Dan's cheap thrill, I take a turn up the mast.
 We discuss movies with sailing in them.  I need to rent "Dead Calm" & "Midnight Crossing."  (I rented both of these after we got back to Arkansas.  Neither one should really be recommended to a preacher!)
 The anchor sticks in what they call the "Chesapeake muck."  We have difficulty getting it out, and when we do, it makes a muddy mess all over the foredeck.
 I take some pictures of the Blue Angels flying over, but the really close times come so fast I can't get my camera ready.  They must have put on two shows because they were up there all afternoon.  They buzz us several times again while we are docking the boat.
 Darl says his group sailed right up to the Endeavor and a submarine out by the big Navy ships.

 Back in Washington, we have supper at Horn and Horn Smorgasbord.  Robert eats at least $25 worth of food.  The place is full of the fattest black folks I ever saw, but Robert eats twice as much as any of them.  None of us could shine a light to him.

 We find a Safeway store and buy groceries.  Charley is wearing his Harvest Foods T-shirt.  Bob asks everybody in the store, "Didn't Harvest Foods buy Safeway?"  It's a wonder we didn't get mugged.  Someone explains that Harvest Foods only bought the southern division.
 I think we did pretty good buying groceries.  We spent $81.30.
 We still must get lettuce, milk, sliced meat, chicken and steak in the morning.  We figured those items needed refrigeration.
 Now if Ralph shows up on time tomorrow, we will have our whole group together finally and be ready for the week-long cruise.
 

Monday, May 28
 Bob bursts into the room at 6:15 a.m. with his reveille again.  With a heavy German accent he tells how Robert woke him up at 3 a.m. thinking it was 6 a.m.  They both got up, Robert took even his shower.  Now Bob switches to a heavy Chinese accent: "Then Mr. Wobert looks at his watch and says, "So solly I wead my watch wrong!"

 At breakfast at McDonald's, the conversation turned to wild women.
Bob: "You know some men have died while cavorting with wild women.  I figure it's because they were messing with 220 when they were wired for 110."

 Driving through Annapolis, we find Frank White, former governor of Arkansas, taking his morning walk.  We holler at him.  He stops and talks to us a long time.  He seems glad to see some guys from Arkansas, but then again he is a politician.  He remembers that I had talked to him when we voted absentee together.  His son is graduating from the Academy this weekend.

 When we arrive at the Sailing School, Ralph is sitting on his car waiting for us.  It is a relief to see him here.  We have to take the 1 1/2 mile drive around Back Creek to the school's marina.  There we meet Ted Steeble, our instructor.  He tells us he will be our captain.  I say to myself: "What's this young kid going to teach us?"  But I was soon to learn this 22 year old boy really knew his sailing, and has had lots of experience.  Nervously, I ask about us getting our bare boat license, and he replies that he is prepared to test us.  "No problem!"  We are all very relieved.
 All the flotilla crew meet upstairs in the instruction room.  This room has chalk boards with movable boat cut-outs for use in teaching the rules of the road.
 
Notes from Ted's lecture:
 We will start at Chinks point about 11:30, go to #2 then to the Spider, on out to can #1.  We will rendezvous there, go under the Bridge to Sandy Point Shoal, between Mountain Point and Persimmon Point.  We will drop sails at the right of Magothy River and power into Sillery Bay.  There we will raft up for a while before anchoring out for the night.  Winds should be NNE.
 Then Tuesday we will go across the Bay to Kent Narrows and stay in a marina overnight.  There are showers and a pool and restaurants there.
 Wednesday we will make the 9 a.m. opening of the draw bridge and go to St Michaels.
 Thursday will be our longest day crossing back across the Bay to Halfmoon Bay in Rhode River.
 Friday we will make the short sail back to Annapolis by about 1 p.m.
 Now, go down to the boats and look around for all the equipment, life-jackets, etc.  Put everything away in the storage areas.  You may want to put sleeping bags in garbage bags to keep them dry.  All boats leak!  I recommend that you cook easy stuff.

Someone asks, "What about the weather?"
Ted: "This is May; changes all day!"
 "There may be some mosquitoes; you can light the citronella candles." (I had never heard of these candles, but fortunately we didn't have very many mosquitoes.)
 "If you need to do some last minute shopping, go to Giant Foods up the road.  Be sure to get enough to feed your captain."
 "Our flotilla will consist of one O'Day 37, two Newport 30's, and two Annapolis 26's.  Chee-Kee is the powerboat that will accompany us."

 We make our way to look over "Lively Lady," the O'Day 37.  It's not nearly the boat the Morgan was, but it'll do in a rush. We take a careful tour, noting life-jackets, seacocks, engine compartment, etc.
O'Day 37
LOA  37' 0"
LWL 30' 4"
Beam 11' 2"
Draft 5' 0"
Displacement 14,000 lbs
Ballast 6,000 lbs
Mast height 47'

 We leave the dock about 11:30.  The Blue Angels actually perform today.  Yesterday must have just been a practice.  The performance isn't as good as the practice.  The bay is jammed with hundreds of boats of every description anchored out for the Blue Angels performance.  When the performance is over the huge powerboats stream by us for over an hour, creating gigantic waves which bounce us all day.
Ted:  "Most of those boats are returning to Baltimore.  I bet half of them won't be taken out again until Labor Day."
 Ted wants his foul weather gear off the powerboat.  He radios Chee-Kee.
Ted: "Chee-Kee, Chee-Kee, Chee-Kee; this is Lively Lady, Lively Lady, Lively Lady. Over."
 We would become accustomed to that chanted call.  I wonder just how they will deliver his foul weather gear.  Well,  Chee-Kee drives right up to our stern while we are under way, and Bell hands it over our stern pulpit.  It was pretty scary the first few times they did that.

 Ted is the Cruise Commander at 22 years.  The others are even younger.  There is Scooter, Bell, Suzanne, and Ed.  Ted is Economics and English major.  He attended Dennison in Ohio for two years.  Now he is finishing up his degree at Syracuse University.  He wants to do management for a trucking company.  He is from the farm country in Maryland.  He is the first sailor in his family.   He looks a lot like Tom Cruise, all American good looks.
 Ted Steeble
 14020 Celbridge Court
 Glenwood, Maryland 21738

Ted: "Bell is a "sea pup", a "boat nigger", a p.u.n.e (Person Under Nearly Everybody)."

 We work on our knot-tieing and talk about sailing as we casually sail along today.
There is not much wind, but we sure have waves!
 All the boats in the flotilla tie up together about 5:30.  It's a social time for everybody to get to know each other.  Almost everybody else is drinking liquor.  We stay rafted up longer than I expected - from 5:30 to 7:30.  Everybody visited and talked, walking back and forth between the boats.
 Bell flits over to meet us.  She is 18, just graduated from St. Mary's high school.  Now she is going to St. Mary's University.  Her friends said she chose that school because she didn't want to have to buy new sweatshirts.  Her father is in advertising; her mother works for the Maryland archives at the statehouse building.
 She is awed by Bob's alligator stories.  I think she isn't sure if he was for real or not.
Bob:  "Charley, right there... Charley's my alligator buddy.  We got one, didn't we, Charley?  It was about 9 or 10 feet long.  When we came to the lake where it was, there was a black fellow with his wife and kids just starting to fish. "
 I said, `Sir, I'm going to have to ask you not to fish here today.'
 `Why shouldn't I fish here?'
 `Well, we're going to be making a lot of noise and commotion, and I think you will do better fishing somewhere else.'
 `But I's drove all the way from Lonoke to fish in this lake.'
 `Well, suit yourself, but we're going to catch a ten foot alligator here today.'
 `You's don't have to say no more, mister.  I don't think I wants to fish here noways.'
 And he gathered his wife and kids in the car and was gone in nothing flat!"

Bob: "One time I snared one around the neck instead of his mouth.  I have a long pole with a snare on the end, and we slip up on him at night.  You have to use a dim light, not a bright one.  They will go under right away with a bright light.
 "After I missed this one, I leaned way over the front of the boat and said, "Where is he, honey?"  My wife was with me on that trip.  About that time he came right up at me from under the boat with his mouth open wide and almost got me.
 "Did you know the inside of an alligator's mouth is as white as silk?"

Charley:  "That's right, you can touch the back of an alligator and its hard and rough as can be.  But their belly is as soft as a baby's skin."

Bob: "A lady called me the other day and wanted me to trap an alligator from the lake behind her house.  Are you ready for this?  She said that alligator had eaten 27 cats.  She was a psychologist; you know they are all weird.  She's married to a dentist.  Anyway, I was watching for him one night, and I spotted a big ole' cat slipping along the bank.  I looked away and heard a swooshing sound.  When I looked back, the cat was gone!  I thought, `Twenty-eight cats!"

Bob:  "One time I left an alligator tied up in my pickup overnight.  The next morning my nephew was missing from the breakfast table.  At the same time, we all hollered, `Oh, no, he went to see the alligator!'  We found him looking in the truck bed.  All he said was, "That's the biggest lizard I ever saw!"

Bob:  "Charley, do you remember ole' Rocky.  One time he was driving down the road with an alligator tied in his truck bed.  Someone drove by and pointed toward the back of the truck.  The alligator was trying to get out, and him driving down the freeway.  Rocky stopped the truck just about the time the alligator fell out.  When he reached down to grab him, that alligator swung his head around and caught Rocky with his big ole' tooth sticking out where his mouth was tied shut.  That alligator knocked Rocky out cold.  The only time Rocky was ever knocked out was by an alligator.  How about them jelly beans?"
 
Bob:  "Charley, do you remember ole' Big Ears McCoy?  That guy can call an alligator right up to the boat.  That's right!  He makes a grunting sound with his mouth, and pats the side of the boat.  They'll come right to the boat every time."

Bob: "....So this guy asked me, `Would you give me a ticket for that?'  I replied `Has a chicken got lips?'  You know, a chicken does have lips."

Charley talked about gangs.  One is called "The Blood."  They stay in motels close to the freeways so they can make a quick get-away.  They wear bandannas around their heads.  When they leave their rooms are full of pizza boxes.  Dominoes pizza is all they like.

 I feel that our group is rather intimidating to the other boats in the flotilla.  We have the biggest boat, and the other folks are younger for the most part.  Our group passed on all the drinking.  I am a preacher, Charley a policeman, and Bob with Game and Fish.  They probably think we are an odd group.  For that matter, we probably are!
 A large power boat comes roaring by too close to us.  Ted is standing right by me. He yells, "Slow down!  Slow down!  You ass hole!"  Then he looks at me and says, "Pardon my French."

 For supper Robert grills chicken, steak and fresh corn.  I fix the salad, beans and peaches.  It is a delicious meal, but we have had trouble starting the charcoal, and it is 8:45 before we eat.  It might not have tasted so wonderful at 5:30.
 I assign the sleeping arrangements.  Charley and I take the back cabin.  I put Robert and Bob on the settees because Bob doesn't like sleeping with anyone.  Then Darl and Ralph take the front V-birth.
 The wind really comes up as soon as we anchored, after our struggling with light airs all day.
 Bob has worked hard on navigation all day today.
 Robert claimed to have a head-ache all day.  I wonder if he didn't get seasick from the bouncing that the powerboats were giving us.
 I find it interesting having just a group of men, with no women, no children.  The dynamics are different.

 All of the guys like to tell gory stories.  Darl told one about a stewardess who checked into a hotel room.  She noticed something smelling funny.  The next day it was worse.  She called housekeeping.  When they examined the room they found a dead man under her bed.

Bob: "Did you hear about those two snowmobiles following each other last winter.  A girl fell off the back of the first one, and the second couldn't stop fast enough.  The ski ran all the way through that girl.  They had to remove the ski from the snowmobile to get her to the hospital.  She died within a day or so."

Ted:  "A couple of years ago a prominent doctor was sailing on the Bay at night.  He was a good sailor too.  He went between a tug and a boat under tow.  The cable dismasted the boat and killed everybody on board.  It decapitated one of the men on board."

Bob calls Chee-Kee on the radio, and mistakenly identifies our boat as "Grey Lady."  He says, "Pardon me do you have any Grey Poupon?"  Ted answers the radio: "Sorry, we don't have any."  He later told us they drove all over the anchorage looking for Grey Lady.  They figured it must be somebody they knew.  Maybe they could party together.

Tuesday, May 29
 It's 3 a.m., and I am awake.  The wind has been blowing pretty hard all night, bouncing the boat with a swerving little two step.  I start thinking about whether the anchor will hold, and sailing in the rain all day tomorrow without adequate foul weather gear.  I don't have any rain pants, only a rain jacket without a hood.  I am in the very back of the boat which is bouncing and swinging through about 120 degrees.  I have given Charley the forward part of the birth, so here I am closed in a pretty tight sleeping area.  I start thinking about my claustrophobia.
 Suddenly, I realize I am getting sea sick!  I lie there telling myself it isn't true... getting sicker all the while.
 Finally, I realize I must do something about this.  I shake Charley and tell him I am getting up for a while.  I take some Dramamine and sit up.  I have to put my clothes on because it is raining and cold.  We left one of the boards out of our companionway so we could get a little breeze, so now the wind and rain are coming in a bit.  But I don't mind the wet or cold; its the motion.  Obviously I am feeling better or I wouldn't be writing this.  I am going to stay up at least one hour from the time I took the medicine just to make sure.

 Bob is an explosives expert.  He talked about setting up booby trap demonstrations to teach law enforcement officers how to raid marijuana fields.
Bob:  "I can make a bomb out of anything.  I could get one on board an airplane too, Darl.  I can make one out of one of these toothpaste pumps.  Just take out the bottom and pack it with C-4 and rig a detonator cap under the pump.  I could do the same thing with an artists tube of paint.  Just remove the paint and fill it with explosives."

 Darl and I stayed below most of the day.  Neither of us have rain pants.  So we did the navigating, working on set and drift.
 

 The rain is falling pretty hard and has decreased visibility to less than 1/2 mile.  That means we are sailing blind toward Love Point.  We are really relying on navigation.  We have allowed one mile for the current and drift of the boat.
10:55 -  Well, what do you know?  We drew the Love Point buoy right on the nose.

Talking about sailing to the Dry Tortugas, Bob says:  "Hey, Ted.  Are you ready for this?  You know Texas is awful dry, but Arkansas has lots of river water.  Well, the governor of Texas asked the governor of Arkansas about building a pipeline to carry water from Arkansas to Texas.  Governor Clinton of Arkansas said, `Sure, we'll build a pipeline about one inch thick.'  When the governor of Texas complained about the pipeline being so small, Clinton replied, `Shoot man, if you Texans can suck as good as you can blow, then you'll have plenty of water!'"

 After we passed Love Point, the winds kicked up to 35-40 mph .  I have navigated all the way because I don't have foul-weather pants, and it is raining pretty hard.  Ralph comes below, and I use his foul weather gear to go above.  We heave to and take down the main to sail under genoa alone.  I watch the knotmeter hit 9 knots under genoa only!  That's some wind!
 Then I take the wheel.  What fun!  Surfing down those big swells.  My glasses are about to blow off.  I have to use one hand to hold them on.
 After I have the wheel about 15 minutes the wind starts dropping.  All the guys start teasing about the wind dying just as the preacher takes the wheel.
 This heavy weather is great!  We are all so excited that, when we arrive early to the channel entrance, we insist on turning around and going back out.  You never saw six such happy men.... crazy, but happy!
 One of the Annapolis 26's blew out a main in that storm.  Those poor guys don't even have a compass.  The visibility was so poor, they said at one time they couldn't see the bow pulpit.  They had to try to follow Chee-Kee, which sailed too far south heading for Love Point light.  Then they had to beat into the wind for 1 1/2 miles to round the point.
 In the channel the tidal current is running very strong.  Bob is at the wheel.  He makes a nice maneuver to bring the big boat into the dock under tricky circumstances.  We are proud.  Then we all stand on deck to watch the other boats come in.  One of the Newport 30's comes into the marina too fast and hits a Bayliner pretty hard.  But no damage was done.
 We sailed today from 9:30 to 2 p.m.

Bob:  "You better watch out for cumulus-mumatos clouds.  They are the ones that create tornadoes.  Did you know that?"

Robert's wife is on a trip with some girlfriends to New York City.  They are going to see Phantom of the Opera.

Someone noticed Charley's lack of hair on his head.
Bob: "Hey, I saw a mosquito try to land on his head a while ago.  The poor thing skidded and broke a leg."

Tonight we ate at The Crabhouse where you can eat all the shrimp and crabs that you want.  Ted shamed us all by eating at least three dozen crabs.
Ted: "Get ready, boys.  The seasoning on these crabs is so hot that if you ever had a cut on your hand, it'll burn tonight."
For over two hours we cracked and slurped.  The crab tastes good, but I'm not sure they are worth the trouble.

Bob asked me to lead the men in a Bible study tonight.  We looked at Acts 27 and tried to draw lessons for coping with the storms of life.  Acts 27 has lots of sailing terminology that we enjoyed, but the best part was the testimonies shared by each of the men.

Robert told about getting thyroid cancer.  It was discovered on routine examination when applying for work at VA hospital.  "God really got my attention through that.  After that I set my priorities right."

Darl: "That storm reminds me of the man who was caught in a flood.  He said, `The Lord's going to take care of me.'  A man came by in a boat to rescue him, but he said, `No thanks, the Lord is going to take care of me.'  He climbed up on his roof.  A helicopter came by to rescue him.  He said, `No thanks, the Lord's going to take care of me.'  But the flood continued to rise and the man drowned.  In heaven the man complained to God that He didn't rescue him.  God said, `Well I sent you a boat and a helicopter.  What more did you want?'"

Darl told about getting hijacked to Algeria.
Darl:  "I was flying from Detroit when two women, and three guys with three kids took over the plane.  Said they wanted to go to Algeria.  We flew to Miami for refueling.  Did you ever see a suitcase with $1,000,000 in it?  I did.  One of the stewardesses looked at a gun held to her head so long that she memorized the serial number on it."

After the Bible study, we have a big discussion about safety.  I said we should not have been cooking hot water underway because it could have fallen on the cook.  Others said we should have put on lifejackets to go forward.

Wednesday, May 30
At 6:15 Ralph woke us all up using the ship's bell.
Bob's Marine bark: "What's your name, young man?"
 "I don't know, sir; I lost my seabag, and that's the only thing that had my name on it!"

 The wind has howled through the shrouds all night! But the forecast is for sunny skies, 70-75 degrees, with winds 10 to 20 mph, gusting higher.

Bob: "If you drink and drive; don't smoke.
 But for God's sake don't do dope."

 I have been bragging all week about my great pancakes.  Today was the day to show them off.  But while I was getting the materials out, Bob starting helping me and soon took over the job.  I must admit I didn't try too hard to stop him.  He keeps calling them "collision mats."
 

 We forgot to buy eggs for the pancakes.  Bob made them without.  When Ralph came back from the bathroom, I said, "Ralph, get me one of those eggs out of the refrigerator."  He dutifully turned upside down in the refrigerator looking under everything for an egg.  It was a wild goose chase.  But Darl kept saying, "We don't have any eggs, do we?  Do we have any eggs?  I thought you said we didn't have any eggs."
 That reminded everybody of their favorite snipe hunting story.  Bob told about being sent all over a navy base one time looking for a sky hook.  Robert told about a neighbor coming over to borrow a metric crescent wrench.

 Today we sailed from 9:30-2:30.  We ran under genoa alone all the way to St. Michael's.  There were some good sized rollers today.  After getting to St. Michaels we took down the genoa, and put up the working jib.  We put up a reefed main and beat out the channel.  The big waves caused lots of white water over the deck.  We practiced man over board drills.  When we were doing a man overboard drill with Robert at the helm, Ralph's hat went overboard.   So we did a double man overboard drill.  Both survived!
 Charley brought the boat into the dock.  Suzanne's two guys messed up her attempt at docking.  We all stood by in contempt.
 

 Robert tells of racing on J-24.  If someone sits on the sheet, we call it a "butt cleat."

Charley talked about working motorcycle wrecks.  One man had a big gash cut out of his knee.
Robert: "At the hospital we call them murder-cycles."
Ted: "We call them trama-cycles."

At St. Michaels, we all enjoy the museum.  We see 5 log and 3 log canoes, oyster boats, and 50 or 60 other old wooden boats.  Ted says James Michner spent several months near here when he was writing his book Chesapeake.  When I visited the museum, I saw many of the items mentioned in his book.
 Eric Applegarth is the decoy carver who spent some time showing us decoy carving techniques.  We saw the sink boats and ice boats used to hunt ducks.  I was most impressed with the punt gun with which old time hunters killed up to 100 ducks with one shot.

 We walked downtown to have the best milkshake on the Bay at the local drugstore.  There I called Sarah and the church office.

 For supper I fixed chicken and rice with fresh salad and peaches.
 We watched a sailboat race right off the marina at St Michaels.  Everybody drooled over the Hinckley's, J-24's, Pearsons, etc.
 I had supper ready about 6:30, but we had to wait about 15 minutes so we could see the race start.  Everybody seemed to like the meal.
 Ralph skipped out on supper.  He went to a local restaurant and had prime rib for $10.50.

 Sarah told me that Tommy Robinson got beat.  I'm glad I crossed over to vote against the rat.  Bob and Charley have lots of bad stories to tell about TR.  They are both down on him partly because of his foul mouth.
 I learned that Bill Brown's mother died.  Dennis did well in ministering to the family.  He even drove to Bald Knob to the funeral.  Bessie Griffith is back in the hospital.  They say she is having light strokes.
 Dennis has been having trouble with the computer.  Says he has one message for me - "D-R-O-W-N!!"
 

Darl:  "One time I thought I was getting chocolate moose, and instead I got a big mouthful of liver pate instead! Yuk!"

Bob is quiet and moody tonight.  He called Joanne, but didn't tell us anything about the call.  Maybe he got bad news.

 Robert suggests that we buy some thighs and legs to barbecue tomorrow night.  Bob barks back, "I don't cook thighs and drumsticks, only breasts!"
 He has also told us he doesn't let anybody on his fishing boat with live bait or a net.

 Bob's son is a quadrapelgic.  He was in a wreck on a Suzuki motorcycle.  He is the only person to sue Suzuki and win.  Now he has lots of money and plays the stock market from his house all the time.

Bob: "Did you know a deer will eat axle grease?  They will!  How about them jelly beans?"

Bob:  "Did you know Clint Eastwood hunts deer near Prescott, Arkansas?"
 

The Great Teddy Bear Rescue:
We heard a little girl screaming from the next boat.  Then we looked out the companionway and saw Darl running to get the boathook.  We all thought the little girl was in the drink.  But Darl fished out her Teddy Bear, and all were relieved.

Thursday, May 31
 I took my shower at 7 a.m.  Realized I left my soap and dish at the last place I took a shower, at Mears Point Marina.  Luckily, I found a scrap of soap in the shower.  I wonder who used it last.
 Robert reported that Sheila has seen "The Marguerita Sisters" in New York City this week.  She expected it to be about 50's singers, but it turned out to be the highlight of the trip.  She also saw Les Miserable.  Ralph chipped in that he knew something of the plot of that story because Carol had read the book.  Then Darl filled in all the rest of the details.  I was amazed that he knew about Les Miserable.  "Did you read the book too."
Darl: "Nah, I don't read any books.  I saw it on TV."

 It was a fix your own breakfast with cereal, coffee, and juice.  I filled the sink with soapy water and told everyone to wash his own dishes.

Leaving the harbor this morning we saw a cormorant sitting on a buoy with his wings spread wide drying them.
Bob:  "Did you know the Japanese fish with cormorants.  That's right, it's called bird fishing.  They tie a string around their neck and let them get fish, but they can't swallow the fish because of the string.  Then at the end of the day they give the cormorants some of the fish they caught."

 Bob left early this morning to wash clothes.  He never did tell me what to get for him to fix his special barbecue sauce.  We approached him at the dock watching an oyster dredge or "buy-boat" being launched.  Those boats go out to the skipjacks to unload them so the skipjack could keep working.
 I asked what he needed.
Bob: "Oh, I'm not going to cook that stuff.  You guys would probably get sick."
 "But we're planning for you to cook."  Finally, I got him to agree.  He told me to buy liquid smoke, ketchup, garlic, and Worcestershire sauce.
 
At 9:30 we left the dock and practiced docking.  Everybody had a turn at the wheel.
 We learned about dipping the eye, which is when you put a loop of your line under the other boats line if they arrived before you at the dock.

Ted: "There are two kinds of sailors: Those that run aground and admit it and those who run aground and don't."

We bought more groceries this morning - $49.53 worth.  I told everybody what they owed me.  It takes an accountant to keep track of the money on this trip.

Ted: "If you are going aloft, tie a knot in the line and trust it, not the shackle.  You don't know what that shackle has been through."

 This morning there is no wind.  It is flat calm, which is a big surprise after the strong winds yesterday.  Today is the first day with warm, clear skies.  It is the first day for us to wear bathing suits, which is bad for Darl.  About the only clothes he brought was seven bathing suits.

 Ted tests everybody on stopper knots, bowlines, and clove hitches.
 When we pass a buoy, he asks, "Which way does the channel go here?'  "On which side are you going to pass that red buoy?"  He tells us not to say, "I'm going to pass that buoy to starboard", but "I'm going to leave that red buoy to port."
 "Bale" is the U-shaped piece on the main to which the mainsheet is attached.
Bob: "How about those jelly beans?"

Ted:  "You guys from the South always call the Chesapeake a lake; it's a Bay."

Darl showed Ted two half-hitches.
Ted: "Power boater knot!  If you can't tie a good one, tie a lot of them."

 Ted taught us an instant bowline, but its not a true bowline.  "You just use it to impress the girls at the dock."  He called it a tugboat bowline or flying bowline.  I could tie it the fastest.  They timed me at 1.53 seconds!
 Ted confesses that he knows sailing knots, but can't tie a tie for his suits.  "That's what fathers are for."

 Ralph and Darl talk cattle stories.

 Yesterday Ted came to the boat and said, "Hey guys, I forgot to tell you, tomorrow is my day off.  I'll spend the day fishing at the back of the boat.  You guys will be in charge of the boat, just tell me what you plan to do."  But it turned out that he skippered just about like always; the fish weren't biting.

 For a captains license you must have 365 days certified in a boat over 8 feet and take a test of 150 questions.
 

 Ted: "So who's going to tell me the rules of the road."
 "You can remember port is left with this rhyme:
 You enter a restaurant and the waiter says, 'I'm sorry, sir, we have no port wine left."

Ralph pulled a trick on Bob.  He called out to Darl, "Hey, Darl, I heard all the boats made by Rebel Company in Florida have been condemned because of poor workmanship."  Bob's boat was made by that company.  He had him going for a while there.

Ted taught us to roll up the main instead of flaking it on the boom.

He would go below and come up with a pad of paper and say, "What do you guys say?  How would you dock in this situation?"  And draw a boat with wind direction and docking piers.
 
 He would draw parts of the sails or boat and ask us what is a luff? leech? clew? head? tack? roach? high aspect sail? low aspect sail? fractional rig?

 Ted: "In racing you only sail the back 2/3 of the main because the genny backwinds the main."

At 12 noon., we put both sails up finally.  This is the first day that we have had time on our hands to lie about the boat and soak up some sun.  This is what sailing is usually about.

 Bob brags about all the fancy dishes he can make like borche = beet soup.
"Both my brothers were chefs.  I can also make mooseka, that is stuffed grape leaves with lamb and rice.  You guys know that nobody can be below when I mix up that barbecue sauce.  It's a family secret.  Ralph, you could take that recipe back to Kentucky and make money with it.   My grandmother was from Kiev.  She died last year at 102 years old.  I can also make petogee which is ravioli with cheese and mashed potatoes inside."  He can also do good imitations of speaking Russian and Japanese.

 Bob's skunk story:  "Did you know that you can kill a skunk without him spraying you.  That's right!  You have to talk to him.  If you talk to a skunk, he won't spray you, and you can walk right up to him and hit him on the back and kill him.  But if you shoot him, he will spray you every time."

 "Is that a ketch or a yawl?"
 "I don't know.  I can't see the rudder post, and you have to know that to know which it is."
 So the rest of the week you could hear people saying, "There's a ketch... or a yawl."

 Today is a calm day with light wind.  We are sailing at three knots max.  Everybody is lying around on deck; a far cry from Tuesday's heavy weather.

 "What's your opinion about these light airs."
 Bob: "You want my full opinion?"
 Robert: "I left my opinion in the head a while ago."

 Bob sometimes imitates a black jive walk.  He is so funny.

 Ralph told the guys all about tobacco farming.

 Darl has hundreds of airplane crash stories.

 We passed a bell buoy close, and I could hear the bell ringing just like on my tape in the office.

 Ralph got out the charts and went below to work on his navigation.  Ted went below to help him, and they had a long conversation.

 Ted: "The way I approach sailing is `minimum effort.'"

 Ted: "What's the only rope on a boat?  A boltrope.
 There are no maps on a boat either, just charts.
 You get rope at the hardware store.  You get maps at Triple - A."

 Ted: "Wind before rain, keep up the main.
 Rain before wind, head on in."

Which is very similar to the poem in Reed's Almanac:
 When rain comes before the wind
 Halyard, sheets and braces mind,
 But when wind comes before rain,
 Soon you may make sail again.

Ted: "The clew of a sail is closest to the helmsman because he needs a clue."
 The tack gets tacked down.
 You tie your boat with a line;
 you trim your sails with a sheet;
  you raise your sails with a halyard."
 

 Ted told me about a book called Tales from Margueritaville by Jimmy Buffet uses the line "Factional Fiction and Fictional Fact."  Perhaps that's what this journal is.

 Ted: "I never saw anybody lose wench handles like Dan Daniels.  We call him Dirty Dan Daniels.  He loses one wench handle a week."

A red sky at night is a sailor's delight,
 A red sky in the morning is a sailorman's warning.

The evening red and morning grey
Are sure signs of a fine day,
But the evening grey and the morning red,
Makes the sailor shake his head.

Nobody understood me when I asked, "What do you allow?"

2:30 - The wind finally came up.  Now we are cruising at 5.5 knots again.  This is more like it.  Not a cloud in the sky.

After classical music all morning on Robert's little tape player, we are now listening to jazz by Flim and the BeeBees.
Robert: "That'll make your woofers woof and your tweeters tweet."
Ted: "You guys' music is alright, but I haven't heard any words yet."

 Bob's recipe for fish: Take a pan, put about 1/4 inch layer of margarine, lay a layer of fish fillets, put green onions over it, pour a #2 can of tomatoes over it all.  Cover with aluminum foil, punch one hole in it and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. "It'll make you want to slap your grandmother."
"Bob, why don't you cook us some fish like that?"
Bob:  "I'd as soon to as eat a bug."

"Hey Ted, what's the best sailing book you've read?"
"Fastnet Force 10."
 

Radio calls: "Chee-kee, Chee-kee, Chee-kee.  This is Lively Lady, Lively Lady, Lively Lady. Over."

"Are we going to stay rafted up for the night?"
Ted: "Nah, better to swing alone than to bump together."

 Today I brought the boat up to the rafted group under sail alone.

 Bob went aloft.  Ted pulled him all the way up.  Bob had been dying to go up the whole trip.

Ted:  Hey, you guys want to know how to tie a dragging bowline?
 Then he tied a regular bowline and drug it on the floor.

Suzanne told about her job for the rest of this summer.  She will captain a boat in the Virgin Islands.  Her crew will be teenagers who pay $3500 to spend 4 weeks on board.  She said she got every camp job she ever applied for.  They all have waterfronts and are looking for qualified people.  But the pay is not much.  Her job in the Virgin Islands only pays $100 per week.

Ted: "Shipshape is not just a phrase."
 "When in doubt, let it out."

 While I was at the helm wing and wing, we did an accidental gibe.  Ted looked up and saw the genoa luffing and told me to head to the right, which I thought at the time was wrong, but who was I to argue with Ted.  Ted was wrong, and the boat gibed.  It could have been very dangerous with the boom crashing across the deck.

The bottom is called "Chesapeake Bay muck."

We rafted up about 5 and went to anchor about 7:30.

Jeremy and Rachel are from Montreal, Canada.  She has relatives in Arkansas.  Her father and mother moved to Canada during the VietNam War, and liked it there.  So they became citizens.  She is a language major.  He is a music major.  She graduated last year and worked this year for an investor.  They got married May 19 and came here on their honeymoon.  She had never sailed at all.  She took the beginners course last weekend, and now they are on an Annapolis 26 for the week.  She has quit her job so they can be free to travel a while before they settle down.

Another O'Day 37 rafted up with us.  They have been on a similar cruise, but not in a flotilla so they can go wherever they want to.  Their captain shouted, "Ahoy, all captains will line up their crew for flogging drills at 0800.  Crew will appear on deck with bared backs."

Mark and Laurie Kramer, from Chappell Hill, North Carolina, are on the other Annapolis 26.  He works for the University of North Carolina rebuilding old classrooms.  He has a MacGregor 22 on a lake nearby.  He plans to buy a boat and cruise for two years from the Virgin Islands, through Panama Canal to Alaska.  He figures to finance a boat, with insurance and other expenses will cost $1,000 a month.  He'll come back flat broke, again.  "We've been flat broke before."

Ted and Eileen Shepherd are from Annapolis.  They are on one of the Newport 30's.  Randy Turner and Dave Wolfe are from Hanover, Pennsylvania and are on the Newport 30 with Suzanne as captain.

After putting up the sails at noon, the wind steadily increased from the South to about 10-15 mph.  We sailed most of the afternoon at 5 to 6 knots.  We must have sailed 20-21 miles because we took an extra trip across the Bay.

Ad in Reed's Nautical Almanac under a drawing of an attractive woman:
 "After you've been cruising companion to more sailors than you can remember, been handled and pawed by captains and crews, laid out flat on chart tables, gotten the going over from one end to the other by seafarers from all over the world, and taught countless novices all kinds of tricks, you'd think your reputation might begin to tarnish.  But ours just gets better every year."
 -Yachtsman's guide to the Virgin Islands

I found an article in USA Today about our illustrious Tommy Robinson getting beat.  I'm sure glad I crossed over.

Bob: "That barbecue is so good it will make you want to slap your grandmother."

Bob's barbecue chicken was all it was billed to be.  But he complained that he didn't have all the ingredients he needed.  If he would have told me what he wanted, I would have gotten it.  When it came time to cook the corn, he said, "Nah, I'm not cooking any corn."  So Robert had to cook it. Our supper including chicken, corn, salad, and peaches was sure good.

It's a calm and beautiful night.  We sat on deck and enjoyed the night air, looked at the half-moon and stars, and the other cruising boats resting at anchor around us.  It was a beautiful sight.

Robert said he thought he smelled marijuana being smoked on the boat to windward.

Jeremy went swimming (crazy Canadian).  They are going to buy a boat (30 footer) in September and sail from Montreal to the Keys and back.  They must be newly weds with money.

Jeremy and Rachel were having canned clam chowder for supper.  I'm so glad we have fixed good meals.  It has sure made the trip better.  Six men can eat a lot of food.

Charley and Darl cleaned up the dishes tonight.

Chee-Kee grilled out tonight, too.  When Charley saw their lighter fluid flaming up high, he radioed them and asked if they had any charcoal lighter left.  "It looks like you've used all you had."
 Bob took the microphone, "Pardon me, but do you have any Grey Poupon?"
 Ted answered, "But of course."

Bob told a joke about two black ladies whose husbands had died.  Louisa paid $3,000 and only got a black suit, white shirt, black tie, and a little transistor radio for his shoulder.  The other lady, "Sarah Jane", paid $1800 and got a white suit, white shirt, bright colored tie, and a great big boom box for his shoulder.  Louisa complained to the manager of the funeral home.  After she left, the manager told his assistant, "Hey, Joe, before that lady comes back I want you to switch heads on those two guys."

Robert told about a nightmare he had that his wife had been killed.  All his work associates had come to console him.  He woke up crying.  He must really love his wife.
 

Friday, June 1

Everybody else got up top by 6:15.  I stayed in the berth until 7:00.  We had hot coffee and tea on deck enjoying the calm morning sunrise.
 Bob opened my hatch and started singing, "One day at a time, sweet Jesus."
 Bob shouts out his best Marine bark:
 "Wipe that smile off your face, soldier, and throw it on the ground and step on it."
 "You don't have a mother, you were issued."
 "Don't worry about your girlfriend; she's sleeping with somebody else."
 "They killed me, but I forgot to lay down.  I was just saving funeral expenses."
 "Hello, there sonny.  How's your momma and all my kids?"

Yesterday the NOAA weather station reported: "The weather is finally catching up with the calendar."  Robert said, "I didn't know those guys at NOAA ever made editorial comments."

Up anchor at 9:10 in light wind.
 

We saw lots of crab pots today.  There were markers to indicate a "float-free channel" for boats to maneuver in.

As we passed the green #7 marker, there were a pair of terns nesting in it.

Ted:  "In the fog if you think a big ship is in your area, just call for any commercial vessels on channel 13 and ask if they have you on their radar."

We passed an osprey feeding on a fish on the red #2 marker.

We taught Ted all our southern terminology, like:
 "What do you allow?"
 "He was misput."
 "Tump over the boat."
 "I'm fixin' to go."
 "I want to axe you something."
 "Where do you stay?  I stays on 14th street."

We put the sails up at 9:45 at C "1", sailing at about 3 knots.

Dan Daniels warned us:  "About 11:30 don't dare go down in the galley, because everybody on board will say, `While you are down there....'"
 Charley commented, "On our boat you don't go down there after 9:30."

Darl was telling Ted about our wives living in LaFitte.
Ted said, "You mean Lafayette, don't you?"
Darl: "No, Lafayette was a politician, LaFitte was a pirate."
Ted: "What's the difference."

At 10:30 we passed the lighthouse and changed to wing on wing.  This time we used a whisker pole and the boom vang as a preventer.

Does anybody live in that lighthouse?
Ted: "Not now.  It was the last manned lighthouse on the Bay.  Two coastguard men lived there for two weeks at a time, up until about 3 years ago.  They had the best videotape library you can imagine."
"Did they feed those guys good?"
 "You bet!"

Ted has used a sail-tie for his belt today.
 

DNR = Department of Natural Resources.  That's their version of the Game and Fish Commission.
Bob asked what they will examine him for if he comes back this way.
Ted: "Just tell them you are with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and they'll leave you alone.  Man, you are one of them."

Annapolis is the oldest and largest sailing school in the world.

In St Croix, Hugo destroyed two Morgan 44's, two O'Day 37's, and a bunch of Rainbows.  When they take these boats to Marathon, they put them on trucks and drive them down.  It's cheaper and faster.

Ted: "Okay, guys, what's the be-all and end-all of right of way rules?"
 "Avoid an accident."

"Ted, what if you were to see a pretty girl on a boat where you were captain.  Would you want to marry her and settle down?"
Ted: "If you want to be happy for the rest of your life,
 Never make a pretty woman your wife!"

"Ted, is Maryland a New England state?"
Ted: "No, we are considered middle Atlantic.  We are Northern industrialists with a Southern mentality."

Ted: "Extra sailors on a racing boat are called 'rail meat.'"
Robert: "That's right, cheeks to the teak."

Ted: "If your bilge pumps are always running, taste the water.  If it's fresh, your water tanks are leaking.  If it's salty, you got a leak."

Bob:  "Did you hear about the incident where the pilot died during a flight.  A passenger took the helm and called the tower: "What should I do now?"
 "Repeat after me.... Our Father, who art in heaven...."

Ted:  "We are on the money tack now, that's the long tack that takes you closest to where you want to go."

Ted:  "When you pass winch handles, don't let go until the next guy says "Got it."  Then if it drops overboard, he pays for it."

Ted:  "You guys need to learn to roll up the main instead of flaking it down on the boom.  All you got to remember is: You're not making friends with that sail."

The wind picked up again this afternoon to make for nice sailing.

We arrive at dock at 1:15 (13:15)
Ted said we unloaded and checked out the boat in record time.

We had a little graduation ceremony upstairs.

Just before we drove away, Charley went over and asked Ted if we would get our bareboat license.  Ted said we all passed.

The others bought T-shirts, but I was worried about having enough money to get home.

Washington traffic was awful.  We left about 2:45 and didn't get out of the bumper to bumper traffic until about 5:30.
 We let Darl out at the Holiday Inn.  Pat drove up just as we were unloading him.  They plan to spend a few days touring the area by automobile.
 We saw a bus with a big ad on the side that said, "Nancy Reagan styles at Barbara Bush prices."
 

Saturday, June 2
We are planning to leave at 6 a.m. which is 5 a.m. Central time.  I think we will be home by 5 or 6 CDT.

I am beginning to worry about my sermon, so I can tell the vacation is almost over.  It has good ideas, but I am afraid it won't be smooth yet.  The subject is "Regeneration."  I still need a few descriptive stories.  This trip should provide me with enough stories for a long, long time.