Sunday, April 10th

Adams Creek (most of the day) and then to Broad Creek

The wind shifted overnight to N and diminished some, and I was now nicely protected. It was pretty cold but sunny and inside with my little heater life was good and cozy. I read and slept and cooked a big stew to last me the next few days and to use up the remaining vegetables. There was no internet in this area and sometimes it's a relief to be offline.
By the afternoon conditions had turned nice enough so that I decided to move a little bit further to my destination, Little Washington, so to reduce the last leg by a few hours. On the way down I had found shelter in this pretty creek, called 'Broad Creek' like at least 100 other places. Never mind, I knew which one I meant. The journey was uneventful and I arrived a bit before sunset. Just like three weeks ago the place was deserted still. Peaceful and lovely.

Monday, April 11th

Broad Creek to McCotters (Little Washington)

I woke up early because getting to McCotter's in the afternoon would allow me to talk to them and maybe get some help docking. It was a lovely day, but I was on the alert because I had by now realized that almost always something bad happens after a good day in my sailing adventures. What would it be? Toilet tank explosion maybe (Caprice has a flexible rubber tank for the toilet, and this was by now full to bursting)? Engine trouble (the Yanmar had been fantastic up to now).
A big tug passed going down to the coast, and then a riverboat replica came up behind me and asked to pass me with a polite double toot.



















In the end the inevitable failure wasn't a big problem - I had been motorsailing a lot today when the wind direction was favorable, and the big old genoa clew suddenly failed. I rolled the sail up quickly before it could flap itself to bits.
Since the wind was blowing favorably I decided to take the sail down and put on the smaller, newer jib. It was a bit of an experience to exchange a roller furling sail on the run, but since the weather was good I strapped myself onto the tether and manhandled the big genoa to the deck while the autopilot kept Caprice on course. Putting the smaller jib up was a much easier job, and we continued at renewed speed.



I had fixed that clew 4 or 5 years ago when it ripped off when I was trying to cross Lake Michigan. I had sewn new webbing strips that I had found at the marina at Skipper Buds, but I remember that even then I felt that those strips seemed kind of weak. I had doubled them and sewn them well enough, and my stitches didn't fail - but the webbing strips just ripped apart. A few years after the clew the genoa had again lost it - this time it was the head ring. I had then repaired that with much stronger webbing and Chris' wonderful sewing machine. That repair was still looking good. Nevertheless, I felt that this was a sign that this genoa finally wants to go where jibs rest after a long and productive life.

We arrived at McCotters at 4PM, and I went back towards my old boat slip. I didn't need any help docking because the boat was plowing through the mud and stopped as soon as I reduced engine power, so I had all the time in the world to attach lines and pull myself close to the dock.