Friday, October 15, 2010

10/10/10

Sunday morning at the “T” dock at Horn Point Marina and we board Tim, our visiting crew member, for a short sail and orientation, “showing him the ropes,” so to speak.  The sun was shining and the weather mild, but little in the way of wind to take advantage of.  We motored out into the fleet of Thistles headed to their piece of the bay.  We found Tom and the crew of “Mad Cow” and offered them a tow. Under the circumstances, it was a welcome amusement, and they tossed us a line.  Arriving at the SSA Race Committee boat, we cast them off and resumed our orientation.
                Tim is an experienced sailor, and it didn’t take long to be introduced to the lines and rigging of Bentaña.  With little or no wind we hoisted sail, practiced the jiffy reefing and furled the sails.  Tim completed the paperwork to officially sign on for the Rally.  We returned to the marina so Tim and Virginia could head home to Charleston SC for another work week.
                Our budget and sense of adventure precluded us from spending another night at the Marina, so we checked out the local anchorages.  Those near the boat show were all full, so we headed across the water to Whitehall Bay.   The bay itself is somewhat open to weather, but leads to several protected creeks.  We made for Mill Creek and arrived in the dark, the first sliver of moon making its appearance. The chart shows a series of navigational day marks (unlit channel markers on fixed pilings.)  They are shaped, numbered and colored according to convention, but hard to see in the dark.  The LED flashlights we use daily are ineffective at distance and our rarely used million candle power beacon was buried somewhere.   Fortunately we were being followed in by another sailboat, and after hailing her, discovering they were local, and asked if we could follow them in.  They were very helpful and since the channel was deceptively close to shore, it saved us from touching bottom more than once.  They lead us up the creek to a lovely spot where we spent a quiet night and prepared for Monday and our visit to “The World’s Biggest Sailboat Show.”

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