Sailing to the table

Leaving Solomons was awesome!

We sailed out of the little town inner-harbor at 4 knots under main alone on a close reach that only broadened as we blasted down the ebbing Patuxent River. The sun was bright and warming; the Bay kindly and following right up until we reached Point-No-Point then turned a little lumpy as we crossed the mouth of the Potomac River. Initially we were pointing the boat at the Little Wicomico River just on the southern lip of the Potomac but the sailing was so spectacular that we pushed on to Reedville, VA.

We entered the Great Wicomico River and wove our way up to Cockrell Creek as the last of the sunlight struggled through the spectrum, nestling a sliver of a Moon just after dark.

…Meaning, it was pitch-dark when the anchor hit the water!

Our 35 lbs CQR struggled through the grassy mud for almost 50 feet before she caught but catch she did and we settled the hook at 7:1 in 9 feet of water.

We knew we were in for a full day of stiff Sou-Westerlies at anchor, so why not break the tools out again and get to work after coffee?

After a month of working on this fold-out table (recycled from Bacon’s before I left), we finally figured out how we could make it as sturdy as it was salty looking.

We had this big piece of “table” stock left over from the original, which was a multi-part folding table with a cubby. The cubby became our cabinet and only one of the two table elements was needed as, well, a table. The remaining piece had the exact same angle cut into it as the fold down leaf in our installation so we decided to let the leg follow along, like this…

Measure and cut…

Line it up…

Reuse a hinge…

Check it out! Not only is it totally sturdy and functional but it’s nice and curved so we won’t get stabbed by those sharp edges.

We accidentally anchored upwind of a menhaden processing plant. Those little fishies are rich in Omega 3 something and this company processes and markets them for both the human and the animal food/supplement industries. Sometime tonight, when the wind shifts around, I bet we’ll be able to smell them. Right now, it’s just a matter of their spotter planes taking off right over our mast.