Why?

By 1:10 a.m. the lightening made just enough of a flash as to cause me to head to the pilot house to check out our environment.  The boat is so quiet below, it was the light and not the thunder that got my attention.

The wind was picking up and Bel Sito was uncharacteristically moving around on her mooring ball in Annapolis Harbor. There was a big blob of a deep orange and maroon mass pictured on the WeatherBug radar app and it was moving toward the pin that marked our spot in the Harbor. I watched for awhile and kept looking at the app until it updated and warned we were going to be hit be 48-mph gusts.

This struck me as an all-hands-on-deck moment so I woke Richard and we had a 'meeting' in the pilot house. I had already turned on the switches on the panel that enable the engines to start if we broke free of the mooring and had to keep the boat in place under power.

Bel Sito swung from south to east to south to north and visibility was near zero. The engines were now on and we were ready if the 1-inch line holding her to the ball chafed through and couldn't stand the strain.

This is why (without the question mark) we do this.

To experience nature this intimately isn't possible from the confines of a condo or a house. How often do you think about the wind shifting otherwise? Being able to witness AND experience these periodic moments of extreme weather make the otherwise comfortable days aboard a boat all the more interesting. Of course, we are not in Kansas, Toto.

Participating in a storm as the wind makes flags stand straight out and lightening illuminates the sight of a solid sheet of water coming down around you is a real experience.  Hearing and feeling the wind as it moves tonnage around like a rubber duck in a bathtub is something land lubbers don't know.

Bel Sito in Annapolis Harbor

And don't care to, thank you, some of you may be thinking.

Thanks, Bill!

Bill Hollinger spotted us on the Chesapeake Bay as we passed by the Thomas Point Lighthouse, took the pix below then searched the internet and found this blog! I am so grateful he took the time to seek us out and share what he shot!

Photo by Bill Hollinger

Back by 'popular' demand!

In response to numerous (four) inquiries as to when this blog will be updated, here we go again!

If you're a boater, you don't need me to tell you this and if you are not a boater but think you might want to be, you don't want to read what I'm about to say.

There is always something that needs repairing on a boat. Never mind if it's a brand new $1mm plus yacht or a small fishing boat, there may be fleeting periods of time when everything is working as intended so just when you get complacent, bam, the day you had planned is altered once again because something needs fixing.

At this moment, Richard and Andy are making their second run to West Marine to pick something up to get our dinghy going.  We had been lulled into thinking it was the most reliable boat ever made, even casting off from the stern of the boat BEFORE turning on the engine. We were that cocky.

The Gods were taking note and decided we needed to be taught yet another lesson by having the engine conk out a few yards from the dock. We thought we'd run out of gas, and congratulated ourselves on the good fortune of having this happen just a few paddle strokes from a gas dock.

That's what we boaters do. We immediately think of a worse case scenario and as long as we're all still alive, there's always a worse case.

I vividly remember trying to calm a reluctant passenger on my first trip captaining a 26' sailboat assuring her she was perfectly safe. She had never gone sailing before, didn't know how to swim and yet some how agreed to get on a boat with me even though at that point I had close to zero experience sailing.  Through a violent Chesapeake squall in which we were able to flag a boat for a tow, I kept telling her she was perfectly safe. But when I tried to start the motor to guide the boat into the last few feet to get into the slip and it burst into flames, I realized telling her she was safe was an alternate fact. 

And yet, we survived.

It could have been worse.

The guys just came down to where I'm typing this and report they are taking the dinghy out to make sure she's running ok. Andy thinks we might have picked up some bad gas. He changed the fuel filter and we now have a spare on board.

Soon, this will be a distant memory.

Now, the truth is we've been having a great time with this boat. We've had many guests, some overnight, and even taken two grandchildren age 12 and 17 from Annapolis to Cape May, NJ where their parents have a home in the seaside village of Stone Harbor.

All good, as we say. All good.

Bel Sito no longer feels overwhelming in size or maneuverability and she handles the ocean like a skiff on a calm lake.