Yeocomico River

June 26, 2009
The "race" was on! "Outrageous", "Polaris" and "Celerity" all vying for anchoring first! All 3 boats took different routes to our destination. We tended to take the route closest to land, but ended up tacking lots to try and keep our sails filled. In the end, all 3 vessels took down the sails and motored into the Yeocomico River. The rudder stuffing box was really giving us fits so Dennis (Polaris) and Thom (Outrageous) kindly offered to take a look. While they couldn't see the rudder stuffing box, they were able to "feel" it and gave it two plus turns. Wa-la...they are brilliant. We now have a dry bilge and no more pumping. Melinda was SOOOO happy! While under way we kept checking, but every time we pumped, we came up empty. One problem solved anyway. Polaris hosted dinner aboard tonight, but unfortunately Melinda was just too wiped out to attend. She had been working all day fixing this and that and needed a night to crawl in bed with Molly and veg. The Polaris taxi graciously picked me up and took me to their boat for a night of wine, food and story swapping.

June 27, 2009
Anchor up at 9 am and all 3 boats motored across the Potomac to the St. Mary's River to anchor in Horseshoe Bend. St. Mary's is a really historical little town with lots of charm. Unfortunately this day brought nearly 100 degree temps and high humidity. We were miserable. We did stop for fuel and water at a marina that had a pool. Their Boat US Discounted rate was $1.50/ft. and we almost bit the bullet and took a slip, but we decided to rough it and go to the anchorage. Melinda put up the forward sunshade and that helped a bit, but it was just so hot and miserable that we didn't even feel like making dinner. We settled on sandwiches and potato chips. We did meet some nice folks aboard a Bristol Channel Cutter, an absolutely gorgeous boat in the anchorage. St. Mary's College had a very nice dock so we used that to take Molly ashore for her morning and evening romp of 15 minutes on dry land.