Ready or Not Salty Dawg Sailors--Annapolis MD

The Salty Dawg Rally

Leg 1--23 October 2014. An uneventful flight on Delta from Minneapolis to Annapolis

The long-awaited delivery is at hand.  Who knows what hand we will be dealt.  I am flying into Annapolis to join Canadian friends and former students Kelly and Linda to help deliver their recently purchased 12-year old Catalina 470 from Annapolis to Hampton VA where we will meet boats joining the Salty Dawg Rally.

Linda and Kelly spent two weeks sailing in the BVI with me this past winter, one week as students in a Basic Coastal Cruising/Bareboat Charter class and a second week chartering a 30' boat as part of a flotilla I led. While at Cruisers University in Annapolis this Spring, Kelly found a well-kept Catalina 470 he just had to have. Plenty of living space in this wide 47' 2-cabin beauty.

Kelly and Linda thought it was in great shape until they moved onto it in early September after spending the summer on their 38' trawler in Lake of the Woods. Since then, they have spared no expense. They've replaced the standing rigging, running ringing, halyards, and the traveler. The 155 Genoa is now a 135. New items: life raft, DAN buoy, 4 solar panels, and a wind generator. The fuel was polished.  The never-before-used single side band was revived. The EPIRB, SPOT and satellite phone are all registered. Fawcetts Marine Store was a daily stop, though a tiring one on the little Wal-mart bikes they bought in place of having a car. All this was taking place in between classes--navigation, diesel, electronics--and the Annapolis Boat Show.

Leg 2--25 October 2014. An uneventful 18-hour motor sail on Silhouette from Annapolis to Hampton VA.  We left Bert Jabin Boatyard around noon on a sunny autumn day in 15-knot winds, weaving our way around crab pots and weekend race boats.  Traffic, big and small, was prevalent throughout the night.  Arriving in Hampton was easy.  First to the fuel dock, where boaters pump their own fuel, then headed to a separate fuel dock down a narrow fairway, backed out of that and proceeded to our assigned slip, again down a narrow fairway.  Backed the boat in with a bit of help from the bow thruster.  Congratulated ourselves on a nice trip, then headed to the on shore facilities, and as chance would have it, ran into friends Mary and Doug from Minneapolis.  They've sailed their Express 37 from Bayfield WI.  What a nice welcome to Hampton.