S/V L'ORIENT

Where were you during the nor'easter of 2011 ? We will always remember where we were. L'ORIENT was quite literally stuck in the mud. Our anchor was stuck fast in Smith Creek and we couldn't maneuver the boat to pull it out in the 40 knot winds and freezing rain. So we hunkered down for the whole day. Oh yeah, did I mention it was cold ? Like wind chill below 10 degrees cold. Despite wearing 5 shirts and 3 pants it wasn't completely unpleasant. We streamed movies (stolen wifi signal again) and drank chardonnay. We kept the boat above freezing by running the generator and heaters periodically. The next day, with the wind down to a manageable  15 knots we "manned up" and pulled the anchor out. We sailed further south to Mobjack Bay and then on to Hampton. Kirstin had the boat doing 8.3 knots in a brisk 20 knot winds and a beam reach. We arrived in Hampton dodging large warships and continually buzzed by fighter jets. A lot of military hardware here protecting

Sorry folks- our intention for our first big "underway" blog post was a picture from the Tiki Bar in Solomons. For those of you who are uninitiated, this bar combines cougars, bikers, and college kids with bro-hair into one big mosaic of why Parisians don't vacation in Maryland.  Then came the weather report. Snow. Are you kidding me ? We were enjoying northeasterly wind at about 10 knots so we made the executive decision to continue on to Tick Neck on the Smith Creek in the mouth of the Potomac. Problem was we sort of ran out of daylight. Anchoring became a GPS video game in pitch blackness. But now we're here, posting via a stolen internet signal (thanks Dave for the antenna idea). The ride down here was cold. Really cold. Kirstin and I have tons of shorts and tee shirts packed for the Caribbean but we've been wearing all our warm clothes today. The temp was 40 with wind chill below freezing. Anyway, we hope our anchor holds during the sh__storm we're expe

Friends, a funny thing happened on the way to the Bay Bridge. Our final test cruise was rudely interrupted by the appearance of the USS Alexandria (nuclear attack submarine) and an overzealous swarm of patrol boats. We were advised to clear the area, and armed with only a nerf football and fly swatter we chose to break off this unequal engagement. We also wonder whether our friends in the US Navy will be this accessible should we run into pirates off the coast of Venezuela.....our guess is that "Big Al" doesn't venture too far from the bars in Annapolis. We leave for Hampton in 4 days; the jumping off point for the Caribbean 1500.

Our only home now floats! We packed up the place in DC and moved our belongings into a storage locker in Annapolis (insert "Storage Wars" joke here). The past week has been consumed by beginning the provisioning of food and supplies for the next year - yes, you can buy 70 rolls of toilet paper in one package! Each can of Chunky Soup, Beefaroni, Dinty Moore stew (yuck) has had the paper label removed and the content written via Sharpie on the can - why, you might ask? One word - cockroaches. We don't have them and want to keep it that way - most sailors prohibit paper or cardboard as a way to keep away microscopic cockroach eggs from setting up home in the many recesses of a sailboat. We have a full meal plan developed for the 10+ days at sea on our way to the British Virgin Islands - a healthy mix of fresh and canned ingredients. It is unlikely that either of us will be the Emeril of the high seas anytime soon. One wildcard in our food plans........we've purchased fis

Our good friends Dave and Trish (pictured here with Kirstin) have left F-Dock forever. Their wonderful boat, SV Equinox, is already south of Solomons and heading for the intercoastal waterway, bound for Florida. We had lots of laughs and spent hours and hours serving as each other's boat therapist. We hope to see them soon in the BVI where we can pick up where we left off at the Yacht Club party. We'll have a toast tonight to two of the nicest people we've ever met.