Esa Chesapeake-Greenbrier

... favorable conditions. We weathered the winds at anchor in Willoughby Harbor and, in fact, dragged anchor in a 35 knot squall early in the morning November 1.

Our "buddy boat" captain Bob delayed his crew arrival just as they were departing for the Detroit airport the morning of Oct 31. They would hold for word from Bob and have to arrange a new flight since one crew volunteer had a narrow window permitting his absence ...

... lost both rounds, boy were the other skaters really good. We watched the winners, and saw the prizes being handed out. There was 300 dollars first place, 150 second, and 50 dollars in third place. Everyone got something. The Volcom Marketer gave us a big Volcom sticker to put on our RV, which we neglectfully should have brought to the competition to hype up Josh. Next one, we're ...

... opportunity to run the washing machine for the first time. It works! We “executed” a med moor tie-up at Indian Creek Yacht and Country Club, together at their visitor dock.

On October 23 we took a short sail to Jackson Creek off the Piankatank River. The channel entry is quite tiny—very interesting. We had motored the last 1-1/2 hours due to an adverse current. Jackson Creek was the most crowded anchorage we have ever been at in ...

... his brother, and I hung out with him talking bout super advanced technology ****. He's pretty gifted when it comes to electronics and computers. We had a great time celebrating both Josh's Birthday on the 14th, and Brandon and Aaron's on the 22nd. Everyone was warm, and unpretentious. You cannot get more real with these people than anywhere we've been to so far. Vail, and Markie came and showed up at both times, along with ...

Climbed aboard the Waterman fishing charter at 5:30 am on a crisp, clear morning for a fun day of marlin fishing in Virginia Beach. Our skipper was Captain Mike Standing, who did not waste a moments time in getting us all aboard, stowing our gear, and heading to the fishing grounds of offshore Va Beach.

After a fairly quick ride ...

... span) cannot be changed by the owner so a guru conveniently offered to visit and replace the battery, which is soldered into the phone’s circuit board. His availability was critical because we were only a few days away from our lease expiring at the marina at the end of September and after that date we would be on the water "out of reach". The guru tested all functionality with the phone number we had already established through our Mini-M subscription.

... visited a nearby marina and toured a custom boat named Chanty. A gorgeous piece of work. On September 11 we motored to the North River on Mobjack for a change of scenery, admiring the homes on the river bank including that of Chanty’s owner. The following day we returned to Willoughby Harbor Marina in light NW wind and flew our new secondary spinnaker. The color combination is quite wild but the sail flies well!

... were good.

The next day, my wife Sue began to do all the provisioning needed for a 4 month cruise and I began to get the basic mechanical work started leading up to starting the engine. After 7 months in ‘mothballs’, there is no assurance things will work. I was prepared for a lot of work. I was hoping to avoid writing big checks.

By noon, I had gone over the basics and was ready to try to fire ...

... t worth the money as my parents lived so close to the school. Living on campus also had an impact on my study habits as I ended up partying way too much. So, I moved back home and finished up my degree. As I neared graduation, I applied to a number of Grad Schools. I was accepted at a few of them and decided to go to Washington State, as it was a place I had ...

... crosses ruins Then back to Dublin, check back into the Grand Canal and off to the Old James Distillery for a dinner ...