Monday, August 9, 2010

Gretchen´s post from the Chesapeake Bay trip day 18


We are settling into good routines on the boat, and have been practicing many sailing maneuvers to get them set into our muscle memory as well as our heads.   We confirmed the reefing points on the mainsail and reefed/unreefed, then reefed again on our journey from the Corsica River back under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on the way to our second overnight on Weems Creek in Annapolis.  Reefing is the term used to describe shortening the sails, so there is less sail area available for the wind to push.  Reefing helps keep the boat “on an even keel”.   Callisto is rigged to allow us to manipulate the reefing lines from inside the cockpit (safety first!) and we are feeling confident after our practice and “live fire” sessions.
Our meal planning seems to have worked out pretty well.  We have been able to stock up on fresh veggies about every five days.  The refrigerator is working hard, but managing to keep cold things cold and vegetables fresh, not frozen…We have been cooking “double” helpings of main courses so that on every other day we don´t need to have the oven or stove on too long in the heat.  We have also had our fair share of cold entrees, main course salads, etc, something we haven´t had as part of our usual meal rotation at home.  We have only eaten three meals off the boat, in the 18 days since we departed Deltaville.   This is a bit of surprise to us, but has to do mainly with our desire to be in very quiet locations at night, far from towns or marinas.  More on that later…