Sailing Positive Waves

 Southern Chesapeake Bay We left Annapolis a couple days after the boat show with the goal of getting to warmer climes as quickly as possible. Halloween with friends Carla, Gordon, and Maya (whom we first met in Hope Town, Bahamas back in 2006, pre-kids) in Wilmington, NC was also high on the agenda. Sailing south from Annapolis. Sunny but cold. Hanging out in the main cabin while sailing, staying warm! And staying warm (and always with the sun protection!) while sailing from the cockpit. Our first stop on our southerly trek down the Chesapeake Bay was Solomon’s Island, MD at the mouth of the Patuxent River—our go-to place for crab cakes. It was a good sail with steady northerly winds and we arrived in Solomon’s in the late afternoon, just in time for a (very overpriced) crab cake dinner ashore. We woke up to a very cold morning and were, once again, grateful for our diesel heater. After I had an invigorating walk ashore, we weighed anchor and kept heading south. It was a windy day so

learning how to sail on Whisper in the Chesapeake Bay , circa 2005 As we returned to the Annapolis area on Positive Waves I couldn’t help think about how far we’ve grown as sailors and boaters since we first started out in 2004. Back in college in the late ‘90s, Hans and I dreamed of sailing around the world on a sailboat, living a nomadic lifestyle, and exploring new places from the comfort of our own floating home. Every decision was made with that goal in mind. Jobs, apartments, school (or not attending school), weekly budgets, furniture—every choice was based on getting out on the water as soon as possible. We worked hard, saved a lot of money, and made conscious decisions that eventually let us sail and not work for almost three years.  We were living and working in DC and Maryland at the time and started learning about boats and boating in the Annapolis area. Our first boat was Rocinante, a home-built 34’ Bruce Roberts pilothouse tank. We started a refit in earnest,