Bundled in cold weather gear, we left our mooring in Annapolis in hopes of a slow sail into B’more. But alas, NO wind at all. Not even a smidge. It’s all good. We motored the last 30 miles of Our Big Adventure – back into familiar territory. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the Magothy River, Bodkins Point, hundreds of crabpots….and of course up the debris-filled Patapsco River. Some container ship is missing half of it’s lumber from the Amazon forest. It can be found floating in the Patapsco.

Our Big Adventure, which began last fall (October for Paddy, and November for me) has been an amazing gift. We’ve learned to appreciate time. I no longer wear a watch – and generally have no idea what day or time it is. I do wear a compass watch. It tells me wind direction. Go ahead, ask me the time – and I’ll give you North…South….East or West – or some variant inbetween.

In summary:
8 month voyage
6 weeks to return from Biscayne Bay to the Baltimore Harbor
Caught 1 fish
Return trip: 700 offshore miles, 300 inside passage miles, 200 Chesapeake Bay miles
Overall trip: 2500 miles on water, 100 miles in a car
Top sail speed: 14 knots on Chesapeake Bay
Top average day hop speed: 9.2 knots from Ft. Lauderdale to Lake Worth
4 John Shuttleworth boats in the same mooring field
Biscayne Bay sailing rocks!
Favorite ports: Charleston SC, St. Augustine FL, Ft. Lauderdale FL, Coconut Grove FL, Norfolk VA
Cat Maudy steering/rudders are finally “fixed” after 4 years of going in circles!
We left the grid – and lived on 3 solar panels and a wind generator

Transforming our lives, into slow motion, and eliminating the need for instant gratification (pizza delivery, a midnite dash to the grocery store for chocolate to name a few), has given us a rare opportunity to take stock of the importance of each other, each moment, family, friends and those whose paths we cross for a day. It has been an incredible voyage….and I really just need to get my endorphins now.

Stay tuned… the next chapter is just beginning!

At Last

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