Sailing from Annapolis to Florida

I picked up a hitchhiker named John who was headed to an auto parts store.

“I’m looking to fashion a gasket for my fuel pump. I found a leak in the line and have pumped the manual pump to death. It’s for an Atomic Four gasoline engine in my Catalina 27 that I sailed down from Annapolis last week. The first day, we made it to Solomons Island with a big north wind pushing us. The next day we crossed the Potomac and holed up at Reedville. The third day we anchored off Deltaville and then came down the coast to New Point Comfort. Bad weather forced us to throw out three anchors. NOAA didn’t bother to warn us about that until two hours into the storm.

“Finally we made it here [York River Yacht Haven]. We were on the way to Hampton to pick up a buddy, but that will have to wait. We were hoping to get down to the James River today and then the Inland Waterway to North Carolina. The plan is to get to Florida for the winter. Next summer I’ll return to Alaska where I work maintenance on the oil lines of the North Slope. The price of oil rises and falls, but they always need people who know the maintenance of the lines and machinery.

“I used to have a trawler in Florida but I always wanted to learn to sail and have a sailboat. The owner had a wonderful user’s manual that he wrote himself. It’s been very helpful. Still, I think it will take time to learn to sail well.”

He thanked me for the ride and jumped out of the car into a wonderful future of adventure on the water.

Let’s Go Sail

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