saturday sail/what's a schlunk?

Getting close to the last day of sailing here in the Mid-Atlantic so it was a joy to rig Spartina at the ramp. Pretty chilly out to start the day and not much of a breeze, but it turned out to be a beautiful day.

I've got a lot of work to do on the boat this winter. A lot of day sailing plus 20 days of cruising where we've sailing almost 600 miles. That's a lot of wear and tear on a wooden boat. Sanding, painting will keep me busy this winter.

Not a cloud in the sky, crip early morning light cast a shadow from the mizzen onto the main as I entered the main branch of the Elizabeth River.

It was peak season for the snowbirds, about 20 boats anchored in Crawford Bay and lots of other boats passing through on their way south. These folks on a catamaran called "Peace" seemed to be at peace, they had to be the happiest folks I've seen in a while. Smiles, waves, shouts and thumbs-up. They were loving life.

And the biggest boat in the harbor was the Carnival Glory. Conga music all day long for us on the river. The party-goers are probably well offshore by now.

And this nice yawl from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Do you recognize her, Perry?

After five hours on the water I was heading in when the American Rover passed by, a wedding on board. Caught a glimpse of the beautiful bride. She was too busy to notice us, but the wedding photographer grabbed a couple of photos of Spartina.

Sailing was fantastic, but the highlight of the day was the oyster dish from Baydog's recipe. That is one of the wild Lynnhaven River oysters above. And the final product below. Great stuff. As my wife said, a nice smoky, creamy dinner with the shitake mushrooms blending with the oysters. I served it over a bed of wild rice with some toasted french loaf with garlic/butter/parmesan cheese on top. It was one of those great recipes with no measurements, just words like schlunk here and there. But it all worked out great. Baydog I owe you one (One what? That is to be determined).

All in all, a great saturday.

steve