so the sheriff asks my wife if she knows where I am.....

I can't begin to describe what a great trip this was. Eight days, all sunny. Beautiful water, coves, bays and rivers. The gps odometer showed 191 nautical miles/220 statute miles of sailing. Below is a photo from one of the cloudier days. Really.

And fresh fish was on the menu a couple of times. In this case a striper. I also had good luck with bluefish.

Anchorages were nice and peaceful, like this little unnamed cove off of Broad Creek, which is off the Choptank River.

There were four days of small craft advisories while I was out, this was the third day of warnings with wind up in the 20 knot range with gusts higher. I was sailing upwind on the Tred Avon River, a two mile stretch of river directly into the wind to get to Oxford, Md., the northern most point on the trip. The yawl, under mizzen and jib, handled it very easily. As my friend Kevin (of Slip Jig fame) said, it was "blowing like stink out there" (we missed each other in Oxford by a matter a minutes).

And of course of some (beautiful) calm water mixed in there.

Hey, I don't look too terrible after six days on the water.

It was just a great trip. Lots of fun, adventure. I made a couple of mistakes here and there, pushed myself a bit and learned a little bit about sailing (and myself).

As for the sheriff, the Sommerset County, Md. Sheriff's Dept. called my wife yesterday asking if we owned a green jeep wrangler that seemed to have been sitting at the Rumbley, Md boat ramp for a long time. A concerned citizen had called in about it. Yes, she said, I was out on a sailing trip. She tried to explain my approach to safety and SPOT satellites and all that but by the end of the discussion she felt like she was being lectured (when it should have been me being lectured).

Deputy - "The Bay can be a very dangerous place."

My wife - "Yes, I know, that's why I am at home in my living room."

Deputy - "Well can you have your husband call us when he gets in?"

I did call the Sheriff's Office this afternoon and thanked them for their concern. I told them I had checked with the road dept. (who controls the ramps) and they said it was ok to leave a vehicle there in the parking lot. And pointed out that I had talked with the marina owner next door and told him that I would be out for a week.

And again, I thanked them for checking on me.

"OK, but how about letting us know before you go out next time?"

I will let them know. There will be a next time. It was a great ramp and a great place to sail.

I have a lot of cleaning up to do but hope to start posting daily logs in a few days.

steve