Linda Petrat

While we are in Annapolis we've met several other cruisers. One is Linda Petrat.
Linda is nearly Social Security age and a lifelong mariner. As a child, she sailed with her parents and 6 younger siblings on a 70 foot wooden Alden schooner. The Alden had an 8'9" draft and plied the East coast of the US and the Bahamas (!). She has worked as a finish carpenter and has raised 2 daughters.

After divorcing some years back, she began sailing her Pearson Ensign 22. When the transport company dawdled this autumn, she left on her own to sail the boat from New Hampshire to Annapolis on the way to her new home in Sarasota, Florida. She regularly gets seawater baths and has virtually no protection from the elements. This boat is smaller than the boat Washington crossed the Delaware in, and has no fixed instruments, no heat, a 4hp outboard engine, a single bunk with a leak over it, effectively no tankage, a bottle of rum strapped in for emergency fortification, a cuddy cabin so small that Linda can't fully sit up in it, and one INTREPID captain with the gritty resolve to beat winter down the coast. After inviting her to dinner aboard our boat and hearing her story, we won't bet against her success.

Linda is a very nice person and an inspiration to all of us making the trip in more substantial circumstances. As I type this Captain Petrat is braving 50F rain at the tiller with no self-steering as she pushes down the bay. We'll report back on our blog what becomes of her.Pictures to follow when we have a real computer to send with.

Maryland holds on to us

Nephew Elliot and niece Emily at their cross country running championship meet.  They won!

Maryland has a way of hanging on to us.  There is a perpetual social calendar of family events, then there is the weather, now a series of mechanical glitches.  The latest caused us to be towed into Annapolis where our mechanic, Nick Vernon, is back on our boat for the third time to straighten us out (we hope).  Our alternator is not working properly and we gave it to him yesterday to get it tested at an alternator shop.  Also, he is replacing the drive shaft coupling bolts that sheared off in the first 4 hours of use.  And, now, he is going to realign the engine and raise the engine on its mounts on Thursday.  We hope for a Friday 10/28 departure for points south......fingers crossed as it is getting cold. 

Maryland Autumn

Being towed into Annapolis

On top of Sugarloaf Mountain

But, just when we are feeling sorry for ourselves, we meet inspiration at the Chick & Ruth weekly cruiser breakfast in Annapolis.  We met a woman today who is single-handing a 22 foot sailboat that she can't even fully sit-up in from New Hampshire to "South."  She has no heat and she gets a seawater bath every day she sails.  She's made it to Annapolis and is an INTREPID SOUL.  Her smart phone is not working and she is bundled up in foul weather gear most of the time.  Makes us feel like wimps for complaining about ANY relative hardship we've encountered.  After meeting her and hearing her story, all we wanted to do is help her in any way we could.  Autumn has had a beauty to it, even if summer and autumn weather has caused muted colors and mostly just green or brown leaves to fall off the trees this year.  Flocks of geese are honking overhead and we know what season comes next.  Time to get!