11 Jun 14

It started to rain about 06:00, and we had to hustle to close all the hatches. It appears we have developed a couple of leaks on one of the saloon hatches and (much worse) the main (big) forepeak hatch, right over our bed; more on this issue later, I think. We finally got underway about 10:30 and headed down the Choptank River toward the Chesapeake. The wind was about 9 - 12 kn from the East, so we motored sailed for the first hour. Then, as it freshened, it was time to get the spinnaker up again. We sailed along happily until the mouth of the Choptank, when the wind slackened and went fluky, so we fired up the iron sail and turned north toward Annapolis. The wind finally settle on N (right on the nose) and freshened up to 18 - 22 kn. We motored until the turn to the Severn River allowed us to free off enough to sail close-hauled for the last 4 miles. We picked up a mooring and settled down, between showers to watch the Wednesday afternoon races, with about 100 boats finishing a couple of hundred yards away at the Annapolis Yacht Club; quite an exciting evening. During a break in the action, I changed the oil and oil filter on the main engine. It was too wet to go ashore for dinner, so we grilled a steak and potatoes on the transom. Intermittent showers through the night.