A winter coat for Wind-Lass

 Back on the Wind-Lass- December 21, 2012

When we first flew out to Annapolis to get a survey done on our soon-to-be new sailboat, it was early December and winter in Maryland was just beginning. At the time, "winter" seemed more a calendar term than descriptive of the weather. And while temps hovered in the mid-40s, and sometimes the Chesapeake Bay wind picked up, the sky was a blue and clear as could be.

However, in the storage yard, many of Wind-Lass' yachty neighbors were already shrink-wrapped for the season. We quickly learned one of the many perks that came with the big girl was a custom-made winter cover. And though I don't know the exactly what the cover cost Wind-Lass' seller, we've heard these things come upwards of $5,000. Oh happy day!

But since the final sale had not yet gone through, Wind-Lass would need to remain uncovered for showing for the time being. Once the purchase was finalized, we could pay someone to put the cover on for us if we so desired or arrange to get back to Annapolis. After some brainstorming, we realized that if we extended our existing holiday travel plans to the East Coast we could just put the winter cover on ourselves. And then began a fruitless search for reasonable airfare the week before Christmas...

As anyone who has ever even considered traveling around this time of year already knows, the words "cheap airfare" and "holiday weekend" should never be used in the same sentence. So when Scotty and I discussed exactly how the heck we were going to get from Atlanta to Baltimore and back in four days, the solution quickly became apparent: we would drive.


And drive we did- or to be more specific- Scotty did, while I navigated/ tried to stay awake all night long. Those eleven hours up I-85 became a blur of McDonald's drive-thrus for coffee and random rest stops. Even while delirious from lack of sleep, in typical fashion we still managed to celebrate exciting local attractions like state welcome signs.

We arrived in Annapolis just after five in the morning and attempted to check into the Sheraton Annapolis (a very nice, convenient place to stay, by the way), only to be told that if we checked in before seven our "night" would end at Noon. The front desk attendant told us if we waited until seven, however, we could check in early and stay a full night. Since her answer seemed pretty final and I was too tired to negotiate or look for another hotel, we dragged ourselves back out to sleep in the rental car for the next few hours until check in time.

Later that day, after what felt likes days later, we finally managed to drag ourselves out of bed around two, and make it to the boatyard to take stock of our new sailing yacht.

And she was just as beautiful as we remembered:

Then, it was time to figure her out. We spent a good chunk of time carefully inspecting the electrical panel and even referred to the heater manual to make sure we turned it on and off correctly.

We also took some inventory, opening up all the hatches and cabinets.

Time flew by and soon we had to leave or miss the opportunity to get dinner that night.

The next day we slept in by accident (that sneaky time change gets us every time!) and then grabbed lunch at the famous local dive, Davis' Pub (also pictured here).

Two Davis' for the price of one? ;)

Then it was back to the boat to tackle putting on the winter cover. Even though it seemed a bit like a puzzle at first, after a lot of crawling around on the deck we managed to get it all zipped together and secured. Mission accomplished!

The second night in Annapolis was spent on our new sailboat. We slept on the double pull-out berth in the main salon to conserve battery power for the heater since all but one of the solar panels are now obscured by the winter cover. We even turned off most of the lights toward the end of the night to keep power up, but it really didn't matter much to us. It just felt great being on our boat, even if it's not in the water yet.

After only two days in Annapolis it was time to pull out of town and make the drive back south to my mom's house in Asheville, North Carolina for Christmas. And as hard as was to leave Wind-Lass, it felt better knowing she is protected from the elements until we return in a few months.

Next up, more travels in the southern U.S. and Dominican Republic!