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The past week or so has been nothing but boats! The picture at left was taken during the Solomons Waterman's Festival last weekend. The boat in the picture just left a slip at the lower left, applied full (800+hp) reverse and will be doing about 20kts as he goes between the pilings on the left then stop instantly while he throws four dock lines on the pilings, all in 18 SECONDS from the start. We watched boats of various sizes up to 65' doing this for hours last Saturday and it was really a hoot. In the future we may do our docking only after dark!
Mid week the boats began arriving for Trawler Fest just across the creek from our slip. More than 50 trawlers ranging from 27' to 70' were on display and several tents with boat paraphernalia and services. The prices would knock your socks off and we were pleased to come home convinced that our Charis had as nice and in some cases better features than many the "real boats" in our size range.
This week we are driving up to Port Deposit, Md at the head end of the bay to celebrate Larry's birthday at the town where he was born and where he boated with his father as a youth. Joan reserved a room in a neat old B&B and it should be a feast of remembrances
Beyond that, plans are in motion to haul the boat out of the water during the last week in Oct. at Washburns Yard across the creek and cover it with shrink wrap to protect it for the winter. If all goes well we will be headed home to Fl around 5 Nov.
Pictures at picasaweb.google.com/lropka
Our evening view from the after deck last week.
Beginning with a leisurely 3 day cruise up the Potomac River last week, Charis and crew visited Washington, D.C. for a delightfully relaxed 5 days of touring and sightseeing. We anchored in the Washington Channel almost in the shadow of the Washington monument. For $15 per day we had full access to the numerous amenities of 
the Capitol Yacht Club, just a 10 minute walk to the Metro subway station in L'Enfant Plaza mall.
The highlight was a fabulous morning of touring all of the monuments on the mall on our bikes stopping to touch and feel each in a rare quiet and peaceful manner. In bright sun with few others around every moment was filled with sights and sounds of our history creating a virtual sensory overload. We rode well over 7 miles around the mall, the White House grounds and the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, ending with a great hamburger at the golf course club house on Haynes Point. Another highlight was a morning spent with our friends Laura and Jason at an Art Festival in Old Town Alexandria. More than 200 vendors displayed mostly very high quality art and crafts in the antique setting of King street in Old Town. The 2 day voyage back down the Potomac was broken by anchoring in a scenic small basin behind the village of Cobb Island. Then home to our slip in the Solomons We did have a bit of a thrill as sizable swell rolling up the bay left over from tropical storm Gabriel combined with 20k local winds to create a quite sporty ride as we rounded Point Lookout entering the bay from the Potomac. The boat did very well while the crew developed acute white knuckle syndrome.
Again, pictures can be found in folder Washington D.C., at picasaweb.google.com/lropka
