September 16-17, 2000 -- Back to Oxford

We got underway at O-dark-thirty. Seriously, it was around 1030 GMT (6:30 AM) when we weighed anchor, discovering, of course being low tide we were softly aground! Fortunately, we were able to power off, and quickly got underway. It was a fun trip, though near the end, we started dealing with squall lines coming behind us. The winds would kick up to 30 knots, then die back down to 10. It produced some erratic chop in the Potomac, kicking up as much as 3 feet in some places. Still, it was a fun ride, and we were able to use the land to our benefit getting into the St. Mary's River. We dropped anchor around 2030 GMT and settled in for the night. On September 17, we completed our treck back to Oxford. The weather was calm, so there was no sailing for us. When we pulled in to the Tred Avon river, we hailed Oxford Boat Yard, and that is when things started going wrong. The T-Head at Oxford Boat Yard only had 53 feet. The dockhand scrambled to contact Mary or Braxton. He finally got back with us to say that we could pull into G 34, the slip next to their haul out slip! This slip is located down an alley that is maybe 25 feet wide, and we would have had to deal with 15-20 knot cross winds. We decided to anchor out and deal with Braxton in the morning. In the mean time, we will have to cancel the refrigeration guy that was supposed to come out. Right now, we are tempted to cancel the work and get our parts and leave!