Report at the turn of the season 2009 aboard s/v Arden

from Capn Jack:
I find it really odd how the perception of the passage of time changes due to seasons, emotions, and other personal influences, but even so, it marches on inexorably, always plodding, and never ceasing.
What brought that thought on was observing today's weather, where it seems that fall has arrived prematurely, to looking back to last week, where Liz and I were sailing across the Bay to St. Michaels, then back a month to the 2nd week of August when it seemed that summer had finally arrived-the first really bad week of humidity and extreme heat. Rolling back even further through memories of the year past - my sail down the Chesapeake to see Mike, the sail up the Chesapeake to Solomons, wintering over at the Pelican Marina, the entire fall spent with Gary working on getting Arden ready for the water. It amazes me that a full year has passed since Gary and I first went down to Arden and began working on her, it won't be long before I can say I have lived aboard for a year.
So here are pictures of the last sail, across the bay over to St. Michaels, where there is a really nice Maritime Museum, where they rebuild and restore classic wooden Bay boats - Skipjacks, Bugeyes, Sailing Log Canoes - so many interesting wooden boats that have worked on the Bay. Then there was the Elf - an 1883 racing yatch, 30 feet on the waterline, 72 feet from bowsprit to transom, and flying 2500 sq ft of sail. I had read about her in Soundings or Spin Sheet, and there she was tied up to the seawall, and we (Liz and I) were invited aboard to look her over. Amazing wood work on her, I took lots of pictures of various parts of her, a truly interesting boat.
St. Michaels was an interesting town as well, now it is definitely built around tourism, and there were alot of people walking the streets there, lots of shops, restaurants, and cool places to see. Lots of historic houses, some dating back to the 1600's, one had a railing alot like the hand rail to the Hotel Sperryville, brought back memorires for me and Liz. I really enjoyed seeing the sights there, was well worth the sail. So here are the pictures, another great sail aboard Arden, and of course, my new first mate, Spook. (she is the furry blonde one, I think everyone knows Liz)