Meryl Grandy

Can you tell they're brothers?

Our first overnight guests are the Captains' brother and his wife.  They're sailors and lived on a houseboat in San Fransisco.  Good times always follow when we get together.  We were excited to have them as our first guests!

Trouble in a dinghy!

We're up the next morning and leisurely depart the dock by 10:00 am.  The winds are light so we motor out to the sound and up the Chowan River to an good anchoring spot just outside the Rocky Hock creek.  After a 4-person consult on the anchor, we grilled burgers.  My sister-in-law & I headed out in the dinghy first for a quick reconnaissance of the creek.  The afternoon are naps and kindles, along with a leisurely afternoon discussion in the cockpit about sail boats including Gunboats (how do you dismast one of those?) and Benetteaus (keels shouldn't fall off).  Then I headed out in the kayak for a deeper expedition up the shallow creek, only to find a small marina with a few power boats. BIL headed out in the dinghy next, and headed all the way into the tiny marina, tied up and went for a walk.  More naps.  Captain comes out and heads off in the dinghy, only to come back for the aux fuel tank and say, "Come on.  You have to go under the bridge."  Off we go.  We went at least a mile up river and only saw one house.  On the way back, I said, "Look a kayak."  That's your SIL in your kayak.  Oh, yeah.  Grilled chicken and chop salad for dinner.  Best anchor hold yet.  Minimal swing, but as usual, the wind picked up in the middle of the night.

We had a lazy morning at anchor, with coffee and smoothies and BIL heading out in the kayak.  The wind started to pick up nicely, so we hauled up anchor by 10:00 am (nice to have extra crew members) and had the sails up 15 minutes later as we turned back into the main part of the Chowan.  The brother's were quickly playing with sail configurations/trim and different tacks.  It was a beautiful day to sail with 10-15 kts of wind and max speed of 7.5 kts.  We started with a close reach, then a beam reach and finally a run.  

Every day is something new.  We finally got around the a wing & wing configuration.

Heading into Edenton the boys successfully set up wing & wing that took us almost to the marina.  With two line handlers, docking was easy-peesy.  Back into town for lunch at the ice cream shop, followed by a stop at the coffee house to stock up on whole beans.  While the boys took their afternoon naps (it turns out the forward berth with a hatch open and a fan is a comfortable spot in the afternoon heat), the girls discovered the rocking chairs on the upstairs porch at the Barker House--in the shade with a breeze (they also had an amazing assortment of southern cookbooks--biscuits, shrimp & grits, corn bread and Natalie Duprie to name a few.  We always end up perusing cookbooks somewhere!).  Everyone reconvenes in the cockpit to discover there is a wedding in the park outside the marina--yep, we found another party.  The Captain closes us the boat and turns on the air, "because he wants to wash down the exterior."  Dinner is pasta with ground turkey & marinara, interrupted by the arrival of a trawler from Makey's/Plymouth.  "You have to go to Christy's for white pizza!"  THE BRIDE HAS ARRIVED, makes even the boys look up.

Family departs Sunday morning.  I stepped out into the cockpit to see the Captain watching his brother scrubbing the may flies off the deck.  "What's going on out here?"  "He volunteered!"  The second our guests head down the dock, Amelia comes out to reclaim her territory!  We borrowed the marina courtesy car to go grocery shopping (but no beer, because it's before noon on Sunday--Captain will have to make a second trip), cleaning and naps.  As usual, we've found a another party on the waterfront.  It's Music by the Bay sponsored by the Barkley House--Justin Holland & Friends is playing acoustic country right across from the marina.  We sneak onto the upstairs porch of the Barkley House and watch from the shade of the rocking chairs with a breeze.  Purchased the books, History of the Dismal Swamp and Cornbread Nation.

Music by the Bay (with Odin in the top right)