Day's log for Monday, July 9th, 2001 - Patuxent River, MD to Tangier Island, VA

0815 - raised anchor.

0820 - docked at Solomon's Yacht Club for ice.

0835 - departed

0915 - raised mizzen and jib

0945 - fix at 38 deg 19' N, 76 deg 24' W

1000 - raised all sails. Weather is sunny w/ winds out of the NE about 16kts.

1820 - tied up at Park Marina on Tangier Island, VA. This is after a long, fast downwind sail.

Andrea Lynn likes to sail up into the wind if I let her. I can't sail directly down wind because it is too difficult to steer and avoid jybing - even with a full length keel. I sail slightly off from down wind instead and take a zig zag course - similar to tacking. The dinghy stayed completely dry through all of this since I put in the centerboard cap. In spite of sunblock I got burned. I also had problems with the sunshade flapping violently. I took out the thin oak frame and just tied the fabric to the stays. It did much better that way.

As soon as I docked, about 10 ducks showed up to be fed. I didn't feed them since I thought they would then come on my boat to be fed and leave you know what behind for me to clean up - no thank you. Later some local cats came aboard. One was real friendly and wanted to be petted. They then left.

Tangier Island is very interesting. It is smaller than Smith Island but seems to be very well kept. The streets are mostly one lane gravel roads. Most people walk, ride bikes, or ride in golf carts. The people are very friendly. I saw some people playing ball with a 2 liter plastic soda bottle. It's not exactly as if you could go to Walmart here. To do that you've got to get on the ferry to the mainland. It's an all day shopping trip. They don't have a lot of things that most people think they need to live but they seem to be quite happy with what they have. I included a couple of pictures from the island.

My cell phone doesn't work. Also came to find out that all the pay phones were removed last week. I was told that the phone company got to charging so much to have them there that it became too expensive. The tourist who comes to Tangier gets screwed since they can't talk to friends and loved ones.