New Anchor

We have had difficulty getting the anchor to set on several occasions.  It has been so challenging at times that I was hesitant to back down on the anchor.  Sometimes it seems that the swivel has been the cause as it gets stuck at an angle to the shank of the anchor and then the anchor is not pulled properly for setting.  Once set, we have never dragged, but considering that we have not anchored all that many times, it seemed that we should replace the anchor with something bigger.  The the 44 lb. delta fast set seems not up to the task of securely holding Owl Moon at anchor in stormy conditions.  We decided to go with the 25 kg (55 lb.) Rocna which seemed to be the biggest we could fit on our bow without modification.  We purchased the anchor from Bacon Sails and Marine Supply which had the best price.  We also decided to use the anchor without the swivel and only a high test anchor shackle.

Anchor in place on Owl Moon

...

Shackle pin held in place with seizing wire (learned this is called mouse the shackle)

Father's Day Sail

We had hoped to get out for a sail on Father's Day, and the weather turned out great for it.  We had 15 knots with gusts near 20 out of the south.  Our friends Joe, Eve-Marie and Tracy joined Sarah, Diane and me for the day.  With the board down, we tacked our way down to Thomas Point Light  With each tack, we crossed a litter further ahead of a Gemini Cat under motor heading in our direction.  We started with full main and eventually put a reef in to flatten out the boat.

John was at the helm (not really driving...the autopilot was)

While Joe, Diane, and Tracy enjoyed the ride from the cabin top...changing sides with each tack.

Eve-Marie and Sarah were back in the cockpit with me.

We decided to turn around after passing Thomas Point Light.  We didn't know it at the time but Owl Moon was photobombing another sailor taking photos of TPL.

Couldn't have had a better photo if it had been staged!

We eventually started overtaking the photo boat to windward and he took some more photos of Owl Moon.

It was Bob Bateman on s/v Nelson's Wake who took the photos of Owl Moon.  We didn't hear his hail on VHF 16 at TPL, but did when he called us again off of Annapolis.  We are so appreciative that he took those photos and then tracked us down to share them.