Labor Day raft up

Another outing in the Bay for Papy Jovial, this time to the Severn River then the Eastern River, then back home.
We left on Friday august 29, Diana, Stew and myself around 5:00 p.m. with next to no wind. All we did that day was to motor up to Willoughby Bay and anchor there. That gave me the opportunity to discover the back channel behind the Naval Base.
We got to the anchorage around 7:00 p.m., had dinner with salmon and spaghettis and had an early tuck in (at least for me).
Saturday morning was foggy and not much prospect for wind. We motored then motor-sailed up to the Severn River, having some company along the way with Shanty and Tardis.
We managed to do a little bit of sailing, as the picture taken by Tardis shows, but I could not event keep my sails up all the way to the anchorage to show up my brand new sail numbers (my brotherhood flag number) with the brotherhood logo.
Anyway, towards the late afternoon, we arrived into the Severn river and tied up alongside Tardis. As usual, every brother not out of town was there. Orza, of course, was the anchor boat. Then we had Cat Nap, Maraj, Talisman, Bumboo, Fresh Air, Tardis, Shanty and Papy Jovial. Blue Moon and our captain are cruising in the Albemarle sound and brother Limey is land cruising down in Florida.
Once again the food and drinks during the evening were such that there was no way we could have an early morning on Sunday. There was no need for it anyway. So we had breakfast together on Orza and eventually left the raft-up around 11:00 a.m.
We had nowhere to go since we had agreed to meet next door in the Eastern River that afternoon, so we went nowhere, but keeping the wind slightly ahead of our beam on the way out and slightly abaft of the beam on the way back. Wonderful sail. At some point we were keeping 8.1 knots steady with between 15 and 20 knots of wind. Ideal weather for Papy Jovial.
So we came back afterwards to the Eastern River where Tardis was the anchor boat.
After tying up, I stayed behind to fill in my log book, while beer was being served at the other end of the raft up. Although I was supposed to wait for Stew to help me, I went up on deck and started unpacking the dinghy that had stayed in the box since I bought it back in March. My first brilliant move was to drop in the water the fitting required to connect the pump to the dinghy. Fortunately, the hose being brand new, it was still firm enough so that we managed to inflate the dinghy, launch it, fit the engine in it, and run it.
Next challenge will be to try and pack it with the floor in the bag.

We then all shared dinner on Tardis after which we all got together on the upper deck to share the wonderful evening. That is when the back legs of the chair that brother BUI was using collapsed and BUI fell backwards, almost slipping from the deck. Fortunately, the rail kept him in, but he was pretty shocked, with neck and back hurting. Let's hope that it turns out all right with no long term damage.
This called for a shot of rum before retiring for the night.

Next morning, we left kind of early, mindful of the distance to go with no wind. And this is exactly what we got and we motored all day. We got to Scotts Creek around 5:00 p.m., and for once getting into the slip went smoothly. To be confirmed next time.

Papy Jovial draws first blood

This was going to be a regular Tip-a-Few, far away from the marina. We had about 1.2 miles to go to Hospital Point where we were to raft up with the rest of us.
The first part went uneventful. We met Rocket Boy and Country Boy on the way out, with Orza finishing to set up the hood and Hampshire Rose already anchored.
One by one, the whole fleet showed up, at first Cat Nap and Tardis.. Later, Fresh Air showed up, towed by her own dinghy (she had ran out of fuel). Travis, the son of brother Pilot also showed up as well. And then, as the evening was already well on, Talisman came in. Brother Upwind and June had had a rough day, having had to put their dog to sleep.
In all, we had on or near the raft up eleven boats, Orza, Blue Moon, Bumboo, Papy Jovial, Cat Nap, Tardis, Fresh Air, Hampshire Rose, Talisman and Travis's boat, which made it one of the most numerous raft ups that we ever had, considering that brother El Maestro came on Cat Nap and brother Blue Stache and Diana were with me on Papy Jovial.
The raft up itself went very much as it used to, with lots of delicious food and plenty to drink.
Then on Saturday morning, after breakfast, we left to get back to our slip in Scotts Creek Marina. As I was backing into the slip, far too close to the pilings and the boat on our port side, Diana kind of used her arm as a fender, but the skin was not Taylor made.
Actually, at first, we thought that she had broken her arm and we called 911. Stew went with her to the hospital while I was finishing to tie up the boat, and worried about Diana.
Stew called shortly after to tell me that only the skin had been broken (over 18 inches of length, requiring 32 stitches), and that there was no damage to the nerves nor to any muscle or bone.
What was even more amazing was the fact that she was not in pain. And it remained like that for the following days.
So, despite the dramatic finish, this was after all another successful raft-up.