Wednesday 29th June.

Today was mostly damp, drizzly and rainy.  It had rained during the night, so the cockpit and decks were wet and stayed wet for most of the day. 

Teresa did some laundry and Ron returned the car to Hodgdons, since the town parade was scheduled for later in the day and there was to be no street parking. 

In the afternoon, 7 Windjammers sailed into the harbour.  The weather had cleared up a little and they all looked beautiful under sail.  The first and largest dropped anchor under sail which was pretty impressive given the number of boats on moorings.  I’ve often wondered how we would drop anchor under sail if we had engine problems.  (We always use the engines to back the boat on to the anchor to ensure it’s dug in well).  Here’s how Windjammers do it.  They approach the anchoragerunning downwind with some way on and drop the anchor off the port (in this case) bow.  The ship continues making way as cable is let out.  At some point, the cable is made off and the momentum of the ship digs the anchor in.  At the same time the ship is steered to port (around the anchor) and comes head to wind.  It looks very easy when done well, but might not be in practice!)

The street parade took place mostly in the rain, which stopped just in time for the DEYC party on the dock.

Ships Log: 5715.4, Todays Log: 0, Seasons Total: 20.2