Bud Taplin

This is Eric and Bud Taplin at the Westsail Rendezvous this past weekend. Bud is a famous figure in the Westsail world. He was general manager for the company in the 1970s and can tell the true story behind the production of the one boat that is credited with popularizing the cruising lifestyle. He is the go-to person for technical advice, assistance, and hard-to-find materials. During the Saturday boat visits, Bud had lunch with us in our little 28 and over ham sandwiches shared a little bit about his grandchildren and life as it is sans boats. He's a down-to-earth guy and we're pleased to have spent time with him.

Herrington Harbour North

Eric and I are currently tied up to Herrington Harbour's haul-out dock and will be pulling Clementine out of the water later this week for winter storage and heavy-duty maintenance, to include waterproofing and painting the hull, making repairs to the rudder, and polishing up the teak.

Herrington Harbour North has an enormous boat yard, resort-like amenities, and on-site expertise. The photo above is from their website and accurately depicts our surroundings. It was a no-brainer decision to stay here after we figured out how to take the 902 commuter bus back and forth to DC.

The challenge in these small parts, however, is to find food and supplies without the benefit of a car. West Marine is nearby; there's a decent hardware store around the corner, and after a lot of trial testing, we have decided that the South County Cafe is our best bet for food and the Happy Harbor our most interesting choice for local flavor. I'll keep posting as the cold weather approaches and Eric's real work begins.

Westsail Rendezvous

Yesterday was Eric's 50th birthday. I left work early and met him in Deale, MD, where the Westsail "rondy" is taking place. There were appetizers on the dock and then we met Bud Taplin and approximately 20 other Westsail owners for dinner at the Calypso Cafe. Coincidently, Eric's boat purchase went through a year ago on his birthday, and now one year later, we had the pleasure of meeting the sailors behind Legend, Full Circle, Namida, Caprica, Melissa Claire, Bravura, and Odyssey.

At day break, Eric and I took a walk for coffee. We ran into this on the way. That's a lot of signage! Do you think they sell beer? I bought a small chair at a yard sale for $20. One of the other boaters has experience refinishing furniture and tells me the chair is mahogany, has authentic ceramic casters, and was probably made in the 1920s. All in all, a good bargain. It was a full day of boat visits, talks, and still more food. They are now showing the film The Perfect Storm so we can catch a glimpse here and there of the one boat that made it: Satori; but, instead of watching we are all cozied up inside Clementine.

Fireworks!

Eric and I started the Memorial Day weekend at Belle Haven, our normal Friday night meeting place. We were pleasantly surprised that evening when the "National Monstrosity" hosted a fireworks display, an event that seemed - from our side of the river - to be held solely for our own benefit.

The National Harbor is located directly across the Potomac River from our anchorage in Belle Haven and it lights up like an obscene Christmas tree at night. While the NH professes to be a marina, it is in fact a tourist attraction for land people with non-boat-related shops on shore, water taxi tours into DC, and a large convention center on site that hosts out-of-town visitors. While marine life does exist, it seems to be there for ambiance only.

A month or so ago, we called over to the NH to inquire about prices. We wanted to invite our families out to see the boat and thought it might make a good meeting place, a general location where everyone could come and go as they please. As we found out, the NH requires a reservation (even though they're relatively empty) and the cost per night is a cool $100 minimum. How pretentious is that! And what a shame that such a good idea turned out to be such a sterile contrived Disney Land ... but, in spite of the huge FAIL, they do a few things right, and the fireworks display was one of them.