The Beginning

Rob and I went from owning a jet ski to owning a beautiful 36 ft Albin trawler.  One of the first things we did was to begin making a list of names.  We wanted the name to have meaning to us and be unique.  Our list began to grow with suggestions from family and friends.  The list at one point had 100 choices.  The final decision was Ka' Why Knot.  I think the name is pretty unique and it has a special meaning to Rob and I as we tied the knot on a gorgeous beach in Kauai in 2007.

Our first cruise was to bring the boat from the West River to Chesapeake Beach. Not too much excitement there we had friends to assist us which made the trip less stressful and actually enjoyable. Since then there have been several trips and so far not one trip has been without any sort of excitement.  I am hoping to share our adventure with family and friends and anyone else who cares to read about where we have been and where we are going.  I'm sure my version is much different than my husband's version but we know who the Admiral is. 

Rob and I are looking forward to many day trips, overnight trips, doing the Great Loop and eventually a cruise to the Bahamas.  Both of us have a lot to learn and look forward to sharing our adventure with you, please check back often for updates.

First Anchor

Our first night on the hook was on the Rhodes River.  As we made our way among the sea of already anchored boats, the Captain decided to go to the right, there was this huge empty area. To our dismay, we figured out why there was not a single boat anchored or motoring in that particular area.  Suddenly our boat hit bottom.  That became our first adventure of running aground.  Fortunately for us all we needed to do was put her in reverse.

Our first experience with dropping the anchor was very stressful.  I had no clue what I was supposed to do.  I wasn't there when Rob received the day long training on equipment and such.  So when it was time to drop the anchor, I did not know we had a brake (no I'm not a blonde).  So the anchor was not dropped when the "captain" said to drop the anchor. Luckily my stepson, Nick, was on board and his father told him the brake needed to be released (after the fact).  We finally had the anchor down, set, and ready to relax and the Captain decided we needed to move because he was uncomfortable with the catamaran anchored behind us.  We collectively chose a new spot where there were no boats anchored.  We pulled up the anchor and the stress started all over again. 

Finally, we successfully set the anchor again and began to enjoy a great evening on the hook.  Nick had fun fishing and crabbing, even though he didn’t catch anything.  Rob made us burgers on the grill and they were perfect.  As the evening went by a couple of boats anchored nearby and the two of us were a nervous wreck.  We popped in a movie.  As we are sitting in the salon the very large sailboat anchored nearby began sailing past us except they weren't moving, both of us jumped up only to find we had turned with the wind. 

Rob said I'll be up every hour checking on things, he snored away all night; I on the other hand didn’t sleep all night because I was continuously looking out the window.  Needless to say everything worked out well. 

First Family Outing

When I say our first family outing it means it was our first outing with all three children, daughter's fiancee, my sister, brother-in-law, niece and our new adopted son Nate (no Nate we are not buying you a car).  We had a great day went through Knapp Narrows on the Eastern Shore.  Everyone was impressed that the bridge was raised for us.  The captain found a place to anchor; Nick and I for the most part at this point had gotten better at this task.

The kids began fishing and crabbing.  It began to get boring fishing as they were not even getting a bite.  The crabbing went a little better as they had caught a couple of crabs, however, they were not enough to keep and I'm not sure two of the three were even legal so they were all thrown back.  The kids were having a really good time, so we stayed longer than we should have.  Our fun on this trip came when it was time to dock. When we got back to the dock it was dark, we had not docked in the dark yet, not to mention that we haven't successfully docked in daylight. 

Of course, the first attempt to get in the slip was not successful along with several others.  We finally get the boat in enough to use the lines to pull us into the slip.  Florian, Nate, Chris, David and Nick I don't think expected to have to work as hard as they did that night.  I had bruises on both sides of my legs from the guys pulling on the lines as I was caught in between the two.  I could tell things were not going to be good if I did not move from my location.  This was also the night I almost went overboard.  Talk about a stupid move, I lifted the railing to get off to get a line and the last minute I changed my mind and decided to tie off the spring line.  As I'm tying off the line I went to lean on the railing, much to my surprise it was not there my legs went out from underneath.  I was holding on to the railing and the line I was securing.  My son-in-law to be happened to witness the event and grab me before I went overboard.   

It was a fun first outing with everyone.