Adj. | 1. | shakedown - intended to test a new system under operating conditions and to familiarize the operators with the system; "a shakedown cruise" |
We arrive at the dock with two carts full of stuff for our one night excursion. I don’t know how much we’ll be bringing with us for a whole MONTH or how we will fit it all in this dinky boat, but I don’t want to think about that right now.
Rick keeps his boat at a marina in the mouth of the Magothy River, near Annapolis. Usually, when I come down to spend time with him on the boat, we stay mostly in that very wide mouth. It’s really quite beautiful there and the wind/waves are pretty mild. This time though, we need to venture out into the Chesapeake Bay because otherwise we’re not really testing anything. Rick lets me steer the boat (I’m sure that’s not the proper sailing term, but whatever) out of the its slip and then out of the channel. Here’s a picture of the osprey who like to nest on the channel markers.
It is a really hot day – upper 90’s – and the sun beats down hard when you’re out on the water. I don’t know what this summer trip is going to do to my pale freckled skin, but I’m sure it won’t be pretty. Lots of sunscreen and dorky hats are in order to be sure. And of course, gin and tonics seem to help in any situation.
Here's Rick listening to the Stones:
You'd never know that he is the chair of the philosophy department at Loyola University....
The wind was pretty strong and Rick was in his element. He got Tortue’s speed up to 6.5 knots, which really impressed me until he told me that was about 7mph. Suddenly it doesn’t sound so fast. Maybe there’s something to that name “Tortue” after all. In any case, I started to get a little queasy. It probably didn’t help that it was so, so hot, or that I went down below to struggle into my bathing suit. Something about sweaty skin and being inside a moving, rolling vessel… Took me a long time. Next time I think I’ll just skip the suit and go commando.
Rick has set some lines behind the boat so that if he should fall off by accident he might be able to grab hold of one of those lines before the boat goes sailing off without him. So far, he has never had to use them for that purpose, but he’s gotten a great deal of use out of them as recreational swimming aids. He likes to jump in the water, grab hold of a line and then let the boat pull him along; kinda like waterskiing but without the skis and much slower. It’s a little creepy to see the boat ahead of you with no one on board, but it really is a blast, and the water was just the right temperature – not freezing, but refreshing. My weak musician’s arms and hands don’t have enough strength to do it for very long, but I’m hoping I’ll get stronger over the next month.
I had put on my scopolamine patch well in advance of our little trip, and it certainly did help – no way I could’ve done even this little bit of sailing without it. It wasn’t a complete cure though. I spent some time up front looking at the horizon and felt much better.
We headed over to Queenstown Creek to spend the night. I learned how to set an anchor, and then we listened to some jazz and made dinner – Steak, rice and green beans. That part is a lot like camping, except that your campsite is right in the water.
I have been looking forward to this trip for a year. I knew it would present a financial hardship to take the whole summer off from work, so I’ve been taking every extra playing gig I could get my hands on in order to bring in some extra money to pay for it. It’s been an exhausting year in many respects – the effect of the recession on our orchestra, and the seemingly perpetual renegotiations (givebacks/cuts) between the musicians and our management/board. I knew it had all had an effect on me when I got shingles a couple of months ago. But I didn’t expect to feel so completely to-the-bone tired once I got out on the water. Just a little relaxation and all I wanted to do was sleep. It really does feel like sailing away and leaving your troubles at the dock.
The next morning is calm and lovely. Rick is an amateur violist, and we play duets together sometimes at home. Rick has this fantasy of playing duets on the water – probably from having read the Patrick O’Brian “Master and Commander” Jack Aubrey series of novels. I have to admit, the idea of bringing my violin with me when I’d finally got free of the thing was, at first, not very thrilling. But playing simple duets with someone I love in an ocean view setting does hold a certain amount of appeal, even to a burned-out fiddle player like me. There is a potential problem with this though; expensive old wooden instruments and lots and lots of salt water don’t really mix all that well. I bought a cheap ($1000) Chinese violin from my cellist friend Bo Li, and I have a fiberglass bow ($26) that is practically indestructible. I even bought a fiberglass viola bow for Rick who is taking his “real” viola since it’s not an expensive instrument. We still didn’t know if there would be room on the boat to play together, so we brought them with us on this shakedown cruise, and a little duet playing before breakfast seemed a good time to try it out. I must say, it was wonderful!
The trip back to the dock was uneventful; not a lot of wind so we had to motor most of the way. We had to go back fairly quickly because we both had appointments to keep back in Baltimore. I felt much better after a good night’s sleep and didn’t even have a hint of sickness. Was that because there was not much wind, or because I was getting used to it? Or maybe I just needed to be better rested to handle the rocking of the boat. It turns out there are some questions that just can’t be completely answered on just a shakedown cruise. I think we’ve proven though that I can make it at least as far as Cape May when we hit ocean water.
Altogether, a very successful mini-voyage!
