Silver Spring Sailors

They're tied up right behind us on the dock, "Ketch ya Later", yup, a ketch, from Silver Spring, Maryland. In all my teen years in Silver Spring I never remember seeing a sailboat that wasn't something you pulled on a string in a pond. Sailing being as exotic as skiing.
But the Ratcliffe family, with two teen daughters have sailed their ketch to The Med, and are on their way back home now. Nice to hear news from the old neighborhood: there are coyotes loose in Sligo Creek Park.
Fair winds, "Ketch ya Later"!

And who else just blew in? "Grace"! With Swedish couple, PG and Pia on board. We first met way back when in La Coruna, after our longest sail ever, five days over the Bay of Biscay. We've all grown a bit since then. "Grace" has had theives aboard in the Caribbean; PG getting attacted with a knife. While Pia, alone on the boat in Cuba, got tired of daily searches by the officials. The police with guns and dogs had already searched the boat thoroughly. Didn't find anything inbetween the underwear. All in all "Grace" has had an interesting sailing year on the North-Atlantic "Milk run".