The Browns' Mantra: Back to Boating

Mantra is back in the water. She was supposed to splash two weeks ago, but, alas, that did not happen, mostly due to high winds. I arrived in Washington, DC, early on the morning of April 23, where Peter, who had gone ahead of me to start preparing our boat for sailing, picked me up. We spent a great weekend in Washington, staying with our good friend Lori. It became apparent that there had not been full disclosure about the amount of work that needed to be done before we could sail. Since Mantra was still on the hard and would not be in the water until the middle of the week of April 25, I opted to stay in Washington and delight myself with the inexhaustible offerings of museums, monuments, concerts and gardens and enjoy a longer visit with Lori.

Sherri and Peter at the National Arboretum, where the azaleas were amazing

Sherri and Peter at a restaurant in Georgetown

Trendy folk musicians at the Millinneum Stage

Sherri at the Yayoi Kusama exhibit at the Hirshhorn

Sherri on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial

Sherri with the Presidential dog Fala at the FDR Memorial

Peter returned the next weekend, and we spent two busy days at the Museum of African American History and the Museum of the American Indian and attended concerts at the Millinneum Stage at the Kennedy Center on Saturday and the National Gallery of Art on Sunday.

Chamber musicians on the Millinneum Stage

On Monday morning, we drove to Oxford Boat Yard in Maryland, where Peter got back to work on his long list of tasks and I started cleaning and organizing below deck. There is always some mold on the head liner when we return after having left Mantra for a while, but this is the worse case I have encountered. In addition, since the boat had some work done on her in our absence, she was not always closed up, so dust and pollen had accumulated on every surface, whether horizontal or vertical. I spent all of Monday afternoon and most of Tuesday morning just cleaning the galley. Yesterday, I attacked the dirt and mold in our cabin. There are a lot of nooks and crannies, and I may be getting too old to be climbing on top of lockers to lie on my back in cramped spaces to stretch to remote corners!

Meanwhile, Peter has been working on various projects including the engine, the rigging, the toilet, the water systems and the navigation systems. A rigger is scheduled to go up the mast and inspect and replace parts as needed, hopefully earlier than later next week, when the wind has settled. The weather here has been mostly cloudy, and it is only going to get more dismal. Right now, a sheet of opaque silver-gray cloud, like an endless roll of cotton batting, reaches from horizon to horizon, obscuring the sun and the blue sky above. We are expecting heavy winds (15-20 knots with gusts up to 25) and rain this weekend so we will need to batten down the hatches. Thankfully, new deck hatches were installed this spring, so for the first time, we will not need to deploy old towels over tables and countertops and beds to protect them.

Unlike Deltaville, Virginia, where we have left the boat before, Oxford is a charming little town filled with 18th and 19th century wooden houses and lovely gardens, so it is pleasant to take a walk every day. There is a cozy little library run by volunteers and a quaint grocery store that is not adequately stocked for full provisioning (but we made a run to a supermarket on Monday evening before returning the rental car on Tuesday morning). However, it has fountain Diet Cokes, so I am truly appreciative! We do not bother to run the freezer on our boat, so there is no ice for drinks. It is a small tradeoff for being able to travel to so many wonderful places in our second home.