Wednesday 27 Oct, re-launch 2021, HHN day 28: Trip to CBP in Baltimore, visit friends in Annapolis, and painting mirrors in the evening.
It wasn’t planned to be a complete day away from boat work, but it almost turned out to be. We needed to go to Customs and Border Protect (CBP) in Baltimore to sort out our cruising permit, which expired in June this year. Normally you have to get out of the USA before this 12-month permit expires, but like many other foreign boats, with the Covid situation we didn’t manage that. We are hoping, given our circumstances, the CBP will bend the rules a little and simply issue us with a new permit, allowing us to cruise freely down the US coast.
We arrive to the Maryland Cruise Liner terminal in Baltimore by mid-morning, after an hour journey north. We are always a bit nervous when visiting CBP offices because their attitude towards foreigners in US varies wildly, depending on what officer you get to see. We’ve had both pretty unpleasant treatments along with very amicable officers over the years.
This morning we have an officer who clearly sticks to the rules and won’t bend them, even given problems caused purely by Covid. Now that our cruising permit has expired, the only way to get a new one is to exit the country (sail to Bermuda?) and come back after 14 days or more. On the other hand, there is nothing to stop us cruising south down the coast, but we will need to both check-in and check-out with a physical visit to CBP at every port/harbour/place we enter.
Well, good news is that we can hop down the coast. They won’t force us to leave USA waters. But bad news is that this will be a serious inconvenience for us. Often the CBP offices are 10s of miles away from where we anchor or moor. Usually situated in the local airport. As an example, when leave Herrington Marina, where we currently are, we will have to drive all the way up to Baltimore (an hour away) to get our exit form stamped. Luckily, we have use of a car right now … but the next ports it’s going to be Uber.
On the way back to Annapolis we ponder on how we can get around this. We know of others in the same situation who have simply been issued a new cruising permit by CBP. Obviously we were unlucky with our officer today. A bit of a strategy needed here!
In Annapolis we stop briefly at West Marine, then head to Burt Jabbins yard to pay a visit to Gerret and Katrin on their Hallberg Rassy 53, Balena. They are preparing to be hauled out so they can travel back to Europe for the winter, then coming back to the boat in March. Bit odd that. They are from Berlin, but now live in Australia. We think they must have forgotten how dark and miserable a European winter can be!
It’s lovely to finally see their boat after all the chat between us. It’s really nicely kept and very cozy. And outside has some interesting features, like multiple anchor/mooring lines from the previous owner who mostly cruised in the Northern Atlantic and arctic. We get treated to wine and a snack lunch and have a lovely time with them. Pity we would not manage to cruise anywhere with them, given they are sailing over to Europe next summer.
By the time we get back to Cloudy Bay the light is fading so we eat and decide only inside work for the evening. I spend all evening getting the new bathroom mirrors prepped, masked-off and painted with epoxy paint. With the aim of getting the edges of the glass sealed from moisture. Our last mirrors had been severely affected with moisture, delaminating the mirror backing, all around the edges making the whole bathroom(s) look really ugly. We had one mirror replaced 2 years ago and within a year it was already severely affected again. Hopefully, this time we have the recipe correct. Because while buying rectangular cut mirrors is easy, buying mirrors with perfectly round holes cut in the middle, for the Hallberg Rassy type latches, is neither easy, nor cheap! So, we only want to do this exercise once.
By midnight the saloon table (protected by cardboard, I might add) is covered with mirrored cupboard doors and the whole boat stinks of paint. I think it may cause us to have some flower-power dreams tonight!
2 comments
Hi Glen,
That’s another great post. You write very well I must say. You mention the HR53 and I seem to recall other posts in which you speak favorably about that model. I am not sure if I read your correctly, but on the whole, are you inclined to prefer the 53 over the 54 for world cruising? All else being equal do you wish you had that boat over Cloudy Bay? (Not sure if it is possible to find a 53 in as excellent condition as Cloudy but it may be possible with a lot of work)
The HR53 is a much more solidly built yacht than the HR54. The 54 was the first boat where HR started to go lighterwieght and more performance in their designs. Since then new designs are even more so. The HR53 is indeed a brilliant Ocean passage cruiser. But I wanted something a bit newer than that design. Plus, as you mention, not many HR53s around that are, or were, in tip-top conditoin like CB was.
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