Day One - Rock Creek to St. Michaels

Love Point on the Horizon

I spent the morning getting the boat loaded and provisioned and when Janet finished working we headed down to the boat. After getting settled in and everything ready, we got underway around 13:15. On the way out of the marina, we stopped at the pump-out to make sure our sewage tank was empty. We could not get anything to come out, so I assumed that the tank was empty. More on that in a future post.

Looking at the forecast, the weather guessers were telling me there would be very light SE winds, which meant we would be a motorboat today.

As we approached Kent Narrows, we fell in line with a steady stream of boats all heading in the same direction - through the narrows. We found a few shallow spots on the North side - favoring the green side seemed to help with the depth but I had to leave room for boats coming in the opposite direction. Arrived in the Narrows at 17:05, just missing the bridge opening which is every half hour. Since we had the dogs aboard, a decision was made to stop for fuel and dog walks at Piney Narrows Marina. The dock hand there was great and got me fueled up quickly. Since the fuel dock wasn't crowded, we were allowed to wait there until about 17:25 when it was time to get over to the draw bridge.

Catchin' Rays on Eastern Bay

After clearing the bridge, the sailboat ahead of me was moving kind of slow and started drifting off to the right. Thinking they were heading to a marina, I throttled up and began to pass them. I had to move left to stay in the channel. The usual rule is "red right returning", meaning that when "returning", or heading into a body of water, you keep the red buoys or markers on your right, and the green on your left. The unique thing about Kent Narrows is that it is open on both ends. Chester River to the north, and Prospect Bay to the south. Once you pass through the draw bridge, the red and green switch sides. Since you are now leaving the narrows for a larger body of water, you need to keep green on the right. By this time it was clear to me that the sailboat I had passed was not heading to a dock, but was in fact about to pass the green on the wrong side. The water in this area goes from about 20 feet deep to 3 feet. As I passed them, they looked over and waved as is customary when boaters cross paths. I waved back, but it was more of a frantic "You need to be over here" wave. Fortunately they realized the mistake before it was too late and they fell in line behind me. So today I made a deposit in my Karma account.

Sundowners at Dinner

The light winds continued as we passed through Prospect Bay and down into Eastern Bay. We kept on motoring, and finally made our approach to St. Michaels harbor at around 17:00. We squeezed into the inside anchorage and dropped the hook. Quickly got the dinghy rigged and shuttled the dogs ashore for another walk.

When we returned to the boat, we could see that the wind had shifted and we were dangerously close to being aground. With the tide falling, we decided to move to the outside anchorage where there is deeper water and a better breeze for night time ventilation.

Then it was off to a late dinner at the Town Dock Restaurant. I had a crab cake and Janet had the Grilled Mahi. Excellent meal with live musical entertainment and a view of the water.

By the time we got back to the boat, grabbed the dogs for one more walk, and hit the sack, it was nearly 23:00 - well past "cruiser's midnight".

Total distance covered: 36 miles

To inflate or not to inflate... that is the question

I recently saw a link to a video on a blog that I read called ZerotoCruising. Mario Vittone discusses why he prefers traditional life vests over the newer inflatable models. Mario knows a little about this topic as a retired Coast Guard Warrant Officer and rescue swimmer.

I'll admit that when sailing on the Chesapeake Bay, we don't often wear PFD's when out pleasure sailing for the day. But if the weather turns crappy, or if someone needs to go forward on deck at night, it is required. I've been looking at the inflatables, thinking it might encourage me to wear one more often, but now I'm having second thoughts. Well worth your time to watch.

The settings of the video prevent me from embedding it here but you can view it by clicking the picture below:

From the Pensieve - Memories of Dad - Installment 3

In early February of 2015, my father passed away. In preparing for our remarks at his funeral, my brother Carl and I began putting together short stories of our times boating with Dad. In the interest of preserving these stories, we thought it would be a fun exercise to share them here as a series of blog entries. Over the next several months, new installments will appear on occasion.

Snallygaster Creek

When I was very small, Dad used to tease us about a mythical creature called a Snallygaster. He said there was a creek named after it. Even promised me that we would visit there one day on the boat.

At the time I first heard of this mythical creature, I was maybe four or five years old. As near as I can tell, Snallygaster Creek is some unnamed cove off the Choptank River. I was a little young to read charts at the time but I always remember being near Oxford, so that must be the place.

Every year we went on our annual week-long boat trip on the Chesapeake Bay. We often buddy-

Legato III and WindSong rafted together.

boated with Mom & Dad's friends Ellen and Bill Riddle, who also had a sailboat. Every evening we would arrive at the same destination and raft the boats together, sharing food, drinks, and stories. Part way through one particular trip, we were all sitting around in the evening. Dad and Mr. Bill were discussing the next day's destination. Dad mentioned going to Snallygaster Creek. Mr. Bill made some lame excuse about needing to go to Oxford to meet his relatives and maybe he would catch up with us later in the week. I think he was scared.

Wimp. I wasn't scared. Much...

So the next morning we were off to the mythical Snallygaster Creek. It was a relatively short trip, and we were anchored safely by early afternoon. Dad got the dinghy ready so he could take the dog ashore to do what dogs do ashore. "Do you want to go with us?", he asked. "No. I'm hungry. I want to stay here and eat a snack", I said. Later in the afternoon, Dad tried numerous tactics to get me in the dinghy, or go for a swim. I was having none of it. I didn't want to risk having an encounter with a Snallygaster. It was the longest afternoon and evening on the boat, ever. No water activities. As luck would have it, we never did see a Snallygaster, that day, or ever.

I never saw a Snallygaster until just today when I Googled it. Wouldn't you know I found a picture of one. Of course we all know since I saw it on the Internet it must be real, right? Then I looked a little further down the search results.

According to Wikipedia: 

The Snallygaster was a mythical legend that had roots in the German immigrant population of Maryland, going back as far as the 1700s. Early accounts describe the community being terrorized by a monster called a Schneller Geist, meaning "quick spirit" in German. The earliest incarnations mixed the half-bird features of a siren with the nightmarish features of demons and ghouls. The Snallygaster was described as half-reptile, half-bird with a metallic beak lined with razor-sharp teeth, occasionally with octopus-like tentacles. It swoops silently from the sky to pick up and carry off its victims. The earliest stories claim that this monster sucked the blood of its victims. Seven-pointed stars, which reputedly kept the Snallygaster at bay, can still be seen painted on local barns. 

Scary creature, this Snallygaster. Clearly I was right to fear him. Apparently I was not safe on the boat either because this beast had wings! Good thing my 6 year-old self didn't know about that little tidbit. A blood sucking monster with wings? And how is it possible that we went there without one of those 7 pointed stars painted on our boat? Irresponsible parenting, I tell you!

Over the years, the Snallygaster became a running joke with Dad, and I'm fairly certain that at some point or another, some mention of Snallygasters was made to the grandchildren. Strange, I never noticed that gleam in his eye years ago when he spoke of it... I guess I was too terrified to notice.

Then I found out that Washington DC has a Beer festival every year called Snallygaster.  Looks like a road trip in September of this year may be in order. Who's afraid of a Beer festival? Not me...

Being good Sailing Guests (and Hosts)

Just found a great article in Spinsheet magazine about being a good guest (and host) when out sailing. A must-read for anyone who likes to sail on OPB (other people's boats).

Read the article here: How to be a good guest and host

We have had the pleasure of having many friends out sailing since we acquired September Song and I will say that all of this is true. I even learned a few tips from the article on how to be a better host. Worth reading if you're going sailing with me - or anyone else who owns a sailboat.

We've had mostly great experiences with guests aboard. No problem visitors yet...

Picture This: September Song

Last Saturday, we went out sailing and took our friends Rick and Sue. Had a great day introducing them to sailing. They had a blast.

While we were out there, we crossed paths with Étoile. Marcel and Barbie snapped some photos of September Song. Anyone who owns a boat will tell you it's difficult to get pictures of your own boat because you are usually on board.

Next time I'll have to remember my good camera so I can return the favor!

Man's best crew

I've been extremely busy with "life" lately and haven't had time to write much. In my absence, I want to share something that made me smile, which hasn't happened much lately. We have two dogs and enjoy taking them on the boat with us, but they're definitely not this helpful while on board! Enjoy - and have a great holiday weekend!

Finally!

Last summer I started crewing on a friend's boat in the Wednesday night races on the Patapsco River. They have a beautiful Jeanneau 33iP named Étoile (pronounced ey-twal) that is only a couple of years old. Like most racing associations in North America, we race PHRF so all the different boats in the area can have fun competing against each other. For those of you who don't know, PHRF is a handicapping system that attempts to level the playing field between boats of different sizes, designs, and manufacturers. The PHRF system is somewhat controversial among racing sailors due to the arbitrary way that the numbers are determined.

Last year we were getting beaten like a drum every week, partly due to the fact that there are very few boats of this make and model to help the regional PHRF officials compare for a proper rating. Our handicap number was too low, and we were losing ground every week. Going back through last years results, we were near the bottom of the standings every week. Over the winter, the owners of Étoile, Marcel and Barbie, appealed to the local PHRF regional association with all of their race data and supporting documentation. They were trying to illustrate to the board that our rating of 120 was too low. After much back-and-forth, and comparable rating info to other Jeanneau boats of similar size in other regions, the board relented and assigned Étoile a new rating of 144. That works out to an additional 24 seconds per mile of time taken off after the finish.

Also, over the winter Barbie and Marcel outfitted Étoile with a new set of Fusion M^® carbon fiber sails from Quantum Sails Annapolis. These sails are night and day different from the stock sails provided new with the boat from Jeanneau. It's like the difference between buying a suit off the rack at the department store and going to a tailor to have a suit custom made to your exact measurements using only the finest materials. These sails fit perfectly and the boat performs so much better with them. The purchase was definitely money well spent.

Étoile crossing the finish line with a very happy crew!

This past week, in our first race of the year, we got off to a great start, picked the right side of the course, and stayed out of the worst of the foul tide that was fighting us. We noticed that the leading boat, Cecile Rose, rounded mark 1 on the port side. The route sheet specified a starboard rounding. More on that in a minute...

We managed to stay within a reasonable distance of the leaders and did not allow anyone to overtake us. We crossed the line 3rd overall. Cecile Rose was ultimately penalized with a RAF (Retired After Finishing) for rounding a mark the wrong way. Basically, RAF is used when a skipper breaks a rule during the race and does not take the necessary penalty turns before finishing. RAF is sort of like forfeiting the race. The second boat across the line, Caribbean Magic, had a lower handicap number than us which meant that on this night they owed us over 5 minutes in corrected time. When the dust settled, the RAFs and handicaps were applied and we had slipped into the lead by 20 seconds. Somehow we had pulled off a win! First place on corrected time! What a great way to start 2015. Now we just need to keep it going...