6/7/05
11:00 AM
MILL Creek
Great Wycomico River VA
Lat 37 47.454
Lon 76 19.261
A warm South wind outside and an impending cold front inside the boat convinced me to abandon my Mal de Port and set sail yesterday. The trip North was uneventful at least mostly so. Crossing the mouth of the York River we heard the radio call "This is the destroyer 'Such an Such' to the sailboat in the York River mouth please alter your course to avoid collision." Well calls from things with names like "Destroyer" certainly warrant our attention. The only problem was we could not see any destroyer or that matter any other boat. Some time later we saw the outline of a Navy ship in the haze astern. It was crossing behind us, so I guess we did OK.
Kay takes us out of Salt Ponds
The only other event on the trip was an invasion of particularly nasty biting flies. At first they only attacked me and Kay was convinced that they only attacked males of irish descent. As soon as I put on "Deep Woods Off" Kay discovered that the flies where not sexist and multinational in taste. Their bites were not nice leaving little red circles, sort of like the bite on an Assassin bug. I know this because I picked one of the critters up on the advice of a friend who assured me that it would not bite. You would think that the name would have been a clue.
We anchored yesterday afternoon. Shortly thereafter Kay announced that we were dragging anchor. I said nonsense. We have no anchor windlass and the anchor and chain are a bit hard for me to get up. So by definition we were anchored. Kay persisted in her delusion until it became mutual when I realized that the previous far shore was about to board us from the stern. We re-anchored.
Best boat name so far: "Costello"
Guess what was its owners name?
Hint: It was not "Martin"
6/8/05
10:00 AM
MILL Creek
Great Wycomico River VA
Lat 37 47.454
Lon 76 19.260
The Storm as seen on our Radar
Last night we had a bad storm hit at midnight. It kept me up until 2;00 AM. We did not drag! I went back to bed. "Its back" Kay said as she woke me up at 3:00 AM. We had dragged but not far and were holding steady so I went back to bed. Kay stayed up until 5:00 AM. Have I mentioned that we do this for fun?
6/9/05
5:00 PM
Solomon's Yachting Center
Patuxent River
Solomon's Island MD
Lat 38 19.387
Lon 76 27.493
Last night the anchor alarm went off at 1:00 AM, 2:00 AM and again at 3:00 AM. In all cases we were not dragging the anchor and I finally realized that the GPS was merely lonely and wanting company. So I patted it on the head and put it out of its misery. The trip to the Solomon's was uneventful (until the end) but not without some comic relief. As we approached the Patuxent we heard repeatedly the following transmission in a female voice speaking much to rapidly "This is a US Navy Landing Craft to the vessel __fill in name here__. Reduce your speed to no wake and maintain a distance of 200 yards. She spoke so rapidly you could not even make out the name of the vessel being called only that it changed each time. After about the tenth such call in as many minutes someone came on the radio saying "If you talked slowly we could understand you". Followed in quick succession by
"Amen"
"great"
"About time"
and "Just shut up"
No more was heard from the lady.
Kay motored us smartly into the slip and all was over for the day.
6/10/05
9:00 PM
Solomon's Yachting Center
Patuxent River
Solomon's Island MD
Lat 38 19.387
Lon 76 27.493
This morning we discovered that my computer had not survived the rough entrance into the Patuxent so I rented a car and made the 8 hour round trip to New Port News. Where I discovered that it would take a couple of weeks to repair it and consequently bought a new computer. In my haste I chose one that did not have the slot necessary for my cellular modem and consequently all this will have to wait to be sent until we are someplace that allows for a hook up.
Now for the Mystery. When I removed the computer from the box and fired it up for the first time it knew my name and had established a user account in that name. Nothing was hooked to it and it was certainly not connected to the Internet in any way, shape or form. How did it know my name? If you can guess at a solution pleases let me know as I am more than ever befuddled!
6/12/05
2:30 PM
Ledenham Creek
Broad Creek
Choptank River MD
Lat 38 44.500
Lon 76 16.866
Yesterday Day
Day of Infamy
Spoor of the Devil
Cursed
That pretty much sums up yesterdays events. We left the Solomon's yesterday to make room for a (Good Forbid) Beneteau Convention. Glad to be gone. It was a zoo.
Had a nice sail to the Choptank. Made record time for us. Arrived at Dun Cove on Harris Creek at 3:20. You will probably note that we are not anchored there. Good reason for that as will soon be explained.
Arabella
On the trip up we were passed by the Schooner "Arabella." What a ship, 115 to 150 feet and flying seven sails. Aside from the "Main" and "Jib" I have no idea what the other sails are although some are probably called "stay sails". It is the only sailboat we ever encountered that put up a wake that rocked us. I have pictures of it but for the same reason I can't use my cellular modem I can't download the images. Damn. Stupid of me.
We have anchored many times at Dove Cove and really loved it. (Note the past tense.) The Guide to the Chesapeake says of Dun Cove "The holding ground is good inside the cove; simply pick your spot and drop your hook." Damn to you! We dropped the hook, our trusty Delta Fast Set and sailed by the other boats as if we had no anchor. Tried again, different place. Same result. By now people were collecting on their decks to watch the entertainment. Not to deprive then we tried again. Not even a hint of being anchored. We moved slower with the anchor in the boat.
OK to keep every thing in perspective we arrived at Dun Cove at 3:20 after traveling 38 miles. When this sad tale ends we will have travelled 46 miles and it will be 9:20.
Back to Dun Cove. We tossed both the anchor and salt over our left shoulder and waited. The wait was not long, we sailed past the other anchored boats as if we were connected to some mad undersea creature. We tried again. Same result. If you are counting that was five tries. OK I draw the line when the audience starts to bring out pitchers of drinks to aid in the entertainment. Besides that, pulling up the accursed anchor four more times than I could normally manage had done me in. We got the hell out of Dodge.
Off to Baby Owl Cove on Leadenham Creek. What? You can't get there from here? Just about true but we got there anyway. When we got to the Baby Owl there were several rafts of large boats swinging on a single anchor. Kay unwisely observed "If all those boats can ride a single anchor we can certainly anchor here." All the Gods in the heaven took note. We were doomed. We tried, we failed. By now we realized that the people in Dun Cove had called ahead as the pitchers of drinks where already present. We Tried; we failed. We Tried; we failed. Spectacularly. One more time. Same result. I think I heard applause. We headed across the creek. Surely our luck would change? Right? Wrong. Try number 10 we dragged 300 feet in 30 seconds. We could win a sailboat race at that speed. What to do? Run aground on purpose? We both remembered that we had a huge storm anchor at the bottom of the lazarette, which we never intended to use because it was inaccessible. But it is getting dark, so desperate measures are called for. Picture this. You have one of those attics you access through a trap door in the ceiling. What you want is at the back behind everything else. Now turn the house upside down so that all is now upon the golden grail and you can appreciate our dilemma. Better yet one of us is at the wheel because, ah thats right, we are not anchored.
Ok time out again. At 7:00 Kay announced we would have steaks for dinner. At 8:00 the steaks were demoted to Hot-dogs. By 9:00 Kay announced we were going to drink our dinner. I liked that. Ultimately we had multiple Manhattans, a banana and peanuts.
Well we got the anchor out by means of me going into the lazarette. The only problem was I could not get out of the lazarette. Ten years ago I could get out but it was now impossible. It was as deep as I am tall. Kay, while still steering the boat in circles, had to pull me out my mechanical means like a dead whale being hoisted aboard. I got the new anchor attached and down. It held. Maybe? We spent an hour staring at the GPS. Yes we were holding. Maybe? I collapsed. Slept. Got up at 3 and watched the GPS until dawn. We still look at it every 15 minutes. Both of us are sore.
Plato said "A wise man speaks because he has something to say. a fool because he has to say something". Kay asked me why we did this and I like a fool answered with the only quote I might be remembered for "While sailing, anything that does not kill you is by definition fun." It was not right time to say this!
Carl
6/13/05
6:30 AM
Ledenham Creek
Broad Creek
Choptank River MD
Lat 38 44.500
Lon 76 16.866
I awoke at 5 AM only to find that Kay was already awake reading her book.. A first! The difference is that she would go back to sleep and I would not. I went outside and watched the crabbers work. The typical crab boat is 25 to 35 feet long with a small cabin forward and a cabin top extending back to the stern. If any crabber painted his boat anything but white I am sure that he was long ago executed. A 40 foot Hunter is anchored across the creek along with a small trawler.At 5:30 the Hunter turned off their anchor light and shortly after so did the trawler. Guess we were all up.
Compared to Pamlico or Albemarle Sounds the crab pots are not numerous. I watched one boat work, the only one whose name I could make out, "Kathy B". I assume a wife, daughter or girlfriend. We once named a boat after our daughter,"Dawn". And come to think of it long ago we had the "Katydid".
Anyway I am sure the crabbers think that the sailors are indolent slobs who are only in the way. Sailors, for the most part regard crab pots as an unnecessary encumbrances, that is until they sit down to a delicious crab dinner. Long ago we were at a marina where the owner of a 40 foot Brewer sailboat was also a professional crabber. Sort of a real life oxymoron.
I wish I could paint. The scenery is beautiful. I would like to share it in a more personal way than what a digital camera can imitate. When I was younger there used to be matchbooks with a picture on them. The accompanying message said if you can draw this picture you can be an artist. I could not even draw the matchbook. Sad.
Carl
I slept most of yesterday. Thankfully, as at 4:30 AM the anchor alarm went bing. Usually it is a false alarm but being rather sensitized to this lately I shot up. Stared at the Damn thing for two hours until Kay got up. Unnecessarily as we were firmly anchored, which I discovered when I tried to extract the anchor and it drew up half of Chesapeake Bay bottom with it.
We left around 8:00 and got here 10:00 and headed to the fuel dock. Always our nemesis. Not a problem, the landing would not have damaged a flea. The takeoff was also a piece of cake. Getting into the slip would be a cinch. Oh foolish man. Our vanities go up in smoke. As it turns out we were in a narrow freeway and I somehow directed Kay into the wrong slip:
"Honey dear this is not the proper slip"
"Well sweat heart why did you tell me to do this?
Now I am in a tad in trouble as the boats behind me do not leave me room to back."
"Well love you have a lots of ingenuity, you will arise to the opportunity"
[The rest of the conversation is unrecorded, but any cruising couple can translate it for you.]
During our troubles the young dockhand supplied by the Marina was almost no help but the Captain of the super mega-yacht across the way was a big help. That the Captain of a 100 million dollar yacht would help a $60,000 sailboat is testimony to his character.
The yacht was "Mother Ocean" which had once been at Waterside in Norfolk with us. We were told then, that it was Jimmy Buffett's boat, but local knowledge say no. Anyway as it was pulling away I looked up at the Captain 500 feet above and said "thanks". He replied "Glad to" and held up a remote control and said this "Get one of these". He hit one button and the bow jerked to the port; a second button and the stern followed along. I smiled and waved.
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