On the last official sailing day of the trip we raised anchor at 7:20 and followed Slip Jig down Dividing Creek on our way to St. Michaels.
The wind was great out on the Wye River, I think John Welsford would have been proud to see a Navigator and a Pathfinder sailing along together in a nice breeze. Bruce took a lot of photos of Kevin's boat, it looked great in the morning light.
Kevin zipped around behind us and moved up forward, Slip Jig is a very quick and nimble boat. Kevin certainly knows how to sail her.
Kevin led the way up the Miles River into St. Michaels and pointed out a good spot to tie up at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. We straightened things up on Spartina and then borrowed Kevin's car (thanks! saved us a bunch on a rental) to drive to Crisfield to get my jeep and the trailer. By the time we got back to the museum grounds oysters were being served, both raw and roasted.
And of course steamed crabs. Not much better place to have steamed crabs than St. Michaels. Spicy and hot, they made for a great afternoon snack.
We had planned on staying on the boat that night, but rain was hovering around and a southeast wind was rocking Spartina in her slip. So where could we stay that night? In our bivy's in the park? In our sleeping bags in back of the jeep? We decided to discuss it over a beer in one of the pricey restaurants in St. Michaels. We came to no clear decision. But as we walked back to the museum I turned around to see Bruce standing motionless on the sidewalk, looking up as if he saw a vision in the sky. He was staring at a "vacancy sign" on a hotel.
Distance - 8.26 nm
Max Speed - 5.6 kts
Ave Speed - 3.5 kts
Moving time - 2 hours 22 minutes
For the entire trip......
Distance - 136 nm (less than we expected, but the wind was with us the entire way, every mile sailed was a mile made good, virtually no tacking)
Max Speed - 8.6 kts (somewhere off of Hoopers Island on day two, surfing down the front of a wave)
Ave Speed - 3.7 kts (pretty good when we consider that our goal is an average of 3.0 knots)
Moving Time - 36 hours 24 min (of pure adventure, excitement and fun)
See you on the water.
steve
8 comments:
What a great trip! I've kicked around some on a Glen-L 17 and a Santana 21 over in Oregon and up in S.E. Alaska, plus taking a Catalina 27 up to Alaska from Seattle. Your log stirred up a lot of old memories; thank you for sharing! I hope you will give more details on the bivies and the gear you used.
-Kees-
Following this trip from inception to completion has been a real treat. I have always wanted to take on a longer journey in a small boat and you two have inspired me. It was great to finally meet up with guys, I stated emailing Steve when I found him through the openboat website and I was trying to decide on the Pathfinder or Navigator. Space considerations made the decision for me and I have no regrets. Both boat are great. My only regret is that we didn't swap boats for a while. I guess we'll just have to make sure that our paths cross again, soon.
So, what next?
Kees,
yes, we'll talk about gear soon. We are pretty happy with what we are using, will pass on some comments and observations. Thanks for the note.
Kevin,
great to meet and sail with you. Looking forward to seeing you out on the Bay again someday.
steve
I've really enjoyed your write-ups. I am anxious to read about the festival itself, and any details you have on provisions and cooking. Any thought of doing something like this as a group?
Take Care,
Steve
No, we hadn't thought of making the trip a group sail. I imagine it would be fun but I'm not much of an organizer. And we usually change our cruise each time we go out to see someplace different.
We'll be posting some things on gear and the festival in a few days.
Glad you enjoyed the logs.
steve
What a great trip.
What sort of bivy sacks do you use? We sleep on our Core Sound 20 sometimes, but the mosquitoes sometimes force us deep inside our bags on a still, hot night.
Doug,
we use Outdoors Research Alpine Bivy's. You can see them at ...
http://www.outdoorresearch.com/site/advanced_bivy.html
They make all the difference in the world. Bug-free sleeping makes for a good restful night. And a good restufl night, I have found, makes the next day a lot more fun. Bruce has the advanced version, I have the standard version (a little smaller) which I am not sure is available anymore.
I'm a fan of the CS 20. Had the pleasure of meeting SandyBottom and DWSB a few weeks ago. Hope to sail with them and their CS 20 someday.
steve
Thanks, Steve. I see Dawn and usually Paul at the Everglades Challenge each year, and this year I came over for the North Carolina Challenge.
The CS 20 is not nearly the classic in appearance that yours is, but she sails well and fast. I have come to love the cat ketch, especially tacking. I was sailing the other day on a sloop and had forgotten how much trouble it is to loose and recapture the jib on every tack. I look forward to more of your stories.
My blog is much less thorough than yours, Kiwibirds and SB's and includes a little whitewater (http://capt-doug.blogspot.com/)
Post a Comment