threading the needle

I started packing the jeep tonight, will go over the modified checklist and tuck away the rest of the gear tomorrow morning.  I plan to take it easy, leaving here after the morning rush hour for the 200-plus mile drive to Chestertown.  I would like to have Spartina in the water by mid-afternoon.

I'll try to do some posts over the weekend with my cell phone. I can't wait to sail with, or at least near, the tall ships.

I wondered last night about getting Spartina away the boat ramp in Chestertown.  The ramp is at the bottom of the drawing above and you can see how the bowsprits of Pride of Baltimore II and the A.J. Meerwald nearly overlap.  In fact there are warnings on the guidelines for the weekend about dealing with the narrow spaces between the tall ships.  I checked the schedules, and if I read it correctly, the Pride will not be arriving until Friday.  There won't be any problem when I put it tomorrow.  But Sunday when I pull out?  We'll see if I have to thread my way through the schooners.  Maybe Spartina's 18' tall main will slide right beneath the bowsprit of the Pride.  As the woman who ran the old riverside marina in Elizabeth City, N.C. told me when I was concerned about having the proper space around my boat, "Son, your boat just ain't that big."

steve