Thursday, September 10, 2009

details and a nice Pathfinder

Here is a nice photo I just received from my friend Tom W. A very nice Pathfinder, love those tan bark sails. Thanks for the photo, Tom.


Two weeks from tonight we'll be packing the boat and jeep so I've got to get to work on the details. I printed out google map screen shots of a few of the places we'll be visiting. With good charts and two gps's we'll certainly find the harbor or cuts. But these satellite photos will help us recognize marinas, breakwaters and shallows. I'll laminate them and have them in the aft cockpit for a quick reference as we come in to the harbors. I've never visited any of the places, our first view will be from water level.

That is Knapp's Narrows below, we'll be staying at the Tilghman Island Inn which (I think) is the first marina on the south side at the west end of the cut. We hope to be there by early afternoon. High tide is around noon. When the tide is running it can get up to 5 knots according to the people at the Inn. I would like to come in from the Chesapeake Bay side (at the left) before 1 or 1:30. If we come and go by the bay we won't have to deal with a bridge lift.

Below is Kent Narrows, again another spot where the tide moves pretty quickly. But if we time it right we'll arrive there from Rock Hall before the tide is moving too fast (but we will have to get a bridge life as we transit from north to south).
And that is Rock Hall. Our marina is the one just below the word "more". The hotel is right there and the crab house is just a block away. I can smell the crabs steaming right now.
I need to start checking batteries, remember how to work the SPOT (I love my SPOT, but they are not very intuitive so I need to relearn it for each cruise), check out the stove and start sorting clothes. The two weeks will go by quickly.

steve


3 comments:

Kevin B said...

steve, while at Tilghman stretch your legs a bit and walk down Tilghman Island Rd to Dogwood Harbor for a look at some of the last working Skipjacks on the Bay. I catch a boat just east of the drawbridge several times a month to head over to Poplar Island for work. So are we going to be able to track you progress with the Spot?

Kevin

MaryLou said...

Sitting in a slip at Knapps Narrows Marina as I write this. Great spot to wait out a blow. Continental breakfast in the dayroom of the hotel. We've been here 3 days and will head back to Rock Hall tomorrow. Assuming the winds stop gusting to 26 kts.

Mary Lou

Steve said...

MaryLou,
if the wind keeps gusting for long enough we'll see you there in a couple of weeks!
Quick question (as if I hadn't asked you enough already), on a flood tide does the current run west to east at Knapp Narrows? It seems like it should but I don't want to be surprised.
I hope the wind calms down and you have a great sail home to Rock Hall. Steve