day ten - after the storm

Calm and peaceful on Fogg Cove.  A pleasant change.  I move SPARTINA around to a little floating dock to bring down the boom tent and ready her for the day's sail.

I note that after two days of strong north winds my dock lines have made their mark on the pilings.

Kristen comes down to say goodbye and helps me cast off the lines.  I thank her, as always, for her hospitality.  There is a light northwest breeze.

On the Miles River and all sails up at 9:35, 2.3 and a very pleasant morning.  Make 2.8 approach Deep Water Point.  10:10 wind drops and motor sailing.  10:50 no wind at all, main/jib come down and under power.

Tilghman Point to the west at 11:30.  I've got the trolling line out and the drag goes off.  A small striper that I release back into the river.  12:20 off Parsons Island, a light southwest breeze ruffles the surface of the water.  It teases but does not fill in.  

Reach the Kent Narrows life bridge for the 1:30 lift, holding under power against a .8 kt flood tide.  The bell rings, the bridge lift and SPARTINA runs with the current through the opening.  

On the Chester River with full sail at 1:40, a light north wind and making 1.2 kts with the trolling line out. Trying to decide on an anchorage for the night, either Queenstown Creek to the east or Hail Creek to the north.  I do want to keep moving north so choose Hail Creek.  No luck fishing so bring the trolling line in. 2:50 making 1.7 across the Chester River.  Main and jib down at 3:45, under power into Hail Creek.

I notice some gulls diving along the marsh that lines Hail Creek, a few baitfish jumping and swirls in the water.  I round up to cast a gold spoon, fish on and a good fight but the striper goes back around the boat, shakes off the hook.  Looking towards shore I see the gulls are gone but there is another swirl in the shallow water.  A second cast and fish on again, this time I bring the striper in.  

We head into the creek, the anchorage is just about fifty yards away, drop anchor and clean the fish.  Filets don't get any fresher.

17.16 NM for the day, pan-fried striper and mushroom risotto for dinner.  It's good to be back on the water.

  

 

day nine - sailing another boat

I meet Kristen at the docks at 9:30, she is already bringing in some of the lines on her Cape Dory 32 MAGDALENA.  I've got foul weather gear in a duffel.  She tells me to get it on quickly, we're casting off and she doesn't want me to get wet and cold.  There's a light rain and a strong north wind.

We cast of to motor north on the Miles River.  Once around Deep Water Point we feel the full force of the weather, MAGDALENA pounding into the steep waves to the point Kristen steers at an angle to the swells.  Once in open water Kristen gives me a rundown on steering, then heads up forward to tuck in a reef and raise the main.  Once we get a feel for the wind Kristen puts out a bit of the headsail.  Great, great sailing.

At Tilghman Point we fall off the wind and round the point inside the channel marker, Kristen knows the area well and knows there is plenty of water inside the marker.  Then it is a nice downwind run on Chesapeake Bay along the shore then through Poplar Island Narrows.  Kristen disappears down below, returning with fresh made sandwiches, ham and cheese on a fresh baguette with fig tapenade - how nice!  And then she disappears again, returning with two mugs of hot tea.   I tell Kristen I never really understand why she is so nice to me.

Kristen sails right up to the pound nets on the entrance to Knapps Narrows, turns sharply to port inside the nets then turns south again towards Black Walnut Point - like I said, she really knows the water.  We round the point onto the Choptank River, a distant water tower showing our destination in Oxford.  

Wind forward of beam Kristen lets me take the wheel for the run to Oxford.  She knows my history in SPARTINA of cutting across the shallows, reminding me more than once to stay away from the dark blue on the chart plotter.  I do as told.

Coming into Oxford is interesting.  There is an issue with the water pump on the diesel, part of the reason for the trip to the yard in Oxford, and we basically have to sail in through the jetties at Bachelor Point.  We talk for a bit about the best way to handle that, both coming to the conclusion that we keep the reefed main and headsail up past the jetties, then Kristen turns downwind as I bring down the main while the headsail pulls us through the jetties.  I am a bit nervous but Kristen is confident.  Everything goes as planned, we slip in through the narrow channel then she starts the diesel for the last fifty yards or so into the slip.  Kristen makes it look easy.

 We walk the backroad in search of Doc's Sunset Grille.  We meet a couple and the woman looks at us, both wearing foul weather gear, carrying duffels, our faces burned by the wind.  "You two look like you are running away" she says.  Kristen tells her that we are.  We chat with them for a bit then they point us in the direction of the "pub" as Kristen calls it.

Our ride back to St. Michaels is running late so we have a beer.  Then another.  And then a great dinner - seared tuna and rice with wasabi peas - while watching the sun go down over the Choptank.  Just a great day on the water.

days seven and eight - back to St. Michaels

Day Seven

A gusty, rainy night.  Steady downpours that seems to go on and on.  The mass of moisture from Ian has turned into a nor'easter just off the coast.  I sleep late, make some hot tea to go with breakfast.  Dry and comfortable, but this is getting a little old.

At 10:15 the sun breaks through the clouds, a lull in weather.  Quickly I stow the gear in SPARTINA, bring down the boom tent.  Mizzen and jib we sail off anchor at 10:30.  My neighbor, a man on a boat out of Baltimore, comes out and tells me they had been wondering how I was doing in the storm, they have been worried about me.  I tell him I'm fine, heading to St. Michaels.  He says they have farther to go, Baltimore, and can't make it in this weather.

Making 2.2 heading downwind on Leeds Creek, 4.2 when a gust comes through.  10:50 on the Miles River, 4.7 and easy sailing with wind aft of beam.  Can look up the river and see gusts coming our way.  In one puff gps shows 6.9.  

Docked at the museum 11:30.   2.578 NM.  I set up the boom tent then head in to town for lunch.  Cool, grey and windy with spitting rain.

Back at the docks I bring some gear up to Steamboat building to dry out.  I check in with Kristen to make sure that is ok.  She says it is fine, then invites me to go sailing with her in a couple of days.  

Windy and raining in the evening, I stealth camp on the porch of a museum building.  

Day Eight

I wake to horizontal rain.  Get cleaned up and head back to the Steamboat building where I catch up on the sailing log, check in with the family.

Lighter rain midday.  I relax, read, pack away my gear.  For the night I treat myself to a hotel room and a nice dinner in town.

 

days three to six - waiting out the weather

Day Three

Lunch at Foxy's Harbor Grille comes with weather warnings on the phone.  The remnants of Hurricane Ian are heading up the coast bringing rain and high winds.  I think about it for a while and decided I don't want to be tied to a dock in a crowded marina with that much wind and rain.

Cast off from the dock, a single reef tucked in, at 2:35.  I sail a lap of Fogg Cove and wave to friends on the piers.  We head out on the Miles River and make 4.8 kts.  Less wind and calm inside Leeds Creek, a take my time tacking up the beautiful creek.  

The creek is shallower than I expected, the centerboard and rudder touching the bottom of couple of times.  Resetting the rudder I find the water is noticeably cooler than just a few days earlier. 

Anchor down in a nice little cove at 4:00.  Beef stroganoff for dinner.  Winds picking up in the evening.  4.0 NM for the day.

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Day Four

Sleep late, not sailing so no reason to get up early.  Could hear the wind whistling through the trees in the early morning hours.  Mixed berry RXbar, Tanka bar and hot chocolate for breakfast.  I read, nap, catch up on the log book.  Light rain beginning at 2:00.  Peanut butter and raisin oatmeal for dinner.

Day Five

Comfortable night with rain and swirling winds.  Dry suit on in the morning for warmth.  Hot chocolate and chocolate raspberry RXbar for breakfast.  Eagle perched in a tree off the port quarter.  10:00 skies get lighter, then dark and cloudy again.  Text from Bobby tells them the boats from the Small Craft Festival are out for a race.  I think of sailing down there but I am comfortable where I am.  Reading, napping.  4:00 sun breaks through and a light rain falls at the same time.  

Day Six

Rain overnight.  Wake to a gale warning that goes through Monday evening.  Chocolate raspberry RXbar and the last of the hot chocolate for breakfast.  Wish I had brought more hot chocolate.  NFL on the radio all day, sometimes I listen, sometimes I nap, and sometimes in between.  5:30 wind and rain.  Not hungry so I skip dinner.

 

day two - a scream in the night

Up a little after 6 a.m., a perfectly calm night on Dividing Creek save for a brief panicked scream from a boat unseen in the darkness.  Under power down the creek passing by Bobby's LAGNIAPPE with her brand new boom tent.  6:45 at the mouth of the creek and full sail, an osprey chirps from a nest in the trees on the point, a crabber works a trotline on the Wye River. 

Sun over the trees at 7:05 and we sail out of the wind shadow along shore.  Peanut butter RXbar and a Tanka buffalo bar for breakfast.  Making 4.4.

The wind gets stronger as we head down the Wye.  Tuck in a reef, 4.6.  At 7:40, looking out at the Miles River beyond Bennett Point I can see waves from the northwest wind.  Tuck in the second reef.  7:50 on the Miles River.

We find rough water and plenty of wind, making 6.0 and the gps hits 7.4 riding down the face of a wave.  

Round Deepwater Point at 8:25 and find calmer water.  Sails down 8:45, docked St. Michaels at 8:50.

Having lunch at The Blue Crab I run into Bobby and his friend Don.  Bobby explains the shout in the darkness last night.  A large sailboat was heading up the creek and somehow didn't see LAGNIAPPE'S clearly visible anchor light.  At the last second a woman on board sees the small boat and screams to the man at the wheel.  Bobby pokes his head out of his boom tent to see the larger boat just a few feet away.  The boat turns and heads off to its anchorage.  

 

day one - sails up before the sun

Cambridge Creek.  Calm, peaceful night.  Launched yesterday afternoon and made the short motor from the ramp to the creek.  Wake to a diesel cranking up on a deadrise before 4 a.m., crabbers like to start their day early.  By 5 a.m. steady sounds of deadrises heading down the creek, plus the clanking of the bell at the bascule bridge.  No need for an alarm clock.  Stowing the gear I can see a flag across the creek showing a steady west wind.  I wait until the sky gets lighter before raising anchor.

6:30 under power.  Out of the creek and full sail set at 6:45.  Mixed berry RXbar and a meat bar for breakfast.  Making 4.3 at 7:20 past Hambrooks Bar Day Beacon, on a port tack in choppy water.  Three deadrises working along shore to the north.  Tack off LaTrappe Creek 8:35, tack again off Castle Haven at 8:50.  The wide Choptank to the west narrows between Castle Haven at Island Neck, waves pushed by the west wind pile up as the river narrows and we pound through steep water.  

9:30 tack off Indian Creek, 4.2 but sometimes slower in the chop.  10:00 tack back towards the north shore under blue skies.  Calmer closer to shore, steady wind but less chop.  11:00 tack at red marker "12", 2.4 in less wind.  11:45 wind swinging to southwest and becoming lighter.   Noon, motor sailing.  1:00 sails down and in the channel to Knapps Narrows.  1:10 through the bridge working against both wind and tide.  

1:30 full sail, southwest wind over port quarter, easy sailing and making 3.7.  SPARTINA rolling with the swell, centerboard partially raised for the downwind run.  Two eagles fly along the tree line to the east.  

2:00 wind on the beam headed north along Bay Hundred, making a steady 5.9.  3:00 making 6.2 off Wades Point and entering Eastern Bay on a spectacular day.  3:40 round Tilghman Point, jibe, 4.8 with wind forward of beam on the Miles River.

4:10 jibe again behind the shoal leading to the Wye River.  Quiet run up the river, 5:20 anchor down Dividing Creek.  Along shore I see Bobby's LAGNIAPPE.  Fixing dinner I hear a whistle, it is Bobby and his friend Don on shore.  Bobby uses an oar to come out and say hello.  We chat for a while and then Bobby heads down the creek to anchor for the night.  Don is camping on shore.  I set up my boom tent.

42.16 NM

Lasagna for dinner.
 

the social 355

So I'm walking down this back street in Oxford, Maryland.  It is cool and grey and a light rain is falling.  I have a duffel bag over my shoulder.  Walking next to me walks a woman.  She wears a knit cap and her face shows that she has been in the sun and wind all day long.  She has a bag strung over her shoulder too.  There is a couple in the street walking their dogs.  The woman glances at us, notes the bags over our shoulders, and says "You two look like you are running away."  My friend smiles and says "We are."

My companion that day was Kristen.  We had sailed her Cape Dory 32 MAGDALENA around from St. Michaels to Oxford on a blustery day.  What was I doing sailing with her while SPARTINA was tied up at the dock in St. Michaels?  Long story.  Weather and a couple of commitments conspired to make this fall sail a little bit different from my usual trips.  Less sailing and more social than most of my cruises.

Not only did I sail with Kristen on her boat, I had a guest out for a sail on SPARTINA.  I've never done that before on a cruise.  And how did I find myself at a yacht club in Rock Hall, the only San Diego Padres fan in a room full of Phillies fans, as we watched some playoff baseball?  Did the woman sitting across from me really have to remind me we had met last year and she had called me crazy?  And what about the cookies and tea on the farmhouse porch on Queenstown Creek?  How can I explain a woman visiting Iceland deciding to buy me a sailing book and chocolates?  And why was a retired two-star admiral kneeling in SPARTINA pouring rum into a row of plastic glasses for Dark and Stormies?  Long story.  But a good one.  

I hope to start the logs next week.

a few photographs