Sandy Point to Back Creek

Days 3, Friday, September 30, 2016. 

It is still raining.  We awoke after a good night’s sleep.  It is always more comforting to spend the night not having to be concerned about a dragging anchor. 

We enjoyed a cheesy egg and bacon breakfast, straightened up the boat as much as we could with all of the wet gear hanging around.  I spent about an hour

Small portion of the many boats in Back Creek

working on finishing up the rigging process.  We had launched in such bad weather that I left the final things to be completed for a more hospitable time. 

At around 9:00 we checked out the wind and wave situation on the main bay and decided that it was something that we could handle. So we fired up the engine and motored out of our calm little harbor.

The route out of the park followed right next to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.   As soon as we passed the end of the breakwater, we were met with fairly large rollers that were obviously left over from the gale force winds of yesterday.  Our route took

Our friend Jim Philpott and Little Star

us parallel to the bridge to a point where we could safely pass under the tallest section.  And, that course, it also took us across the path of the waves so, the boat rolled from side to side, sometimes quite wildly.  The boat is designed to handle such conditions, but it was quite a ride.  We both had donned our life vests and attac

A night heron taking the happenings at the dock

hed out tethers to the life lines along the side of the boat. 

We probably traveled about a half of a mile before we turned south and passed under the bridge.  Once past the bridge and once we were traveling with the wind and waves, the boat settled down and we enjoyed a smooth, albeit a cold wet ride on to the mouth of Back Creek where our friend, Jim had secured a slip for us. 

The trip down Back Creek completely dazzled us. We later heard that there were more than 1,000 boats of all shapes and size lining the shore.  We were told that most of these boats come in for the Annapolis Boat Show and as soon as it is over, most of the will head out to other locations. 

Second Wind backed in and ready for better weather

We backed our boat into our slip and won the distinction of being the smallest boat on the dock.  I found it fun talking to the various skippers most of whom are amongst the herd of boat show workers who spend most of their time cruising around the world. occasionally coming to places like this to earn funds to replenish their cruising kitty.    At around 3:30, Jim took the both of us back to Sandy Point State Park to pick up our truck and trailer.  From there, Jim followed as we crossed the Bay Bridge onto the eastern shore and the home of our friends, Evelyn and Stuart Harshberger where we will be leaving our trailer.  We did have an opportunity to spend a few minutes with Evelyn before we had to return to Annapolis and dinner with the Fishs. 

Another on of our big neighbors

Jim had originally planned a Hurricane Party to be held near the dock but decided to cancel because of the lousy rainy weather that continued to plague us.  Instead we enjoyed hors d’oeuvres of cheese and anchovy stuffed olives along with an interesting rum “cruising cocktail”, called a Dark and Stormy, on Little Star. From there, we walked to a local bar/restaurant that served outstanding crab cakes. 

We made it back to the boat in time to meet our typical 9:00 bed time curfew. 

 

Heading Out On Another Adventure

Days 1-2, Wednesday, and Thursday, September 28, 29, 2016

(The week before we left on this trip, our son Scott and I traveled to Maine to attend a class at the Wooden Boat School.  We spent the week building a 17 foot kayak.  The weather here is so bad that I have yet to take pictures so I have included pictures of Maine and the school in this blog.)

The components for the kayak hull

Janine and I are on another trip.  This one promises to be an interesting one.  An overview of our goal:

          Travel to the Chesapeake Bay and sail with 3 people on another boat for about 5 days.  Janine will return to Ohio.  I will stay in the Annapolis area to attend the boat show.  On Oct 11, I will sail south to Hampton VA. On Oct 17, I will join a group of boaters traveling down the Intracoastal Waterway for Florida.  I will leave the group around December 1 in St Augustine Fl.

We left Somerset at 6:00 Wednesday morning and traveled to Parkersburg WV where we dropped off our car at the home of one of the folks with whom we will be sailing on the Chesapeake.  At the end of that portion of the trip, Janine will ride back with them, pick up the car and head back to Somerset.

Hull pieces "sewn" together with copper wire.

We had an uneventful trip to Annapolis.  We had planned to launch our boat and store our truck and trailer at a marina on Macaphe river, but when I called them to confirm our reservation, she informed me that it would be $10.00 a day storage fee making the total 2 month bill $600.00.  I tried another marina and their fee was $20.00 per day.  I finally found Sandy Point State Park which has a huge set of boat launch ramps and a biggest boat parking lot that I have ever seen.  The fee to launch is covered by the $3.00 entrance fee and we could leave the truck and trailer for an extended period of time for nothing. 

We arrived at around 4:00 and set out stepping the mast and rigging the boat.  Not long after we got the mast up it started to rain and the winds began to blow with gusto.  Our friend, Jim Philpott, who has a 39 foot Bristol boat moored in Annapolis, came over to help us.  With the weather turning sour and darkness approaching, we decided to forgo the rigging and launch unto the following day. 

Hull ready for first coast of epoxy on the inside

We left the park and headed to the hard to find Cantlers Restaurant where we enjoyed picking Chesapeake Bay crabs for dinner.  Jim then brought us back to the park where we were met by a friendly park ranger who was not sure about what we were up to. We explained our situation and he reluctantly agreed that we could stay on the boat.  The park closes at dark except for boaters and fishermen.  We definitely met one of those criterion. 

Boat almost finished and ready to head home.

The wind blew had and the torrential rain pounded us all night long.  In the morning, I checked the radar and realized that we were in for a long stormy haul.  We were in the throes of a huge tropical storm that reached all the way from the southern tip of Florida to well north of our location.

I decided to check with the folks at the park office regarding our stay on the boat and was informed by a nice supervisor that there was no storage of boats allowed in the park and as long as our boat was on the trailer, we were technically storing the boat and we in violation of the rules.  The harbor of the park is considered a safe harbor of refuge so we could tie up to one of their docks and stay as long and we needed and the truck and trailer would not be considered as being stored. We had not planned to put the boat into the water until the wind and rain subsided, but!

How the finished boat will look

We moved the truck and trailer near a grove of bamboo that shielded us somewhat from the wind and finished rigging the boat.  Our launch was really uneventful.  We secured the boat soundly and prepared to an extended stay.  Winds were blowing 25 knots gusting to 35.  The weather service issued gale and small boat warnings so we were content to stay put.

Line of launch ramps at Sandy Point State Park

We unhooked the unstored truck from the unstored trailer and went into Annapolis where we spent the remainder of the afternoon lounging around on Jim’s beautiful boat.  At around 4:00, Barb and Bob Fish arrived from Parkersburg.  They will be staying on and sailing with Jim on Little Star.  For dinner, the five of us drove into downtown Annapolis and ate at the wonderful McGarvey’s Restaurant, located near the center of the historic district.  Walking from the car, we had to walk around flood water in the streets from an extremely high tide. 

Where we spent the night as an unstored boat.

We returned to the boat at about 8:00 and were able to make it into bed at our accustomed cruising bed time of 9:00