Middle Chesapeake

We just returned from a four day sailing trip around the middle section of the Chesapeake Bay. Ruth and I went with our good friends Bruce & Karen and this was our 5th time chartering together. Three Chesapeake trips, one Spanish Virgin Islands trip, and one Bahamas trip. We're starting to become a nice cohesive team. Not to mention we have a lot of fun together!

Day one we left Solomon's Island on a 39' Jeanneau monohull. The boat has a 4'-11" draft with two cabins. Bruce booked the bareboat charter with Sail Solomons. They couldn't have been nicer.

Freedom 38

This wasn't the boat we chartered, but it's a really nice Freedom 38. This is one of the boats on my short list, and we did get to speak to the owner about it a little bit. Really easy boat to handle but it is more cruising relating than performance related. The mast is pretty far forward which leave a lot of room down below. Nice boat!

The wind was not cooperating for us the first day. We've learned to plan our trips around the wind rather than force where we want to go whenever possible. So we sailed out into the bay and then returned to the Patuxent River for an overnight anchorage on Mill Creek. Decent wind on Wednesday with 25 nautical miles of sailing.

View leaving Solomons Island

Calvert Cliffs

Bridge Over the Patuxent River

Mill Creek Anchorage - Our Neighbor

Quiet Anchorage on Mill Creek

Working Waterman

Thursday morning we picked up anchor and headed down to the Potomac River. It was a really nice sail and we were on a nice beam reach for the 25 nautical mile jaunt down to the mouth of the river. The Potomac is 10 miles across at the mouth. We saw LOTS of crab pots, pelicans, osprey, and even some dolphins. 

Ketch Heading North

Hitchhiker

Point no Point Lighthouse

Interesting Helm Position for Ruth

Point Lookout Marina

We stayed the night at the marina and had a nice dinner ashore. Pretty quite marina at Point Lookout but they make a nice crab cake and we had an enjoyable stay. The channel in is well marked with a nice "S" turn to come in. Just follow the marks and you'll be fine. Friday found us traveling back up the bay as Saturday had thunderstorms forecasted. 

Fish Trip

Bruce & Ruth

Adjusting the Traveler for Sail Trim

Leonard Creek Anchorage

More Leonard Creek

Nice Sunset

Securing the Dinghy

Thanks to Bruce for a great Beef Bourguignon for Friday night dinner! We enjoyed a nice quiet anchorage with only one other boat with good holding just off the mouth of the Leonard Creek. We all enjoyed swimming and finishing up the rum drinks before our return on Saturday. Thunderstorms did hit on Friday night into Saturday but held off on Saturday until after 3 pm. The winds were pretty light Saturday so we didn't sail too much and had the boat back in by 13:00.

We're Back!

This was a great part of the Bay to check out and a lot more quiet than going out of Rock Hall. Amenities are in short supply and the eastern shore is pretty shallow without much to stop for cruisers. I think we'll venture back into this area and stop at either Smith or Tangier Island. I'd definitely recommend Sail Solomons if you are interested in chartering out of this area.

Annapolis Sailboat Show 2017

It's been four years since we last attended the sailboat show in Annapolis, so it seemed like a good year to go again and see what has changed. All the boats there are beautiful but seem more oriented to looking good at the dock versus offshore sailing. We toured some of the Beneteau's and they don't even have any handholds in the saloon. Great for the bay or coastal waters, but not for rough conditions in my opinion.

Catalinas all lined up

The Admiral, she always gets compliments on her look

Can't wait to take Ruth away

Lots of flags, very festive

Our approach to checking out the boats was to start at their 34-35 footer, move up in size until we got onto the 40 plus footers and then move on to a different manufacturer. Friday wasn't too crowded and we got to tour quite a few boats. I think our favorite production boats are the Catalinas and Jeanneaus. On Saturday we moved onto the catamarans.

Lagoon 38

Looking comfortable at the helm

Get those boats out of my way

It was a great trip and Annapolis is always a fun town to hang out in. I don't think anything has changed for us and we will be looking into a used sailboat that can handle offshore sailing. We're developing our short list so when we start boat shopping we'll know what to look for.

Next stop, Bahamas and the Exuma Islands.

Catamaran Certification (ASA 114)

Ruth and I recently completed our ASA 114 Certification with Bay Sail out of Havre de Grace Maryland. Ruth also completed her ASA 104 Certification at the same time. Joining us were our friends Bruce & Karen who've been with us on most of our bareboat charters. Bay Sail is a nice little operation and works out of the Tidewater Marina.

The catamaran class was completed on a 35 foot Gemini Legacy. We choose the Legacy as it has two motors so we'd get good practice maneuvering the boat with the twin screws. The first day consisted of provisioning, practice figure eights and pulling around mooring buoys. After practicing out front of  Bay Sail, it was motor sailing down to Still Pond where we spent the night on the hook.

Ruth with Captain Bill

Saloon on the Gemini 35

Sunset on Still Pond

Still Pond at anchor

Still Pond

Picking up the crab pots

Lots of crab pots going into Still Pond but it was a nice night on the hook with a little swimming and a great dinner. The next day we headed down the Sassafras River where we spent the night at a Marina. We had a little wind on Saturday so we did a little tacking and gybing but we really needed more wind to really test the catamaran. Once we got into Georgetown on the Sassafras, it was docking practice and working the catamaran into the slip. We all did pretty well but I'd say Karen did the best and just worked us right into the slip. 

Ruth at the helm

Chart work needed for the ASA 104

Ruth, Karen & Captain Bill

Bruce is always happy on a sailboat

Sassafras River

Sunset on the Sassafras

Granary Marina

Relaxing during the long motor sail

We all took the ASA 114 test on Saturday and everyone passed. After a nice dinner at the Granary we wrapped things up and headed back to Havre de Grace the next day. This trip was not enough to tell me if we are going to prefer a catamaran or monohull so we'll need a longer period on a catamaran to decide what's best for us. It certainly didn't tack nearly as well as a monohull but the living quarters are a little more comfortable. I also liked the shallow draft.

Due to Hurricane Irma, our BVI trip has been postponed until 2018. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people of the islands and we've sent our support through several BVI & Irma relief efforts. Still trying to figure out how to get a sailing trip in this fall, but nothing has been decided yet.

Rock Hall Pirate and Wenches Weekend

We just got back from a weekend in Rock Hall, Maryland. This is one of our favorite towns along the Chesapeake Bay and we try to visit a few times a year. We charter with Haven Charters and have stayed at the Black Duck Inn and Haven Harbor Marina. This time we stayed at a nice room in the Haven Harbor Marina.

Nice view from our deck

View looking the other direction

Ruth ready for the festivities

There are many events during the weekend including sing alongs, dinghy parade, beach party, vendors and lots of music. We were a little jealous of the boats rafting up inside the harbor as we were land lubbers this trip.  

Captain and the pirate

Rafting party

Decoration contest

Center of town

This is one of the places we are thinking of keeping our cruising boat and working on it. It's about 2 and 1/2 hours from our house but it has easy access to the bay with lots of choices for marinas. There are also a few brokerages in the area and we checked out an Island Packet IP32 during the trip.

Beach party

Beach party

Inn at Haven Harbor

Pirate girl

Mermaid

Lunch view

All in all a great trip. Our next adventure is our ASA catamaran class in September.