ANCHOR UP IN CHESTERTOWN

More will probably follow but our attempted departure will be our first story about Chestertown:

 

Charts seem to show you can anchor almost anywhere off Ctown that you want, although there is a notation on the charts, CABLE AREA, and there are a few permanently moored vessels.  We anchored between the notation and the bridge, in the middle of the river, in what we hoped would be an uncrowded corner of the anchorage, still close enough for dinghy trips in all weather.  As other boats came in for the Tea Party and Memorial Day festivities many anchored closer to the docks, right in the CABLE AREA.  These boats should have honored the notation, and we should honored it with a much greater exclusion zone.  More than one boat hooked up solid and struggled getting their anchors off the bottom.  One fellow IP sailor(motoror) in a PY Cruiser was lucky enough to be able to get the cable that he was attached to to the surface.  It was then simple, or it looked so from shore, to unhook the cable from the anchor.

 

We were not so lucky. When we tried to get our anchor aboard, the first 100 feet of chain came aboard normally.  The last fifteen to twenty feet would not come aboard.  We were hooked hard to something.  All initial efforts to drop chain, circle around, back up in the unhook direction, failed.  So now we know, Sea Tow does not cover anchor entanglement.  It would have cost us $270.00 an hour with a three hour minimum to get their help, and their help was two hours away in Annapolis.

 

Efforts to flag down a power boater for help failed at first.  We thought if we could loop a line around our chain, have the power boater drive directly away from our bow, the loop would slide down and unhook our Claw anchor from whatever it was clawing.  It would be just like how you remove a fishing hook from your finger using a length of monofilament line.  One power boater slowed, but just chuckled at our misfortune as he drove by.  He suggested we would be fine when the tide changed.

 

What was ultimately successful was diving down to the anchor about fifteen feet deep and tieing on a trip line.  A kind Captain in the power boat, Sales Call, did then come assist and took the trip line out.  We were just about ready to drop the dinghy and try ourselves.  However, we felt we needed more hands than we had on board.  We wanted one in the dinghy or pull boat.  One at the windlass.  One at the helm of Charmed.  Sales Call was the extra hand we needed, and she pulled and pulled.  Charmed motored forward and slacked chain.  The anchor just didn’t budge.  Sales Call was tethered by the trip line.  Charmed was still firmly anchored.  It was time to end the shennanigans, get the hacksaw, and get to cutting chain.

 

In desparation and right before going down below to get the hacksaw, I pulled and yanked and jerked on the trip line.  I didn’t feel the anchor move a bit.  But then I began shortening up the chain to save as much as I could, and all the chain and anchor came aboard!  Two hours late we were off to Weems Creek.  And as Debbie puts it, we now have local knowledge.

 

While all turned out very well, we could have lost an anchor and fifteen feet of chain.  Importantly we think we acted safely by not deploying our dinghy as the pull boat with only two of us on board.  We thought there would be much greater risk being two in two separate boats.  The river was fairly calm.  However, there were boat wakes, and winds were fifteen knots and higher.  Once, if, untangled, Charmed would begin drifting or need to be driven.  She would have been a moving target, albeit slowly, to land a dinghy on.  Our Claw anchor sells for less than $200.00.  We have extra anchors on board.  The loss of hardware would only have been inconvenient.

LYNN AND BILL ABOARD

Lynn and Bill came aboard in the Baltimore Inner Harbor for a few days of sailing around the upper Chesapeake. After short greetings, we departed for the Magothy River. Bill took the wheel at anchor up and captained most of their whole visit, getting plain driving in when the wind was low during the voyage to St Michaels. Getting heavy weather sailing in when the wind was blowing a gale on the day we sailed to Annapolis. As you can guess sailing to Annapolis was upwind work.

Bill drove nuclear subs for us when he was in the service. The best we could do for nostaglia's sake, when he was underwater for months, was to get him into heavy rain with water running over the deck. It is hard to get to periscope depth with an Island Packet.

BALTIMORE

Baltimore is an odd cruising destination, but a wonderful one.  What draws us here is the harbor, the light rail, and the airport.  The light rail, which is only blocks from the dock, makes it convenient to BWI.  No taxis, shuttles, or rental cars needed.

 

Baltimore has everything city that you may wish to experience.  You can’t hardly count the number of restaurants within walking distance.  There is a Whole Foods grocery.  Even a Best  Buy.  If it rains, there is the National Aquarium.  On our first visit here we walked to Camden Yards to watch the Red Sox and the Orioles.  This time we are shortstopping just to pick up good friends Lynn and Bill for a four day cruise.  Baltimore is a fair way up the Patapsco River, but in four days we will be able to reach quaint Chesapeake Bay towns and anchorages where there are no other boats.

EDENTON IS EXCELLENT

Edenton does not get much press. Likely because it is so far up Albemarle Sound off the ICW. But it is a wonderful town.

First, you have free docks and water, and $3.00 electricity. Then you have Edenton High School Boosters offering fried chicken plates for lunch before or dinner during the baseball games. Then you get offered the husband’s truck (he was off sailing while mom stayed home and cared for the kids.) Then you get asked if you want a ride back to the boat when you are walking with groceries. And finally, you get asked to join in the yacht club’s sail to Mackey’s for a Crab Fest!

For the Crab Fest Barbara and Gil hosted us and two neighbors on their thirty one foot yawl, Barbara Jean III, that Gil built in his yard which fronts on Pembroke Creek. We crossed the sound to a point just west of the power lines to entrance marks leading into a cypress swamp. Once inside the forest, we saw fishermen flipping spinners up against the knees for bass. A water moccasin swam by within a boat length. A mile or so deep in the swamp we docked right behind the band, and we had a grand time.

The final event was Saturday night karaoke at Cheros (Sounds like Cheerios without the ios at the end. Just Cheeros).

It is worth an extra day to visit Edenton when sailing by.

COLLECTING WATER

Normally Sireneuse collects enough rain to meet their need for water while cruising. Their arrangement captures water off of a large hard top over the cockpit. Charmed has gutters along the toe rail that are plumbed from deck scuppers to the boot stripe. We intend to tap into this plumbing so we can direct rain water to our tanks. Nominally forty four feet of deck, times fourteen and a half feet of beam, times 50% to account for area lost at the bow and stern, times one inch of rain equals 200 gallons!

Last night we could have completely filled our tank several times:

HOME ROASTED COFFEE

We never knew you could buy green beans and conveniently roast them at home! Here, Greg is listening and watching for the second crack, which tells the initiated much about the end of the process:


And we thought Juan and his donkey somehow had to be involved.

WHAT YOU CAN'T FIND IN CRUISING GUIDES

There is this wonderful bight, Lookout Bight, south and east of the town of Beaufort North Carolina. It is a wonderful anchorage. I guess it is too far off the waterway to get press.

MORE TEE SHIRT PHILOSOPHY

Not all who wander are lost!

 

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH TO BEAUFORT

As hard as it was to leave before visiting Causeway Cafe again . . . .

The anchor came up at 05:15 am under a full moon. We motored two miles down a straight channel and turned ninety degrees left to the Atlantic. Beaufort lay ahead, C 075 M. D 60 NM. There was no wind and small swells from the south. The boat rolled. Easily, but it rolled. We fretted, wondering if it was going to be eight hours of this. We could not point the boat in a direction that was making way toward Beaufort that was totally comfortable. And it was so calm!

We were hoping for the winds NOAA forecast, ten to fifteen knots from the southwest. While we never got them, we did get winds in the mid to high single digits from about 09:00 am on. Once the winds rose to four knots, the staysail came out tight as a drum. Not to help drive the boat. To stabilize the boat. At the first indication the staysail might remain filled naturally, the main came out. The wind would now drive the boat some. Once five or six knots came up regularly the genoa was set. Wind then accounted for a knot and half of our boat speed, and it was a glorious ride. The boat moved like a train on rails, and it was totally comfortable.

Just enough wind to fill all sails:

We got to Beaufort Town Dock at 03:30 pm after seventy two nautical miles from anchor to dock. The highest wind speed recorded was sixteen knots. The fastest boat speed recorded was 8.8 knots, caused by diesel, wind, and slight surfing even athough we did not see the first whitecap.

CAUSEWAY CAFE WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH

And the winner is . . . .

For the best breakfast on the East Coast, Causeway Cafe! Two eggs over easy. Grouper fingers. Grits. Two biscuits. Great coffee. Cold and fresh ice water. They also have perch and crab in the morning, several kinds of ham and sausage. It would take a month to try it all.

Now for lunch, the list of southern vegetables includes nearly a dozen.

THERE ARE THESE BRIDGES . . .

There are two bridges near Charleston that remain closed for several hours during morning and evening rush hour. It is a scheduling issue trying to get in or out of Charleston at sunset or sunrise. Many boats arrive at the bridge not knowing about the closure. Some have long waits.

Compass Rose was "anchored" when we arrived at the Ben Sawyer bridge a few minutes before an opening. I immediately began studying charts because I had not determined there was a reasonable anchorage close to the bridge. It turns out Compass Rose was not anchored. The boat was just nudged into the mud to hold her temporarily.

You learn something new every day out here!

PIRATES OF THE CARIB . . .

. . . er, Georgetown!

These pirates are actually buying the Jolly Rover. It is a sailing concession in Georgetown. We were scared out of our dungarees when they began looting the harbor for gold and silver to make payments with from an absconded dinghy. That cannon makes a big boom.

LIFE'S JOURNEY (TEE SHIRT PHILOSOPHY)

It is not a goal to arrive at the gravesite in a well preserved body. It is to skid in there sideways, totally worn out, shouting, Holy Cow, what a ride!

KAYAK SAILING

While Charmed was making up to 9 knots on a downwind run up the Beaufort River, this sailor was slipping along silently, too, although a bit slower.

DINGHY STORAGE

For those who want the dinghy high and the rear view unobstructed:

ST SIMONS ISLAND

Glynn County has and is doing a wonderful job of providing space for its citizens and visitors. All you see here is public space. It is manicured and clean, down to the restrooms. St Simons is a place to visit by boat or car.


Notice the beach. At low tide you could walk for miles.


One lucky pelican. Kids fishing serve him right where he squats.

DONT BLINDLY FOLLOW THE MARKS

St Simons Sound G "7" FL G 2.5s isn't where you would expect it.

ONE AT A TIME

Whenever and wherever, the boat has to be regularly checked, to make sure that the anchor is holding, that mooring lines aren't chafed, or that something isn't bearing down on you. On one check this long string of dredging equipment seemed a bit too close.

It is hard to tell in these pictures but the string is within fifty yards. It is outside the channel. One tug is pulling on one end. Another is pulling on the other end to keep the string in a line. It seems as if they are waiting for another string of commercial traffic that can be seen to the left in last few pictures.

Hopefully those diesels keep chugging while they are upwind and upcurrent of us.

IT'S SUNDAY. I'M ON VACATION, AND I'M SAILING, DAMMIT

It is blowing 20 knots, gusting over 30. The current is with the wind. It appears these sailors went downwind first. Now they are trying to get back.

PINEAPPLE

We have come to love pineapple when they can be had for less than $3.00, which is a good part of the time. It is amazing that pineapples are sometimes priced at $5.00 or $6.00.

Mom, this is what you are are missing!