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2019 Sailing Season on the Chesapeake

64K views 519 replies 53 participants last post by  chef2sail 
#1 ·
Can the mods make this thread a sticky as they always do please

It's a new year (almost) and the most posted in Sailnet continuous thread lives on. Happy New Year, good health and safet travels to all😄🤘🌪

Our plans this year include a 3 week trip at the end May to the Long Island Sound and the Mystic, Greenport, Sag Harbor and Newport areas. Hopefully we meet up with some native SN up there ( SanderO are you listening)

Also a traditional 13 day mid September excursion to the the southern Chesapeake reaches , including Yorktown, Hampton Roads, Northern Neck of Virginia stops



Anyone planning any interesting excursionions.
 
#152 ·
May 17th and 18th is Chesapeake Light Crafts Okumefest. Even if you have no interest in building a boat it's worth coming out on the 18th as they have about a dozen sailing dinghies and probably twice that many kayaks and canoes that you can try out. It's completely free (as in free beer but without the beer). The event is held on Kent Island.

I'm hoping to have the kayak I've been building done by then, but I'll be there on the 18th either way.

https://www.clcboats.com/boatbuilding_classes/607.html

-Hugh
 

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#153 ·
First sail of season on saturday, and first ever with my own boat. Out of bodkin creek. Plowed along at a relaxing 1 kt. Only other sailboats we saw were motoring.. Not sure who were smarter, but we weren't going anywhere. Nothing broke on the boat and everyone survived so pretty successful I'd say..
 
#157 ·
I just got ambushed with the need to work nights the end of next week which is something of a drag but does have the advantage of giving me 6 days off in a row starting tomorrow after work.

Stagg's flying out to join me and we are going to head down the Potomac saturday morning planning to anchor somewhere near the mouth of the bay that night then spend the first part of the week poking around the mid bay area then heading back up the Potomac on Wednesday afternoon - Thursday.

You local guys have any must see suggestions?

I am thinking Tangier and Smith Islands, American Mariner wreck for sure what else should we see? Anything we should avoid?

Looks like rainy weather but otherwise pretty settled and pleasant compared to our usual stomping grounds on Northern Lake Superior.
 
#158 ·
I just got ambushed with the need to work nights the end of next week which is something of a drag but does have the advantage of giving me 6 days off in a row starting tomorrow after work.

Stagg's flying out to join me and we are going to head down the Potomac saturday morning planning to anchor somewhere near the mouth of the bay that night then spend the first part of the week poking around the mid bay area then heading back up the Potomac on Wednesday afternoon - Thursday.

You local guys have any must see suggestions?

I am thinking Tangier and Smith Islands, American Mariner wreck for sure what else should we see? Anything we should avoid?

Looks like rainy weather but otherwise pretty settled and pleasant compared to our usual stomping grounds on Northern Lake Superior.
I'd go either north or south vs east. Very little to see over there except for Ononcock.

North you have Solomon's, and the Pautuxat....further the Choptank ( Oxford and St Micheals via San Domingo Creek)

South you have lots of neat creeks on the northern neck ( Prentice, ,Indian, Dymer) Deltavile , Urbana and Carter Creek on the Rappahannack
 
#159 ·
Excellent intel, I appreciate it!

We are going to play it a bit by ear since the weather does not look particularly nice but will likely try shooting north and checking things out up there a bit.

I'll post up pictures and try my level best to keep up with you guys on the food front but it's not as easy to make smashing great meals on a 26 foot trailer sailor. :)
 
#160 ·
Excellent intel, I appreciate it!

We are going to play it a bit by ear since the weather does not look particularly nice but will likely try shooting north and checking things out up there a bit.

I'll post up pictures and try my level best to keep up with you guys on the food front but it's not as easy to make smashing great meals on a 26 foot trailer sailor. :)
Don't forget forget about St Mary's River (Carthagenea Creek) , Smith , or Jutland Creeks on the north side of the Potomac. Also Yeacomico and Coan on the southern side of the Potomac have great spots also
 
#163 ·
Sounds good, I will snap it up.

I am thinking to hit the bay on this trip since I should be able to see the Potomac easily enough on my usual weekends off.
I understood that but weather looks like you may get your ass kicked Sunday through Wednesday.

Sunday is a rainy washout. Cold and dreary. Wind direction NE Sunday NE reports from Cove Point ( North of the Pautuxet) to Point Lookout predict 13-17 . gusts to 26. The Potomac proper north side will provide some protection. But the open Bay will be pretty rough.
East coasters refer this as nor'easter. Look at the wind field Sunday on the ocean....just 90 miles away. Steady 35 gusts in the high 40s --that's Gale Warnings

Take into consideration the the mouth of the Potomac gets hit with the Potomac current and very often is a notorious rough area. Many of us wait to transit it north or south unless you want a teeth rattling ride.

Use the Ap to look at the wind speed and direction along your planned route. We have found it to be pretty accurate 3 days forward.

The Potomac Creeks are just an alternative ???

Have fun....stay safe.
 
#164 ·
Down at Haleakula.
Big T storm just passed through.
Tomorrow looks like an ok day to do our final preparations, fuel up and pump out for our trip north to the LI Sound starting Thursday.

Replacing fore peak battery for the wash down pump, macerator, and holding tank monitor. Putting our pretty new Doyle 135 on the furler, and adding a new Tahatsu propane 5 hp engine to the dinghy. ( I got a good offer for my older 5 year old Lehr) and an introductory price for the Tahatsu. The whole switch was $600. Switching to a propane outboard 5 years ago was a good decision for us.

Long range prognosis may delay us a day in Cape May an extra day as a possible north eastern wind on next Saturday, but that’s far enough out that could modify or change. Would not even attempt Barnegat in NE conditions.

What won’t change is Sunday’s ( tomorrows) washout around here and strong nor -Easter like conditions with Gail gusts and cool weather. Good day to go home, make chili and bread and hunker down.
 
#166 ·
New 135 on...took her for a sail. Winds 10-13 from the N mostly. Tied up some loose ends went up to Back Creek to top off and pump out. Too a whole 2.3 gallons. That’s 3 hours motoring for our miserly Yanmar.

Back to the slip for dinner as rain forecast .

Simple grilled items. Filets , Portobellos marinated in Balsamic and grilled, red skinned potato salad.

We are ready to go Thursday.
 
#167 ·
We are staying aboard at our marina tonight. We sailed across the bay on a reach with 8-12 knots of steady wind. We could have easily made for Rock Hall or the Chester but thought better of it with tomorrow’s weather forecast and headed back. The girls had their hearts set on staying aboard tonight so we are forging ahead. It’s great to be out even if it’s not ideal weather.
 
#168 ·
We are staying aboard at our marina tonight. We sailed across the bay on a reach with 8-12 knots of steady wind. We could have easily made for Rock Hall or the Chester but thought better of it with tomorrow's weather forecast and headed back. The girls had their hearts set on staying aboard tonight so we are forging ahead. It's great to be out even if it's not ideal weather.
That's great they wanted to stay overnight.
Happy B Day to Jojo
 
#169 · (Edited)
My boat remains on the hard awaiting repairs for impact damage to prop, shaft, and strut. Tomorrow will be 4 weeks since it happened. All parts were received 2-1/2 weeks ago. The old strut was removed 2 weeks ago, new strut was laid in place a week ago, then bedded and bolted today. It seems like they do a little something every Saturday morning (when they know I'm coming), and then it sits until the next Saturday. Since I'm often in Milwaukee during the week, I can't just head down to the boat and keep them on their toes. Last Saturday they had told me the strut would be bedded/bolted on Tuesday; filling, fairing, and painting would be Wed-Fri; boat dropped in the water Saturday (today), they'd be off Sun-Mon, then engine alignment Tue am, sea trial with me Tue pm, and I'd take her away Wednesday. I sent email last Thursday asking status and heard nothing. Yesterday when I called the owner said the timeline was "out the window" and they'd email me with a new timeline. (That email never came.) When I called this morning they were bolting the strut on, so I know they had done nothing since last Saturday. I've begged them to have it in the water by Friday so I can take it to Rock Hall Saturday. After next Saturday I have 9 days of business travel plus my son's college graduation, so the boat wouldn't be available until after Memorial Day.

Beyond what I've said, I'm not going to name names or call them out. There are always two sides of every story, and maybe they have valid reasons. This is a very small yard, basically one guy does all the work and drives the lift. Communication is almost non-existent, but I know from what I've seen that this guy always has a lot of work to do in the yard and on the docks, and can't sit in front of a computer all day sending out status emails. He gets pulled in all directions at once. So I'm trying to be as forgiving and easygoing as I can.

I went down today and lapped on my brand new Flexofold 3-blade prop and put a new anode on the brand new shaft. I have yet to put an anode on the new strut, and will try to do it one day this week, or have the yard do it if I can't get there. But since I'm in town this week I'm thinking of going down Tues or Wed evening to see if they've done anything more, and put the strut anode on then.
 
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#172 ·
Down at Smith Creek by Point Lookout now. Had a lovely sail down from Dahlgren to Herring Creek yesterday afternoon and have been basically just hanging out and goofing off most of today.

Did some rig tuning, remounted my solar panels, and made up a day tank for my forced air heater which has been doing sterling service drying things out with the fairly persistent rains this weekend.

Another short day tomorrow. Going to jump out and cross over to see American Mariner then in to Smith Island where I will need to take on diesel... For the heater... The little Yanmar is not getting much run time on this trip other than some short 30 minute runs in the morning to top up the batteries since the solar cells are not earning their pay this time around.

Previous trips up north have typically been pretty frantic with us leaving before dawn and frequently arriving past 10pm so the shorter goals and more laid back pace has been nice.
 
#174 · (Edited)
What a weekend on the Chesapeake. I ended up sailing double-handed in the Spring Race to Oxford in CHESSS Class(Chesapeake Short-handed Sailing Society). CHESSS had the second largest number of boats entered in the race. CHESSS Class was won by the ‘Narrow Escape’, a Dragonfly 25 Trimaran Garner Bennett and I pulled a second place on ‘Synergy’. Probably the most impressive performance of the day was John Zseleczky, (a SailNet member) who single-handed his Pearson 30, “Old Blue’ to a third place finish correcting out less than 17 minutes behind the class winner. CHESSS Commodore Rich Acuti (Ajax on SailNet) and his bride took fourth on his new to him Tartan 33, 'Alacrity'.

The race itself was marvelous sailing, with a long spinnaker run between the start and the first turning mark (green '7' near Sharps Island) in 8 to 12 knots of wind with a few higher gusts of the day. From there it was a series of very fast close reaches and beats to the finish. I have gotten my boat re-rated for a 3 seconds a mile credit for a 110% genoa as my largest racing headsail (rather than the prior rating with a 155%). I was extremely pleased with the way that worked out.

Before the race, there was speculation that the race would be a race within a race with the higher performance boats racing each other and the ‘good old boats’ (GOB’s) racing in a second tier. The high performance entries into the CHESSS fleet included the class winner “Narrow Escape”, the fifth place foiling Figaro 3, a well-prepared Seascape 27 and a couple Mini-Transat 6.50’s. The GOB crews got to enjoy the spectacle of the current generation boats at speed, but in the end it turned out that GOB’s corrected out to 3 of the 5 top finishers.

Some of my most exciting moments of my day came on the way to the course before the start when a pawl shattered in the halyard winch and locked up the winch with the mainsail part way up. I cross-sheeted to another winch raised the mainsail. On the way to the start I was able to tear the winch down, clean out the debris, install a replacement pawl, and get it back up and running. Once done with that, I discovered that the boom vang shackle had failed after the pin had backed out. It was amazing how this heavy duty shackle had become so twisted. Fortunately I had a spare for that as well.

The trip home was chilly, wet and wild sailing in frequently heavy rain conditions and 15 to 20 knot breezes gusting into the low 20 knot range . After a couple jibes in the Tred Avon, the trip home was very fast a tack-less set of beam reaches and close reaches covering the 38 NM rhumbline (according to the GPS) in approximately 5 hours. (I cannot recall when a hot shower felt so good).

Cheers,
Jeff
 
#175 ·
What a weekend on the Chesapeake. I ended up sailing double-handed in the Spring Race to Oxford in CHESSS Class(Chesapeake Short-handed Sailing Society). CHESSS had the second largest number of boats entered in the race. CHESSS Class was won by the 'Narrow Escape', a Dragonfly 25 Trimaran Garner Bennett and I pulled a second place on 'Synergy'. Probably the most impressive performance of the day was John Zseleczky, (a SailNet member) who single-handed his Pearson 30, "Old Blue' to a third place finish correcting out less than 17 minutes behind the class winner. CHESSS Commodore Rich Acuti (Ajax on SailNet) and his bride took fourth on his new to him Tartan 33, 'Alacrity'.

The race itself was marvelous sailing, with a long spinnaker run between the start and the first turning mark (green '7' near Sharps Island) in 8 to 12 knots of wind with a few higher gusts of the day. From there it was a series of very fast close reaches and beats to the finish. I have gotten my boat re-rated for a 3 seconds a mile credit for a 110% genoa as my largest racing headsail (rather than the prior rating with a 155%). I was extremely pleased with the way that worked out.

Before the race, there was speculation that the race would be a race within a race with the higher performance boats racing each other and the 'good old boats' (GOB's) racing in a second tier. The high performance entries into the CHESSS fleet included the class winner "Narrow Escape", the fifth place foiling Figaro 3, a well-prepared Seascape 27 and a couple Mini-Transat 6.50's. The GOB crews got to enjoy the spectacle of the current generation boats at speed, but in the end it turned out that GOB's corrected out to 3 of the 5 top finishers.

Some of my most exciting moments of my day came on the way to the course before the start when a pawl shattered in the halyard winch and locked up the winch with the mainsail part way up. I cross-sheeted to another winch raised the mainsail. On the way to the start I was able to tear the winch down, clean out the debris, install a replacement pawl, and get it back up and running. Once done with that, I discovered that the boom vang shackle had failed after the pin had backed out. It was amazing how this heavy duty shackle had become so twisted. Fortunately I had a spare for that as well.

The trip home was chilly, wet and wild sailing in frequently heavy rain conditions and 15 to 20 knot breezes gusting into the low 20 knot range . After a couple jibes in the Tred Avon, the trip home was very fast a tack-less set of beam reaches and close reaches covering the 38 NM rhumbline (according to the GPS) in approximately 5 hours. (I cannot recall when a hot shower felt so good).

Cheers,
Jeff
Good show
 
#176 ·
Had a great weekend. Went sailing on a friend's Shannon 28 on Saturday out of HHN. Earlier in the morning before there was any wind, I took my sailing dinghy out, setting up the mast for the first time. Wind came up enough I raised the sail and cruised around a little around Rockhold Creek in front of HHN. Really enjoyed being in the water with the dinghy and my friends Shannon.
 

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#177 ·
Back rolling coal up the Potomac with the trusty Yanmar now. Steady winds right on the nose all day today and unfortunately miles which must be made to get back in time to get to work.

Had some great sailing yesterday coming back from Smith Island down to Reedville. Beam reach most of the way in 10-15kts with fairly smooth waves of only about 3 feet with a pretty long period. Saw a new boat speed record of 7.1 kts which is a pretty respectable clip for a short fat 26 foot boat like East Wind. Even had the Assymetrical up for a bit in the morning before the wind piped up and made her handle like a bag of angry cats.

Did manage to get crabcakes at the one open restaurant we came across at Smith Island that was open but have otherwise been cooking aboard. Nothing too cheffy but we're not starving. Had ribeyes last night with steamed carrots and a caprese salad. The previous dinner we cooked was a good hearty from scratch chicken noodle soup which was spot on in the cold rain. Even came with a dessert crab who happened to fall for the old chicken bone on a string trick. Tonight is beef curry which I look forward to as well.
 
#178 ·
Back rolling coal up the Potomac with the trusty Yanmar now. Steady winds right on the nose all day today and unfortunately miles which must be made to get back in time to get to work.

Had some great sailing yesterday coming back from Smith Island down to Reedville. Beam reach most of the way in 10-15kts with fairly smooth waves of only about 3 feet with a pretty long period. Saw a new boat speed record of 7.1 kts which is a pretty respectable clip for a short fat 26 foot boat like East Wind. Even had the Assymetrical up for a bit in the morning before the wind piped up and made her handle like a bag of angry cats.

Did manage to get crabcakes at the one open restaurant we came across at Smith Island that was open but have otherwise been cooking aboard. Nothing too cheffy but we're not starving. Had ribeyes last night with steamed carrots and a caprese salad. The previous dinner we cooked was a good hearty from scratch chicken noodle soup which was spot on in the cold rain. Even came with a dessert crab who happened to fall for the old chicken bone on a string trick. Tonight is beef curry which I look forward to as well.
Sounds like you had a great time. Explore Ononcock on the Eastern shore on you next trip . Great little town with eclectic pubs and restaurants.

Sound like you had good eats too��������
 
#179 · (Edited)
Last Saturday was CHESSS's annual Spring General Membership Meeting. The bylaws require that CHESSS have two general membership meetings each year so there was no way to duck out of having it.

Commodore Rich (Ajax around here) came up with the idea that since CHESSS (Chesapeake Short-handed Sailing Society) is a sailing club and not a sitting in a stuffy bar on a nice day in sailing season kind of club, we should hold the annual Spring CHESSS General Membership Meeting at a raft up. Not being a board to leave well enough alone, we decided that it would be fun to include a short length Short-handed race to the raft-up. And not being a board to quit while they were ahead, we decided the event needed a name, and gave it the moniker, "The First Annual Gather and Gab Race and Raft up", a name which was almost longer than the event itself. There was a pretty good turn out for the race and for the membership meeting.

As billed the short-handed race was pretty short in distance and duration. Being held in pretty light breezes, the decision was made to pick the shorter of the two courses so that we could get the boats to the raft-up in Mill Creek (the one off Whitehall Bay) on time for the scheduled meeting. The race started in a north east breeze and so the first leg consisted of a beat/ close reach. There was a lot of current running and the wind was slowly swinging to the east, so most of the fleet tacked inshore early to get out of the current and take advantage of the anticipated wind shift. There were only two legs on the short course and the second and final leg to the finish turned out to be a close reach across the current.

The racers included a couple really fast boats, a Figaro 3 and an Xp-38. The Figaro is a real sight to see when its at speed, clouds of black sail and bright orange foils extended.
Unfortunately, this picture was taken after the race with her sails mostly down.
L' Defonce

It is amazing how much sail this boat can set when it is underway. Intimidating....

The X-38 is an amazingly cool boat. It is beautifully detailed, and just a lovely boat to see. This is an impressive boat in pretty much every way, from its deck layout that is free of tripping hazards, very comfortable cockpit, sensible interior layout with easy to reach grab bars and low maintenance finishes, carbon fiber hull and internal framing, to its nicely proportioned sail plan. One of the nicest all around boats that I can remember seeing in a very long time. This is a picture of a sistership of the Xp38.
Xp38 sistership

After the race, the raft-up and meeting occurred as advertised. Commodore Rich brought along a drone and took this 'family photo'.
Raft-up after the CHESSS Gather and Gab Race

Synergy is the dark blue hull in the middle with the anchor down. The Xp38 is to her starboard. Notice the sheer height of the mast and headstay on the Xp38 compared to Synergy, and Synergy is the roughly the same length and has a pretty large sail plan. Other than the boats in the picture there was the Figaro 3, which was too deep to come in to the raft-up, and there was also an Oday 34 which chose to go home after the race rather than go into the creek for the raft-up. One of the board members volunteered out to ferry members who chose to drive to the raft-up in his Porta-Bote.

Anyway, that was my Saturday on the Bay. Sunday I needed to go into the office and get some work done.

Jeff
 
#181 ·
Finally got out sailing last week, first time this year! 5-10 out of the NW so we put up the sails near Ft McHenry, just pushed down past the bridge enjoying the day. Also first sunburn of the year. We finally had to turn around near Bodkin Creek and battle back. When it started to get late and we weren't making a lot of headway, I tossed my pride over and started the engine. Just a great first day on the water.

By the way, Anchorage Marina, our home port, has new docks on D, E, and F docks. Really pretty and sooo solid! It's a nice change. There may still be some working on over on F, so if you are coming in there, be sure to check early.

Thanks for the reminder about CHESSS, I was one of the original members but I think I forgot to pay my dues this year, need to do that. I have a friend coming in July and we're hoping to race for the first time in the Race to Baltimore.
 
#182 ·
Finally got out sailing last week, first time this year! 5-10 out of the NW so we put up the sails near Ft McHenry, just pushed down past the bridge enjoying the day. Also first sunburn of the year. We finally had to turn around near Bodkin Creek and battle back. When it started to get late and we weren't making a lot of headway, I tossed my pride over and started the engine. Just a great first day on the water.

By the way, Anchorage Marina, our home port, has new docks on D, E, and F docks. Really pretty and sooo solid! It's a nice change. There may still be some working on over on F, so if you are coming in there, be sure to check early.

Thanks for the reminder about CHESSS, I was one of the original members but I think I forgot to pay my dues this year, need to do that. I have a friend coming in July and we're hoping to race for the first time in the Race to Baltimore.
We too got out for the first time on Saturday. We got a late start because my daughter was in town from NYC. We had a lovely day sail out past the Key Bridge in a steady 8-10kt breeze. The admiral decided to go below and take a nap (one of her favorite parts of sailing) and I sailed her home on a beam/broad reach all the way to the dock. Motor ran all of 3 minutes to get her in the slip. It's nice to finally be back on the water. Hip surgery went exceptionally well. I'm probably at 90-95% now. (was probably 35-40% before surgery). Boat is clean, prepped, and we're ready for some overnighting. See you all on the water!
 

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#188 · (Edited)
Looks like I am going to end up with a 4 day weekend over Memorial day weekend. I assume that I should expect to see the same drunken pontoon boat antics on the Potomac as I have seen anywhere else there is water plus a holiday weekend?

Worth my time to kick out of the marina and single hand my way upriver a bit and check out Mt Vernon or should I hang out and catch up on boat work? (I actually enjoy both activities about equally)

Weather at least looks nice for a change. Usually rains frogs on my days off. :)
 
#189 ·
After 5 months of work, our 1st boat...Keiko..a Dufour 31...is ready to pull out of the slip. We are stoked to get out of Castle Harbor Marina for an overnight this weekend. Here's the kicker...We plan to go to the Magothy...where I first proposed to her 14 years ago on a Beneteau 33ish charter. It was her first sail. I booked it in July out of Swan Creek with Haven Charters, my Go To Company for these waters, figuring that it would be a slow sweat-fest of a sail. However....we had 20-30 knts and 4-6 swells with lightning that night.. She was at the helm while I tried to hoist the main...I had failed to secure the halyard to the main ahead of time...her first time on the water...She was a Natural..and despite losing the main halyard once...and climbing on the swinging boom to prevent it from slinking up the mast...we prevailed. On another note, ask me some time about how we retrieved a main halyard that had run up to the top of the mas using the spinnaker halyard with a coat hangar attached to it, with a retrieving /maneuvering line attached to the hangar, and a third Crew with binoculars guiding it all to retrieve the mast head terminated main halyard. Yeah..was pretty proud of that one..now I bring my rock climbing gear and harness. About what my Fiance saw... It was pure terror that I never showed.."Oh yeah, this is sort of normal"...yike..after 3 Caribbean charters, she now knows better.
Anyway, when we got the call today from our mechanic..it was both exhilarating and terrifying..and..really, isn't that was sailing is?
HA!!!
Patrick
 
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