Memorial Day Weekend '14

Phillips Creek on the Little Choptank River

We had an extra long weekend, four days, because of the Memorial Day holiday on Monday and neither of us work on Fridays.  I had hoped to work on the boat after work during the week and be ready to depart on Friday morning but due to weather and my job things didn't pan out.  Fortunately, I'm a flexible kinda guy so we adjusted our plans and spent Friday making repairs and grocery shopping.

Last weekend we had sailed (?) up to the Rhode River and had problems with the Mainsail jamming in the mast.  This was an absolute "must fix" so we attacked it first.  There was a pretty stiff breeze blowing out of the NNW at perhaps ten knots but we park in the slip stern first so the wind was coming across our port bow.  This was what we wanted for playing with the sail so we lucked out there.  We have a "mast climber" (click here) which is a solo style bosuns chair that uses mountain climbing gear to hoist yourself up a rope.  It's an inch-worm operation where you slide your feet up, lock the bottom line-jam on the rope, stand up and slide the top line-jam up, lock that and then sit down and repeat the operation.  Check out the link for videos and a better explanation.  We add a line (the spinnaker halyard) attached to the chair for an added measure of safety.  I was getting ready to go up the mast when Cheri mentioned that she really wanted to do it.  I hesitated but decided that probably made more sense since the person on deck has to crank the sail in and out and handle the safety line.

Once we got it rigged up Cheri went about 2/3 of the way up the mast, just above the first spreader.  This was where the sail was jamming and it was her job to stuff her hand in the slot while I cranked out the sail.  She had to work her way up the mast while the sail came out and eventually ended up above the second spreader, way up there.  After a number of attempts we managed to get the sail out but it continued to bunch up when we rolled it back in.  I ended up adjusting the topping lift so the boom was supported at the height it wanted to be when the sail was fully out but this didn't have any effect.  Then I tried the halyard, the line used to raise the sail.  I noticed then that there was slack in the sail at the bottom of the track in the mast.  It wasn't hoisted up all the way and this was causing the sail to bunch up along the mast and jam.  Once we had it hoisted up correctly the sail ran in and out much better although it still tends to bunch up about half way up the mast.  We suspect it lost its shape when we tore it last Spring and should have it re-sewn to get it to lay flatter.  So our problem seems to have had several causes but by far the real culprit was incorrect halyard tension.  This whole operation took the better part of the day and Cheri was up the mast for more than 2.5 hours.

We got our laundry done, went grocery shopping, tended the garden and prepared the boat for an early departure on Saturday.  The alarm was set for 0630 and we were under way by 0930.  That's a record for us, just can't seem to shake out any earlier than that.  Once out in the Bay we found slim pickins for wind, mostly 5 knots NW, which is barely enough to get us moving.  We ghosted across the Chesapeake at about 2 knots.  It was mellow and we were in no big hurry.  As we got over towards the Eastern Shore, approaching what used to be Sharps Island, I glanced behind us and

found a rather large freighter headed straight for us.  I got on the VHF radio and hailed him to make sure he saw us.  The freighters Captain said he was a little late in making his turn out towards the middle of the Bay.  I asked him if he preferred us to hold our course and he asked if we could head due East.  Uhm, sure, no problem.  We fired up the engine and ran in an easterly direction at about 7 knots.

Once he was past I got back on course and found that the wind had changed and was now coming out of the SE, just like that.  It wasn't blowing any stronger and was coming out of the direction we wanted to go so I furled the sails (yes, even the Main) and we motored into the Little Choptank River at 6.5 knots.  The entrance zigs and zags for quite a ways and there were a buncha boats headed up the same direction as us.  Fortunately they all peeled off for anchorages closer to the mouth of the river and we continued up to Phillips Creek, way back there.  Look for the blue arrow in the picture of the chart.  That's where we anchored for the weekend.

When we arrived there were only two other boats ahead of us.  We set our anchor, using the Bruce after the other failed to dig in.  As we settled in for a quiet weekend fourteen other boats came streaming in together and rafted up as close to us as they comfortably could.  They actually set up three separate rafts but they all partied together. Loud music, yelling and screaming, sky rockets and a starter canon were their contribution to the peaceful anchorage.  There was also a large party going on  at one of the few houses on shore and they added amplified outdoor music and large fireworks to the mix.  Everything quieted down by 0130 the next morning though and best of all, the rafts broke up and departed at 0730 on Sunday.  Once they were gone we were back down to two boats in the anchorage and peace and quiet.

We launched the dinghy and rowed over to a small island where we just drifted up on shore and sat there taking in the beauty of the area.  Well, the real reason for sitting there was to enjoy a lemonade and bourbon over lotsa ice with a really good cigar.  By the time we finished our cigars it was mid-afternoon and getting pretty warm.  We rowed back to the boat and kicked back for a few hours.  While we were sitting there an Island Packet 40 motored by and anchored in closer to shore.  We don't know any other IP owners in this area but I figured we cold dinghy over later on and say hi.

Around 1700 the day had cooled down enough for us to venture out again.  We chose to head over to the northern shore of the cove we were anchored in to see if the fishing was any good.  On our way we went by the other IP but didn't see anyone in the cockpit so we continued on our way.  When we got about 50 yards off shore we threw out our lines.  In these back creeks we were expecting to find smaller fish like Spot and Croakers.  Within two minutes my bait got hit hard, the pole bent over at a sharp angle into the water then veered off to the right.  Our boat spun around and followed where ever this beast decided to go.  It was a Nantucket Slayride in miniature.  The pull was hard and frantic, easily the best fight I've experienced.  Every now and then it would swim under our boat and we'd catch a glimpse of something big and light colored but we had no idea what it was.  We also had no idea what to do with it because we didn't bring anything along to handle hooking a whale.  We decided the best thing would be to row/drag over to the IP40, the closest boat, and ask them for assistance.  The beast seemed to know where we wanted to go because it pulled us in that direction.  I used the oar on the other side just to keep the boat headed straight.  When we got to the boat we knocked on the hull and the owner and his wife came out.  We explained what was going on and Jim jumped into our dinghy without hesitation.  We pulled the beast in and found it to be a Skate about 3' across it's wings.  At that same instant it broke the line and took off.  We didn't get a picture of the skate but it was similar in size to those in the photo I stole off the internet.  Maybe a little bigger.  I'm not kiddin'!  That booger towed us, two adults in a 10' boat.

Once he got away we stood there chatting with Terry and Jim for about an hour.  They invited us onto their boat, gave us the ten cent tour and a glass of some really nice vino and we sat around and chatted some more until somebody realized the sun was going down.  These are some really nice folks and we hope to meet up with them again later this year.

Back at our boat we cooked up some Tilapia with rice, drank some Sangria, watched a movie and collapsed.  The next morning we had French Toast for breakfast after waving goodbye to our new friends as they headed back to Annapolis.  We also packed up and got underway around 1030.  We motored out to green # 3 before unfurling the Genoa and Main.  The wind was light, 5 to 8 knots SW but that worked fine for trolling so Cheri dropped in a line and I manned the fishfinder.  We had fun cruising along at 3 to 4 knots and watching the fish ignore us.  Crossing the deeper section at the mouth of the (big) Choptank we could see some nice sized fish hanging out along the wall of the riverbed.  I was thinking we could continue trolling out into the Bay and follow the Susquehanna trench north to look for more.  As we approached the west wall though the wind instantly increased to 18 knots and held so we put away the fishing gear and sailed home the rest of the way at a glorious 7.5 knots.  After limping along for hours it's so exhilarating when the wind cranks up, the boat lays over 15 degrees and takes off.  Pure joy.  From the middle of the Chesapeake off the Choptank River we stayed on one compass point the entire way into Herring Bay.  As we passed #1 the wind fizzled out so we furled the sails and motored in the rest of the way.  Pulled into our slip around 1630 for an end to a really wonderful weekend.