| Dick
Harrington
Takes the Wayfarers Cruising on Chesapeake Bay: Crisfield - Smith Island - Tangier Island - Crisfield Wednesday 1 June: Crisfield to Smith Island - 3 pics by Mary Abel and Uncle Al ... |
 |
| By 1330 hrs, we were
cruising into the harbour ... ... |
 |
| ... at Ewell. ... |
 |
| The harbour entrance
as seen from W2526 with ... ... |
 |
| ... Tony and Mary
close astern. ... |
 |
| A working harbour! ... |
 |
| Soon we were all
safely moored at the Smith Island Marina and ready for
lunch at ... ... |
 |
| ... the Bayside
Inn. ... |
 |
|
When we walked in
at 1430 hrs, we discovered that this would be our
lunch and supper since they closed at 1600
hrs, once the last of the day's
...tour boats has come and gone! Our meal was delicious. Outside of the air-conditioned Inn and away from the breeze, it was hot and ... |
 |
| ... shade was at a
premium. ... |
 |
| Dick Harrington? ... |
 |
| Hans Gottschling? ... |
 |
|
Since it was
barely
1500 hrs, and a nice southerly breeze of 10 to 15
knots was holding, we all decided that another little
sail was in order. Hans and Al decided to nip around
the north end of Smith Island - a nice thought but a
longer trip than we had anticipated. Even in perfect
winds, the circumnavigation took us about four hours.
We could have camped in a creek in an emergency but
were quite glad we didn't have to!
... |
 |
| Hans and I left the
town of Ewell astern as we ... ... |
 |
| ... headed out the
well marked channel followed by Tony and Mary who
subsequently and wisely turned back. ... |
 |
| Hans and I soon
reached the end of the man-made channel before ... ... |
 |
| ... bearing away to a
northerly course with one more look astern at Ewell. ... |
 |
|
|
It was a lovely
afternoon on which to heave to and have a drink while
we waited for the other two boats to join us. When we
realized that they weren't going to be coming, we went
on alone. It was a fast exhilarating ride to the north
end but then the beat back to the entrance to the Big
Thorofare began. The whole shore was so featureless
and flat that we were afraid that lacking a GPS, we
might miss the Thorofare entrance. Everywhere you
could see the Thorofare channel markers but always
across marshy land.
...We had picked a tiny island marked Drum Pt. on the chart as our indicator that we were near the Thorofare entrance. "We're looking for a little chickenshit island," I explained to navigator, Hans. Half an hour or so into our beat, we thought we had spotted our Chickenshit Island but as we came closer, it turned out to be part of a peninsula. Another candidate appeared off our bow shortly thereafter. "This is it," we exulted, "the Real Chickenshit Island!" Alas, another false alarm! By the time we spotted the actual Drum Pt., we had also discovered "the Real True Chickenshit Island", and were truly glad to find ourselves in the Thorofare once more. We were most fortunate that the wind had not died and we had a lovely sail towards the sunset and Ewell. Sadly, I was too tired/nervous about the wind dying to take pictures until we were ... |
 |
|
... safely back
at the marina at 1930 hrs. The looooong beat had sent
a lot of spray into W2526 which now needed bailing if
we were to have a dry "bed" on our floorboards. Our
kind-hearted fellow sailors not only provided a lovely
refreshingly cold beer, but also gave me a job as
ballast (above) that let me relax, smoke and
drink while Hans and ...
... |
 |
| ... Richard did the
work with the pump generously loaned by Dick. Even Mary
was working. She had the camera duty and captured Al keeping the outflow valve out of the water lest it would suck water in. Mary also ... ... |
 |
| ... took ... ... |
 |
| ... these lovely ... ... |
 |
| ... sunset photos. ... |
 |
|
Our hostess,
Pauli Zmolek, kindly came by to make sure we had
everything we needed. She
was also running a B&B out of her home at the
marina, something Hans and I would try the following
year!! The small marina clubhouse had just nicely
enough room for a large bathroom in the back and a
sitting room where we could also stash ...
... |
 |
|
... gear that
we'd prefer not to have cluttering up our
sleeping/floor space in the boat. Hans (above)
had smiled when I had bought a quart bottle of Doctor
Pepper to go with the bottle of rum I had
brought. I knew that it was easy to find Dr.
Pepper in the States, unlike in Canada, and I
wanted to re-visit my earliest drinking days when I
used to get my courage up for regatta dances with what
I recalled as a lovely mix of rum and Dr. Pepper.
Hans said something to the effect that I was going to
find out what lousy taste we have when we're young?
But no, there was a pleasant surprise: I still liked
the taste, even all these years later! We all sat
around chatting, telling stories, supplementing our
mid-afternoon supper with munchies and ...
... |
 |
| ...
generally had a wonderful time. A small irony above is
that Mary, who didn't touch the alcohol that night, does
not look all that sober in the picture above. I think it
must have been after midnight by the time the last of us
crawled happily into our boats. A magnificent evening!
Next year, we'll have to drag Pauli out to celebrate
with us!! |