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2011 Wayfarer Chesapeake Cruise South Sunday 29 May through Thursday 2 June report by Uncle Al ...... |
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Five teams find
fun and excitement in the 2011 Crisfield Triangle cruise
Sunday 29 May: The
day before Memorial Day 2011 once more saw all Wayfarer roads lead to
Crisfield's Somers Cove for our 6th Crisfield Triangle Cruise. Well,
not quite all roads as the ever adventurous Dick Harrington and Jeff
Kirk had decided to spend the week an hour's drive further north on the
Choptank River. Either way, by Sunday at noon, the sun was so hot that
liquid refreshments were of the essence.
 Hans Gottschling wasted no time getting on the good side of the Oklahoma ladies, bringing each a custom-made Wayfarer tote bag - (l-r) Hans, Cathy, Stephanee, Chuck Timely bunch that we
are, all five crews were present and accounted for in the magnificent
Somers Cove launch ramp next to the Coast Guard station:
 As the afternoon wore on, we all eventually made our way across Somers Cove to the Marina where our boats would stay the night, and they would let our cars and trailers be stored there until our planned return on the Thursday. This year, most of us were softies, booking into local motels like the Captain Tyler around the corner from the Marina.  Only Gary (above) and Jim would be sleeping aboard. By the time the boom tent had been erected and last-minute supplies acquired at the drive-through party store across from the Marina, it was time for supper.   clockwise from lower left: Stephanee, Cathy, Chuck, Gary, Jim, Hans, Ann, Robert, Jason Our traditional sea food place had changed hands and acquired a new paint job. We enjoyed the crabs, etc., eating al fresco upstairs with a nice view of Somers Cove and beyond.  Monday 30 May: We awoke to a lovely moderate breeze from the SW (above) which looked to be well nigh perfect for an attempt at our most ambitious project of the Cruise, a sail of well over 20 miles to Onancock.  According to the forecast, this would be a great day to be on the water - or more to the point, not to be on land where temperatures were expected to hit 100°F. It was indeed a great sailing day, but it quickly became apparent that our group would be hard-pressed to make it to Onancock as we had hoped. After waiting the best part of half an hour for Robert Mosher to come out of the harbour, we gave up on Robert who is famous for liking to march to his own drummer. So we took off south towards Onancock.  Uncle Al begins to
have second thoughts about trying for Onancock as we wait for
"stragglers".
We finally stopped to confer with Gary (above) and agreed that we should abort the Onancock attempt and sail to Tangier instead. Leaving Gary and Jim to proceed towards Tangier, Hans and I turned back to pass the word to Chuck and Jason.   Uncle Al happily greets Milton who at age 77 is still hanging in there very well. This worked out well as we all made it to Milton Parks' Marina on Tangier (above) in good time. Another hot afternoon and between beers, we wondered what had become of Robert and Ann. A more pressing need however, was sustenance and accommodation, which we promptly took care of by checking in once again at Hilda Crockett's Chesapeake House. 
At supper in Hilda
Crockett's, plans for the next day were made. It was
expected to be another hot day with light winds - perfect for our usual
day-sail over to Watts Island and back. Hans and Al had volunteered to
split up and sail one each with Chuck and Jason, in order to see what
coaching might be useful. This offer was well received and improved
upon by our Okies who voted to have Al sail over to Watts with Chuck
and Cathy before switching over to sail home with Jason and Stephanee.
And vice versa for Hans. And we met the young couple above who were on
their way to New Hampshire where they planned to set up in practice as
doctor and dentist. With his crew, Jim,
still feeling a bit under the weather, Gary (left) had the
perfect chance to invite these two fellow Chesapeake House
guests to experience Wayfarer sailing during the next day's trip to
Watts. Gary and I both made notes with their names, etc. but so far we
seem to have both lost them. Stay tuned!
  After supper, we proceeded back down to the Marina in fine style (above) for a cooler evening, freshened even more by some Dark and Stormies to which we introduced Dixie (above) who was in the middle of doing a circle tour of the Eastern U.S. with her husband in their large catamaran. They had started in Louisiana and had one worry: to reach the Great Lakes and the passage over to the Mississippi River where they could head back south to Louisiana a step or two ahead of the oncoming colder weather. Tuesday 31 May: Yet another oppressively hot day, one with little wind. Good thing we were only planning on the short hop to Watts Island. After our Chesapeake House breakfast, we ...  ... wended our way down to
the Marina where we were happy to find all four of our
Wayfarers in fine fettle as expected. Still no sign of Robert
Mosher and Ann.
 Our new friends quickly
looked right at home with Gary on Solje, but got a less than
auspicious
introduction to sailing as the wind died and we ended up motoring most of the way to Watts Island.  We certainly had no
trouble getting our anchors to hold!!
 Neighborhood watch: Osprey on duty.  As our relaxed lunch
break on Watts wore on, the wind re-appeared
but with not much of a flourish. Between that and ...  ... being able to lounge in nature's "cool tub", we had a very ...  ... pleasant time on Watts. (l to r) Chuck, Jason, Cathy, Al, Gary, Hans, Stephanee  We got a perfect learn-to-sail wind for perhaps an hour before it died for the day off the southern tip of Tangier ...  ... and the motors were called to active duty once again.  Unbeknownst to the rest
of us, Robert and Ann had sailed over to Smith on the Monday, and on
this day, made the most of a relatively rare summer northwesterly to
broad reach down to Tangier where they made a pleasant stop of their
own at its north end. Luckily for them, Robert and Ann were able to
sail into the Marina before the wind died.
 It was a quiet evening for both the weather and for us. Most enjoyable!! Wednesday 1 June: We awoke to a nice little
south breeze that promised to give us easy sailing all the way up to
Smith Island. Now our fleet numbered five since Robert would be
accompanying us for the remaining two days.
  A quick check that we were leaving nothing behind, a fond farewell to our good friend, Milton Parks, and we were off!  Well ... almost off!! Whole new meaning to "couldn't tear himself away".  A perfect sailing
breeze just when we needed it for our 12-mile run north to Smith
Island. Another scorcher was expected but this one fortunately stoked
the prevailing winds engine, and we had a veritable romp up to Smith!!
    The narrow, winding
channel heading into Ewell from the west was its usual challenging self
what with several parts being a beat for us. Above, Hans and Al have
their depth-sounder down all the way as they nurse SHADES into
Pauli's Place.
 We were very happy to
see Pauli right there to greet us and we killed off a hot but pleasant
afternoon. At the Marina, we met a lady who lives down the road
from Pauli's and visited with her and her husband for a pleasant hour
before adjourning to Ruke's for supper. Lucky us: Pauli talked
to the owners who re-opened just for us - like last year. It
turned out the lady from down the road was an enthusiastic sailor who
appreciated a chance to steer SHADES for a bit after supper (below).
 Thursday 2 June:
After a quiet evening and an early night, we awoke just after sunrise (below)
to a stiff NW breeze that had brought cooler, drier air. Visions of
reefing danced in our heads as we showered and ...
  ... headed into the kitchen for breakfast and a cup of the coffee that Steve (below) was already enjoying.  Steve Eades displays the gravitas that befits a serious captain. During the expected delicious breakfast, we discussed plans for the day.  The day's wind was expected to hold at 15 to 25 knots out of the NW, giving us a run out through the Big Thorofare (see red line above) and then a ...  ... nice, broad reach across the Sound and back into Crisfield. With the wind whistling down the cut off ... 
... our "front door", we lined
up for our group shot which was in its way, symbolic of our Cruise in
that Robert and crew were off elsewhere. It was a no-brainer that we
would be safer and better able to enjoy the lovely vistas offered by
the Thorofare, if we shortened sail. Al was salivating at the
opportunity to use his trysail. Others planned to reef heavily or go it
under "jib alone" - for which this was the perfect day, given our
destination.
 Under the watchful eye
of Captain Steve, Al took Pauli out for a little spin (poor choice of
words?) What he should have noticed but did not, was a strong,
wind-assisted tidal flow (see pilings under Steve). Blissfully
unaware, Al cruised a couple of hundred yards downwind, only to
discover that the trysail would not enable Al to beat back against the
current.
  A last fond look at Ewell as we headed out through the lee of Goat? Island to the Big Thorofare where ...  ... it was indeed honking. Actually, this was about as bad as it got. Typically, when blowing parallel to the shore, the wind tends to funnel and blow harder near the shore. And that's what happened here.  Out on the open Bay, the wind was less gusty and not as strong - to the extent that Chuck and Cathy felt quite comfortable hoisting a slightly reefed main (above).  Others just took the chance to lean back and relax.  Either way, we were all back in Crisfield in pleasingly short order after a non-strenuous sail that couldn't be beat!  Even Robert joined us in a timely manner so that we were all ...  ... present and
accounted for and ready to haul out. Cars and trailers were duly
retrieved from the Marina and there was a touch of sadness in our
smiles as we packed up and prepared to bring our 2011 Chesapeake
adventure to an end. My thanks to all of you who were a part of the
fine week in any way: the scenery was great but really, for me it's the
people who make or break a cruise. And you are the best!
So we all headed our separate ways until the same time next year (that's this year since I'm writing this on 27 March 2012 :( And none more separate than Hans and I who had an invitation to visit Jim and Linda Heffernan and race their home club's annual regatta with them. So, after another night in the fine Captain Tyler's Motel, Hans and I headed south to the tip of the peninsula, across to the mainland via the impressive bidge/tunnel combination and on to Chapel Hill, North Carolina and the Mayor's Cup Regatta in nearby Greensboro. But that's another story ... |
