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~ A Cut Above ~

Michelle Duval and Scott Ensign, who took our ASA101, 103, 104, 105, and Docking Classes in 2022 and 2023, sent the following comments

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Hi Robin, Andy, and Tom,

Michelle and I had a great week-long charter out of Rock Hall two weeks ago, and I wanted to thank all of you for the training you gave us at the Maryland School that enabled us to charter with confidence. We had a 2020 IPY 349 from Haven Charters: a beautiful, well-appointed boat with genset, bow thruster, AC, etc. The only restriction besides not going through Kent Narrows was that we weren't allowed to fly the Code Zero (the 349 is a solient rig). Initially this didn't seem like a big deal, but after a week of light air we were ready to use it if it would have been allowed!

Our first night was on a mooring ball in Swan Creek after waiting for ugly weather to pass over in the afternoon. Day two we motored to Thomas Point Shoal and then unfurled sails (main too) for some pleasant reaching back and forth across the bay. in 10 knts. We anchored for the night in Harness Creek off South River and had cocktails with neighbors in the anchorage that night. Day three was the BIG day, when we would need to pull into the slip we reserved at Hartge Marina in Galesville. After 3+ hours of planning and review with the Maryland School docking manual, we motored over with some anxiety and trepidation. We backed in just fine, just as we had done many times with Scholarship, except the bow thruster did most of the work that our forward spring was prepared to do. After a great meal at Pirates Cove, the next morning Michelle pulled us out and we spent most of the day motoring (with an hour of sailing north of the bridge in 7 knts) back to Swan Creek where we anchored for the night.  Our last day was another big milestone of pulling in and out of the fuel dock and then reversing into our slip at Haven. All of our maneuvers went well, in spite of a squall that blew through just minutes after we secured our dock lines in the slip.

We are so grateful for all of our instruction at the Maryland School: you'll be pleased to know that we kept a decent deck log during our journey with each day's route noted ahead of time per Maryland School protocol. We used our charts as much as the chartplotter.

With this confidence-builder behind us, we are ready to get more serious in our boat shopping (although another charter isn't out of the question before then). Hopefully we can chalk up enough days of experience to qualify for ASA 106 in 2024 or 2025.

Thanks again, and fair winds this summer!

Scott and Michelle 


 

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