October 12, 2015; Day 1
After doing a review of the safety issues, voyage plan and menu for
the week, we moved to the boat and the students found the four
"problems" that I had put into the boat in order to ensure they
did a good pre-voyage boat checkout. After correcting the problems
and inventorying the on-board supplies, they went into Rock Hall to fill
in their meal plan and have lunch. By two o'clock, everything was
back aboard and stowed and we were underway. After motoring south
under blues skies and a stiff breeze on the nose, we anchored for the
evening near the mouth of Jackson Creek close to Kent Narrows. We
used a forked two-anchor arrangement, taking into account the forecast of
rising winds and possible rain during the night.
Day 2
By 0730, we were up and pulling anchors, getting underway and heading
for the channel that would lead us into the Kent Narrows drawbridge area.
We caught the 0900 opening and were soon south of the bridge, raising
sails and heading to St Michaels. With the wind rising and the sky
completely covered with clouds, we kept the first reef in the main and
held the mainsail to a jib. As the day progressed, the wind dropped,
particularly once we got behind the lee of Tilghman Point and we were able
to shake out the reefs. The day was mostly close reaching on the
starboard tack, with the occasional port tack out to clear the lee shore.
We made it into the channel to St Michaels when an electric fuel pump
failure caused the engine to stop in the busy channel - a perfect
opportunity for testing our ASA104 skills. We moved to the port side
of the channel, dropped an anchor and put out a call for TowBoatUS.
Safely tucked into St. Michaels Marina an hour later, we put out a call
for a diesel mechanic and settled in for a quiet dinner aboard.
Day 3
The diesel mechanic could not replace out electric fuel pump, but was
able to give us a manual replacement to get back home. We left St
Michaels before noon and headed north to Kent Narrows again. After
close reaching back up the same path we had come down the night before - a
frontal passage during the night had shifted the wind from Southwest to
Northwest - we anchored just south of the Kent Narrows northbound channel
under sail and assessed our situation. A discussion with Tom Tursi
gave us the option of getting Acadame back in to Lankford Bay Marina to
replace the dodgy fuel pump, while the class proceeded on the school's
newest Island Packet, Navigator,
an IP40. The crew heartily agreed to the change, happy at the chance
to sail the bigger boat and we were soon underway for Lankford Bay,
arriving just before dark. While under tow, the cook for the day
prepared scallops and kale with bacon, in a rolling seaway, a feat which
impressed all aboard.
Day 4
Morning found us shifting gear to Navigator
and planning our trip back out to the Chester River. After a day of
romping around, rescuing numerous "crew overboard," using both
sail with power and sail alone, we headed back up the Chester River toward
Chestertown. The Northwest wind held, making for a quick beam reach
up the river through the first few turns, until the river got narrow and
the engine was required. We dropped the sails, fired up the
"iron genoa" and were in Chestertown with just enough daylight
to drop the anchors in a Bahamian moor arrangement, to protect us against
shifts in the river's currents as the tide changed. We changed into
our "going ashore" clothes, piled into the dinghy and headed to
a great dinner ashore at Fishwhistle, the water front restaurant just off
the dinghy docks. Coming back in the dark, we took two trips to get
everyone back aboard and everyone fell into bed after a long day and good
food.
Day 5
Up before dawn again, we pulled the anchors with the sunrise and
headed back down river. Our trip upriver had been using charts
alone, but the captain decided to fire up the GPS chart plotter for the
return trip to give the crew a different experience. Noon found us
rounding the bend to Lankford Bay again and, after cleaning the boat,
re-stowing gear and lunch, the crew finished up their ASA104 class by all
successfully passing the written exam.
Respectfully submitted,
Captain Frank Mummert
Rock Hall, Maryland
