2015 Chesapeake Bay Cruise

On our first day, Marty and Kelly inspected the boat and found the three "problems" I had created for them (missing flares, expired fire extinguisher, empty first aid kit).  They developed their meal plan and purchased their supplies.  We were underway by 1:00 and anchored for the night near Durdin Creek in the Chester River, on a split anchor arrangement.  A line of thunderstorms blew through during the early evening, testing the anchor arrangement which came through with flying colors.   

The second day found us sailing down the Chester to the Kent Narrows bridge, where we caught the 10:00 bridge opening. Coming out of the channel southbound, the sails went up again and Marty and Kelly took turns navigating and steering, shooting three bearing fixes up the Miles River to Saint Michael's Marina and dealing ably with a fire drill on the way.  

On the third day, light and flukey winds forced us to motor out into the Chesapeake Bay, turning around Bloody Point on our way up to Annapolis Harbor.  After a trip up the Severn River to practice standing turns and deal with a simulated loss of engine power in a busy channel, the guys put the boat away for the evening in the slips at the Annapolis Town Dock.  

Underway early the next morning, we motor sailed in light winds up through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and into the area off Love Point, where we practiced man overboard drills, simulating that one of the crew members had fallen off and the other had to rescue him.  Luckily, everyone was rescued in less than five minutes.  Finally, we reached into the Chester River and turned downwind after Queenstown, sailing wing-and-wing on a poled out genoa up to Lankford Bay Marina, where another line of thunderstorms made the evening exciting.

Captain Frank Mummert
Aboard S/V ACADAME IP32