Captain Frank Mummert met with Manny, Nancy A and Nancy E on Sunday morning, to review their experience and expectations. We would be doing another circumnavigation of Kent Island and, although all three were recent students of the Maryland School, only one had completed the ASA 105 - theory of Coastal Navigation - course with Captain Tom Tursi. After a morning of working through sail drills while on the anchor, the crew went out to lunch and developed their meal plan for the trip. The afternoon was spent plotting the navigation plan that Captain Frank had laid out.
The next morning, SCHOLARSHIP left the dock at about 0915, heading out for the mooring field at Annapolis. The wind was initially a steady 5 to 10 knots from the southeast, so we had to beat our way down the Chester River, getting some assistance from the engine, and around the south end of the wildlife refuge on the Eastern Neck Island. At that point, Manny, our Skipper of the Day, had a loss of the engine. Luckily, it was just Frank’s first drill of the trip and we soon had the problem resolved and were underway again.
With a two bearing fix to restart our navigation, we transited toward the red Chester River buoy number 6. Unfortunately, the wind, by this time, had started to drop and shift and once the boat was actually in the Chesapeake Bay and headed toward the Bay Bridge, the crew was forced to motor, since the Bay was so flat that clouds were being reflected on its surface. We passed our
sistership, ACADAME as she sailed north to Baltimore while we turned our bows south to Annapolis.
After dropping the sails near the entrance to the Severn River, we were able to motor into the mooring field, which held fewer than a dozen boats. After a trip into town for a bit of window shopping, we enjoyed a dinner of vegetables and seafood in the cockpit. Although we settled in for the night with a gentle breeze cooling the boat, passing showers soon had us all below with the hatches tight against the storm.
The next morning appeared gray and wet. After leaving the mooring field and setting the mainsail, we ventured out into the Chesapeake Bay again, which had changed its character overnight. Now, it was lumpy and frothy, particularly after we came out of the lee of the land and settled into the Bay for our run down toward the Thomas Point Light and then on to Eastern Bay.
Nancy A, our Skipper of the Day, had the crew maintaining a sharp lookout as we passed through squalls that would often reduce the visibility to less than a mile. The crew commented that, while they had been in storms before, this was the first time any of them had done it without an active GPS providing their path. When the storms passed and the skies cleared, seeing the Bloody Point Bar Light on the bow, exactly where the course and compass had predicted it would be, made true believers of the crew.
As we came around the mouth of Eastern Bay, the rain began to abate and become more sporadic. We watched the clouds of rain hide and reveal the shoreline around us as we motor-sailed up toward Tilghman Point. Right at lunchtime, Frank ran his second drill and the crew had the excitement of fighting a (simulated) fire while avoiding the passing squall. After securing from the drill, we fixed our position and carried on.
Normally we would have ignored the easier run into the Miles River - going south of the big shoal off the mouth of the river - and instead cut between the shoal and the peninsula marking the Wye River. However, due to the uncertainty of the weather and visibility, Frank chose to change the plan and instead do the easier run south of the shoal. Of course, they made for a huge change in the plan for Nancy, but she stepped up to the challenge and was able to get us through with flying colors.
By the time we found ourselves in the slip at Saint Michaels’ Marina, after having stopped to pump out, the sky was clearing and the temperatures were moderating. While it looked like it was going to be a pleasant evening, we were glad to have access to electricity again, so that the air conditioner would dry out our damp boat. After a dinner ashore and exploring the town, the crew snuggled up in their bunks for another well-earned rest.
Morning found us at the Blue Crab restaurant for breakfast and then underway. After rounding out of the Wye River, we set the main and started sailing up the Eastern Bay and into Prospect Bay. The wind was coming out of the South-south-east at a boisterous 10 to 15 knots, so Nancy E, the newest Skipper of the Day, was challenged by the speed with which we were moving. She was further challenged by the sound of water coming into the boat, as Frank ran another drill. This time, flooding was occurring and she and her crew had to find the source and stop it. Luckily, she was quickly able to do so.
Initially we had figured on going up the Bays at 4 to 5 knots, but we found ourselves moving at 6 and even 7. We arrived at the red 2 buoy in Prospect Bay about an hour early for our intended transit of the Kent Narrows Lift Bridge, so Nancy made the decision to turn around and beat our way back down the bay to green 1P. After heaving to for lunch, we dropped the mainsail and arrived at the bridge at 1405 for the 1430 opening.
Once back in the Chester River, we stopped at Red Buoy 6 to acknowledge the fact that we had circumnavigated Kent Island, and reset our sail, adding the genoa for a romping beam reach around the south end of the Eastern Wildlife Refuge.
As we turned up the Chester, the VHF radio started sending out multiple weather alerts and we watched as huge tracts of bad storms passed up both sides of the boat. By this point, we were shifting back and forth between a run and a broad reach. The wind still had plenty of force in it and we continued our runs of six and seven knots. Unfortunately, we were unable to sail faster than the rain clouds which were chasing us and, as we turned to enter the Corsica River, the rain finally caught us. While it was not the hard-driving rain of the previous day, it did have a cooling effect.
We dropped two anchors for a Bahamian moor in the very protected mouth of the Corsica River and, as the evening cleared and the moon made its appearance, we enjoyed a dinner of pasta and salad while discussing the questions that each of the students posed to Frank. The evening was spent reviewing for the upcoming 104 exam.
Underway again in the morning, we motored back down the Chester until we were south of the LC junction light. We then set the sails and practiced Crew Overboard maneuvers. First, the entire crew performed the maneuver at each position, then Frank ran the drill by throwing the COB mannequin in the water and calling out one of the crewmember’s names. That crewmember had to go down into the cabin and the
two remaining crew had to perform the rescue alone.
After securing from the drills and stowing Oscar back in the locker, we headed for Long Cove Marina for a final pump-out of the holding tank. Then it was back to Lankford Bay Marina, stopping at the fuel dock before finishing back in our home slip. After clearing the gear off the boat and cleaning up, the crew moved to the classroom to take the test and wrap up the course.
Captain Frank Mummert
On board S/V AcadAme
Rock Hall, Maryland
August 2021
