2022 Chesapeake Bay Cruise

 

As the first 104 class Captain Frank did this season, this cruise required some extra work. Because it was held over the Memorial Day weekend, Frank and the crew, Bradley, Geoff H and Geoff S, had to plan a trip avoiding Annapolis, a perennial favorite and requiring anchoring out in Saint Michaels. Fortunately, the mooring field at Swan Creek Marina, which the school uses during the 106 cruises, was open for business. Because of this change, the crew had the challenge of navigation planning on the eastern side of the Chesapeake Bay between Love Point and Bloody Point, but the crew was easily up to it.

Acadame was off the dock by 9:15 on Friday morning, motoring along with a ten knot breeze from the west. We moved along nicely and, after clearing Langford Creek, Bradley, our Skipper of the Day, decided to set the mainsail with genoa. After an exhilarating beam reach to the south end of the Eastern Neck Wildlife Refuge, we turned west and headed for the mouth of the Chester. While taking his hourly logs, Geoff H discovered that we had a flooding emergency (simulated) and Bradley leapt into action, directing remediation efforts while controlling the boat in the increasingly more confusing traffic.

After doing a two bearing fix, Bradley had us flying along in the gusty breeze and we looked for the entrance to Swan Creek. We dropped the sails and motored up the Swan Creek channel, passing and being passed by numerous sail and power boats before picking up the mooring ball at the Marina. We were soon joined by a half-dozen boats, taking a multitude of the balls around us - more than Captain Frank had ever seen in that mooring field.

With sunup, Acadame was off the mooring ball and headed for Saint Michael’s. By this point, the wind had deserted us completely and we proceeded under engine power under the eastern channel of the Annapolis Bay Bridge and down to Bloody Point Bar. Rounding the bar, we traveled up into the Eastern Bay. It was here that Frank threw his second drill, this time on Skipper of the Day Geoff S.

Having been given indications of a simulated fire, Geoff stayed in the cockpit and directed Bradley in his firefighting efforts. The “fire” was soon out and we were underway again, headed for the next navigational challenge.

As we came around Tilghman Point, we noted all of the boats coming into and out of the Miles River. Near the confluence of the Wye and Miles Rivers is a large shoal area, well marked on its southern boundary. It is this route that most boaters use to get around the shoal. But that sort of easy “buoy-hopping” was not for our intrepid crew. Captain Geoff led the crew through the unmarked channel on the north end of the shoal, using the depth finder to track the “two-fathom” line around the point and into the Wye River. We then exited the Wye, entered the Miles and anchored, on a Bahamanian moor, near the entrance to Saint Michaels harbor.

After taking a water taxi in, the crew enjoyed a few hours of sightseeing, then an excellent dinner at the Blu Miles restaurant before returning to the boat, again using the services of the water taxi.

Geoff S, our third Skipper of the Day, decided that we needed to pass the Kent Narrows Lift Bridge at slack water, which was scheduled to occur between 10:30 and 11:00, so we pulled our anchors at 7:30, hoping to get some sailing in on our way to the Narrows. While we did get the sails up once we were back in the Eastern Bay, the gentle winds from the west required some assistance and we motor-sailed up into Prospect Bay. We dropped our sails to pass through the bridge, going through on the 11:00 opening. We were soon back out into the Chester River, with slightly more breeze out of the south, which allowed us to set the sails again and enjoy an excellent reach and run up the river until we reached Grays Inn Creek. We dropped the sails again for the evening and began to motor into the Creek.

Unfortunately, at this point, Captain Geoff S had his own “casualty of the day,” an engine failure in a narrow channel. Getting the headsail back up, Bradley continued moving the boat while Geoff H looked for the source of the problem. As Frank told the crew later in the debrief, sometimes the answer is not discernable - and that was the case here. After securing from the dril, we continued up the river and stopped for the night at the excellent Grays Inn Creek Marina, where we enjoyed the facilities (showers, air conditioning and picnic tables with a huge gas grill) while settling down for the last night of the cruise.

Early the next morning, we departed GICM and headed back into the Chester River. After setting the headsail and main, we performed crew overboard training until it was time to head back to Lankford Bay Marina. Along the way, we had an actual engine failure, caused by a blockage in the raw water intake line (sometimes, the problem IS discernible). Captain Frank was able to clear the clog and we continued on into the marina. We were soon in, cleaned up and ready to take the written challenge, ending another excellent 104 class.