2022 Chesapeake Bay Cruise

This trip was the first of the “summer” cruises, where the sailing drops off, but the trip planning becomes more interesting. The crew, Ginger, Tony, Vince and Vuk, were tasked with getting the boat through some of the most interesting weather conditions so far this season. Luckily, they were up to it, according to Captain Frank.

ACADAME left on Saturday, 6/12, after a full day of navigation and trip planning. Under cloudy skies, we traveled out to the Chester River, transiting through a collection of small boats from the Rock Hall Yacht Club, engaged in a sailing regatta. After carefully avoiding the boats to port and starboard, we decided to set the mainsail with genoa, after passing the marks near Queenstown. We sailed along, passing from waypoint to waypoint, until Ginger, our Skipper of the Day, discovered that we had a leak into the boat, causing a simulated flooding drill. Quickly reacting, the leak was soon under control and, after using a two bearing fix to certify our position, Ginger soon had us back under sail.

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. It was a quiet evening in the mooring field and the crew took a late afternoon swim while Captain Frank prepared dinner. After dining al fresco, the crew settled in for a comfortable evening on the mooring.

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. Just past the bridge, we experienced a loss of engine control and attempted to raise sails. However, the wind had deserted us entirely and we were not even able to “drift with authority,” as Captain Frank put it. Skipper of the Day Tony was able to get control of the boat again and we were back underway, heading past Bloody Point Bar Light as we passed our sister ship, Scholarship, on her way to Annapolis. 

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. We used the navigation technique of “following the depth contour” to get into the Wye River and then turned south toward the Miles. We exited the Wye, entered the Miles and anchored, on a Bahamian 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.

Vince, our third Skipper of the Day, calculated our passage at Kent Narrows, deciding that we needed to arrive between 12:30 and 1:00, so we pulled our anchors at 9:30, just as a huge storm cell blew across the Eastern Bay. The crew used their navigational skills to get from Saint Michaels, into the Miles and Wye Rivers and then into Eastern Bay, in a driving wind with wind dead on the bow. As Captain Frank put it, it may not have been “off shore” and it may not have been “at night”, but it was definitely “30 knots of wind”!. By the time we reached the Narrows, the winds were decreasing again and we went through on the 12:30 opening. We were soon back out into the Chester River, with slightly more breeze out of the north east, but not enough to sail, so we motored up the river until we reached Grays Inn Creek. Skipper of the Day Vince carefully guided us up the unmarked channel to Grays Inn Creek Marina.

We continued up the river and stopped for the night at the excellent Grays Inn Creek Marina, where Tony and Ginger prepared an excellent dinner of fajitas and 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. We performed crew overboard training until it was time to head back to Lankford Bay Marina. During the transit, Skipper of the Day Vook was faced with a fire (drill) that challenged him and the crew, but was ultimately brought under control. From there, we finished our trip, and our class, by proceeding to Langford Bay Marina, taking on fuel and wrapping up the day. We were soon in, cleaned up and ready to take the written challenge, ending another excellent 104 class.