For the last 104 cruise of the 2024 season, Captain Frank worked with students Jingyi and Oliver to do a trip to Annapolis and back in cool temperatures and strong winds. It was an excellent end to the sailing part of the season. Comfortable days and chilly nights made the trip highly enjoyable and an opportunity to visit Annapolis after the hectic atmosphere of the Boat Show was welcomed by all participants.
Since there were only two students, Captain Frank was standing in as Skipper of the Day when, after navigation prep and provisioning,
ACADAME departed Lankford Bay Marina under a bright blue sky and gusty northwest winds. We did a speedometer calibration run in Langford Creek, using the techniques explained in Captain Tom Tursi’s Youtube video. After determining that the knotmeter read about 20% low, we set the main with one reef in and a full headsail. Using the traveler to keep the boom in check, we did a broad reach down the river, eventually coming briefly to a wing and wing run, before gybing the mainsail and continuing around the southern end of the Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge.
As we passed Chester River 6, we found ourselves hard on the wind as we tacked our way up to the red number 2 buoy. After passing it and turning toward the Swan Creek Channel Green 1, we doused the main and the headsail and motored up into Swan Creek, where we took slip C1 at Swan Creek Marina. Normally, we would have been on a mooring ball tonight and in a marina tomorrow, but conditions mitigated against that for this trip. We had sailed for over seven hours in near perfect conditions and the crystal blue sky started to turn bright orange as the sun set in the early fall evening.
Underway around 8:00 the next morning, we motored out into the Bay only to discover that the exceptional wind that we had had the day before had deserted us entirely today. We found ourselves motoring out of Swan Creek and into the Chesapeake Bay, the Skipper of the Day, Jingyi, performed a two bearing fix using the Swan Creek Range lights and the Love Point Light to determine our location. We found ourselves slightly to the south of our expected track, which we attributed to an outgoing tide. By doing some calculations, we decided to adjust our course by ten degrees north of the calculated one and soon found ourselves just past the Love Point Safe Water mark.
It was at this point that the engine suddenly stopped. It was the first of Captain Frank’s casualty drills. Jingyi and Oliver leapt into action, determined that the problem was not repairable in place and put out a (simulated) call for a tow from TowBoatUS. Amusingly, just as Jingyi was simulating his call, an actual boater in distress contacted TowBoat, adding realism to our exercise.
Once underway again, we waited while a huge cargo ship passed under the Annapolis Bay Bridge and up the Craighill Channel to Baltimore. Far up the channel, another cargo ship was downbound, so we quickly scooted across the channel, taking as direct a line as possible and headed for the western side passage of the bridge. Five minutes after we were on the south side of the bridge, the down bound vessel passed off our port side, headed out to ports unknown.
We continued on toward Annapolis, where frequent calls by the Coast Guard informed us that there was to be a sailing regatta at the mouth of the Severn River from noon until late afternoon. We were not convinced it would happen, given the very light winds, but as we approached the Annapolis Harbor Red 4 light, we watched as wave after wave of small sailboats were towed out by powerboats toward the entrance to Annapolis Harbor. Given the size of the sailboats, we became convinced that this would be an interesting day for a regatta, although we felt like a Great Dane amongst dachshunds!
We continued into the Annapolis Harbor mooring field and took one of the last balls available. We were surrounded on three sides by Canadian boats, getting ready to head south. It was a great opportunity to talk about courtesy flags and quarantine flags and all of the details of clearing into another country. We contacted the harbor master, paid for our mooring ball and, after a few hours of prep and study, we headed ashore for dinner at one of the local restaurants. We took a water taxi back to our boat, just as the sun was going down and got all tucked in for a cool night on the water.
Upon rising in the morning, we found ourselves in a very light breeze. Although the wind was predicted to be in the 10-15 knot range, the flags around us barely fluttered. Undeterred, Skipper of the Day Oliver decided to set the mainsail before we got underway, in order to goad the wind gods into providing us with some excitement.
It seemed a forlorn hope as we left the Severn and started back toward the Bay Bridge, but as the sun rose higher in the sky so, too, did the wind speed and our hopes for a good day’s sail. By the time we passed under the bridge, the winds were up to their predicted levels (and beyond!) and a short choppy sea was rolling under our bow. After once again crossing the Craighill Channel, we set the headsail as a jib and started our romp across the Bay to the Chester River.
As we crossed the Bay, we found that we were once again being forced south by the tide, but significant leeway from the wind added to the issue and we had to adjust our heading by almost 30 degrees to maintain our course over ground. This cut into our sailing velocity made good, but the boat was striding along over the boisterous waves, occasionally throwing spray into the helmsman face - just as good sailing should do.
We rounded the Chester River Red 2 and settled into a downwind run, crossing out at Red 6 and screaming along on a beam reach toward the bend in the river that would take us north into the wind. After contemplating the possibility of motor sailing on the next leg of the river and looking at our estimated time of arrival, Oliver and the crew made the decision to short-tack up the river and continue to enjoy the quiet of a motorless sail. By this point, the tide had turned to a flood and the current helped us as we traveled up the river. After passing Red 14, we dropped onto a close reach and sailed all the way up to Red 16, where we doused the headsail and continued on with just the main.
We dropped into Comegys Bight at about four in the afternoon, as we were just beginning to see the sun approach the horizon. We dropped two anchors in a forked moor and after setting both, we finally dropped the mainsail and secured it. As we ate a dinner of pasta and salad, we watched the sun drop behind the tree line and paint the clouds with golds and purples.
In the early morning chill of the next day, the crew made coffee with the hope of warming both the boat and ourselves, then pulled the anchors and got underway for our return to Lankford Bay Marina. After pumping out and doing an “end-of-season” double flush of the holding tank, we settled back into our slip and finished up the class. As we removed our gear from the boat, it seemed to sigh “goodbye until next year.”
Captain
Frank Mummert
On board S/V ACADAME
Rock Hall, Maryland
