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Cat TalesSeptember 2000 |
Pete Denholm, Commodore
Here we are towards the end of summer and
it has been a great season for sailing on the Bay. The winds have been
favorable, and most of all the humidity has been low. It was great to see many
of you at the crab feast in August. A big thanks to Bill and Liz Wesley for
filling in at the last moment for Sue and Walt Dennison as "raft captain" for
the event. Sue, one of CCYC's founding members, was needed back home to take
care of her mother. Our thoughts are with her and her mother. The crab feast
raft-up included new members, Diane Benyus and Richard Schatz of
Aire-Borne (C25). Welcome aboard!
Boy, sailing
home from the crab feast was a lesson in heavy weather sailing for
Scimitar and her crew. It took Karen and me over six
hours to sail home with 24-28 knot winds on our nose. Not to mention the 4-6
foot seas and blinding rain. At times it would rain so hard it would flatten
the waves. Not to worry, the waves were able to recover quickly and reek havoc
once again. Ayewash motored home with Mike Davis at the
helm and daughter, Diana, wishing she was still at camp. I'll bet
Aire-Borne has a story too. Whew! That was one of the
few times I was glad to have Scimitar back in the slip
and my feet on solid ground. We managed to not break anything. The only
casualty was the loss of yet other one of my favorite hats. Only one
left.
CCYC is famous! Did you read about CCYC in the August issue of
Mainsheet? You may have gotten the email from Mike Davis and already found the
articles. If not, pull it back out and flip to pages 13-14 (the printer got
some of the paragraphs out of order) and page 17. After reading the articles
you will be able to impress your friends with your new wealth of knowledge
about CCYC and the Bay. Did you know that the Bay was formed about 2000 B.C.?
The next time you see Mike, thank him for getting CCYC some face time in
Mainsheet and teaching you a new thing or two.
Earlier in my article I
mentioned that we are nearing the end of summer. On the business end of things
that means it is nearing officer election time. According to tradition and the
CCYC by-laws we will be throwing out the old and bringing in the new during our
November meeting. On the chopping block are Vice-Commodore and Treasurer. Sorry
Mike - you are having so much fun as webmaster and editor; it just doesn't seem
right to take the job away from you. The current Vice-Commodore, Ray Neives,
will be promoted to the rank of Commodore. Congrats, Ray! Joan Savage has been
the Treasurer for several seasons and is looking for someone to take the title
from her. We are looking for volunteers to sail in and enjoy the CCYC fun at a
new level. If you are interested let one of the officers know.
The
Oktoberfest Raft-up and Halloween Cruise are our next exciting upcoming events.
Contact the raft captains and let them know you want to go sailing with them. I
am looking forward to the Oktoberfest so I can eat bratwurst and drink dark
beer.
See you on the water!
Wayne and Joan Savage, Jubilee
Can it
be? Fall is here again, the sailing season is coming to an end, and we haven't
seen much of the Bay this year! I am reminded of this as we prepare for the
annual CCYC Oktoberfest raft-up in the Rhode River (off the West River) set for
September 30 - October 1. This year we will once again be the raft captains for
these festivities.
We will bring the bier garten, Um-Pa-Pa music for
atmosphere while we dine on bratwurst and drink Oktoberfest bier, our other
favorite thirst quencher. The club will provide the Bratwurst and bier, while
the partygoers bring German hors d'oeuvres and cuisine to taste and
share.
To get to the raft site off Big Island, enter the West River,
keeping Red 2 to your starboard. The channel is narrow at that point with
shoals on both sides, but with plenty of water. Proceed up the West River about
a mile to where the Rhode River enters the West River on your starboard. Round
a second Red 2 and head directly up the Rhode (about 348o M) to where it opens
into a semicircular bay. Round Green 7 to port and proceed west to Big Island,
which will not be hard to identify. Jubilee will be
there about 3:00 PM, monitoring Channel 72 every half hour. We will be standing
by to provide rafting assistance.
Please give us a call (301-762-6752)
or send an email (wsavage@aol.com) if you
plan to join us this year so that we can ensure there is enough bier and wurst.
It just won't do not to have enough for everyone.
This event is always a
great time. We're looking forward to seeing everyone again. Come on by, have a
good time!
Mike and Bev Davis, Ayewash
The CCYC
Halloween cruise will be to Shaw Bay in the Wye River on Saturday, October 28.
Price of entry to the cruise is one pumpkin and one candle as you will be asked
to carve the pumpkin with an appropriate nautical motif. There will be a bottle
of champagne for the crew voted the most original carvers. Note: Please do not
carve the pumpkin in advance - it's post-libation originality we are looking
for!
Shaw Bay is a great anchorage and it should be delightfully empty
this late in the year. To get there, head for the Eastern Bay, then the Miles
River and then the Wye River. Take the first turn to starboard (Wye East River)
and continue around Bruffs Island. Shaw Bay will be on your starboard side. If
the wind is from the North and makes Shaw Bay uncomfortable, Ayewash will
anchor in Dividing Creek, which is further up the river on the port side.
According to CCYC policy, Ayewash will be there about
3:00 PM, monitoring VHF Channel 72. The Ayewash boat
phone number is 703-298-4720.
If you have any questions, call us at
703-802-0355 or send us an email (medavis49@aol.com). Weather should be
pleasantly cool and worthy of our last raft-up for the year. Let's make it the
best!
Barbara and Irv Schaeffer, Irwins Ark
III
First let me say that if you have never sailed (or
motored) north of Queenstown on the Chester River, you have missed some of the
most beautiful scenery on the Bay. From Queenstown to just before Chestertown
there is no commercial activity at all. All you see is nature at its best
interspersed with a few beautiful homes and farms. There were herons galore and
all kinds of creeks and anchorages in which to enjoy the pristine beauty. The
camaraderie you feel when you take a weeklong cruise is unlike that of the
short weekend versions. I hope that you all can join with the club for an
extended cruise. With only 1 week remaining before the Cruise began, I had no
one joining us on the Cruise from CCYC. Spending 9 days alone with my wife was
not what I envisioned when I agreed to be Raft Captain for this event. SOOOOOO,
I frantically started to call a lot of people outside the club to bolster the
number of boats on the trip. Fortunately one of my friends agreed to come along
on his Waulkiez 38 for all but the last night. Another friend joined us on the
first and last weekend on his Catalina 34 and may be a new member if he means
what he said.
We arrived at the boat on Friday and found the bilge
almost full and the pump not working. Fortunately the mechanic was there and
found a broken wire to the in-line fuse. He repaired it and we were on our way.
We had a pleasant sail to Rideout Creek off of Whitehall Bay. We met
Sea Rover, my friend's Catalina 34 there and shared a
dinner of Bami, an Indonesian dish. My friend Jaap and his wife Erna are Dutch
Indonesians and over the 20 years of our friendship we have enjoyed sharing
many a good sail and many good Dutch and Indonesian meals.
On Saturday
morning we motored to the Magothy and arrived in Broad Creek to find the Davis'
on Ayewash. After we ran aground (again), we tied up
along side of them and awaited the rest of the arrivals.
Sea
Rover came along and tied up and then another friend, Ruth and
Jerry Dechter, came along on their Waulkiez 38,
Pharmasea. A little time later Wind
Tyme, a Catalina 30 with the Stoppelbeins came by and tied on.
Meeting them was a treat and hopefully they will become active with the club.
This was their second CCYC event.
Barbara went below to wash her hands
and low and behold there was no water. Our tanks were empty. I checked every
connection in the boat and then remembered that I had lost water once before
from my heater. I opened the locker that holds the heater (and an extra anchor
rode, and fenders, and lines, and a bag with 8 life jackets, and trash) and
found that one of the hoses had been pulled off. After removing all that stuff,
Ruth Dechter climbed in and reconnected the hose. We had 2 Sun Shower bags full
of water and I emptied them into the water tanks so we could wash up.
We
had a 5-boat raft and we enjoyed mixing friends from in and out of the club. On
Sunday morning when the time came to leave, Pharmasea
and Irwin's Ark headed to Swan Creek and the other
boats headed home. Ken and Joyce Stoppelbein led us to their slip on the
Magothy to get water to fill our tanks.
Because we had such a nice time
with Ayewash (Mike, Bev and Diana) we decided to change
the destination for the last night of the cruise so they could make it easier.
We made Lake Ogelton the final stop. Wind Tyme promised
to try to join us on Friday in Queenstown if they could arrange their
schedules.
We had an hour of sailing and then motored the rest of the
way to Swan Creek. We arrived there just in time to have dinner and then the
sky opened and it rained. This was the rain they had promised for the first 3
days of the cruise that we had avoided.
On Monday another friend on
Cappricio, a Waulkiez 49, joined us only to be called
away on an emergency and we only had voice communication with them on the next
few days. Ruth and I went for ice in a marina nearby and started out for
Langford Creek with no wind. A little wind came up while on our way and we
sailed for a short time. So far, no wind and lots of threatening weather, heat
and humidity. Every little fly on the Chesapeake found us and I am the World's
Champion Fly Killer - in the non-autohelm class.
Monday night
Pharmasea and Irwin's Ark
shared happy hour and dinner near Cacaway Island. The wind slowly increased. A
cold front was coming and after 4 days of heat and humidity we were looking
forward to a change for the better. As we went to sleep the wind increased and
increased and increased. Pharmasea's fortress anchor
held fast and after waking up every couple of hours because of the noise of the
wind whistling though the trees on shore and the shrouds on our boats and the
boats rocking from the chop. Morning came cloudy and cool and very windy. The
wind was still blowing at 20+ knots and we decided to stay where we were rather
than trying to sail into the wind in a rather narrow part of the river and pull
into a slip with this wind We spent a pleasant day together as the sun came out
later and it got a little warmer.
On Wednesday we awoke to a bright
sunny day. The motor started quickly after a day and a half sitting and
draining the batteries. The wind was blowing as we headed up the Chester, only
to find I was really in the Corsica. Ruth called and got me back on course and
we headed up the Chester again. We motored most of the way with a few short
sailing tries. When we arrived in Chestertown we refueled (5 gallons) and
filled the water tanks and headed for town. We walked around town and had
dinner in the Imperial Hotel. We saw them building a Sultana, a large sailing
ship. We also found a place that still makes sweaters to order for around $100.
It got cold again and after dinner we returned to the boats and went to
sleep.
Thursday up and out to breakfast at the only place in town that
serves a full breakfast. After breakfast we got ice and a few essentials in
town and started out for the Corsica River. After many attempts at sailing we
finally gave up and motored most of the way there. We rafted near the mouth of
Emory Creek and shared dinner again. It gets dark a little before 8, so we
showered and went to sleep after reading for a while.
Friday no wind and
cool and we motored further up the Corsica and turned for the Chester River. We
motored out of the Corsica and found the wind. We tacked back and forth down
the Chester to the best sailing of the cruise so far. We arrived at the markers
for Queenstown and dropped the sails and headed for the channel. We never saw
less that 8 to 9 feet and got in without a problem.
After we rafted we
heard from Wind Tyme. When they arrived, we had happy
hour and then we all went back to our own boats, our tummies stuffed with
goodies. We went to bed early because we wanted an early start on
Saturday.
On Saturday we awoke to cloudy skies and a little wind. As we
left, I managed to get too close to one of the green markers in the channel and
found bottom. No problem for my 21 horsepower Universal and off we went. The
wind picked up and as we headed up the Chester towards the bay, we had great
sailing.
As we approached Love Point we saw a Catalina 30 overtaking us.
It was Don McBride alone in his Coelumar. This was to
be his first Club event. We tacked twice on the Bay and then on one tack went
under the bridge and right to the marker outside the channel to Lake Ogleton.
Much to our surprise, Don McBride was there with his sails down waiting for us.
We both went into the Lake and he dropped a hook while we waited for the bigger
boys to show up. Pharmasea had to go home so Jerry
could play in a band that night. After a short wait Sea
Rover arrived and put down an anchor and we joined him.
We
were planning showers and a joint dinner (not showers) when
Jubilee with the Savages, Joan, Wayne and Winston,
arrived and tied on. We got a radio call from Ayewash
that they were on their way and we held off the munchies and dinner for a later
start. Ayewash arrived with Bev, Mike, Diana and
Mahalia on board. We had a good time and as darkness approached,
Ayewash and Jubilee broke off
and dropped a separate hook. The remaining boats shared a potluck dinner and we
gave the others their first taste of Borscht, a beet soup served
cold.
Sunday we awoke to a hazy morning, no wind. We motored back to our
Marina and then headed home.
Outside of the lack of wind we had a very
good time, exploring a beautiful river, meeting some new people and being
together with some of our long time friends.