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Cat TalesNovember 1997 |
Joan and Wayne Savage, Second
Wind
Though it came together in the last week or two, the CCYC
1997 Oktoberfest raft was held in Lake Ogleton, off the Severn River. Bill and
Liz Wesley in True Blue arrived early and dropped their hook in the area near
the Lake Ogleton Community Center so as to pick up party wanabes arriving by
auto. In fact, they were anticipating a possible visit from their daughter,
Cindy (an experienced Oktoberfest-goer while living in Germany). At about 3:30,
Second Wind arrived with the party fixin's: German wurst, bier, and wein and
rafted off True Blue.
After saying hello, as we had not seen each other
since early in the sailing season, we decided to turn on the "um pa" music and
test the bier to make sure it hadn't gone bad on its long journey from Germany.
At about the same time, Bill and Liz's daughter Cindy and their granddaughter,
Nicole, called on the cell phone to say they would be joining us for at least a
while. We off-loaded Bill's dinghy, put the motor in place and off Bill went to
fetch his guests. With life preservers snugly in place, they arrived shortly.
18 month old Nicole quickly became the star of the afternoon, learning to get
around the boat.
After assuring that the bier in fact lived up to its
advertisements and our expectations, telling stories and watching Nicole, we
decided that even though the Denholms had called us to let us know they were
coming, dinner couldn't wait. So, out came the wurst, the potato salad, the
rotkohl, more bier, and the wein. We prepared to grill the bratwurst and weis
wurst on Second Wind and serve on True Blue. As we were preparing our feast,
Pete and Karen Denholm radioed that they were rounding Thomas Point and would
be there shortly. We projected about an hour, and decided to wait for their
arrival with another bier, glass of wein or some other libation being in
order.
The Denholms arrived aboard Scimitar just as the sun was setting.
This Oktoberfest raft was to be the kick-off of a week's sailing on the upper
Chesapeake they had been planning since early in the season. Scimitar rafted
off the other side of True Blue just as the grilled wursts were ready to serve,
and the Fest began. Some new tastes for some, but all found food to their
liking. Cindy and Nicole decided to stay the night with Bill and Liz, as they
didn't have to be anywhere 'til 9:00 am on Sunday.
As we ate, the
subject of the weather forecast for the week came up. Cooler days, rain and
some higher winds were being predicted, and the Denholms recognized they were
one set of foul weather gear short. Karen called her parents, asking them to
bring the other set to Lake Ogleton in the morning. At seven, they arrived,
placed the suit on a post near the water and returned home for Sunday Brunch.
Pete pumped up their new dinghy, installed the motor and fetched the gear. They
were ready for their week of adventure.
Sunday morning, Bill also loaded
up his dinghy with Cindy and Nicole and returned them to their car at the
Community Center. However, because the parking lot is locked overnight, and did
not open till 9:00 am, quick analyses of options for getting them home were
undertaken. Sailing back immediately; finding someone with a key to the parking
lot lock; or taking a taxi and returning for the car later were each proposed.
However as each of the ideas was being discussed via ship-to-shore cell phone,
someone arrived with the key to let Cindy and Nicole get their car
out.
Well, after all that excitement; with the Denholms wanting to make
some significant mileage up the Bay; and with our knowing we still had a lot of
boxes to pack for our move, we decided to break the raft and get underway by
9:30 am.
Aufwiederzehn 'til next year.
Mike, Bev and Diana Davis, Chantilly Lass
It was
not the best weather to end our CCYC sailing season but even a bad day sailing
is better than a good day around the house. Saturday was actually a great day
for sailing as the skies were clear and there was plenty of wind. Bev, Diana
and I set sail in Chantilly Lass from Annapolis and headed south, around Thomas
Point lighthouse and then to the South River. The wind was out of the west,
making it a great reach to the river but trying to sail up the river was a
tacking challenge. We finally gave up and motored the rest of the way to
Mike's.
After arriving, we tied up in one of the many slips at the
restaurant. We picked a slip close to the restaurant for convenience but that
meant a slip that wasn't very deep. At high tide, we had an extra foot of
depth, but you know what happened at low tide later that night. At least we
weren't rocking from the wind and waves.
It turns out we were the only
one to come by boat but Ray and Carolyn Nieves and then Wayne and Joan Savage
soon arrived by car and joined us aboard Chantilly Lass for hors d'oeuvres and
chatting before dinner.
After catching up on events, we left Mike's boat
for Mike's Restaurant. Dinner was great as everyone tried various seafood
selections. After dinner, we all returned to Chantilly Lass for Boo cake before
the road sailors had to call it a night.
The next day, we woke to rain,
wind and cold. The trip home to Annapolis made us wish we had driven to the
get-together, but we managed to make it home in short time and had plenty of
time to warm up.
Saturday was the treat and Sunday was the trick but
with only a few more weekends available for sailing, we're not complaining. The
season always ends too quickly.
Max Munger, Shermax
Our first CCYC
meeting of the off-season is Friday, November 21st, at the Fleet Reserve Club
in Annapolis. For those who can join us, we have dinner at the FRC at 6:00
(reservations - 410-263-4614). We then move to the meeting room upstairs at
7:30 for a pre-meeting social and start the meeting at 8:00.
Topics for
the meeting include election of officers, the Holiday Party, a guest speaker
and general club plans for next year.
Elections
The following
have volunteered to run for CCYC officer positions:
Wayne Savage -
Commodore
Bill Weeks - Vice Commodore
Joan Savage - Treasurer
Of
course, anyone in the club is welcome to enter a nomination. Please call Wayne
if you have someone you wish to nominate.
Guest Speaker
Richard
Stone Rothblum is a native Washingtonian. After receiving his BS in mathematics
at the University of Maryland, he attended American University, where he earned
an MS in physics. The Navy sponsored him for two years at the University of
Leeds, in England, where he was awarded a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering for
his work on the physics of ventilation, cavitation and separation on
surface-piercing hydrofoils.
Dr. Rothblum's experience has been mainly
with model testing, and the correlation of the results of these tests with
at-sea experience. He has participated in most aspects of the issues affecting
the hydrodynamics and hydroacoustics of Navy ships and submarines. Before his
retirement in 1987, he was responsible for maintaining and operating the test
facilities at the Navy's David Taylor Model Basin, and for the design and
construction of a new cavitation tunnel, the LCC, built in Memphis, Tennessee.
The LCC is a water tunnel for boats, similar to a wind tunnel for airplanes. It
is the largest and fastest in the world, and is able to measure acoustic and
well as hydrodynamic properties of ship and submarine models.
From Dr.
Rothblum - "I spent most of my career, starting at age 17, at the David Taylor
Model Basin. The Model Basin is a place where ships and boats are tested at
model scale to predict their full-scale characteristics."
"William
Froude in England, and David Taylor in America were contemporaries of the
Wright brothers. They formulated the basic principles of model testing for
ships and airplanes. Instead of looking at ship and model performance in terms
of forces and speed and other dimensional properties, they approached the
problem from the standpoint of dimensionless ratios of quantities. Inertial
forces are typified by the pressure caused by flow around the curve of a
lifting surface, such as a sail, hull or rudder. The ratio of these forces
determines the speed limit of a displacement hull, like that of most cruising
sailboats."
"Propeller design is often given short shrift by boat
builders. Considering that the propeller is probably the most critical factor
in ship performance, this is penny wise and pound foolish. What should a
sailboat owner look for in a propeller?"
As we approach the new year, it's time to renew your CCYC membership. Annual CCYC membership dues are $30 and are due in January. Please fill out the enclosed form and with your check, either mail or give it to Joan Savage, our treasurer.
Home of Bill and Sharon Weeks
8179 Madrillon Court
Vienna,
VA
703-848-1848
Bill and Sharon Weeks have graciously agreed to host
the annual CCYC Holiday Party again this year. Informal holiday dress is
appropriate and remember, there will be cameras aplenty. The club will provide
the main dish and beverages and attendees should bring hors' d'oeuvres, a side
dish or a dessert. Please call Bill and Sharon to let them know what you are
bringing.
This event is always fun as we meet with all the Club members
and share experiences from the sailing season. It's also a chance to publicly
recognize the official, as well as unofficial, achievements of Club members. We
look forward to seeing you there.
As part of the Holiday Party, Sue Dennison traditionally presents awards
to and tells tales on club members for their exploits the past year. Please
give her a call (301-262-4985) if you have any recommendations and information
concerning CCYC members in the following areas:
Most sailing
weekends
Most time at the dock
Most frightening experience
Oops of the
year
Other goodies to share with the club
"Nice? Its the only thing," said the Water Rat solemnly.
"Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so
much worth doing as simply messing around in boats. Simply messing-about in
boats-or with boats," the Rat went on "In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter.
Nothing seems really to matter, that's the charm of it. Whether you get away,
or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you
reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you're always
busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you've done it there's
always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you'd much
better not."
Kenneth Grahame, Wind In The Willows