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Cat TalesMay 1999 |
Bill Weeks, Commodore
Well, it is another location and another
time for my "From the Helm" column. I am with Wayne Savage and his daughter,
Cameron, on their new Catalina 36, Jubilee. We are in the Dismal
Swamp and have just passed through the South Mills Lock. We met Joan and her
crew in Beaufort, NC on Saturday after the Flag Raising Brunch. Jerry and Jean
Helldorfer on Ragtime were also there. Bill Wesley on True
Blew left the day before.
We spent the night and left on Sunday
morning for Bellhaven. Mondy was a long day, from Bellhaven to Elizabeth City,
NC. The forecast for the Albemarle sound was not good so we just pressed on to
Norfolk.
The Flag raising brunch was very successful. We had 36 members
on hand and William Schellenberger gave us a nice presentation on gunkholes of
the Chesapeake. The food was good and we met a lot of new members.
The
Sailing Season is upon us, the best time of the year. The Ice Breaker has been
cancelled and our Memorial Day Cruise to the Wye river must serve as the Ice
Breaker. I know everyone is looking forward to the first cruise of the season.
The Wye River is a lovely body of water.
I have been interviewing
members on the subject of winter meetings. As usual, I have a different opinion
from each member. Some like the monthly meetings, some think we have too many.
The original location of the meetings was chosen for its nautical theme. We are
sailors and want to be around sailboats. However, times, traffic, and where
members live, all have changed. We don't have a common location for everyone,
we are spread out from Chestertown, to Solomons, to Clifton. Who knows? I am
still working on the issue.
I am intending to be in Solomons for the All
Catalina Rendezvous in June. While arranging for a slip at Zahnisers, I spoke
with the Catalina 400 Fleet Captain. He is interested in an All-Chesapeake,
All-Catalina Fleet and believes our group, because we are already an
all-Catalina group, would be the proper umbrella organization. We are planning
to discuss this further with the other Fleet Captains in Solomons. Again, I am
considering the prospect. This might be more work than it is worth, but I will
listen and see which way the wind blows.
Enough for now, I will be
speaking with you again next month.
Bill and Sharon Weeks, Fortnight III
We are
planning the first cruise of the year to Dividing Creek in the Wye River, and
then on to Leeds Creek. On Saturday, Fortnight III, will leave
Herring Bay about 10:00 AM. This will put us in Dividing Creek with the anchor
down by 3:00 PM. We plan to have Cocktail Hour on Fortnight III
about 5:30 PM. Bring something to share.
The sail to the Wye is straight
forward - around Bloody Point, up Eastern Bay and around Tilghman Point. Once
around Tilghman Point, from red "6" take up a heading of 135o magnetic for the
green "3" can off Bennett Point (tough to spot), follow the marks into the Wye.
Do not cut inside "3" as the water gets real thin in there. Once into the Wye,
the first bay on the right is Shaw Bay. Proceed on by and continue up the East
Wye which will turn to the left, around daymark "3" then north for about
¾ mile and then the right. The first entrance on the left, about
½ mile from the turn is Dividing Creek. If you keep to the center of the
river, it is very deep and no problems. We will be in the middle of Dividing
Creek, somewhere.
On Sunday, we will breakup about 10:00 AM and proceed
to Leeds Creek, on the opposite side of the Miles River from St. Michaels.
Directly across from St. Michaels is green daymark "1" which marks the entrance
into Leeds Creek. There is a little cove inside Fairview Pt., if we can get in
we will; if not, we will be farther up the Creek. Later on, maybe a side trip
into St. Mick's for ice cream, who knows.
Both days we will monitor
Channel 72, on the half hours from 15:30 through 18:30 hours.
Sharon and
I are looking forward to seeing you in Dividing Creek.
Bill and Sharon Weeks, Fortnight III
The bottom
line, if I may be so bold, was that a good time was had by all. We met early
Saturday morning, April 17th in Galesville, MD. The location was the Top Side
Inn. We almost had too many people for the room. As I was putting this
together, I wondered what kind of turn-out we would have. The confirmations
dribbled in as the date approached. Sharon took some, I took some, and the
answering machine took some. By the time I got all the little pieces of paper
with names assembled, we had 37 people.
The gathering started with eye
openers: coffee, juice, or something stronger as the case may be. We sat down
about 9:00 AM, give or take some. We had to bring in extra tables to
accommodate the crowd. The wait staff got all the orders taken and food began
to arrive a few minutes later. As we ate, the noise level remained high,
members greeted old friends and new. I started speaking about various club
activities and some chairpersons spoke of their activities. Pete Denholm
brought me back to reality; we had a fine speaker and if he did not get
started, we would be there all day. Back to business.
Our featured
speaker was William Schellenberger, author of "Cruising the Chesapeake, a
gunkholers guide". Mr. Schellenberger informed me this was the third time he
has spoken to this group and some of the members knew the bay as well as he did
… well almost.
Mr. Schellenberger spoke for an hour and touched on
the whole bay, from top to bottom. He gave us some wonderful insights to new
places to go and new things to see. I enjoyed his presentation very
much.
We ended with a promise that all boats would be in the Wye River
for the Ice Breaker on Saturday, May 29th.