We left Summit North Marina on the C&D Canal yesterday. I've often said that we don't have a boat, we have an apartment that floats. As liveaboards, we have a lot of shi.... uh... stuff that can fly around unless we secure it, and securing it takes a lot of time, so we pick our days so we don't have to. We've set an arbitrary limit of winds no more than 15 knots and waves no more than 3 feet, which I think is reasonable. The forecast for yesterday was 10 to 15 out of the south and waves 1 to 2 feet. The wind direction was wrong. Anything out of the north or south can create a nasty chop but the forecast was within our tolerances. Besides, it was time to move on.
We got a late start, 10 AM. I knew we wouldn't make the 60 mile trip to Annapolis and we'd need to tuck in someplace. The Chesapeake is all about boating and marinas wouldn't be a problem. Coming out of the C&D the winds were 5 to 10 and the waves were less than a foot.
I thought this was interesting- an overhead natural gas pipeline on the C&D.
Sometimes I feel like a real hick- "Lookey thar Ma, a over haid pipe line!". LOL!
And I thought this was interesting.
Anyone who has boated for any length of time knows how ignorant or inconsiderate boaters can be. They drive their boats at exactly the wrong speed at exactly the wrong time and toss huge wakes everywhere they go. But does this huge sea going tug really need to be concerned?
As we left the protection of the canal and entered the top of the Chesapeake, though, it piped up to 10 and shortly thereafter to 15. Still, 2 foot waves were no problem for us. As the channel turned more and more south, the wind picked up even more, eventually to 20 MPH or so with steep curling 3 foot waves right on the bow. Drift Away has Naiad stabilizers so we can take waves from the side but on they do no good when it's snotty on the nose. We started to bounce pretty good and took spray over the bow which hit the helm station windows. My hourly filter checks were now every fifteen or twenty minutes. A little water was collecting in the Racors but nothing too serious.
I checked our marina guides for a place to tuck in. The Sassafras River was behind us and I was loathe to head backwards, so I decided we should ride it out and head for Worton Creek Marina an hour and change ahead of us. Pam stashed the easily flyable stuff in the main saloon and the boat was doing fine. Even the critters seemed to be getting used to getting beat up and were snoozing. A tug towing a barge passed us and we got behind him for a time because he was flattening out the waves for us.
You can see from this photo above that Drift Away was heeling to starboard because of the wind, which at this point was coming at us at about 11 o'clock.
As we headed left into the bay where Worton Creek is we were sheltered a bit from the southly wind and waves and things smoothed down. It was pretty shallow getting to Worton Creek Marina, 5 or 6 feet in spots, but we got in fine. For you Google Earth enthusiats, we're at 39* 16' 33.51" N, 76*10'06.13"W.
We were running out of a lot of provisions but some nice folks in a Lagoon 380 catamaran next to us took Pam to the grocery store. They just returned from a one year cruise with their kids and pit bull. We're learning that the boating community takes care of it's own. As our friend Chuck said (Chuck and Kate spent eight years cruising in their sailboat), people traveling in boats are like a small town that moves.
We spent a relaxing evening watching football and enjoying the sunset.
We got a late start, 10 AM. I knew we wouldn't make the 60 mile trip to Annapolis and we'd need to tuck in someplace. The Chesapeake is all about boating and marinas wouldn't be a problem. Coming out of the C&D the winds were 5 to 10 and the waves were less than a foot.
I thought this was interesting- an overhead natural gas pipeline on the C&D.
Sometimes I feel like a real hick- "Lookey thar Ma, a over haid pipe line!". LOL!
And I thought this was interesting.
Anyone who has boated for any length of time knows how ignorant or inconsiderate boaters can be. They drive their boats at exactly the wrong speed at exactly the wrong time and toss huge wakes everywhere they go. But does this huge sea going tug really need to be concerned?
As we left the protection of the canal and entered the top of the Chesapeake, though, it piped up to 10 and shortly thereafter to 15. Still, 2 foot waves were no problem for us. As the channel turned more and more south, the wind picked up even more, eventually to 20 MPH or so with steep curling 3 foot waves right on the bow. Drift Away has Naiad stabilizers so we can take waves from the side but on they do no good when it's snotty on the nose. We started to bounce pretty good and took spray over the bow which hit the helm station windows. My hourly filter checks were now every fifteen or twenty minutes. A little water was collecting in the Racors but nothing too serious.
I checked our marina guides for a place to tuck in. The Sassafras River was behind us and I was loathe to head backwards, so I decided we should ride it out and head for Worton Creek Marina an hour and change ahead of us. Pam stashed the easily flyable stuff in the main saloon and the boat was doing fine. Even the critters seemed to be getting used to getting beat up and were snoozing. A tug towing a barge passed us and we got behind him for a time because he was flattening out the waves for us.
You can see from this photo above that Drift Away was heeling to starboard because of the wind, which at this point was coming at us at about 11 o'clock.
As we headed left into the bay where Worton Creek is we were sheltered a bit from the southly wind and waves and things smoothed down. It was pretty shallow getting to Worton Creek Marina, 5 or 6 feet in spots, but we got in fine. For you Google Earth enthusiats, we're at 39* 16' 33.51" N, 76*10'06.13"W.
We were running out of a lot of provisions but some nice folks in a Lagoon 380 catamaran next to us took Pam to the grocery store. They just returned from a one year cruise with their kids and pit bull. We're learning that the boating community takes care of it's own. As our friend Chuck said (Chuck and Kate spent eight years cruising in their sailboat), people traveling in boats are like a small town that moves.
We spent a relaxing evening watching football and enjoying the sunset.
The Bills (New York's only football team) lost, the Giants lost, and the Ravens lost (being in Annapolis soon, we have to learn to root for the Ravens). But just look at that sunset.
It's really well protected here. We've decided to stay today because today's forecast is the same as yesterday, 15 knot winds out of the south. Tomorrow we head for Annapolis. We'll have a lazy day today. Ummm.... it seems we have a lot of those. I'm writing this blog and Pam is washing the spray off the boat's windows. It's almost lunch o'clock, and then we'll walk the dogs, and then it will be beer thirty. Life is good.
Guys... I am so happy for you. This is awesome and I am so jealous. The pictures and descriptive posts are amazing. I can't wait for the time that we come and see you. Maybe the Keys or maybe NOLA. Love you both and happy motoring. Thank you!
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