Century Club: Suzanne Fryberger

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Sunday, January 1, 2023 to Thursday, June 15, 2023
Number of days:
10 days
10 Days (and many more) Under and Alongside the Mast
  • Wall to head and compression post removed; floor opened up to reveal lead.
  • New bulkhead paneling, new compression post and wall in, and fairing of floor in progress.
  • Finished!
  • Sand & paint, sand & paint...
  • Ready to sail for New England

I didn't think I'd need to count my boat yard days in order to reach 100, but I've been sick and just tested positive for COVID, and that's going to keep me from kayaking for at least a couple days. 

From before the New Year until mid-June, Dobbs and I spent many, many days working on GRACE.  We'd had the mast unstepped so that we could repair old deck and floor compression, replace the compression post, and install a new cork cabin sole.  As a secondary project, I repainted the spars...and parts of the cabin top...and the hull...and put 7 coats of fresh varnish on everything shiny...and applied Semco to everything not shiny.  GRACE is our special thing and we enjoy keeping her in as good condition as we can, in-between bouts of sailing for months at a time where we put maintenance blissfully on the back burner. 

  

Sunday, October 23, 2022 to Saturday, November 12, 2022
Number of days:
18 days
Fall Cruise
Tuesday, October 11, 2022 to Monday, October 17, 2022
Number of days:
5 days
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and Mark Cascia Vineyard
Friday, September 30, 2022 to Monday, October 3, 2022
Number of days:
3 days
Duck Race Weekend

The "Duck Race" - the Havre de Grace YC Invitational - was cancelled due to excess wind, but they kept the dinner scheduled for Saturday night.  We were already on Grace down at Worton Creek Friday morning when we learned the news, so we decided to sail up to Havre de Grace on Friday instead.  NE15-20 with gusts to 25 - 2nd reef - beating all the way - 34.7nm to cover 20.  It was fun!  Tidewater generously offered us free dockage for two nights to boot. 

Sunday, Dobbs and I blasted on a beam reach over to the Sassafras River and anchored in the lee of the cliffs west of Ordinary Point.  NE20-25, rain, fog.

Monday - back home to "the barn" at Worton Creek Marina.  NE25 with higher gusts - 3rd reef in main, 2nd in jib, rain, chilly.  Saw AJ Meerwald and Brilliant - two schooners staging for the race next week.

Friday, September 16, 2022 to Wednesday, September 21, 2022
Number of days:
6 days
Log Canoe Races!
  • Sunset over Love Point
  • Sunset at Hunting Creek
  • Dividing Creek landing
  • Wye Island red oak
  • Sunset at Swan Creek

9/16: Worton Creek Marina to Shaw Bay

9/17: Shaw Bay to St. Michaels for log canoe races.  Dolphin in the Wye!  Then reaching and running up the Miles River to the drawbridge and beating back down to Hunting Creek.

9/18: Hunting Creek to St. Michaels for the last log canoe race of 2022.  Then sailing up the Wye River to Bryantown Landing and back, via Wye Narrows to bridge and back, and down around and up to Dividing Creek off Wye East River.  Serene as always.

9/19: Dividing Creek to Castle Harbor Marina.  Walking on Wye Island in the morning - over to Solo Cove along the road and then Schoolhouse Trail through the cool, shady woods (hot today - 88 degrees and sunny).  Sailed out of the Wye and out the Miles River to the green off Parsons Island, where the wind faded and 2.5 knots broad-reaching just wasn't cutting it.  We wanted to make Castle Harbor before 4pm, so we motored up to and through Kent Narrows, and then, with a freshening breeze, sailed the last mile and a half to the marina.  

9/20: Rigging Inspection on Hunter 44 - yep, commuted to work by sailboat.  Sailed/motored to Swan Creek in Rock Hall after.

9/21: Home to Worton Creek Marina.

Saturday, September 3, 2022 to Tuesday, September 6, 2022
Number of days:
4 days
Finding Peace on Labor Day Weekend

9/3 Worton Creek Marina to Sue Creek.  NW5-10>N>E>SE - a spinnaker ride that became a close reach.  Left WCM at 5pm and got in to anchor around 8:30pm.  Pretty, serene sunset.  Baltimore Yacht Club was whooping it up with a great dance band...until midnight!  Then someone/somewhere else played rap for another hour or so.  I drifted in and out of sleep, surprisingly not annoyed and just grateful for a cool breeze.

9/4 Sue Creek to near Tolchester Range Light and back to Worton Creek.  Dobbs got us underway at sunrise so that we could escape Middle River before the powerboaters woke up.  I made breakfast and enjoyed a peaceful morning as Dobbs worked us out past Hart-Miller Island.  Then I took the helm so Dobbs could eat and read the news.  A close-reach seemed to be the favored point of sail in the light SE breeze, but even that couldn't keep us moving south past noon.  The wind dwindled and the powerboats came out.  In waves rivalling a bad day in the Gulf Stream, we motored north to Worton Creek with swimming in mind.  It was just as pleasant as you might imagine, lazing in the shade and diving in when we felt too hot. 

9/5 Worton Creek to Still Pond via a lap around Poole's Island.  S5-10, 88/70, sunny.  We enjoyed a liesurely breakfast at anchor.  I actually got up at 5am to make coffee and watch the sunrise.  As day came on, the hooting of barred owls was joined by a caucaphony of crowing roosters.  I watched a great blue heron defend its favorite fishing log against an encroaching cormorant.  At 10am we headed out onto the Bay to begin a lap around Poole's Island.  The current was with us at the start, but then turned opposing as we neared the midpoint of the island.  We hugged the shallows to stay out of it, short-tacking south.  This strategy proved especially helpful as the breeze eased up.  We cleared the southern tip of Poole's Island and rode the tide, broad-reaching north to Still Pond.  Labor Day festivities were in full swing, but our sweet spot away from the crowds was waiting for us.  

9/6 Still Pond to Worton Creek Marina - back to the barn in style - beating in 10-15 with the tide behind us.  Pointing like a racer!

Sunday, August 28, 2022
Number of days:
1 day
Kayaking Lock 12
Friday, August 19, 2022 to Monday, August 22, 2022
Number of days:
4 days
100-Mile Weekend

Worton Creek to Hances Point Yacht Club, to Still Pond, to Rock Hall, and back to Worton Creek.  Waterspout off Aberdeen amidst thunderstorms on Monday!

Friday, July 29, 2022 to Monday, August 1, 2022
Number of days:
4 days
Weekend at Worton Creek

7/29 - Arrived Friday early evening and sailed out to greet inbound friends.  Gorgeous thunderstorm-passing-south breeze - 1st reef in main.  Back to anchor in the creek.  Late dinner at 8pm; cockpit bathing to cool off at 9pm.  Wonderful.

7/30 - Slept so well in cotton sheets with cool air drifting in through the hatch.  A heavy rain fell for about an hour around 10pm.  In the morning, Dobbs and I sipped coffee and read in the cockpit.  There was a nice breeze luring us out onto the Bay, and it was enough to carry us around Poole's Island and back to anchor in Worton Creek for a late lunch.  In the afternoon, Dobbs went sailing in Agility (the dinghy) and I cleaned Grace's bottom.  It was very slimy on the side exposed to the sun, and reason for a good long swim.  Later, I sat in the cockpit in the shade of the awning, playing penny whistle.  When Dobbs returned, he joined me with violin.  Jim and Crystal were anchored outside and dinghied in for some social.

7/31 - A replay of yesterday morning.  Then, in hopes of finding a morning breeze, we upped anchor and wafted out the creek.  Two and a half hours later, we'd gone 1.2nm (!) and were dropping anchor astern of Northern Star.  Dobbs and I ate lunch and swam over to visit Jim and Crystal.  A nice breeze filled in ahead of the rain forecast for this evening, so Dobbs and I excused ourselves for a lap around Poole's Island.  We returned to anchor at 4:30pm, pretty well played out.

8/1 - Happy Birthday, Jerry!  Back in to the docks after breakfast.  Not an impressive journey, distance-wise, but so worth waking up at anchor.

Sunday, July 24, 2022
Number of days:
1 day
The Pea Green Boat - Broke the Bowsprit Mount!

Woops!  A little overzealous on sail area in a breeze that built as Dobbs and I sailed from Red Point Beach to Havre de Grace and we were down a bowsprit and headsail.  The Pea Green Boat's mast is unstayed - the tiny jib is a "booster" to a large (for a 10' boat) gaff rig main - and so we continued under main for the rest of a 15-mile jaunt.

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