Century Club: mike pitchford

View mike pitchford's Profile
Friday, June 25, 2021 to Sunday, June 27, 2021
Number of days:
3 days
AYC cruise to Oxford
  • AYC boats at TAYC

The Annapolis Yacht Club Cruising Fleet had a great weekend visiting Oxford June 25-27.  Blue skies with comfortable winds and temperature added to the enjoyment.

The Tred Avon Yacht Club served as host and welcomed our fleet of 40 boats and over 10 crew with grace and comfort.  We enjoyed cocktails on the docks Friday with bright sunshine and seasonal temperatures while watching the Friday night races.  Saturday started with an interesting and quite entertaining docent lead tour of Oxford filled with history and stories about the town, its people, and buildings.

The Tred Avon Yacht Club pulled out all the stops for our dinner Saturday evening. Great food, a fine venue, and outstanding camaraderie made for a very fun evening. Many thanks to the leadership, management, and staff of the TAYC with a call out to Tom Campbell, TAYC Commodore, and Vicky Van Loo, the club manager, for their fine hospitality!

On Sunday, the finale of the cruise was a bike ride starting and ending at the Oxford Ferry. Bill Walczak organized over 20 bikers and ensured they had maps to get back. 

Thursday, June 24, 2021
Number of days:
1 day
Great morning row

Think I am getting the hang of this!

Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Number of days:
1 day
getting the O'day Daysailer ready to sail again

My 1984 DS II came back to the Bay and my care after an extended period of neglect.  I began restoring it last fall but it spend the winter covered on the lift getting little attention.  I had the wooden parts, tiller and hatch boards rebuilt and worked today reassembling her and getting her ready to sail.  

Tuesday, June 22, 2021
Number of days:
1 day
Boyz Book club by boat, again, finally
  • Boyz Book club shuttle craft

Since 2009 I have had the pleasure of being a member of the Chesapeake Boyz book club.  The group has been fairly steady in membership,10 to a dozen of us.  We are old guys broadly spread politically but tied together by boats and the Bay. 

Over time some have moved to Florida and one has passed on to the big book club in the sky. We have a core of members from the beginning and some new old guys along the way to bolster our ranks.

The attraction is not so much the books as the comradery, opportunity to discuss worthy issues raised by the read and generally solve the problems of the world, at least in out minds.  

For the past year and a half we have done our almost monthly meetings by Zoom.  In May, with COVID on the decline, we had our first in person gathering, a raft up of several boats in Whitehall Bay.

Today we had our first since COVID gathering at our of our homes.  This is more our norm and it was nice to get back to same.  And, since it was on a nearby creek, I got to go by boat!

Saturday, June 19, 2021
Number of days:
1 day
a three boat day!
  • Father's Day creek cruise

Father's Day weekend just had to be a boat weekend for a boat owning father and grandfather (me). Saturday started with an exercise run in the rowing dinghy.  Shortly thereafter the first part of the family arrived, son, daughter in law and first grandchild. She was now two and owing to COVID had not been properly exposed to boats and the Bay.

fortunately she immediately gravitated toward the water.  We hustled her into her life jacket and launched the inflatable for a short row so she could touch the water.

Later in the afternoon the family loaded onto the trusty center console and cruised about the creek, stopping to visit with friends.

Friday, June 18, 2021
Number of days:
1 day
post COVID dinner, getting back to normal
  • our dinner shuttle

In a sure sign of getting back to normal six of us (all long vaccinated) enjoyed a nice crab cake dinner outside at one of the group's home.  As is out custom on the creek, we took the little boat over rather tan drive.  It is actually closer by boat though it takes a bit longer to park :-)

Thursday, June 17, 2021
Number of days:
1 day
A two boat day!
  • morning row vehicle
  • shuttle to downtown and easier to park

Went for a row in the morning and later took the 17' center console over to downtown Annapolis for lunch and afternoon meetings.  Easy to park!

Tuesday, June 15, 2021
Number of days:
morning row
  • ready for a morning row

This  morning the exercise choices were many.  I could walk/run, ride the bike and also take a row on the newly restored rowing dinghy. The pleasant weather after the overnight resin empowered the latter and so I chose that.  Very nice. 

Monday, June 14, 2021
Number of days:
1 day
Getting the "creek boat" ready for the season
  • ready for the season

Summer is upon us and moving fast.  Temps have been up and down but the solstice will be here before we know it. I worked on and completed summer season prep for our little creek boat, including replacing the starting battery.  Naturally I had to go for an evening test run!

Saturday, June 12, 2021 to Sunday, June 13, 2021
Number of days:
2 days
AYC Cruise to Harness Creek
  • round robin dinner and hapy hour

Friday was foreboding with rain all day and cool for June temps.  The Friday part of this cruise was skipped for most.  Saturday opened up cool with a slight off and on mist but the day promised to get better.  By the Saturday lunch and round robin dinner/happy hour at anchor over 40 folks had joined on dozen boats and a few land yachts. 

Pages