Took the '17 Key West in for annual service and winterization (Fawcetts) . Since we will be gone for our ICW trip shortly and not back until Thanksgiving, it is time to put this one to bed for the winter.
Century Club: mike pitchford
Saturday, September 19, 2020
Number of days:
1 day
Our new to us boat, a Legacy 32, which we refit over the winter 19'/20' still has a few problems to cure. One of them is replacement of the fuel tank fill and vent hoses. The latter was cracked on both tanks such that a full tank and elevated bow underway caused fuel to spill in the bilge. This is never a good situation.
After exploration of the problem and short term fixes (electrical tape around the cracked vent hoses), it was time to get it done right. The boat is headed to south FL for the winter (nothing good ever comes from winterizing a boat). Before the 1200 mile trip, I wanted to get her in the best shape possible.
Haven Harbour had done some refit work, including the hull paint and they seemed like a good place for the vent hose work. The tight confines of a smaller boat meant that some surgery was involved. The folks at Haven Harbour needed to remove the main salon/pilot house settees and cut a hole in the deck house side to access the top of the fuel tanks.
My scheduled day to move her from Annapolis to Rock Hall for surgery was Friday September 18 but the winds were howling over 20 knots out of the NE, just the direction I needed to go. So, I waited it out and moved her over on Saturday.
Wednesday, September 16, 2020 to Thursday, September 17, 2020
Number of days:
1 day
Found a couple large trees floating in the creek today. looks like they had been in the water for a while so not sure how then came to float free. Took the runabout off the lift and moved them both into another fallen tree on the opposite bank so they were again tied to shore and not a navigation hazard.
Friday, September 11, 2020 to Sunday, September 13, 2020
Number of days:
3 days
The boat was at Haven Harbour for some investigation. I picked her up on Friday and motored home to clean and provision for a weekend in Shaw Bay.
On Saturday we motored over to Shaw Bay on a sailoes day with a stiff wind flerting with 15 knots. Saturday afternoon we enjoyed a floating concert by the Eastport Oyster Boys and their warn up band, The Wye River Band. The announced crowd was 200 boats!
Sunday we motored home on what was clearly a motorboat day with very light winds.
Friday, September 4, 2020 to Monday, September 7, 2020
Number of days:
4 days
Sunset after Lake Ogleton concert
new facilities at HH South
Labor Day weekend started looking really nice, weather wise. We had no particular plans but got busy early in the week making some.
We reached out to friends and fellow cruisers, AJ and Cindy Whittle. We had done things together through the pandemic sequester. They were in our "bubble".
Working late on planning and wanting to avoid the biggest crowds we decided on anchoring and rafting the two boats the first night, Friday, to catch the waterborne concert on Lake Ogleton. As friends came by the raft actually grew to six boats, but just the two of us for overnight. the set-up with everybody staying on their own boat made for perfect social distancing.
Saturday we made the trip to Cambridge and took a slip at the Cambridge Yacht Club. Dinner was at Jimmy and Sook's. Sunday we made for Rock Hall and took a slip at Harrington Harbour South.
The Harrington Harbour folks are doing a fantastic job expanding South. By next summer it will be the place to be with an onsite bar and restaurant. This night we took their courtesy car and had dinner at Harrington Harbour North.
Friday, August 21, 2020 to Monday, August 24, 2020
Number of days:
4 days
Dodging some rain 15 boats began the cruise in Harness Creek on Friday evening. A socially distant happy hour (mostly dinghys tied to the swim platform of three rafted boats) lasted several hours. There is a certain craving of social interaction.
Saturday we made the crossing of the Bay to anchor in Dividing Creek on the Wye River. Surprise, another socially distant happy hour ensued.
Sunday most boats headed home but a few of us exgtended. We moved the few miles over to St. Michael's to tie up at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. A meal at the Crab Claw naturally followed as well as a walk into town for ice cream. Nice to do something so normal.
Sunday, August 9, 2020
Number of days:
1 day
new (to us) boat at launch after winter long refit
Son and daughter in law came over on Sunday for dinner. we went for a ride in the new boat to show of. We headed over to Annapolis proper, got fuel and motored slowly and carefully through Ego Alley.
Saturday, August 8, 2020
Number of days:
1 day
new dinghy, first time on the davit
Our new to us smaller and faster cruising boat required a new dinghy. The old dinghy, saved from the sale of our trawler, was 160 lbs by itself and over 260 lbs with outboard, fuel etc. But, we had a crane so the weight mattered not.
The new boat required a lighter and shorter dinghy to get it up on a Hurley davit, manually. Annapolis Inflatables was happy to provide us a new Achilles 270 aluminum RIB and a Torqeedo, seemingly the perfect option for a smaller boat. The Achilles rigged is just over 100 lbs and the Torqeedo is less than 30 so I cut the weight in half!
I picked it up a couple days ago and got it in the water and rigged. I went for a short test run and did the first test load on the Hurley davit.
Tuesday, August 4, 2020
Number of days:
1 day
Isaias had just passed. The storm had spoiled yet another plan to celebrate my wife's birthday. After COVID-19 changes and now weather changes we were on plan "f" I think.
On the morning of her birthday we lost power. It would be out for 30 hours. We couldn't even get our little Key west launched because the lift had no power.
By noon the storm had mostly cleared Annapolis. Friends on the creek came to the rescue. They ordered a fine take-out dinner and picked us up on their boat for a socially distant group dinner on their deck.