Century Club: Tom Dean

Took the crew of Bliss - Sailboaters we had met through a mutual friend out on a sale around the Chester River on August 6. Headed out of the marina at 10:45 and spent 4 hours sailing out in the lower Chester. Tamra from Bliss took time at the helm. Had some decent wind - 5 to 10 out of the East.

8/7 - Winds 10-15 with 20 knot gusts - SCA. Went out and sailed down to Kent Narrows before turning back and then finally anchoring for the evening in Reed Creek. First mate took the helm for a while, but felt overpowered.  Bubbles performed well in the wind - rolled in the genoa a few times. Fun Sail

8/8 - Winds 10 knots out of the NE, Sunny and 80. Sailed out of Reed Creek about 9:15 and headed out into the Chester to sail around a bit. Today's emphasis was talking the First mate into sailing at various angles to get to a spot that could not be reached by sailing straight to it. Gave her three different places to go and let her choose how she was going to get there - she hit each one - with some guidance along the way. My job was to handle the sheets and adjust the sails - which was fun.

8/1 - The oppressive heat finally left us, so we got Bubbles ready and headed out the morning of August 1. Our hope was to sail up the Chester, maybe to Chestertown. The winds were out of the NNE blowing sustained in the teens with gusts above 20. There was a SCA out and it was overcast with temperatures only topping out at 75 degrees. We saw the Sultana sailing down Langford Creek so we got sails up quickly and the race was on!  We beat her out of the creek with only sails (Sultana dropped sails and started motoring). Once out in the Chester we tested our limits - how close to the wind could we sail and if we were going to be able to sail through Spaniard neck and up the Chester. It was obvious after a few tacks that sailing up the river would be close to impossible, so we sailed around the basin, had some fun and then decided to head into Reed Creek to anchor for the evening.

8/2 - After breakfast and checking the forecast, we decided to head up the Chester and see how far we could get.  Wind was still coming from the NE, but only at 5-10 knots with some gusts into the low teens. We put the main up while on anchor and then pulled the anchor and motored out of Reed Creek into the Chester, got the other sail up and then cut the engine and headed off. Had to tack back and forth quite a bit - and we found the wind to be a bit shifty - but the shifts were to our advantage. We made it through the Spaniard Neck cut with no issues but with a lot of tacking back and forth.  That continued as we sailed up the Chester...which seemed to make all the powerboats a bit nervous! We dropped anchor at Quaker Neck a little after one, ate some lunch and then brought out the assymetrical for our sail back down (we realized there was no way with the current wind direction that we were going to be able to sail to Chestertown. We raised the genniker after our lunch and raced back down the Chester - seeing up to 6 knots! The winds died off about the time we reached Spaniard neck, so we limped back to Reed Creek and anchored.  Fun to be sailing again just for the sake and fun of sailing!!

Wanted to head up north to see an former colleague of mine back when I was teaching, so we loaded Bubbles up, provisioned and headed north for the better part of the week!

7/14 - LBM to Still Pond. Left the marina at 10:45. Our initial intention was just to get to Worton Creek, but we were making good time so we decided to push and we got to Still Pond, dropping anchor about 5:45. Wind was on our nose for most of the day. Got the Genoa up when we were able to. Cool, cloudy with some light rain at times. 

7?15 - Still Pond to mooring at Sailing Associated. Pulled anchor at 7:45am and proceeded north. Mostly cloudy but it did get sunny and warmer as the day went on. Again, wind out of the north, so got the Genoa up for most of the journey - and did also get the Mainsail up for the sail down the Sassafras. Got on the mooring about 10:15am.

7?17 - Went out for a sail with my former colleague. Picked him up from his marina at 10 and we quickly pulled off the mooring and headed out.Great winds out of the south 10 knots with gusts up to the high teens. Very warm day - no, make that HOT, but with that much wind we didn't really feel it. Got back on the mooring at 4pm - first time my friend had picked up or dropped off from a mooring ball.

7/18 - Started the journey home. Dropped off the mooring at 9:30 heading south. We were thinking about dropping the anchor either in Worton Creek or Fairlee Creek, but then we heard about the Poker Run for both the 18th and 19th and decided to head well past that and into Swan Creek. We didn't miss the excitement though for a little after 11, I am guessing somewhere in the neighborhood of 60-70 go fast boats were flying up the bay right past us. Nice day for a sail as we had north winds blowing 7-12 knots helping to push us down the bay.  Dropped anchor in Swan creek at 3pm. We decided to stay in Swan creek on Saturday - and enjoyed a leisurely day in the water. Lots of boats came out and anchored in the anchorage for the day.

7/20 Swan Creek to LBM. Waited until. 11 to head out as winds were forecast to pick up around that time. Winds were supposed to be out of the west - but it was more like SW. Started off nicely with winds in the 8-10 with some gusts - but by the time we got into the Chester, the winds died off and we had to turn the engine back on. Got a bit more sailing in  after we rounded Eastern Neck island, but unfortunately, the winds died off yet again. Got back to the marina and in slip by 3:30.

June 20 - headed up to Fairlee creek fron Lankford Bay Marina. Was able to sail almost the entire way - made me very happy and made good time. Not too much traffic going, but lots of boats in the creek - some rafted up.  Went a bit further down the creek to stay.away from the yahoos. Headed in to meet friends in the evening,

'June 21 - went off for a kayak ride first thing in the morning. Went down the creek sways, before coming up to explore the north part of the anchorage. Was able to get a nice hour and a half paddle in before heading back to bubbles to start the day. Spent tohe day over at the pool and beach with friends.

June 22 -- had another good paddle, took the dinghy in to say goodbye to friends, then got everything situated and left about 9:15. Wind was in our face most of the day, so not an opportunity to sail until we got back into the Chester, but the wind vanished as soon as we got the asymmetrical up. Fun weekend though!