Century Club: Tom Dean

Decided to go to the Upper Chesapeake Sailing Facebook group meetup on Saturday October 28 at the Maryland Marina in the Middle River. Checked out the weather and decided to head out on Wednesday and try to make either swan creek or Fairlee creek (Fairlee preferred) for the first leg, stay for a day and then venture over to the middle river on Friday.

Wednesday the 25th - Left Lankford Bay marina a bit later than I wanted - got out of the slip, after provisioning, at 11:30.  Temp was 62-75, Barometer was 30.30 and falling.  Winds were out of the west at 5-10. Motor sailed down the Chester and saw a bunch of ships heading up to Chestertown for the Sultana Downrigging. Took pictures and shared them.   Got  the sails up around Kent island for almost the rest of the trip up to fairlee creek.  Turned on the engine again about 5 - as the wind had petered out (of course, as soon as the engine came on and sails were down... the wind came back up!) because I wanted to make the anchorage before sunset. Got in - only two other boats in the anchorage. Had a lovely evening and a fun sail.

Thursday the 26th. Spent the day at the anchorage, doing some work on the boat - but also taking the time to kayak around fairlee creek a couple of times.  Did both a morning kayak and an afternoon kayak... both for an hour or so. Prepped the boat for the next day sail.

Friday the 27th. Had the engine on at 9:45. Barometer was 30.14 and falling.  Temperatures ranged from 65 - 78. Winds out of the southwest at 5-10 under partly to mostly cloudy skies. Headed out of Fairlee at a little after high tide and headed across the bay.  Had never been to the middle river or on the other side of pooles island or anywhere near Hartt-Miller island - so this was all new.  Not many boats out - but some fishing around pooles island. Lots of crab pots still out!! The wind died out right around the entrance to the Middle River... but I saw another Pearson 35 - a yawl model right at the mouth and we had a nice conversation (no wind). Managed to slowly make my way up the middle river to Frog Mortar creek, where I turned on the engine to get up to the marina and into the slip. Arrived at 2pm and checked in.  First mate arrived that evening.

Saturday the 28th. Spent the time prior to the meet up on the boat and kayaking around the creek. The meet-up started at 3 and was a lot of fun.  Got a Upper Chesapeake Sailing burgee which I promptly put up. Nice group of people!

Sunday the 29th. The first mate departed after breakfast to drive back home. I left the dock at about 9:30 under cloudy skies. Temp was 62-70... so a bit cooler with the Barometer at 30.04 and falling.  Winds were out fo the NW at 10+ knots.  Got the sails up right as I got out of From Mortor Creek and had a fantastic sail all the way back to Lankford Bay Marina.  Was on a Port tack all the way down to right outside of Kent Narrows.  Wind died off a little bit there, but came on strong again once I was around Eastern Neck island.  Sailed all the way up the Chester and into Langford creek before dropping the sails and into the slip at about 5pm. Great sail - great weekend!

Beautiful day out there! Winds were out of the south a good 10+ knots - fairly consistent... not a lot of gusts. Temps ranged from 60 - 68, Barometer was 30.11 and falling. Skies were completely sunny when I left the dock at 10:30 and only a few clouds showed up later.. Still got the sails up quickly - did wait until I made the turn at the first daymark in Langford creek. Cut off the engine and sailed out into the Chester. Started out beating into the wind, then did some close reaches, beam reaches and then finally some broad reaches as I headed back to the marina. Lots of sailboats out there today - took a bunch of pictures.  Winds were nice - really very consistent - only a few gusts. Got the centerboard down and Bubbles was just flying!!

Had Bubbles hauled on Monday the 9th to have some work done to the hull and to have new through hulls put in (the boat had the originals!!) Wasn't expected to get it back until the the 25th or so - so finding it in the water on the 16th was fantastic so we had to celebrate by taking her out!.

There was a SCA out - Winds were out of the NW at 10 it with gusts to 15+ kts. Mostly cloudy - temps in the high 50s/low 60s. Barometer was at 29.98.  Headed out - got sails up early and headed down Langford Creek.  Let the first mate take the helm while I managed the sails. Headed out into the Chester and made our way towards Narrows Pt on Eastern Neck Island before turning around and heading back.  Lovely sail - had the genoa reefed the entire time which made it a pleasant ride - should have reefed the main also, but no harm no foul.  A lovely few hours out on the water to celebrate Bubbles being back int he water!

Temperatures were 67-75, Barometer was sitting at 30.15, Partly Sunny skies with the wind 5-10 knots out of the north. Today, the first mate again took the helm and instead of heading anywhere in particular, she just worked on her skills at different points of sail. She is still having problems pointing, but all other points of sail seem to go well for her - she just isn’t quite getting what the helm is doing - weather or lee helm - and how to steer the boat so that she takes advantage of that knowledge.  Mind you, it’s better, but still have a ways to go.  I manned the sails and tried to help tutor her through it. All in all - a great day of sailing!