Century Club: Don Frick
Spent the afternoon sailing off Rock Hall with 18-20 knots of wind and full sails pushing Allure much harder than usual with fellow marina mates Gus and Peter.
Anchored in Queenstown with the Flot
Downwind run to St Michaels
Sunday, we dingyed out to the fottila raft for a sundowner and planning the next days destination. Monday we sailed over to Bodkin Creek where we anchored for lunch and then sailed to Eagle Cove where all 7 seven boats rafted together. Just after entering the Magothy River, a storm came through with thunder, lightining and white out rain that lasted about 15 mintues.Winds during the storm touched 48 knots. Tuesday we sail up the Chester River and rafted up on Queenstown Creek. Wednesday, we sailed down to St Michaels where we anchored individually in the harbor and all dingyed into town for dinner. After dinner, we motor overed to Leeds Creek where we rafted for the night. Thursday we sailed to over to an achorage on the Rhode River. Friday, we broke off from the group and sailed back to Rock Hall.
Learning to tie a cleat hitch
At the helm
Friday night I sailed over to Spring Cove Marina and met up with Cool Change and Charis. The Sea Cadets arrived Saturday morning and after intorductions, we boarded the boats. There were 6 cadets on Allure and each was assigned a starting station (helmsman, navigator, port trimmer, starboard trimmer, lookout and cabintop trimmer) prior to leaving the slip. As we sailed accross the bay, the senor cadet was in charge of rotating the cadets through each station. We anchored for lunch in Bodkin Creek and after some swiming we roared back accross the bay on a beam reach and then had a cookout at Spring Cove. All had a great time.
Our son, his girlfriend, his college roomate and his fiance joined us onboard for the weekend. We sailed over to Annapolis on Friday morining arriving at the Yacht Basin just before a 40 hour strech of moderate to heavy rain. The positive is that Annapolis was empty so we were able to visit several bars and resturants without the usual large crowds. Sunday morning, the rain gave way to overcast skys and we sailed back to Rock Hall.
We left Burnt Store Marina about 10:00 on Friday morning for the planned 28 hour trip to Marathon Key on Selkie, my sister and brother-in-laws new to them Catalina 42 MKII. The wind was 15 knots out of the east and forecast to build to 20 knots so we were able to sail down the west coast of Florida past Sannabel Island and then Fort Myers Beach. As the winds increase during the afternoon, the autopilot decided to quit so we hand steered the rest of the trip. By evening, the winds had built to the upper 20s and shifted to a more south easterly direction making it difficult to sail so we furled the sails that were still out and motored the rest of the way to Marathon. During the night, we saw the wind touch 30 knots and the sea were 4 to 6 feet making for a bumpy ride. We arrived in Marathon a little after 13:00 on Saturday, cleaned up the boat, made some minor repairs to the rub rail and then rested. Sunday, the wind was out of the east so we motored east in Hawk Channel to Channel 5 where we went inside to the ICW and continued to the inside of Islamarado anchoring in Cowpens Anchorage, a beautiful spot. Monday we motored up the ICW to Crandon Park Marina on Key Biscayne with the skyline of Miami as a back drop. Tuesday, Myra and I got off the Selkie and flew back to the Chesapeake area on Wednesday. Selkie continued up the coast over the next 6 weeks arriving in Rock Hall in early July.