Century Club: Tim Ford

Thursday, May 5, 2022

Number of days:

1 day

as likely a spot as any
pretrial release hearing - conditions agreed
whoa...it's not a pickerel

Had a club meeting at 6pm, so decided to try a little fishing beforehand.

I had on a shad dart and a short piece of rubber eel trailing off the hook, and I was figuring on a white perch or two. Early on, I had a surprisingly strong strike, and a cast or two later, a fish on. I knew immediately is wasn't a perch, and was a little concerned it would be a big pickeral or even a snakehead. Either of those two would've been interesting to land on the boat, since I was in a kayak.

Luckily it turned out to be a nice striper. I know it's Trophy Rockfish season until May 15th (I think) but I was unsure of the min. size requirements.

Let's face it, I wasn't going to keep it away. A family member has a severe swimming fish allergy and there ain't no room in our fridge for piscatorial victories.

So I released it and it swam off, making sure to hit me with a splash from its tail fin as a THANK YOU.

Wednesday, May 4, 2022

Number of days:

1 day

MRSA Race 3 or something - NOAA fail

Swage from the kid's school makes a perfect prod plug
Left high and dry
nice evening...for something

Man, some days the NOAA forecast is spot-on, some days it's from Outer Space...

Wed morning, I was a little concerned b/c the Fx was for 10-15 gusts to 20 and I knew we were shorthanded, meaning the boat would be on her ear all evening and it would be wet outside of the cockpit. Well, there was breeze earlier, but like that really attractive person you dated in 1977, each squall brought in some level of optimism and excitement, but soon departed and left you absolutely nothin.'

It was super light. But major MAJOR props to the the MRSA RC for getting a race in.

They didn't shorten exactly according to the RRS, but hey come on, it's Wednesday Night and live with it. Someone took offense to the tactics the RC adopted on the fly, and had to mention over VHF that it wasn't exactly kosher. And yeah, they were right, but they lost any sort of moral victory.

Fact is, the "racing" was painful and folks were happy to cross the finish line.

Nice night otherwise and I did get a little "boat work" in, prior to MRSA.

Saturday, April 30, 2022

Number of days:

1 day

MRSA Spring Fling

Pre-start or slightly thereafter with Block Island 40 ALARIS in no wind
smiles with kite up DW in 7-10 kn breeze

Breeze in the river gave us a sense of optimism, in spite of the forecast calling for little to no wind. The nearest isobar was out in the Ohio River valley. Sure enough, just about at Start Time (for this unusual race), at our location, CBYRA Mark "J" there was pretty much nuthin.' We tempted the gods by deploying the anchor as the stiff ebb had us pealing away from the mark but in the wrong direction. That was all it took as, before the anchor found the ground, a little breeze showed up and maintained for the rest of the afternoon.

But it was not warm...not by any stretch.

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

Number of days:

1 day

Yet Another Gale Warning...

grouchy birds
in lieu of an anchor
key bridge data
no race for you

Seems like, lately, every week when I get a chance to be on the water, there's a gale warning. I got to PSA around 11:15 and did a chore I'd been putting off for a while, e.g., inserting 2 pressure treated 2x6's under the winch that pulls the i550 out of the creek. Of course, this took a lot longer than I had anticipated, such is doing any boat-related chore.

Decided to kayak to the back end of the creek to eat lunch. Ticket to fighting 15-20, puffs to 30+, was stick real close to shore and paddle like crazy when crossing any exposed places. A paddle hooked into a fallen cedar was sufficient to hold still and chow down for 15 minutes. Then I decided to tuck into the very back of the creek. A mating pair of osrey were not welcoming and created quite a racket.

Next was get to Incommunicado for the first MRSA WNR for us (we did RC last week). I always marvel at how the first race is always ALWAYS in 15-25, puffs to 30. And that would've been the ticket for last night, except MRSA wisely called off the race. Doing so, you always hear from at least one boat that second-guesses the RC. And as luck would have it, the breeze did lay down, pretty much, for the hours in which we'd have been on the course. But then it built again with gusts into the low and mid 30s.

Look, it's a Wednesday Night PHRF race. Why run the risk of someone getting hurt, or worse, for a week night handicap race?

It just isn't worth it. Good call MRSA.

Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Number of days:

1 day

RC MRSA WRN

ouch
good luck trolling
Charlie vs UV

Bit of RC duty on a lovely Weds. evening. First significant boat bite of the season. Rust never sleeps and it's a great idea to remember: never put your hand between a heavily loaded up anchor line and a cleat. Took a few shots with the long lens and forgot to remember: always use a shutter speed higher than the length of the lens.

Hooked a nice Bristol 30 on the ride back in, though.

Friday, April 15, 2022

Number of days:

1 day

Limulus sighting...what?

cart repair
seldom seen beaches
there really is a horseshoe crab here, trust me

Doing some glass work on the Club's decrepit carts, trying to squeeze another couple years duty out of them. While wating for the pox to kick, temps in the mid-high 60s, I put a kayak in to kill some time while the chemicals did their work.

One of the lower tides I've seen on Blackhole Creek and it's a pleasure beaching the boat and taking a leisurely ankle-deep wade in water that's usually 2 or 3 feet deep. The water didn't feel all that cold, which was a nice surprise. Other than that, it was a fairly unextraordinary paddle.

Until I was back on the dock, putting the kayak away. I noticed something in the water (besides the usual water snakes) and did a double-take. Holy crappo, it's a horseshoe crab! What the heck is a limulus doing in Blackhole Creek in mid-April?

Well, according to wiki, "Atlantic horseshoe crabs can be seen in waters that range from brackish (almost fresh water) to hypersaline (almost twice the salinity of sea water)"

Ok, but I've never seen one this far up in any brackish part of the upper bay.

Wednesday, April 6, 2022

Number of days:

1 day

Have a Gray Day

gray outside
hidden entrance
shoreside blind
theres an iggle in there...trust me

As luck would have it, temps remained in the mid-50s and I hate to do 'poxing in less than 60, so I launched a kayak at 1130 hrs. It was very gray. But the breeze was down and conditions were mild. I decided to head out of the creek.

Not a student of goose behavior, but this was curious: I was close inshore, near the old cement sea wall on the east side of the creek, near the mouth. A goose was heading in the same direction, paddling south, and I caught up to it within maybe 30 feet, which is pretty close. I don't speak Canadian Goose, but I was making a soft "HAAH-onk" every few seconds, which seemed to be reassuring the goose that I was "OK."

Meanwhile, about 100 yards offshore, another goose, I'm assuming the first one's mate, was making a racket which increased as the distance between me and goose number one decreased.

Next thing I knew, the offshore goose took off and flew directly at me REALLY PISSED OFF and veered into a sliding skid about 25 feet from me. I passed it inshore while goose number one did a 180. The offshore goose would not let up with the noise. In my interpretation, it was telling its mate, "WTF? You can't let a human get that close to you, are you crazy?"

As I rounded Chest Neck Point, he still hadn't let up....I hate to get involved, but hope its mate leaves him for some other gander more chill.

Interesting stuff along the north shore of the Magothy, including another hide-away spot which I won't give away.

Nice day on the water, with a Bald Iggle sighting on-shore and in flight...it looked like a 747 headed for BWI, at least compared to the hundreds of Buffleheads remaining on the river.

Wx: 55 F, breeze N-NNE 4 - 14

Critters: geese, buffleheads, bald eagle and lots of Osprey

Time: 2 hrs 25 minutes

Saturday, March 26, 2022

Number of days:

1 day

PSA Work Day

new floating dock installation
out to a mooring
another mooring candidate
Chris'es right tool for the right job.

One amazing aspect of PSA membership are their twice-a-year Work Party Days. This year's Spring Work Party is a prefect example, whereby 60-70 members show up, complete with every known tool in the universe, to GET STUFF DONE!

And it's also a lot of fun.

Stuff that got done was: a new floating dock to accomodate more dighnys and create space for PSA's small boat racing program, all the mooring pennants were installed, boats were moved on to their moorings for this season, the porch winter enclosure was removed and a general clean-up of the grounds, landscaping and leaf removal. DONE.

I got a chance to spend a little time moving two boats out to their spots, as the breeze continued to build and the skies grew uglier by the minute. Finally it was decided to throw in the towel with most of the work done and puffs in the 20s showing up.

We used a member's duck boat to move boats, including a heavy Tartan 34, which was the right tool, no doubt about it.

Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Number of days:

1 day

Boat work day - Wet and Legal

Simple upgrade that took seven years
picnic below
ugly job but sufficient
tiny cabin in need of new paint

The DNR says your boat needs the VIN (hull number etc) somewhere permanent on your vessel. For a lot of production boats, this is stamped into the transom somewhere. But for a backyard built boat, you need to DIY.

I have used the boat on bay waters for the past seven years, with just a piece of paper stashed securely below which technically isn't permitted. So in the rain, I engraved the I.D. into one of my boat's frames -- it isn't a work of art but it does I.D. the vessel.

Also got my Harken swivel base turned 180 degrees to sheet aft instead of forward of the base! I can't beleive it took me seven years to make this safety adjustment.

I was on the boat for almost four hours. I am super glad I built a boat that has a cabin with sitting headroom. There's something very relaxing about sitting, dry and snug, in the cabin of a small wooden boat. The space could accommodate one more person, probably. But three folks below would be what Adlard Coles refers to as being accommodated in "bitter enmity."

So being on a small wooden boat, on floating dock, in the rain, I'll take one of the boat work days and call it a day on the water!

Thursday, March 10, 2022

Number of days:

1 day

Good plan - until it wasn't

the culprit waiting to fail
achored and relaxed - right
not the ideal power source for a wide body sportie.

Plan was to do a little boat work, which went well. The rest of the plan was to actually LAUNCH THE BOAT for the first time in 2022. That too went well.

The plan was to use the electric motor to get to the very end of Blackhole Creek and then let the north-easterly breeze assist the motor on the way back. Motor upwind with what the crappy battery was able to provide, but don't worry because the boat has enough windage and is light enough to "sail without sails" back to the dock at PSA.

Frankly my confidence interval on this battery was near zero, and that seems to have been an accurate assessment of it's charge - near zero. I knew I had not given it an adequate session on the charger and that was further emphaiszed by the fact that the needle on the charger never went above 3, when it usually sits at 6 for awhile.

Face it the thing is toast. But it did get me all the way back into the far reaches of the creek. I anchored and took a few casts. Thankfully, no fish were interested in my lure. So after 30 minutes or so, I decided to switch on the Wx on the VHF and settle in for lunch.

Wait, what? Small craft warnings? SE 10-15? WHEN DID THAT POP UP?

So much for lunch. The breeze had already swung around to the south and was building. I decided to weigh anchor (it's a tiny lunch-hook style danforth) and head back to the dock. That's when the fight started. I got about 4 fifths of the way but the motor was losing it quickly...and I mean quickly. I was lucky to make it to the club boat ramp, but I still had to make it all the way around the T-pier, where a bunch of boats are rafted up over the winter. And of course that's where the most breeze was.

Plan B. Shove off from the boat ramp, paddle as far out as possible and grab an available bow pulpit and work the boat by hand around all the rafted up sailboats until you get to the end, then push off hard and pray that you make it to the proper dock.

Well, an i550 is not exactly a Whitehall Pulling Boat. First it doesn't track and second, windage wins over inertia any time -- I would say in winds above 6 kn. But we made it. I was sweating like it was 90 degrees instead of 50. And the stupid battery decided that, since we were now headed downwind, it would chip in enough ergs to let us crab sideways to the south in order to make my dock.

Lessons? Hell yes.

-If you know your battery is crap, don't chance it.

-If you have a weather radio, listen to it. Surprises suck.

-And even if you are just a few city blocks from your dock, you can still screw things up royally.

Century Club: Tim Ford

Pages