Sailing On and After Nine-Eleven

Friends of ours (Charley and Sandy who have a boat like ours) were cruising up the Bay. They went from Mobjack to Onancock on the Virginia Eastern shore- pretty calm crossing. Then they went to Crisfield (Maryland Eastern shore) and the wind was on the nose and was pretty rough, but they enjoyed both stops. They were going to come over to Smith Creek to visit with us Monday 10 September, but were afraid that predicted thunderstorms would make it rough

Tuesday 11 September 2001

When the planes were crashing into the Twin Towers, I was on the internet using our only phone line. The TV was on in the other room but I wasn't watching it, nor was I paying much attention to it. Our daughter B was (and is) a pilot for AA, but she was flying out of Miami mostly to the Caribbean so even when I realized what was happening, I didn't worry.

She was actually in the air at the time on a flight from Miami to Philadelphia. She was grounded in Norfolk, and she tried to call me to tell me she was OK, but my phone was constantly busy. When she finally got connected she was quite annoyed.

Our friends had a rough trip coming across to see us, with big waves and the wind on the nose the whole way. We came down and met them at the marina,

Windstar at the dock

and we decided that the weather was not good enough (and they didn't want to go out in it again so soon) for us to go up to Solomons tomorrow, so we took them to Evans for dinner, and we watched the news of the day on a TV there (we can't get any TV reception at Pt. Lookout Marina and they'd heard about the plane crashes as they were crossing and wanted to see what had gone on).

They got the fried Captain's dinner, and had too much to eat - they couldn't eat the soft shelled crab, and the crab cake because they ate their favorites first. I just had a grilled rockfish because I know how much I can eat. Bob got steamed shrimp and couldn't finish his either. Evans is still the best place I know to get seafood at reasonable prices.

Wednesday, 12 September 2001

We visited them on their boat.

WIndstar at the dock at our marina

Charley does really nice woodwork

Inside Windstar

Interior Windstar

Bookshelf under the bunk

Charlie and Sandy's bird

Seat for the helmsman

After Charley checked on a leak that he was concerned about, and we had lunch (we ate the stuff left over from dinner the night before for lunch), we took them to the St. Clements Island Museum. St. Clements Island is the place where the Maryland settlers landed. It is up on the north shore of the Potomac, and has a big cross commemorating the one erected by the colonists. There are two piers (free) but I'm not sure how shallow a draft you'd need to get in there. There's nothing on the island now - it is just a park. [That was true in 2001 - but in 2008 the lighthouse was rebuilt] St. Clements was apparently a saint who drowned because he had an anchor around his neck.

The Little Red Schoolhouse which is on the grounds of the museum

I think D and B visited the museum with me a long time ago - probably in the 70s, but Bob had never been.

From the museum looking out toward St. Clements Island

The Museum is on the shore, and costs $1 and shows a lot about the original trip on the Ark and Dove (and the reason for it), and some ecology of the region. Our friend Charley who grew up in VA said he wasn't used to the VA settlers being viewed as the bad guys so this was very educationalfor him. (the charters for the two colonies overlapped and the VA colony was very resentful of the MD settlers). The only photos I took inside the museum were of two lighthouse models

Blackistone Island Lighthouse which was on St. Clement's Island (the island name was changed to Blackistone Island at one point)

Ragged Point lighthouse which no longer exists

Bob's mercedes was making a grinding noise in the brakes, so we switched to my car. I think I have a mouse in there. It ate a hole in my big pink MOM beach towel that D gave me some years ago.

Then we went by car to Solomons to the museum there,

Ship Carpenters

and toured the ecology section

Jellyfish

with all the sharks teeth etc.

Diorama of sediment with shark's teeth

and the lighthouse.

Drum Point lighthouse

I'd never been to the lighthouse before because the tickets to it used to be extra. We only had about a hour and a half there because we started late. Then we went back to the marina and Bob grilled salmon steaks, and we had green beans (from our garden) and corn on the cob and I had a swim in the pool, which was cold but relaxing. The mosquitos drove me back to the boat- they had followed my head around when the rest of me was in the water.

Thursday, 13 September 2001

We set out together for Solomons Island each on our own boat. We had a nice wind going down the Potomac, and I was able to take some pictures of their boat under sail.

Windstar under sail

Windstar under sail

We cut inside the horn off Pt. Lookout. They went farther out into the river - they are a faster boat than we are, but we know the region better than they do. After we got into the Bay the wind died, and we motored or motor sailed.

We got to Solomons (32.5 nm at an average speed of about 4.6 knots) about 3:30. We lost sight of our friends when they went into Solomons ahead of us. There was a Navy ship the TRANSPONDER anchored off the base keeping people the required distance offshore. We got fuel at Calvert Marina (it is usually the cheapest and also has a BoatUS discount), and Charley called us on the radio and said they were off our port quarter. They had gone up to the museum to take a picture of the lighthouse, as they'd forgotten their camera before. He said he heard the holding wasn't so hot opposite the museum, so he wanted to anchor in Mill Creek.

We both anchored between the G3 and G5. There was a big catamaran there also next to Charley and two other sailboats behind us. There was a sailing school apparently using Charley's boat as a mark. Our boats were swinging considerably on the anchors. Must have been the current, as there was no wind. I had some cell phone coverage and was able to email a short message out to let the family know what we were doing.

We ate dinner, and then we rowed over to their boat and I showed them the picture in the camera, but Bob flustered me so much that I couldn't find the cable to download them into the computer. They have a completely screened cockpit, so it's nice to sit and talk in the evening without worrying about mosquitos.

Outside of the cockpit enclosure when they were in the marina

Cockpit enclosure

The kerosene anchor light that Bob made up (from a lens in an old porch light, plus a lantern that he got relatively inexpensively, worked great. The wind picked up in the night (we had the windmill on, so we know when that happens). I got up at 3:30 am and was able to download some emails from pocketmail.

Friday, 14 September 2001

The boats are now all faced the other way but are still swinging quite fast. In the morning (about 7:30) I heard a tug operator say that it was 42 knots from the north out in the bay. Even in this protected cove, we see winds of over 20 knots. Since Charley's next destination was Oxford, we decided not to go anywhere. I found the cable and downloaded the pictures into the computer and edited them.

Windstar anchored with Charlie on the bow

It appears to me that both Charley and the catamaran are dragging. Charley confirmed this. It rains, but we are warm and dry in our enclosed cockpit. Ours arrangement is better for cold and rain,

Our cockpit enclosure with the "windows" rolled up

and we can put screens in if we want to. I hear the Navy ship ask to come in to the pier (for crew rest) because they are being rolled quite a bit and the anchor is dragging.

One of the sailboats that is now in front of us left, and another catamaran came in and replaced it. The sailing school is now using our boat as a mark, and as we lie in the aft cabin, we can see them whishing by the ports. After I get up to look out the cockpit and maybe take a picture, they all go back in. A motor boat with a black hull came up and anchored between Charley's boat and ours without having anyone go up on the bow or even be in the cockpit. They also didn't back down on the anchor at all.

Charley decided to move his boat as he had dragged into the channel and didn't want the motor boat to drag down on him, so he came up and anchored next to us, and I took some more pictures of his boat. We went over and gave him our pictures on disk, and he gave us some he took of us.

RosalieAnn at anchor from Windstar

Saturday 15 September 2001

It doesn't look good to go up the Bay before Monday, and I'd still have to get back by Weds. So we decide to go back today.

Coming out into the Patuxent is rough. The wind is right up the river and the waves knock us about quite a bit. As we get out to the mouth of the Patuxent, Bob puts up the jib, and when we turn downwind, he pulls out the main part way, and shuts off the motor. .

We surf down the bay doing 5.6 to 6 knots in 20-25 knots from the NE with basically just the jib and the main as a steadying sail and it is pretty comfortable. But we hear a warning on the radio about Gabrielle bringing 40 knot winds later that day which made me nervous.

So I was happy when we could turn into the Potomac at about 12:30 am, and the waves (which were not quite the same direction as the wind and about 4-5 feet) immediately get almost flat. We pull the sails in and motor. We are still seeing over 20 knots of wind but it shifts abruptly from the N to the NW. We get into the marina after 31.6 knots at an average speed of 5 knots, and we didn't have all the sails up at any time.

The wind is such that it pins us on the port side of the dock and no matter how hard I pull on the line, I can't pull us over into the slip. The dock rubs on the side of the boat (it is very high tide) and that makes Bob grumpy. However we do get tied up and get unloaded and get home by about 4.

When I logged on, I got 249 emails, and everything except one list was set to nomail. Not helped by people sending old editorials from the Vietnam war with tons of carbon copies, and Betty Schmidt-Miller's husband sending a photograph of the crash site, and people sending "pass it on" messages.

Sunday 16 September 2001

Bob found that one of the brake pads on his MB had broken in half, so he replaced the brakes, and I got a paper. I took the photos and
printed them out. Then we went over to where Charley had gone into a marina over in Solomons, and took them up to the grocery store and they took us out to dinner. I have to go get the mail and paper started again tomorrow.

I have a mammogram scheduled for Wednesday, and there is a Tricare seminar on Thursday.

Friday October 6, 2001
We went up to the Annapolis Boat SHow Oct 4-8, and met some friends that also had CSYs there

Annapolis boat show

Saturday October 20, 2001

The Oyster Festival was Oct 20-21 and we had a kind of family reunion. Our daughter B and her husband and their two children flew up and rented a car. They drove up to my mother's house and brought her down for it. Our daughter D and her children plus their significant others were there, and our daughter E and her family with the new baby that was born in April and her in-laws, and even Rob drove up for it.

Playing frisbee

The children played frisbee in our back yard

Rob's kids

E's son

D's youngest son

- they had pony rides at the Oyster Festival.

Waiting for the pony ride

Pony ride

E, daughter-in-law and Rob holding E's baby

E feeding the baby

Mother ate oyster stew

Mother at the end of the table

left to right - son-in-law, granddaughter's boyfriend, granddaughter, Daughter

B and E's father-in-law

Mother with B and D shopping in the craft fair

and she got to see the boat for the first time. E and D and their families went on home.

Son-in-law with two kids - eating with Bob

B and her daughter at dinner

My mother at dinner

B and her family, Bob and me and my mother all went out to dinner afterward.

This was our last outing until we started down the ICW for the second time.