2011 Chesapeake Bay Cruise


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Course: ASA 104 Intermediate Coastal Cruising 
Date: July 2-6, 2011
Vessel: IP-32 ACADAME
Students: Frank Crumb, Serban Nicoleascu, Tom Veltry
Captain: Eric Petterson
 

7/1/2011
Captain Eric Petterson arrived at Lankford Bay Marina at 1100 to check out Acadame and prepare for the students.  At 1330 Tom Veltry arrived, followed by Serban Nicoleascu.  After brief orientations to the boat and unpacking, everyone went to dinner at Waterman’s in Rock Hall.  At 2200 Frank Crumb arrived.  At this point a brief discussion of the week’s activities was held and students began planning meals and menus before retiring for the night.

7/2/2011
The morning brought an early shopping run to the local grocery store for provisions.  Following this activity we began thorough reviews of the boat’s systems.  Plumbing, electronics, engine, ground tackle, running rigging and sails were reviewed.  In the process we cleaned the boat’s knotmeter transducer and raw water strainers.  The dock departure process was discussed, including standing turns and power maneuvers.  Weather forecasts were obtained and an itinerary for the class was tentatively agreed to (weather dependent).  The navigation techniques to be used were reviewed, including how to obtain positions using LOPs and dead reckoning.  From this, the afternoon’s navigation was planned to guide us to our first night’s anchorage in the Corsica River.  Other lessons discussed included “rules of the road”, harness usage and safety, weather forecast sources, and anchoring techniques and procedures.  Finally at 1510 we departed in calm conditions and motored to the anchorage.  The anchor was down and set at 1655, after which dinghy operation procedures were discussed.  Daily student assignments were made of “Capatin”, “Navigator” and “Engineer/Bosun”, and the responsibilities of each of these roles was discussed. The next day’s navigation to the Magothy River was completed by the assigned navigator.   Total distance logged for the day was 7.0 nm.

7/3/2011
During the night a thunderstorm made itself known, so all were able to experience first-hand the security of an anchor well set with proper scope as the wind gusted in the storm.  Acadame held her position perfectly!  An early morning departure had been planned by the navigator due to possible afternoon storms so we raised anchor at 0710.  Winds were again very light so we motored out of the Corsica and into the Chester River, finally setting sail as we rounded the southern bend of the river.  From here we had a pleasant sail across the bay in SW 5-10.  After reaching the mouth of the Magothy we were able to practice an MOB “quick stop” maneuver, as well as reefing procedures for the sails.  Finally we reached the anchorage at the north end of Gibson Island and had the anchor down at 1310.  Lessons for this afternoon included knots and general 104 knowledge reviews.  Students took the dinghy for brief exploratory tours of the anchorage area.  Total distance logged was 28.1 nm.

7/4/2011
The anchor was up the next morning at 0900 and we were underway.  Winds for the day were forecast to be very light; the weatherman turned out to be correct.  Therefore we motored down the Chesapeake in 0-5 knot winds, making our way to the West River.  Here we pulled up to a fuel dock for a pump-out of the holding tank, and then progressed to the Rhode River for our overnight anchorage where we had the anchor set at 1415.  After anchoring we held an instruction session on the operation of the diesel engine and how to do basic diesel engine maintenance.  Total mileage for this day was 24.8 nm.

7/5/2011
At 0805 the anchor was up and we were underway again, but again in almost calm air.  We motored out of the anchorage to the main body of the bay and motored across the bay to Bloody Point.  In the process, the navigator of the day conducted exercises of our “set” caused by the south flowing current in the bay.  The results matched very well to the predictions prepared the night before from the current tables.  As we turned onto the Miles River for the last run of our route to St. Michaels, the wind picked up nicely and we had a very nice sail for the last several miles.  We arrived at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in a slip at 1315.  After a brief rest and showers, the students took their 104 written tests and all passed.  A celebratory dinner was held at the Crab Claw Restaurant.  Total miles for the day were 23.2. 

After dinner the route back to Lankford Bay was planned through Kent Narrows, an area of shallow water which requires planning for the passage based on tides and currents.  A 0730 departure time was chosen to optimize the tidal conditions.

7/6/2011
During the morning’s engine check by the engineer of the day, water was discovered beneath the engine.  This problem was eventually traced to a cracked hose in the raw water cooling system.  With no local sources of replacement hose available, a temporary repair was finally constructed to allow us to depart, but somewhat behind schedule.  We pulled out of the slip at 0835 which allowed us to arrive at Kent Narrows only an hour past our target time, so the passage was still without difficulty.  This was a great lesson as to why one must conduct daily engine checks.  After passing through Kent Narrows we set sail in the Chester River back to Lankford Bay, and had the best sailing of the class.  Upon arrival at the marina we managed to get in some more time with docking practice as well as practice picking up moorings.  At 1515 we pulled into the slip.  Mileage for the day was 24.2, bringing the class total to 107.3 nautical miles. 

Captain Eric Petterson
Aboard IP-32 ACADAME
Rock Hall, MD

 



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