2025 Chesapeake Bay Cruise

 

It’s day one of the May 13-17 2025 104. Ryan, Bob and I got to know Acadame while a slow drizzle fell outside. Bob had just completed 103 and had done a fair bit of racing at home on Lightnings and Flying Scott’s. Bob’s goal will be to work on piloting this week. Ryan, who has completed 107 Celestial, 105 coastal navigation, 101 and 103, already had strong navigation skills but was hoping to work on sailing. Such a great pair as they will be able to help each other work on their respective goals! Next, we went through the MSS Training Plan to get a full understanding of systems and rigging. That took us to noon when we returned to the classroom for lunch and to plan provisioning.

Bob and Ryan started on charting which included waypoints, latitude, longitude for waypoints, course, distance and ETA to our first destination to a mooring ball in Swan Creek. Not done yet, they then checked the light list, weekly light list and local notice to mariners for any additional information on our route. While Bob and Ryan worked on charting, I ran to the store for our 4 breakfasts, 4 lunches and 2 dinners. Lucky for us here at Rock Hall, there is a nice local produce market and scored local tomatoes, zucchini, strawberries and other provisions. I lugged our sustenance back to the classroom and interrupted Bob and Ryan to get some help lugging the food onto the boat. After cold stuff was stowed in the fridge and dry goods behind seat cushions, everyone went back to charting. We finished about 5 pm and headed to dinner with our buddy boat that was on another 104 class with (Captain Doug and his 3 students). We all headed out to Waterman’s Crab House. Buddy boats always make class even more fun as we exchange ideas, experiences and pictures along the way.
 

On day two it was still raining so we had a leisurely start while we had coffee, finished up navigation planning and waited for the morning system to pass. We were off by 1030 and made our way 18 nm down the Chester and into Swan Creek. Everyone did well learning the nav routine and we were neatly tied up on a mooring ball in Swan Creek by 4pm. Ryan took the lead on dinner which was chicken with a sauce of cherry tomatoes, rosemary, garlic making the boat smell amazing. I’m a weirdo vegan so I had that sauce over some beans and rice. All very happy.

Day 3 we had an early start off to St Michael’s. No wind so motor, motor, motor. Not that bad of a fate though because we were very busy with the nav routine. There is much to do and learn so we took our time, made excellent navigation narrative notations and had time to really maintain excellent situational awareness and work charting skills. We rolled into the pump out dock at St Michael’s marina around 3pm and snug in our slip by 4pm. The hot sun came out and were all ready for showers. Met up for dinner at 7pm at Foxy’s restaurant and had a beautiful historic stroll down for ice cream after. No doubt about it, St Michael’s is perfect for that.
 

Day 4 we had our earliest morning yet as we had to be off the dock by 7 to make the 9:30 Kent Narrows opening. We were eager to make 9:30 in order to arrive just after high tide and just before slack. Worked perfectly and little traffic which allowed for a very low stress passage through Kent Narrows where channels on either side can be tight and current through the draw bridge can be intense. After that navigational challenge, the wind started to pick up! Wind! Sails up and out. Wait, what’s that big dark cloud behind us? Sails down, shoulders hung low. A weather system was barreling down on us from the North. When that passed so did that delicious wind. We putted around waiting for more but gave up and went to our anchorage on the Corsica. We worked on a forked more and settled down to a 104 book review. Good thing too because a second huge squall passed through and let me say we were very happy we had two anchors down. Scholarship was next to us and both boats survived the event swimmingly well. We were in the middle of making pasta so it got a little hot down below because hatches were closed as the rain hammered down. Dinner? Doctored up Prego sauce with sautéed onion, garlic and rosemary. I sautéed Zucchini in butter and rest of the garlic, onion and rosemary. Made salad too. Dessert was cheese and apples. Muy delicioso. Always tastes better on a boat.
 

Day 5, only day with forecast wind, was leisurely but not too leisurely because we finally are going to sail for real. We excitedly got our anchors up, cleaned up (Sticky Chesapeake mud everywhere but we over came) and out back into the Chester. Gorgeous hour and a half sail. Made our way back to Langford Bay Marina for a pump out, fuel and back into our home slip. We cleaned the boat, ate a quick sandwich and met up in the classroom for the test. Ryan and Bob nailed the exam of course. Two more 104 level sailors off to safely sail the seas.