2025 Chesapeake Bay Cruise

Captain Frank and the crew, Lloyd, Ray, and Susan, spent the first day getting familiar with the boat, preparing the navigation plan for the first travel day, and provisioning.  On the second day, after a thorough look at all of the boat systems during the pre-departure checks, Skipper of the Day Lloyd conned the boat out of the slip at Lankford Bay Marina and got the boat headed for the Chesapeake Bay.  

On our way down Langford Creek, we did navigation reviews and discussed the aids to navigation we passed along the way.  Out into the Chester River, we continued our passage down the southern leg and around the south edge of Eastern Neck Island.  It was there that an alarm on the engine started screaming.  It was the first of the emergency casualty drills!

After silencing the alarm, the crew came up with an action plan to get the boat towed back into port and “contacted” the Coast Guard and TowBoat to arrange for assistance.  Then, Lloyd took a three-bearing fix to determine our location after drifting for 30 minutes, and we were soon back on track.

We continued on to our mooring ball in the Swan Creek Marina and, while Captain Frank prepared dinner, the crew prepared the navigation plan for the second travel day.  After a delicious dinner of salad and chicken, we bedded down for the evening as the sun dropped below the horizon.

The next morning dawned early and cloudy, with far more wind than had been present the night before.  Once out of Swan Creek, Skipper of the Day Ray had the crew set the headsail for a downwind run for the Bloody Point Bar, and we were soon passing underneath the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.  Shortly after this, we noticed a change in the engine sound and, after doing some quick troubleshooting, we discovered that there was a partial blockage of the thru-hull to the engine.  After shutting the engine down, Captain Frank was able to do some magic, and the water was flowing freely again.  Was this a drill?  No, for once, there was an actual issue that the crew had to deal with, efficiently and effectively.  Since we had had an engine casualty drill the day before, Captain Frank decided not to count this, leaving Skipper Ray to continue to worry about what would go wrong!

About an hour later, after we had turned up into Eastern Bay and were now motor-sailing in a deep close reach, there was a loud banging sound, and the portside backstay broke free.  This, then, was the drill that Captain Frank had been preparing!  Turning the boat into the wind to take the pressure off the remaining backstay, the crew rigged the main halyard to replace the broken stay and then “arranged” for a tow back to Lankford Bay Marina to get the rigging staff to replace the broken line.  After wrapping up the drill and restowing the boat, Ray did a three-bearing fix and determined the course from our location to the next waypoint.  We were underway again.

After another hour or so of travel, we made our way into St. Michaels’ Marina, where we tied up in slip 33, stern in and starboard side to.  While the crew finished up the navigation plan for the last travel day, Captain Frank did some minor maintenance and brought the paperwork up to date.  Dinner was at Foxy’s restaurant, and afterwards, the crew was on their own to explore the town.

The next morning, unfortunately, Susan had become ill and was forced to leave the boat.  Captain Frank stepped in as Skipper of the Day, and we were underway for the Kent Narrows Bridge.  Along the way, we discussed the various cloud types and how the wind and current could affect us going through the narrow confines of the lift bridge.  By the time we arrived at the bridge, the crew was well-prepared for the transit.  In fact, we did so well that we were able to sneak through on the opening, a half-hour earlier than we had anticipated.  

Lloyd handled all the radio communications easily while Ray piloted us through the bridge.  Then Lloyd took the wheel for the tricky northern channel [assage and we were out and headed for the red number six buoy in the Chester River.  As we passed it, we stopped for a moment to contemplate what we had accomplished over the three days - a complete circumnavigation of Kent Island.  

Shortly after this, Captain Frank discovered a weeping fuel fitting at the engine where a bolt had been a little over-torqued.  In assessing the situation, he decided that, while it would not affect the class, it was the sort of maintenance item that could be dealt with quickly in port, so the crew decided to forgo anchoring this evening and returned to Lankford Bay.  While Captain Frank replaced the offending part, the crew cleaned the boat up and prepared for dinner.  After a dinner of pasta and salad, the crew enjoyed an evening of discussion and laughter.

In the morning, we went back out and performed the compass deviation check run that we had hoped to do at the beginning of the class, but were thwarted by the sun’s position.  Then, we went up to Cacaway Island and performed a Bahamanian mooring, while discussing the advantages of various mooring and anchoring techniques.  After recovering the anchors, we returned to Lankford Bay Marina for the pumpout dock, the fuel dock, and finally our own slip.  As we pulled the gear off the boat and wrapped up the class, we were satisfied with a trip well-spent and were only sad that our third crewmember had been forced to miss out on the second half of the cruise.