Our daughter, Jenn, arrived with her boyfriend, Eric on August 28th for a one week visit.  We cast off from the marina the next morning to head to Annapolis, but encountered a mechanical problem when the starter battery seemed to be receiving too much charge.  We returned to the marina and had a technician check the wiring job Walter had performed while adding to our battery bank the week before.  After a quick addition of a cable to add the starter battery to the bank of house batteries, we were ready once again to depart.  We  motor-sailed the next day to Annapolis.
We arrived in time to tour the Naval Academy.  It is equivalent to the Canadian Forces Royal Military College, but much larger!!!  After viewing a short video that showed the training the young men and women receive over their 5 year program, we were impressed and wishing we were young enough to do it.  They choose only 1000 freshmen out of 20,000 applicants.  They spend their first summer being indoctrinated with military rules about dress, etc.  They have a rigorous physical training program.  By September they begin their classes.  They are allowed off campus one day per month.  Classes end by 2:00 p.m,. but then they have 2-3 hours of fitness training in their choice of sports...and they have many choices such as rugby, soccer, swimming, sailing, rowing, etc.  The grounds of the campus were stunning.  All of the students stay in the one dormitory, Bancroft Hall,  where they also have their meals. There is a museum that outlines the history of the Naval Academy and its role within world history.  For example, many of its graduates are astronauts.  The museum also has a huge collection of model ships and a workshop that builds and repairs model ships.  If you are ever in Annapolis, take the tour.  It's worth it!
Later that afternoon we motored over to Whitehall Bay, Mill Creek to eat at Cantler's Restaurant, famous for its steamed crabs and other seafood.
The following morning we had a nice wind to sail to St. Michael's.  We anchored there and dinghied ashore to explore the town and  indulge in ice cream.  Back on board, a quick swim off the boat was enjoyed by all to cool off.
Early on Saturday morning we hoisted anchor to sail to the Corsica River which is off of the Chester River;.   a distance of 50 miles.  We had a great wind (15-20 knots) that allowed us to fly along at 6 -7 knots until we reached the Bay Bridge where it subsided.  We had to motorsail the last few miles up the Chester River.
We met up with a few other boats from our marina.  They had organized a get-together where each boat chose a country to represent through decorations and hors d'oeuvres.  Jenn & Eric had brought Canadian decorations, clothing and ice wine  for us to use.  There were boats representing the Netherlands, Mexico, Italy, France, Great Britain,  to mention a few.  We gathered together aboard a raft of boats to share stories, food and drink.  Upon returning to our boat, we heard on the radio that a thunderstorm with winds exceeding 35 mph was heading our way. Concerned that the group of boats rafted near to us would swing too close, we quickly picked up our anchor and re-anchored at a safer distance.  We just got settled when the wind, lightening and rain struck.  We were cosy below decks and settled into our dinner, quiet reading, then a deep sleep.
The next morning we returned to the marina and enjoyed the pool here.  On Monday we went shopping at the outlet malls where Jenn amazed her mother at how quickly she can fly through a store picking out clothing that looks and fits great.  All too soon the week flew by.  On the last morning they helped us hoist Walt up the mast again to replace a VHF radio antenna.  We took them back to Baltimore to catch their flight back to Ottawa.  We are now doing chores such as creating a dipstick to measure the water level in the tank, changing the oil on the engine, securing jacklines that you can attach to in stormy weather if you have to go forward on the boat.  The time is quickly approaching that we will begin our sojourn south.

Until our next blog,

The chapel at the Annapolis Naval Academy. The crypt of John Paul Jones lies beneath. 

Bancroft Hall naval academy dormitory where the students ( Midshipmen) are housed.

Naval Academy training vessels coming in under spinnakers  in the evening hours.

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Civilian yacht approaching Annapolis under spinnaker as the day comes to an end.

Jenn and Eric with a steamed Bay blue crab doused in Old Bay seasoning.

Blue crab getting back at Eric.

Mother and daughter.

Father and daughter.

Cooling down at St. Michaels.

Perfect sailing conditions... Windspell is also happy!!

Windspell's Winch

Balistic nuclear submarine anchored off the naval academy in Annapolis.

Sparrows hanging out at the top of a mast- not a good thing if you enjoy clean decks...

First mate (actually the admiral) and skipper.

Sunset at our marina, spring Cove.

Eric with a civil engineering marvel in the background.

Two milliseconds before impact with a dock piling.

Walt getting high

Happiness!

Donna and Walter

  We had a month away from the boat while the winds on the Chesapeake Bay vaporized and the temperature and humidity soared. We thoroughly enjoyed our home in Muskoka during the month of July and got caught up with family and friends. There were also lots of swims and bike rides, runs and walks to somewhat restore fitness levels.  Upon our return, we quickly re-stocked food, water and fuel then headed off to cruise new territory.  We sailed across to the western shore to moor in Annapolis harbour.  After a few attempts to get the dinghy outboard motor started, we hailed a water taxi to take us ashore.  (The carburettor was gummed up again after leaving it sitting for 5 weeks.) We walked through the town exploring the State Capitol building standing on the spot where George Washington gave his resignation address.  We visited St. Anne's Church where Francis Scott Key worshipped. He wrote the Star Spangled Banner .  We also visited St. Mary's Catholic Church where Zimmerman, who wrote "Anchor's Away" was the organist.  We slurped  ice cream while listening to a bluegrass quintet perform by the waterfront.
The next day we were able to sail under Genoa  in 12-17 knot winds southbound on Chesapeake Bay to Solomon's Island on the Patuxent River.  We anchored in front of the Calvert Marine Museum with its historic screw-pile lighthouse.  Because the sands are constantly shifting with the tidal currents, we learned the lighthouses were built on platforms with legs that screwed into the sandy bottom.  We explored the old restored lighthouse discovering the bathroom (outhouse) that just emptied into the Bay, the icebox, coal-fired stove and the huge Fresnel lens used to shine a warning light out to vessels straying too close to Drum Point.   The museum has exhibits that describe how the Bay has changed over time in its natural and human history.  What a fabulous little museum!
The Patuxant River was pivotal in the final stages of the American war of independence from Great Britain in 1812 when Great Britain was actually simultaneously involved in three wars, one to help Canada stave off American invasion, another with France/Napoleon and the one centred in the Chesapeake Bay. The Americans were soundly defeated on the Patuxant River and the British went up the river and overland and sacked Washington. The British fleet however was later defeated near Baltimore further north. It was quite moving to be sailing in the same waters aboard Windspell that held so much history.
From Solomon's Island we headed north to the little town of Oxford on the Tred Avon River.  It's a sleepy little town with beautiful homes and gardens dating back to the 1700s. This port is actually the oldest on the Bay and has seen many boom and bust cycles over the past 300+ years. We both enjoyed a scenic and interesting run through town and while Donna perused quaint streets in the afternoon, Walter visited old boat yards. It was a trip back in time. We spent a quiet night anchored in Dun Cove off Harris creek near Tilghman Island then made our way back to Spring Cove Marina early the next morning, a run of about 45 miles.
This cruise was a good test for the augmented battery bank we installed which allows us to run our electronics/refrigeration for much longer without having to run the engine to recharge the batteries. We are now proud of another coat of varnish on the woodwork and a second VHF radio has also been installed which has the capability of identifying commercial and private shipping (AIS) to avoid collisions in poor visibility and at night. The AIS receiver is integrated with our GPS chart-plotter so that the ships actually show up on our electronic display and we can see who they are, how close they will come to us and how long this will take. We can then call them by name to make sure we don't have an unfortunate encounter.
 We are looking forward to having our daughter, Jenn, and her boyfriend, Eric, aboard with us in three days.They will be sailing with us for a week.We plan to head home one more time in September to winterize the house and we will start heading south by mid October. We hope to have two more sets of visitors prior to early October.

We'll keep you posted,

Donna and Walter

Calvert Marine Museum as viewed from our anchorage

A closer view of the museum with the screw-pile lighthouse in  better detail

The gardens around the museum

One very fat bumble bee

Sunrise in the Oxford anchorage while Donna gets her running shoes on and prepares to dinghy ashore

Early morning fog as the crabber is already into his second hour of the day.

Blue Crabs for sale

Accommodations in the lighthouse

Local Skates and Rays on display in the Calvert Marine Museum 

Fairy exhibit at the Anne Marie art garden on Soloman's Island

Windspell anchored in the background at Oxford

The white box attached to the lighthouse  is a spot for quiet contemplation except in a storm...

SV Windspell



 

Five students and one instructor met aboard the sailing vessel, Celestial, on Wednesday June 27 at 5:00 p.m. to review our itinerary for the next 8 days.  We went out to dinner together at the Waterman's Crabhouse to discuss a menu and prepare a provisioning shopping list.  Early the next morning we went food shopping then brought everything aboard to stow away.  Eric Petterson, our instructor, proceeded to show us from bow to stern, below decks, all of the equipment aboard the boat, so we knew where it was located and how to use it.  After a quick lunch we went above deck and again worked from bow to stern checking anchors, rigging, sails, lines, life raft and man overboard equipment.  There was a quick lesson to demonstrate how to safely send a crew member up the mast  in a bosun's chair to check rigging.  That evening we were assigned roles which we would rotate through over the next 8 days:  navigator, student captain, bosun, engineer, and emergency coordinator.  In addition, we  were assigned  "watches" of 3 hours duration during the day and 2 hour "watches" overnight  on a rotating schedule.  We worked in pairs on these "watches" with one person as duty officer and the other person at the helm.  As one watch ended, the helmsman went off to rest,  while the duty person became helmsman, and a new duty person would come on.  There were lots of chores as duty person to conduct.  The critical chore was to check our position along the course established by the navigator by taking bearings on objects ashore like radio towers or water tanks or lighthouses.  This is called "dead reckoning".  I  reckon you're dead if you screw up!  We were not allowed to use GPS and chart plotters!  The Coastal Navigation course we took last Fall was put to good use on this trip! This task became much more stressful at night when you could only see flashing lights of buoys or  solid lights of approaching ships.We learned how to take bearings on ships, and if the bearing didn't change over time we learned we were on a collision course and had to take decisive steps to avoid the collision.  Eric was very good at not jumping in, and telling us what to do.  Instead, he sat back and  supervised our decisions and was there to offer suggestions if we felt we needed them.  

But I'm jumping ahead...we left early on the Friday morning.  There was no wind so we motored up the Chesapeake Bay to the C&D canal.  We stopped overnight at the Summit North marina.  A huge thunderstorm passed through overnight, but I was so exhausted from the stress of navigating for the day, I slept right through the hail, high winds, thunder and lightning!  The next day we motored down the Delaware Bay, reaching the Atlantic Ocean late in the afternoon.  And so we began the offshore portion of our course.    There was more wind on the ocean, and a slight swell (3' seas) so the sails were set and we headed offshore and generally south toward the Chespaeake Bay entrance.  We sailed all night Saturday, all day Sunday and overnight to reach the entrance to Chesapeake Bay at dawn on Monday morning.  We motored into the marina in Hampton around noon.  After tying up it was a dash to the showers in the marina and then to bed to catch up on sleep. We woke up in time to go out for dinner in town and then back to prepare for our next stage -200 miles up the Chesapeake Bay.  Walter & Chris were navigating that portion. Walter was captain for the first half and then I was captain for the second half.  As we left Hampton on Tuesday morning, Walt observed 4 military vessels in a convoy approaching us outside of the shipping channel.  Realizing they were on a collision course he hailed them on the VHF radio, but they did not respond.  Following the navigation rules, he altered course to pass them port-to-port.  (Just like 2 cars approaching head on, you alter course to the right).  At that point, they did an abrupt left turn cutting across our bow.    An interesting experience...

The winds were light  from behind...perfect for flying a spinnaker.  We had 4 hours of being pushed up the Bay before an approaching thunderstorm prompted us to take it down. Overnight I became captain and awoke to being told that we had 3 ships approaching...2 in front and 1 tug overtaking us from behind.  I learned very quickly how to use AIS (automatic identifiction system) to identify the ships' names, see their courses and their closest point of approach.  In hailing the ships I was lucky to have each of them respond and we established courses to take to avoid collision.One very friendly tug captain even acknowledged me as "captainess"!  The wind picked up overnight and we had a good sail up the Bay reaching our destination of the Magothy river in the early afternoon of  Wednesday.  We anchored there and once again crashed to catch up on sleep.  That evening there were fireworks celebrating the fourth of July Independence Day.  The next day we motored back to our home port of Rock Hall.  Walter & I found it was an excellent experience.  We gained new skills, new knowledge and new friends! The confidence gained from the experience has also added new options to our future cruising plans which are still in a state of trying to be figured out.

Donna and Walter

Part of the six person crew of Celestial, with our instructor, Eric, on the far right

Sunset on Delaware Bay before the first overnight in the Atlantic

Do you think Donna is having fun?

Four hour spinnaker run  up Chesapeake Bay

Knot tying classes while running with spinnaker

Final dinner aboard  at anchor in the Magathy River

Later the same evening watching 4th of July fireworks

Donna's creative camera

It's up the bosun's chair to check the rigging

Celestial with storm trisail rigged for demonstration purposes

Celestial heading out into the Atlantic

So the next challenge awaits starting tomorrow when we will be thrust into a floating classroom environment for the following eight days as we become crew aboard Celestial, a 44 foot version of our 35 foot Winspell. There will be five students and one captain who will teach us how to sail on the open ocean and at night for extended periods of time. Donna and I have been studying navigation to knots for the past two days in preparation.

We have spent last week exploring the northern Chesapeake Bay which is almost fresh water and we had some good swims without jellyfish. We saw the Tall Ships depart Baltimore as well as several naval vessels including Canadians. It was good to see a Canadian flag other than our own.

It will be a while till our next blog as we circumnavigate the Delmarva Penninsula aboard Celestial. If you want more information, goggle The Maryland School of Seamanship-Delmarva cruise.

Until next time!

Donna and Walter

HMCS Iroquois leaving Baltimore harbour. Walt did dental exams on this relic in the early 80's

Equadorian Tall Ship

Crusty old Bay waterman, early morning, maybe that explains his crustiness-or maybe it was the lack of crabs...

Early morning coffee-Ahhh

10 knots of wind and 5.5 knots of boat speed-not bad

Check out the sail trim!!

18th century tea container with lock and decorated with paper scrap  swirls - an art form called "quilling".

The Harmon tobacco plantation main house where the "quilling" was on display.

From our anchorage at Worton Creek