Granddaughter Quinn was with us for the night. This morning she wanted to go for a boat ride. The weather was cooperative and so the plan was confirmed. Of course, underway she also wanted to drive.
Century Club: mike pitchford
Friday, October 27, 2023 to Saturday, October 28, 2023
Number of days:
2 days
We have nice fall weather for a few days here in late October. The boat and crew are headed south on the ICW to Florida beginning early November. The weather was perfect for annual and pre-trip maintenance.
Yesterday was oil change day. The Cummins main engine and the Onan Generator got new oil and filters. The day started with a short trip over to Annapolis to fuel up for the trip and make sure the engine and generator were warm for the following oil change.
The work itself took about two hours, with moire than a few "yoga like" moves in the engine room. The oil change pump is clearly the real champ in any oil change.
The transmission is on a 500 hour cycle so I will wait on that oil change. Today I will change the fuel filters and impellers. Once done a short trip back into the Bay will assure me all is ready for the 1200 miles to come.
Wednesday, October 18, 2023
Number of days:
0 days
Haven Harbour finished up some remedial items related to the earlier work and installation of dual Racor filters. It was a nice day crossing the bay to get back to our home slip.
There is more work to be done before I head south. Shore Power Solutions will be over in a week or so to determine if a soot stained aparent leak between the exhaust riser and turbo is just that, a leak solvable with cleaning and a new gasket, or a bad turbo. We will see.
Tuesday, October 10, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
From Late August into mid September the good folks from Haven Harbour has the boat for a list of things (repairs and upgrades) I wanted done before I head south to Florida for the winter. One of the upgrades was swapping the original single Racor filter for a dual Racor filter system.
The installation was very professionally done but the engine data screen freaked out upon restart. The engine hours were wrong and frozen at 428 (I had 590 on the engine at that point). Every start resulted in a series of engine communications error messages. The engine ran fine but the error messages were disconcerting.
So, after a couple unsuccessful efforts to sort it out at home and on a cruise, it was back to Haven Harbour for resolution. The folks from Shore Power Solutions will visit the boat plug into the ECM with their laptop and figure it out.
Wednesday, September 27, 2023 to Friday, October 6, 2023
Number of days:
10 days
Sunrise over ICOYC boats moored at CBMM
Spanning from late September into October and the front end of the Annapolis Power Boat Show, a group of 45 international cruisers joined up with a roughly equal number of Annapolis based cruisers and “experienced” the Bay. The ten-day cruise began and ended in Annapolis and included stops in Dun Cove, Cambridge, Oxford, St Michael's, Shady Side and Mill Creek. The cruise is a by-annual function of the International Council of Yacht Clubs and was hosted this year in the Chesapeake by the Annapolis Yacht Club.
The cruising fleet of 30 boats included a host group of local sail and powerboats as well as a handful of locally chartered cruising vessels. Our out-of-town cruisers came from yacht clubs in Louisiana, California, Washington, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, England and Australia.
For the most part our out of town guests do not have home cruising grounds anything like the Chesapeake. The modest tidal range, limited currents, soft bottom and nearly 12,000 miles of shoreline offered by the Bay were a revelation to many. For more on this watch the December issue of PropTalk
Friday, September 15, 2023 to Sunday, September 17, 2023
Number of days:
3 days
cruisers gzthered in Rock Hall at Haven Harbour
Winsome Winn spent four weeks in the yard at Haven Harbour. The work list included rebedding the ports and hatches and some paint touch up. She was inside the paint shed virtually the full time.
The plan, which worked well, was to complete the yard work and launch in time for the AYC cruising fleet visit to Rock Hall for Oktoberfest. The AYC cruisers gathered Friday after working their way north in a stiff breeze. Fortunately, all we had to do was drive over by car as the boat was happily waiting for us in a slip all cleaned up.
The assembled cruisers, 58 including us, enjoyed a beautiful weekend and the 16 boats that brought them there had an easier ride home on Sunday.
Monday, September 11, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Our Cantler's chariot
From our house it is quicker to go to Cantler's by boat than drive (always better by boat). This occasion was at the end of a weekend of entertaining that included a wedding shower for one niece and a baby shower for another niece. It also included a visit from the family of our Mid nephew because it was parents weekend. After a long weekend of cooking we took the remnant guests out for dinner!
Friday, August 25, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
A year ago I did some dock enhancements to match our new to us boat. Left undone then was a little work on the outboard pilings. It took a year but I finally launched the runabout and motored over to the open pilings to re-secure the copper piling caps and add some soft rubber moldings. After that quick but hot (mid day sun in August) I took a quick ride to cool down.
Thursday, August 17, 2023 to Sunday, August 20, 2023
Number of days:
4 days
The Boys
Every year since 1993 the four of us (college roommates and fraternity brothers) have done some sort of a boat trip. Beginning in 2007 we expanded it a bit to include a BVI charter. We completed our fourth BVI charter in January of this year. The "Boys Sail" cruises have also included ICW transits over the last eight years to get our boat to South Florida.
This year will show us as having four Boys Sails (BVI, ICW north, Chesapeake in August and ICW south to come). When it is all said and done they will have served as crew for approaching a month!
This four day trip took us from Annapolis to Cambridge to Rock Hall and home. It included a visit to Nats Park (the Nats won). It included the reinstall of a refrigerator taken to JGordon for expert repair. And a good time was had by all!
Friday, August 11, 2023 to Sunday, August 13, 2023
Number of days:
3 days
Happy crew at dinner in Rock Hall
The AYC Cruising Fleet ventured to Rock Hall for Pirates and Wneches weekend.