Century Club: Tom Dean

Wednesday, June 7

Arrived at the marina early - as this was a day to get ready for a longer trip - up to Fairlee Creek to meet some friends. Provisions had to be loaded on and stowed properly and then there were some chores that had to be done before I headed out. After storing the food, I got to work with the other items… bringing the Yamaha dinghy engine onboard, cleaning the speed wheel under the boat, putting some thread sealant on the hose from the fuel filter/water separator that was removed when the engine was removed (and was leaking some diesel), filling water tanks, and finally, getting the dinghy out of the locker, put together, blown up and tested.  Had some fun with the dinghy - paddling it around and then lowering the engine on to it and running it a bit before Kayaking around the marina. Fund to spend the day on the water!

Thursday, June 8th

Was up at 6 in prep for the trip/sail - then found out that some people were planning on meeting at fairlee were having second thoughts because of the smoke and haze from the Canadian wildfires. Left the dock at 10 not sure what I was going to do. Got the asymmetrical up and started a nice run down Langford Creek and down the Chester. Went ahead and made an executive decision - after playing a bit - and decided to go to Fairlee Creek regardless.  Informed the rest of the crew (onshore) so they knew where to come Friday. Had a nice conversation with another sailor - sailing the “Meander” down the Chester as I passed him.  He was headed to Whitehall Bay. Outside of Kent Narrows, had to drop the Gennaker and start the engine as I would be going directly into the wind from that point. Motored for a while - then noticed (outside Rock Hall/Swan Creek) that the wind had shifted and was from the south at about 7 - 9 knots.  Put the asymmetrical back up and was flying up the Chesapeake. After some time, I  noticed that the autopilot was having difficulty keeping course and then saw that the winds had picked up substantially.  I was getting true wind at 15 knots + from the south.  Took the wheel and as the wind grew - up to 20 knots… devised a plan to drop the gennaker before it got too late.  While the original plan didn’t work so well - managed to get the gennaker down safely and motored the additional 3 miles to Fairlee creek ([put out the genoa, of course). Current was running out, so I had to give it a bit more power - but got through and anchored in a nice place in Fairlee Creek about 5. Will be here for the weekend!

Friday, June 9th

After doing some chores, got out the kayak and explored parts of Fairlee Creek before friends and family started to arrive. Beautiful area - lots of wildlife. The haze was a lot less pronounced - maybe the southern winds from yesterday helped blow it back up north! Friends came in around noon - I was working on the dinghy engine when they came in. After repairing the spring - at least a bit (so I could start it), I kayaked around Fairlee Creek - exploring quite a bit of it. Found a wonderful little house past the marina - odd, but very artsy!

Saturday, June 10

Had an early morning kayak and then after a good breakfast - wife went off paddling in my kayak - I watched a YouTube video and learned exactly how to fix the engine.  Took about an hour - and all is good.  Around lunch went over to join the friends at the beach just past jellyfish Joel's.  Had a lot of fun!

Sunday June 11

Planned to stay at least till Monday, but the weather was starting to look bad for the next day, so decided to head back a day early. Winds were out of the South West fairly consistently - sometimes as little as 4 knots, and as much as 15! Had to motor down past Love Point - and right outside of Kent Narrows, we were able to raise the sails and ride them the rest of the way in. Started off cool - 70 and got quite warm - 82. Sunny with a barometer reading of 29.82 and steady  Anchor was up at 8:22am - back to marina at 3:55pm - sails were up at 10:52!  Lovely day - lovely trip!

There wasn't much wind predicted - 5 knots out of the Southwest... but the wind was seeming to pick up about 11 so I thought I would chance it - glad that I did, because there was some nice wind - and I even managed to use all of my sails!

Baromter was 29.94 with the temperature about 76 when I left the dock - got up to 86 before the sail was over - which was about 4pm. Winds were out of the Southwest but a bit stronger than 5 knots. I was seeing 7-10 knots until the end of the sail. Didn't venture too far - stayed in the basin that the Corsica river and Langford and Gray's Inn Creeks enter into. Stayed on a close to beam reach most of the time.  Went over and explored the entrance to Reed creek - where we are looking  to drop the hook tomorrow evening.

Working on really balancing the sails so she would steer herself and was pretty successful. Saw a number of boats heading up towards Chestertown. One real idiot - boats name was Rooster Tail - flying up the river at close to 40 knots - sending wake all over the place, cut within 2 boat lengths of my bow. I let him know what I thought of him over the VHF.

Sailed right to the entrance of Reed Creek and checked out the route in - based on discussions with dock neighbors - and it seems pretty straight forward. Ended the sail by turning into the wind, pulling in Genoa, dropping Main and then putting up the Gennaker for the ride hom. Everything went according to plan and didn't drop the Gennaker until I had slid into Davis creek and was getting ready to head to the slip. A warm day - but a fun day with more wind than predicted - although it did really back off.

Storm came through later in the evening - seems that Chestertown got hit pretty hard... just a few flashes, booms, and light rain here.

Lovely day, except there was very little wind - and what little three was, was variable in direction - so I decided to forgo sailing and head off with the kayak after tending to some chores. I headed off to the headwaters of Davis Creek.... made it down there in about 45 minutes and then turned back around. Had to fight the current on the way back - not too bad and I also had to dodge the Maryland School for Sailing boats who were practicing docking both on the way out and the way back in. A nice little 2 hour workout - and if I can't be sailing... at least I am still on the water!

Pulled out of the slip about 11 am with my regular crew (wife). At that time, mostly sunny 67 degrees... eventually got up to 72 and became mostly cloudy. Barometer was 30.13. Winds were out of the East at 5-10 knots with a few higher gusts.  Got the sails up right away - even before the first day mark in Langford Creek. Headed down Langford Creek into the Chester on a Beam/Close Reach all the way down to the markers outside of Queenstown/Eastern Neck Island before turning and heading back on a Beam/Close reach sail. Much better winds than forecast! Had a few drops of rain, but nothing much.  Ended up back at the marina about 3 - a four hour sail... then headed to waterman's in Rock Hall for oysters and beer!.