One yellow perch and one white perch, but a gorgeous day on the creek due to the lighting! Lunch and peacefull float in early November on a warm day and a calm sea state. I'll take it.
Century Club: Tim Ford
Monday, November 6, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Craighill Light seemed unusually far out at sea.
Bad day at black rock
Not really a pier I guess. But a very long way out in the bay. Probably 3x as long as any pier I fished fronm this year, maybe with the exception of the NEB pier in Newport R.I.
No fish either, but I think I had a better day than this person had...not an easy entrance into the tiny beach and from the holes, I suspect it was lifted over the rocks/breakwater by wind and tides.
I have just 2 other "fish from pier" days, and I was definitely "on the water" here at North Point park.
Saturday, November 4, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
It was our club's work day. Not specifically a "boat work" day, but I spent 4 hours within two to ten feet of the water, wailing away at some thick water snake cover, including a lot of creeping virginia vine and other sundry invasive stuff.
One person's dinghy had 11 snakes under it earlier this season, aggressive snakes in their own personal suana who get pissed off when their downtime gets interrupted.
They don't always vacate the dinghy when it's overturned, either.
I have 4 boat work days so far, so I'm going to call this a day. I'll definitely have more than 100 days by Jan 1. So I don't feel too shabby about calling this a day. It was a day alright....quite a day.
Thursday, November 2, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Prior to (hopefully) my FINAL board meeting, I took a relaxing paddle. I had forgotten how quickly the water in the creek turns clear. And it's not even that cold, I don't think water temps are below 60 in the creek. Nonetheless, I love being able to see the bottom now and maybe I'll find a winch handle or a cell phone later on when the water really gets clear.
One solitary osprey in the trees...I guess he is the last to leave.
Friday, October 27, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
The 1860 Martenet Map of the Magothy shows a spot called "Ford" in the backwaters of Cornfield Creek. My great-grandfather, John R. Ford, owned and operated a bugeye and did oysters in the 'R" months, hauled product from St Michaels up to Balitmore in the summer. His gravesite is about a mile away at Mt. Carmel United Methodist Church. So I guess I should assume, as my relatives have suggested, this was the family hideout. I shot some video and we ate lunch drifting gently offshore. Surprisingly undeveloped property! I suspect it was pretty swampy when we Fords owned it. But it looked pretty and if I won one of those billion dollar lottos, I'd offer a pretty penny for that property,
Fun day and a 15 mile motor boater ride on a sailboat.
Tuesday, October 24, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Mixed day of pier fishing (good!) paddle fishing (no good) and then a great sail on Mr. Floyd's Corsair 27.
Then on the porch with adult bevs to top off a perfect day.
Saturday, October 21, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Larry Forgy's ITINERANT gets launched
intrepid crew
wind data
We tried going off with a single reef and a number 3. Clearly we had too much sail area up and it quickly became an exercise in futility. I asked the skipper how he felt about retiring. He said fine. We asked the rest of the crew, they said yes, we are fine with that. On the way in we heard two boats in the CRCA fleet having a conversation on 72. One said they were going to retire as he expected the breeze to build. We had already seen gusts over 35 all the way up to 39. But the data from the Patapsco "smart" buoy suggests he was right, as by 3:30 there were puffs in the 40s, one up to 42.7
So it was a good decision. Out of 42 registered boats, only 14 finished. Hats off to them!
Thursday, October 19, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
dry below, another miracle
Back in Muskrat ville, haven't been here for a few months
re-enactment of whiffle ball find
Paddled a bit before our club AGM - the one that marks my esacpe from being Rear Commodore. It's been a ride.
In the weird department, a couple of days ago I was looking through old photos and saw one, I guess my mother took, of me and my dad. I was holding a whiffle ball bat and I guess they glued or taped a whiffle ball to the bat that made it look like I was making good contact. I got to thinking about whiffle ball and how much fun we had. I hadn't thought about whiffle ball for a couple of decades, I reckon.
So, yesterday, I'm out in the kayak just leisurely paddling and I see something white just below the surface and I thought, hmmmm....a bit early for Lion's Mane jellies, and a bit late for the standard Chesapeake Bay sea nettles. So I got closer and it turned out to be a whiffle ball.
Tuesday, October 17, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
the old S2 9.1 out on the water again, I hope someone fixes her up
There's a helicopter in here somewhere
gorgeous October evening
Ugh, what a sad title! Fun season on board BOXCAR and I am sad to see it end. But there's always the Harbor Cup in a few days.
One thing I will not miss is being on the dock next to a heliport. When they come in and out, all conversation comes to a stop. Some of them are rapid response for medical issues, so no problem with that. But it is disconcerting to have these rotary blades a couple dozen yards away from a bunch of sailboat masts.
Results are not up yet, but I think we won the last two series (due to light winds being BOXCARs sweet spot).
Saturday, October 14, 2023 to Sunday, October 15, 2023
Number of days:
2 days
CRCA start
big dryout after returning
Big breeze and great sail home
Duck a big one
soogy RC crew
Was PRO for the PSA Race to Rock Hall. Weather could have been better but a very fun trip. Sail back to the Magothy was epic on Bryan's Tashiba 42 in 20-25, gusts to 32. What a ride.