Photo by Sally Jack
What glorious weather we had for our first event of the 2014 sailing season! Saturday began a little breezy for some, but when it was time to raft up, Mother Nature was kind and we only had gentle breezes. Many remarked that the day had given them the chance to wear all of the clothes they had with them. Sounds like spring on the Chesapeake!
Fleet 3 had 10 boats in attendance, 9 members and one guest (hopefully a future new member). Sally J was the host boat and had the hook down around 2PM with a full crew aboard. For the first time in a couple of years, Sean and Rachel joined us. For many years they were the Fleet “kids” until they got old enough to have jobs and other obligations that kept them from coming along. They were about 5 and 6 years old when we joined Fleet 3. This summer they will turn 24 and 25. Long time. So the Fleet 3 boats in attendance were Sally J, Jubilee, Ad-Nily-Bot, Bonnie Dew, Catnip, S’Wonderful, Encore, Solstice, Dream Catcher and Shadow. Shadow is in the slip next to Catnip and Andy and Joyce invited them along to join us. Mike and Andrea live in Ohio so like us they make a long commute to sail on the Chesapeake. It had been several years since many of us had seen Brian and Dottie on Encore so there was much catching up to do.
CCYC had about the same number of boats but did not join our Fleet for cocktail hour as we had hoped. They had a large raft on Ayewash’s hook and just ended up staying there.
On Sunday we went in different directions as we usually do. A group of seven boats went to Ride Out Creek off Whitehall Creek just north of Annapolis. It’s a small but beautiful anchorage and we split up into two rafts to fit just inside the creek. S’Wonderful was the host boat for this gathering with Catnip, Solstice and Shadow on their hook. Dream Catcher put down the hook for the second raft and Sally J and Ad-Nily-Bot rafted with them. The winds were light on Sunday but we were able to catch enough of a breeze to sail from the West River to Whitehall Bay. The evening was the perfect finish to a beautiful day. Some brave souls took a dip and found the water to be pretty refreshing. On Monday morning we enjoyed some delicious biscotti with our coffee before we headed home. Monday was as beautiful a day as the previous two and only fair after the winter we all had.
Our next Fleet 3 event is June 21st for the summer Sailstice. Preliminary plans are to go to Warehouse Creek off the Eastern Shore. Check in on VHF channel 72 with Fleet 3 to see if the weather makes a change of venue necessary.
See you on the Bay!
Bill and Sally Jack
Sally J, C-42 #475
