The members of Hances Point Yacht Club, located at the top of the Chesapeake Bay in the North East River, have had a full and fun schedule this 2015 season. It all started with the Early Bird Mini-Cruise to close-by destination Still Pond, a three or four hour sail down the bay. Beach Excursions, cookouts, and cocktail hours commenced.
The Shakedown Cruise happened in June, which was a 15-day adventure on the bay for three boats, Sugaree, Slainte, and Brazen Article. They cruised all the way to Tangier Island and back with many stops in between, and a few club cruisers catching up for the final run home from Bodkin Creek to the Sassafras River. The trip covered 465 miles and took 97 hours of actual cruising. It ended up being quite the journey!
The last day of July, club social members Dobbs and Suzanne Fryberger, of Walden Rigging, hosted an overnight race from the North East River to Annapolis called the Sippy Cup Race, held the same night as the venerable Governors Cup. It was the seventh annual running of the race, which featured over 20 boats, almost a third of which were associated with HPYC. It was a great event, with lots of wind and waves and a technically challenging course given the prevailing winds.
The season rounded out with a fall cruise around the upper part of the bay for 13 boats who started the trip. A few boats fell out due to time constraints, but the rest of the fleet stopped in Chestertown, Annapolis, Baltimore, and Fairlee Creek.
Along the way we had many birthdays, holidays, new boats, and other celebrations, including opening day ceremonies when we burned our socks and memorialized a club member who had crossed the bar in 2014. We also had a star raft up at Cara Cove in July and Steamers party in August, as well as the usual weekend social gatherings, including some live bands, sunsets watched on the porch overlooking the water, and more fireside chats than can be recalled.
Our Commodore's Ball was held October 10, where we celebrated the end of the season as we begin to haul boats and docks, and prep for winter. A Thanksgiving celebration will finalize the 2015 club activities after which we will all hold our collective breaths before we get to burn our socks once again in 2016!
