Saturday was a varied day of exploring the Calvert Marine Museum or just crawling about the boats and picking up good ideas for the next project; or ideas on how to finish the current ones.
Mark McIver was more than eager to help the Temujin crew string up their centerboard mechanism so they would have it for use into the wind heading home. Mark had just finished it on his boat after three tries, so he knew all the tricks, and I could tell they were disappointed when the job was done so quickly. Another curious thing we all found was half the boats had their upper and lower shrouds rigged one way and the rest the other with respect to the chainplates. All were scratching our heads to determine which way was correct. It was so handy to have all of us on B dock, right in front of the picnic area and a short hop to the pool, bar, grill, and lounge.
Later Saturday afternoon we were joined by another couple visiting by land: Adam Clapsaddle and PJ, who are working on hull #246 on the hard in Solomons. This made our total contingent 12 sailors across seven boats. At 1700, we all joined up for an awesome barbecue picnic catered by Sam (Samantha) at Spring Cove Marina from its Bar & Grill.
The breeze from the ongoing nor’easter was on the cool side, but we were tucked under an overhang of the marina building and had a perfect time. Sam even trucked our desserts up to the second deck lounge for the evening’s presentation on Solomon Island history and related industries by the Museum’s maritime history curator, Richard Dodds. It was a perfect setting for all.
Some turned in for the night, but a number of us assembled in Tamarind’s ample cockpit and whiled away a large portion of the night, swapping sea stories and Tartan fixit ideas from teak finishes to staysail rigs. Some dark n’ stormies were consumed in the process. Sunday morning saw Temujin and Priority off to head up the Bay, hoping for the easterlies to hold but at the same time not be too strong with the then resulting high seas… Some of us wandered up to the Spring Cove Pool Bar & Grill for Sunday brunch, which they open early for their patrons each Sunday.
Mark and Hala from Tamarind ventured over to a nearby boat yard to see how Adam and PJ’s work was progressing and to lend some moral support to their efforts. I swapped my shrouds on Skymark in the morning and planned to tune the rig on the next good day of sailing I got. Later in the day, Tamarind took off for more adventures south. Temujin and Priority were in port by mid-afternoon, having had a full day of close-hauled sailing all the way back to Annapolis.
That evening Lee and I found ourselves at the nearby Anglers Restaurant and exchanged single-handed ideas through supper and then retired to his Fayth for the rest of the evening. We compared centerboard aspects and discovered his had the same mode of board-in-the-bilge to prevent the arm from sliding off the shaft that I had worked out for Skymark. As she still has tiller steering, it was interesting to see his hook-up for the autopilot. Also interesting was his modification to the starboard cockpit for engine control access for security at sea. I guess a few knock-downs at sea will make you extra careful for limiting the need to go into those large openings while off-shore. Makes it handy for Bay sailing, also.
Despite the ominous forecast, the 2015 iteration of the Tartan 34C Classic Association Chesapeake Rendezvous was a complete success. It was a great opportunity to get to know our fellow boat owners and swap stories of what works and what doesn’t on these great old boats. The specific date has not been set yet, but our plan is to return again next fall to Spring Cove Marina in Solomons, and we look forward to even more boats joining us at that time. tartan34classic.org
by Tim Dull
