Second Shakedown Cruise

Cruising To The West River

The work dock at Bert Jabin's Yacht Yard, which has a Maryland state flag. This makes it easy for the marina to give directions to arriving boaters: "tie up at the dock with the Maryland state flag". Click on the picture to see a bigger version; use your browser's "back" command to return here.

After we picked up provisions and supplies, I dropped off Jerome at Monticello Avenue where he rowed back to Pilgrim and stowed the items. After securing the dinghy, he motored Pilgrim over to the marina work dock to pick me up. Before we left the marina, we took on water and rigged the boat for sailing. We also tried to flush out the bilge to get a clogged bilge pump running, but we didn't manage to blast away the clog. Luckily, there's a second bilge pump that works OK so we can still pump the bilge, although the second pump doesn't have a float switch.

After we motored out Back Creek and raised the sails, we sailed out the Severn River and down the bay towards the entrance to the West River, tacking a couple of times to clear Thomas Point Shoal. We motored up the West River, this time anchoring on South Creek to give us good protection from the forecast thunderstorms and strong winds. We let out lots of chain, but a problem with this otherwise snug and safe anchorage is that it's quite shallow (a scant six or seven feet). When Jerome motored in reverse to set the anchor, the prop wash stirred up lots of brown silt. There's a marina with sailboats near where we anchored (actually Chesapeake Yacht Club, in Shady Side), so there ought to be enough water for us to anchor.

There was an amusing moment as we were sailing down the bay. Bay sailors in this area get used to the familiar sight of Thomas Point Lighthouse, which near or far, is an unmistakable landmark. The light marks safe water past the end of a lengthy shoal, so the light is some distance from shore. As we were sailing today, as usual, we saw Thomas Point Light from a distance, but—hey, isn't it too far from shore? How the heck did it get over there? It turns out we were looking at the stern of a distant anchored ship, and from the stern, the profile of the hull and superstructure could easily be mistaken for a distant Thomas Point Lighthouse.

It was cool during the day and I wore my fleece shirt under my windbreaker while we were sailing. The cool temperatures made for fine sleeping that night, and I slept well.