Cruisin' in 2017

We began the 2017 season in April. Early spring and the month of June were spent along the Choptank shaking out the winter cobwebs.
We joined the Mainline Sail and Power Squadron at the end of 2016. They have a cruise of approximately 15 boats each summer. Of course, we couldn't miss this! It started on Friday, July 7th in Annapolis. The first boat crawl was at 5:00 on Barb and Russ Jones' boat. A boat crawl is a gathering of everyone on one boat for cocktails and snacks. There was alot of cocktails and snacks. From there, we all went out to dinner. From Annapolis, we went to Herrington Harbor South Marina. This was 2 wonderful days at a Marina. We even had a Luau. We enjoyed the pool and just relaxed.  Bill and I are not usually staying at marinas. So, this was a treat.

From Herrington Harbor, we sailed to St. Michael's.  The rest of the group stayed at the St. Micheal's Marina and we opted to sail up Broad Creek to San Domingo Creek on the back side of St. Michael's. We could walk to the marina for another boat crawl and dinner out. Our plans were to leave early for a trip we had planned. We were going to France on a Viking Cruise. Unfortulately, Bill took ill, and we had to postpone the trip. We did get there, in March 2018.
After recuperating, we spent the rest of our summer on the bay. We go up to Whorten Creek to swim. Too many jellyfish are on the Choptank.
Our season ended on November 4th when we took the boat over to Yacht Maintenance in Cambridge, MD for winter storage

Season 2016

We began our 2016 season in May. We stayed around the Choptank River during our first few weeks of sailing. Shake down cruises are usually close to the marina, just in case. We have a slip at the Cambridge Municipal Yacht Basin where we have kept the Deborah Lee for the last 15 years. We found her there and we stayed. It's a little treasure in the Chesapeake. Cambridge has everything we need for sailing. West Marine is just a town away in Easton.
One of our favorite destinations after a great afternoon of sailing is La Trappe Creek. We have always referred to it as Trappe. It is a great little cove just an hour's motoring from Cambridge. It is protected from fetch. And the locals with their powers boats pull their boats up to the beach for an afternoon of socializing and swimming. It's is really a delightful place. Many times, we have found ourselves alone after everyone has gone home. This is a painting I did of a beautiful evening sky at Trappe.

We visited our usual haunts again in 2016. Zahnizer's in Solomns, a mooring ball in Annapolis, Whorten Creek.
We had our friend, Fran Morrison, down for a sail. It has become an annual day of Fran coming for the day, then going out to dinner. We spent many, many  hours sailing with Fran and John Morrison. After John passed, we had Fran come down to the boat for a day of sailing.
We took a land trip in July and went to San Francisco and up the coast. It was a wonderful trip and beautiful scenery.

We ended our season on November 5th after taking our boat over to Yacht Maintenance for a haul-out for winter storage.
Another great year on the water.

AHOY! 2015

It is the end of the 2015 season and we have not posted since 2013.  But, we did have a very lovely 2015 summer of sailing locally in the Chesapeake. Visiting out favorite spots, we enjoyed some really nice sailing. Our usual trip to Annapolis lead to a great show and dinner at Ramshead. A mooring at Zanhizer's in Solomons helped up through a very hot visit by sitting in the pool. St. Michael's from San Domingo Creek was our yearly visit during Labor Day weekend with Killissa, Carol and Rich Hack.
The Choptank River is our favorite area. We have a slip at Cambridge Yacht Basin. There are so many places to anchor that give us great joy. Even our family doctor has a place on the point between Harris Creek and Broad Creek, We dinghied over to see him and his huge re-do project of his house.
Bill had the strong desire to ride out dinghy from La Trappe Creek back to the marina, a six mile trip, to get ice cream. So, we did it. Our dinghy can plane and if the water is calm, we can move at a pretty good clip.
We did get new sails from Precision. We free footed the main and raised the head sail above the pulpit rail. This really increased our speed. We also added luft cars for the head sail. It really helped to set the sails for maximum speed.
So, we really enjoyed this year. No huge trips planned in the future. But, we truly enjoy the Chesapeake Bay. Never get tired of it. The winds never blow the same from moment to moment.
We took a land trip this year. "VEGAS" and Sequoia National Park. It was an experience  being in Las Vegas. Sequoia National Park and King's Canyon were magnificent. Those trees are phenomenal.

Our 2013 sailing season will not be what we had hoped.  Due to Bill having a car accident, our plans for going north have been cancelled and we will not be meeting up with our friends as we had planned.

On Good Friday of this year, we lost our dear friend , John Morrison. We have been sailing with Fran and John (Chautauqua) for more that 10 years. We have been with the  Morrison's from Newport, RI down to the Bahamas and back. We spent so many hours playing dominos, laughing, drinking wine, and laughing alot more.  Our lives will never be the same without sailing along with the Chautauqua. We feel a bit lost without them on the Chesapeake. There is a big hole in our hearts that will take a long time to heal. When we are on the boat, we end up talking about John and reminiscing.  We miss you John, and Fran and Chautauqua.



A new tradition

We started a new tradition for the Deborah Lee. Any time we travel down the C & D Canal, we make Pillsbury Cinnamon Buns. "Nothin feels more like lovin than somethin from the oven"!

Back to Cambridge, Maryland

We left City Island on Tuesday, July 24th. 36 and a half hours later, we landed in Chesapeake City on the C & D Canal. What a ridiculously long ride. We were not doing too bad until we rounded Cape May and pulled up into the Delaware Bay.  The waves were knocking us all over the place. 6 hours later (noon) it began to settle down and we continued up the bay into the C & D Canal. We got a good night sleep that night. The following morning we took a leisurely ride down to Whorten Creek. We needed to decompress and that was the place. We could relax and swim without worrying about nettles.
Friday, July 27th, we made it back to our starting point, Cambridge, Maryland.  We will spend another day at the marina before heading home ot Pa. We will get the boat cleaned up, refill our tanks, get rid of all the salt, and unload all the stuff we have purchased for the kids.

WHAT A RIDE!!!!!!!!!