Copyright 2019 by Kenneth Van Camp, all rights reserved.
What do you call two men on a 19 foot sailboat in the middle of a 5 mile wide bay, in 3-4 foot seas, without another boat in sight, having the times of their lives? Insane? But this was just the start of my 3-day sailing adventure with my 26-year-old son Michael. The long weekend was to include a stalled motor in a sweeping current in Knapps Narrows, a dragged anchor that nearly washed us ashore, and a rudder mishap that left us without steering just 2 miles from our final destination.
It all began on Saturday morning on the last weekend of April, when we launched Pooh's Corner, our 19' O'Day, at the Franklin Street boat ramp in Cambridge, MD. We were underway by noon, but the wind was blowing over 20 and whitecaps were plentiful on 2-3' seas. Small craft advisory? Baah, that's for sissies!
We donned our lifejackets and hoisted our reefed main and working jib, and headed out. We had 18 miles to cover that day, all of it directly into the wind and waves. The Choptank River is only a mile wide at Cambridge, but as you proceed downriver it quickly widens to 2 miles, then 3, then opens up to nearly 5. Our destination was Dun Cove, a small inlet on the eastern side of Tilghman Island, a narrow barrier between the Choptank River and Chesapeake Bay.
By mid-afternoon the winds had eased a bit to a more comfortable 12-15 knots, but the tide, which was with us, was going in the opposite direction from the winds. The combination causes confused seas, with waves increasing to 3-4 feet as the afternoon (and us) wore on. We were like kids in a bouncy castle, but getting sprayed regularly. My son declined to take the helm in these heavy seas, which I was secretly thankful for because that put him in front of me, providing a good spray shield!
The wind didn't decline further until we were nearly at Tilghman Island and the sun was starting to set, so we motored the last mile into the cove. While Michael steered us into the cove, I went below to consult the charts and there I discovered our first misadventure - our small cooler had dumped over (along with many other contents of the cabin) and melting ice had leaked all over the floor of the cabin. A half inch of water on the floor is not a big deal, but Michael's sleeping bag was in the middle of it.
Dun Cove is a large, peaceful inlet and we watched the million dollar homes go by from my million dollar yacht. We were the only boat anchored in the cove.
After anchoring, I went below to straighten up the cabin, and there discovered that both quarterberth side cushions (which we had planned to sleep on) were wet. Apparently, crashing into the waves all day had found some leaks in our deck. We put the wet cushions and sleeping bag on deck to dry, and cooked dinner in the cockpit.
In the morning, our cushions and sleeping bag were dry, and we weighed anchor to take the 2 mile run to Knapps Narrows. The Narrows is an aptly named 1/2-mile long passage through Tilghman Island which provides a shortcut between the Choptank River and the Chesapeake Bay. It is only a couple hundred feet wide, and to get through you must pass under the Knapps Narrows draw bridge. Currents run fast through the Narrows, so a reliable motor is essential. We had timed our arrival to coincide with the slack at high tide, but planned to return an hour later and the tide would be starting to push against us by then. Our destination was lunch at Characters Bridge Restaurant, which is on the western side of the bridge. Since we were coming from the east, we had to pass through the draw bridge twice - once coming and once going.
The Knapps Narrows bridge is the most frequently opened drawbridge in all of Maryland, opening more than 10,000 times per year! A busy job and we helped make it a little busier!
After a delicious lunch of crab soup and crab cakes at Characters Bridge, we signaled the bridge tender for the second time and the bridge started to open - upon which our motor promptly died. We discovered then just how swiftly the current was running already. Checking the motor to make sure it was full of gas was probably something we could have done more efficiently BEFORE leaving the dock, but we managed to get the motor restarted before we were swept out to the Bay, and re-call the bridge tender for a third time to make our exit.
Sunday afternoon we covered 12 miles back upriver to La Trappe Creek and my favorite anchorage off the Choptank River. Along the way we were stopped by the coast guard for an inspection, and I fretted they might call us because our port-a-potty was not an approved marine head with a holding tank and legal discharge device. But, they only checked our registration, life jackets, throwable preserver, horn, and fire extinguisher, and were on their way. Whew!
We reached La Trappe by 5pm and enjoyed a quiet, relaxing sunset. Soon after the sun set, however, the wind changed direction and suddenly increased to 20-25 knots, causing us to drag our anchor and nearly run aground on the beach before we realized it. Lesson learned: don't be complacent about properly setting your anchor because a calm day can quickly turn sour.
We got underway early on Monday, with only 5 miles to cover back to Cambridge and a close haul in about 10-12 mph winds. The tide was low and we suddenly discovered a shoal on the northern side of the Choptank about 2 miles from Cambridge. I hustled to pull the centerboard up as I heard it dragging, but wasn't quick enough on the rudder. It hit something hard and broke the rope that holds it in the down position. With the rudder swung up, the boat was nearly impossible to steer!
We dropped anchor in the middle of the Choptank River. There was no traffic on the river (we had only seen a few boats all weekend including the coast guard), so it wasn't dangerous. Replacing the rudder downhaul turned out to be more difficult than I imagined, as the old rope had been painted over and could not be removed. So we MacGyvered a replacement, and were soon back under way.
It was an exciting weekend, with pleasant memories and exciting stories to tell. (The wave sizes and wind velocity increase with each telling; the dangers of floating motorless in the Narrows and dragging the anchor become life-threatening; and the coast guard jon-boat turns into a cutter with a Gatling gun mounted on the bow. But we'll save that for the book version or Broadway musical!)
