Slip Sign-Up and Crewing

Sometimes you have to make tough choices...

Sunday was the NYC Tugboat Races and again I had an invitation to go aboard my friend's tug (which won the race!) to experience it firsthand.  I may regret backing out, but there was lots to in Delaware and the prospect of fighting the NJ Turnpike traffic on a holiday weekend made me rethink it.

It remains on my bucket list.

After getting caught up on bill paying and paperwork (so much time was lost on our recent boat purchase), I finally headed down to Rock Hall to check out and choose a slip for Seas The Day (425).  I ended up with B42 which was occupied by a transient boat on Sunday.

We'll have electric, water and even a dock box!

Since he's only a few slips away, I ran into Capt. Andy who invited me to come along for that night's sunset cruise as "crew".  This was a nice learning opportunity, so I immediately said yes.  The departure was a couple of hours later, so I took a few photos of Shardana and Elusive (Capt. Gary's boat) while waiting to go to dinner before the cruise began.

As we departed for the sunset cruise, I mostly kept the iPhone and camera away since I was there to help.  I did sneak a couple of selfies and a few of the "sunset" (mostly obscured by clouds over the western side of the bay) while being careful not to capture any of the customers.

Here's the view right and left as you're approaching B dock at Osprey Point Marina...

The view below is heading out of Swan Creek and into the Chesapeake Bay

I was technically crew, but in reality I learned a lot on this excursion.

I learned why I invest in an expensive camera (iPhones suck at night).  I learned a bit more about that area of the Chesapeake.  I could look at a chart and refresh exactly what daymarks and different styles of buoys really look like in real life.

This time of year, sunset gets earlier and earlier.  To get the full time in for their cruise, we came back as night fell and Capt. Andy sent me to the bow with the spotlight as we entered Swan Creek in the pitch black.  I'm not sure how much help I was, but it was a great way to learn the approach.  There I also learned a lot of things... that my knee really doesn't like being up on the bow... that my night vision is becoming the same as my parents complained about so many years ago.  (I remember saying something about "heartbeats being our most limited resource", perhaps I should add "functioning body parts".

I also learned that with the wind noise up there you really can't hear (which explains a lot about why Vicky is always yelling back "WHAT??!!" when she is up there to pick up the stick in Keyport).  She will probably yell at me about spending on this, but I now believe that a good pair of communication headsets will be a necessary "marital harmony" investment on the larger boat.  (We don't want to be the couple yelling at each other while docking each night.)

I also learned something about myself -- I have little desire to make boating a business.  Don't get me wrong, when we're out with guests I love explaining about this hobby and always enjoy a great conversation on board.  But when you're out as part of a business, you have to be "on" in a professional way.  Even as crew you need to be engaging with the guests, minding your P's and Q's, worrying about this and that.  It takes a lot of the relaxation out of the hobby.  I was extremely grateful to Andy for the chance to do it once.  But right now it's not something I see myself doing regularly.