We planned this weekend months ago. Shortly after joining ABCW (America's Boating Club - Wilmington DE section) during the winter, we were faced with the question "Do you want to join us for the Sultana cruise"? Of course when joining a new club, we said yes and this weekend was the excursion.
The Sultana is a replica of a 1768 Schooner of the same name that was put together back in 1998 by a group of educators. Our club had a Zoom lecture about this effort during the winter months last year and several members decided to book her for one of the "public" sails. Primarily, she is used as an education vessel, so local schoolchildren can do a special field trip aboard her to learn about early Chesapeake history.
I'm kind of jealous of kids these days. All I got to do for field trips when that age was go to an old canal tunnel and iron furnace.
We waited until Saturday to go down to Chestertown, since I had sold some of the old studio lighting equipment on eBay and had to ship them out Saturday morning. We arrived at the Chestertown Marina (which we had visited before) with a few minutes to spare before boarding.
This is one where I'll let the photos tell the story.
It was an interesting trip. The winds were relatively light and, seriously, I would not have tried to set sail. But the Sultana carries a huge amount of sail for her size and even with the light winds, they only used the motor to get off the dock and turn downstream, then only occasionally afterwards (if the wind got too light and we were in danger of drifting to the wrong place). The captain did put the engine on for the final portion of the trip when she realized that we needed to get back before a storm.
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| Listening to a history lecture |
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| Vicky's photo |
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| Vicky's photo |
They also demonstrated how to fire the old deck gun.
We weren't allowed to photograph the actual gunshot as we were all ordered by the captain to put away our cameras and phones and hold our hands over our ears.
Still, you could FEEL the pressure wave when the gun went off.
The rest of the trip after the gunshot demo was just milling about and chatting with the crew members. They did open up the space below deck for a brief tour. I elected not to go down the ladder due to my knees feeling sore (and was shown up by _______, one of our older members, who later climbed down for a look despite having an artificial leg). Vicky went below and captured a few images.
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| Vicky's photo |
It was eye-opening to watch the docking procedures. The captain and crew communicated extremely well and we were secure and docked in no time.
I'm thinking about instituting this "best practice" on Seas The Day - where I scream a command and Vicky needs to clearly call it back and execute it....
... on second thought, that may not be good for ship's morale.
(Discretion is sometimes the better part... that's a lesson I keep trying to learn.)
After the Sultana excursion, the ABCW met back at North Point Marina for a cookout. Storms were approaching and keeping the tablecloths in place proved challenging. The menu was some nice burgers and brats along with each of us bringing our own side dishes and the occasional shared tidbit. It was a nice chance to reconnect with the group.
Around 7:00 we headed back to Osprey Point before the storms picked up. We were able to enjoy an evening in the cockpit and even caught a hazy sunset through the rain.
I took my daily sunrise walk on Sunday morning, but I doubt we will do much more today. Reports are saying the current 6kt winds are the high for the day with winds expected to drop to 1.6 (gusting to 4!) and neither of us are interested in a hot day of motoring around.
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