Sailing with George and Vicky: Chester River and the Sultana Downrigging Festival

This weekend I took Friday off so we could travel up the Chester River to the Chestertown area and see the tall ships at the Sultana Downrigging Festival.

Yes, we traveled 5 hrs by boat.
(We could have driven 20 minutes.)

In the grand plan, this would also be a wonderful time to see all the fall color along the Chester River. We saw great color along the highway south, but along the river there was still a fair bit of green so the coloration wasn't as vivid as I'd prefer.

Oh well.

The photos will tell most of the story until we get to the Chestertown area. It was bitter cold... temps in the mid 50s and the wind positioned so it slapped me across the face while at the helm. Vicky stayed up under the dodger, but navigating on the river demands a fair bit of attention so I didn't feel that I could leave the helm except for short periods to warm up.

There was some colors along the riverbank.

It was quite blustery... some brave souls were sailing, but we
wanted to make time so we could catch up with the tall ships.

We both noticed the "dog" among the shoreline.

It's always wonderful to pass this estate on Northwest Point and view it from the water!

Watch this YouTube video about this estate if you want to see more.

We caught the first glimpses of the tall ships in the area of Skillet Point. Those who are interested, can identify the ships using this page.

(I was fighting shooting into the light, and the sunlight coming between the clouds just wrecked some of the exposures, so my apologies for the blown highlights.)

We don't have a dinghy so without the ability to go ashore, we decided to anchor about a mile south of Chestertown so we could have an unobstructed view during Saturday morning's parade. That meant we watched the fireworks and "ship illumination" from a distance... only one photo taken (using the Fuji camera) from the moving boat was worth sharing .

I was awake to catch a rowing crew early Saturday morning and after a nice breakfast of homemade pancakes, we watched the ships parade past at mid-morning. We weighed anchor shortly after the last tall ship passed us around 11:00 AM and followed them down the river for a bit, before proceeding back to Rock Hall around Noon.

Again, photos tell most of the story.

We weren't the only ones out on the water to view the parade.

A few ships fired cannons.

Just as we rounded the southern most part of the Chester River and headed northwest into the Chesapeake Bay, the winds picked up and we saw the bay was full of whitecaps with a brisk 18 to 20 kt wind hitting us right at 30 degrees (enough to get past the dodger and whip me in the face).

Time to rant a little.

The sudden wind chill put me in a bad mood... I was tired after all... and I'm not proud of this next moment (and don't have photos). We had just passed the #7 buoy and were motoring along northwest close to the shallows off to the starboard side (shown in blue below... maybe about 200 ft from the place it was too shallow for us). A sailboat (one of the many "Calypsos" on the bay) was crossing from the red #6 buoy to the northeast and was approaching us from the port side. I was waiting for them to tack - just after crossing in front of me they would have to tack and turn back do to shallow water on my starboard side. But they didn't show any evidence of tacking.

So swearing under my breath (I was cold and eager to get home), I pulled back the throttle and allowed them to cross in front (they were sailing... they did have the right-of-way). I also knew what they were going to do... and of course after getting maybe two boat lengths off my starboard side, they tacked and tried to cross again in front of my bow.

Then they lufted... they blew the tack! And here's where I was perhaps not very sportsman like... as soon as they blew the tack, I hit the throttle, and left them luft for a few minutes. Since they were not moving, I didn't feel I had to continue to yield. (I may have yelled at them... though if they can't hear me over the wind, does that count?)

When I'm out sailing, I know the "rules of the road" but I also try to sail to stay out of other's way. This was an extreme case, but I've had it happen before where the actions of another sail-boater seem just to prove that they have the right-of-way. These folks could have tacked maybe a moment or two earlier and allowed both of us to continue on our way... I just don't get it.

(Rant over.)

Back to the trip... while crossing the little bit of Chesapeake Bay between the mouth of the Chester River and the entrance to Swan Creek, I noticed Vicky's "face visibility index" was improving (I could see more than just her sunglasses and the hood was down) meaning the wind was dying and it wasn't as cold as a few minutes earlier. I took this chance to swap places so I could warm up and let her have the helm for a while.

We arrived back in Rock Hall a little after 3:00 PM (making incredible time flowing with the current). We tried for a last reservation at Osprey Point restaurant but they were booked so Vicky cooked one of her "Hello Fresh" meals (a turkey/rice bowl).

We finished the day by cuddling in the salon while watching King Richard (Will Smith's story of the father of the Williams sisters).

We used Sunday morning to remove all the liquids and food from Seas The Day, and while at it remove most of the bedding, etc. as well. There are technically two more weekends in the season and if the weather is nice, we'll certainly go sailing. But I know from experience that the weather in November can be all over the place and today was cool and calm. If we waited until the last weekend, we might be schlepping it all in rain or bitter cold.

Seas The Day remains "ready to sail" but we'll have to bring whatever we want for a day trip if the weather cooperates.