Trip Report
Rock Hall, MD/Chester River
June 21-22, 2003

In keeping with the 2003 spring weather, torrential rain greeted the participants for the drive down on Friday. But the rain cleared extensively for unloading and boarding the boats, and for the trips to dinner. Due to the late hour, an earlier plan to try a restaurant in Chestertown was dropped in favor of a local eatery.

The trip included two boats, skippered by Steve Krakauer and Ray Gray. The boats, from Haven Charters, included a 38 ft Catalina 380 and a 40 ft Bavaria. The latter was quite new with only six weeks in the water, which factors into an event on Sunday. But I digress.

The original trip plan had no official destination, since it was a two-day trip with the goal of picking a destination at the Saturday morning skipper meeting based on the weather conditions. The skipper meeting was held with more than half of the two-boat crews in attendance. Due to the still unstable, but relative dry, conditions it was decided to head south and around the Swan Creek shoal, with the option of returning if the weather degraded or continuing if it remained clear, which it did. The boats sailed in to the Magothy River and behind Gibson Island. Ray’s 40ft Bavaria, with a ten-gallon holding tank, visited a marina pump out in aptly named Gray’s Creek. A nice facility but no relatives were found.

The cove behind Gibson Island was well populated with both power and sail boats, including a couple of larger rafts. Nonetheless, a spot was found and our two boats rafted for the night. Two anchors were set in case declining weather dictated breaking up the raft, but that did not happen. As planned, the two boats shared evening meals during which we were entertained by a major wedding on the far shore estate and by passing thunderstorms between one-half and three miles away. Later, several overnight rainstorms passed but had no impact on the raft.

Sunday dawned with overcast skies and forecasts of scattered showers. After an extended breakfast and much coffee, the raft broke up and boats headed out. The wind was better than Saturday, with enough to maintain five knots or more on average. Steve’s boat sailed with jib only, choosing the more relaxed method of sailing. Ray’s boat, trying to stop a spinning shaft while sailing, shifted into reverse and couldn’t shift back out. Everyone on the crew tried to pry the transmission into neutral with no success. Not knowing what was jammed, we ruled out starting the engine. A call to the charter company directed us to the tow company they had identified. After sailing back to Swan Creek shoal, the tow boat, actually a bright yellow working barge with a huge diesel, brought us to the marina. Once docked, the transmission lever worked fine. Current theory is that forward motion on the prop created enough force to lock the very new transmission in reverse; we had not tried it when the boat was not moving. Fortunately the charter company had included pre-paid towing in the contract.

With the overcast weather suggesting an early return, the boats were back and most folks left for home shortly after four under considerably dryer road conditions than at the start of the weekend.

Raymond Gray

Trip Leader

Some Photos