By Wednesday night, I was all packed and ready for some excellent fall sailing on the Chesapeake.   On Thursday morning it was a repack for the real world of the Chesapeake in October. Out with the shorts and tee shirts, in with the sweatshirts and wind breaker.

Many chose to approach Annapolis from the east via Rt. 301/50 and travel over the Bay Bridge.   The crew from Time For Us, who picked this route for the scenic crossing of the bridge got a surprise: as they approached the bridge, they saw what looked like a very tall and close black mountain range. As they crossed the bridge, they were encased in a black cloud of heavy rain and wind, unable to see the adjacent bridge span let alone the actual bay. Fortunately this rain system left the area quickly, providing for a wonderful sunset; and fair weather continued for the entire weekend.

Thursday evening, Patty and I met Steve K. and the crew of Time For Us at Pusser’s in Annapolis. A new parking garage proved to be a valuable addition since this was also Power Boat Show weekend.

Friday morning aboard Silver Bird the sink was draining very slooooowly. Scott from Annapolis Bay Charter (ABC) explained – "It’s French! They have no concept of plumbing" (Scott is very British). With the arrival of the last of our crew (Maureen C.), it was time to depart the docks.   Tight quarters and a stiff breeze off our port side resulted in a little hull discoloration before we managed to get to open water. The weather was sunny but the wind was eighteen knots from the west, with gusts over thirty

Meanwhile, on G dock the crew of Little Darling wrestled her out of the slip against the breeze on her starboard bow. The port navigation light remains on the bottom as testament to the challenges of that much wind in tight quarters.   Out in the channel -- or rather, near it -- her helmsman learned that those green and red signs on the poles mean something important, when the keel met the mud for a moment on the newly christened Bruni shoal.   After that auspicious start to the trip, her crew deployed a reefed main and full jib for several hours of brisk sailing, the kind that makes October on the Chesapeake so thrilling.

Time For Us had a reefed main and jib during this sail, publicly stating that this was to prevent the soufflé cooking in the oven for lunch from collapsing; if fact it really did make cooking the homemade beef pot pie easier and more enjoyable to eat. The wind increased even more as Silver Bird passed Poplar Island and made ready to turn for Knapp’s Narrows.   Our little boat saw Time For Us and Little Darling continuing their sail farther south.   Time For Us and Little Darling had a fantastic sail and got a view of the leaning Sharps Island Light before turning back north toward our “snug” harbor at Knapp’s Narrows.   They were not fully aware of Silver Bird’s anxious moments as our update to them was “make a hard U turn just past the reeds” followed by “we will give you the details later.”

Silver Bird's call to Knapp’s Narrows Marina for slip location was a little late and passed the floating dock and our spot.   The 25 knot tailwind and a five knot following current made for High Anxiety #1 as my K turn just before the draw bridge resulted in going aground near a power boat in its slip.   Advice from the owner was helpful, suggesting we call the bridge operator and have it opened in case we had a problem turning back “upriver.” We powered off the mud and into the wind and current to our front row seat for the action to follow.

Speaking to Silver Bird's mate as they finally approached the narrows, Little Darling's crew had a hard time visualizing the slip location.   It wasn't until they were rocketing through the narrows at five knots under bare poles with the engine in neutral that they realized their berth was right there in the channel, not inside the protected basin.   Only then did Silver Bird’s instruction about allowing 10 boat lengths for the U-turn make sense.

At the helm of Little Darling, Mia made a perfect U-turn before an audience of power boaters in the fuel dock just before Lesser Sherwood’s Shoal (there is a Greater, but that’s another story) and made her approach to a position forward of Silver Bird. High Anxiety # 2 followed as the wind and current took her stern into Silver Bird’s port pulpit, sacrificing Silver Bird’s red bow running light.   From there, dock and boat crew pulled and pushed her into position. Time For Us, with Bob R. at the helm, made a high speed hard left turn in the channel to pass the “Reviewing Stand.”   Bob, not satisfied with the exorbitant amount of space he had for his turn narrowly missed Little Darling. Realizing that everyone on the dock was fully committed to getting Little Darling into position and not available to assist him, he decided on a “do-over.” He came back for another approach and parked neatly in front of Little Darling, passing this time with just enough room to kiss a large fender, if we had thought to put any on that side.

Later that evening we all adjourned to Bay Hundred, Don Gilmore’s local watering hole, to critique our day.

Saturday morning, Tilghman Island Day, dawned sunny and pleasant although still quite breezy.   The contests consisted of rowboat racing (collisions allowed), jigger tossing (actually a dinghy anchor), and speed docking with two classes of working boats (35 feet and under followed by the bigger guys).   If the tide had been in, there definitely would have been some wet spectators. The afternoon brought work boat races, crab picking, and oyster shucking. Throughout the day there was plenty of food and music. This was a brief  celebration of a part of America that is quickly slipping away; it needs to be cherished.   Watching the watermen compete as they once had was a special treat. And standing near the crab picking and oyster shucking contest tables delivered a treat of another sort - contestants handed out dozens of cracked crab claws and oysters on the half shell.

All three boats bought crab for dinner on board each boat, very fresh! Crews mingled and moved from boat to boat enjoying the company.   Mary Ann attempted a pole dance using the in-cabin mast support on Time For Us but couldn’t fit all around it because of a bulkhead.   She claimed it was good exercise.

Sunday morning brought leisurely breakfasts and town time for some. The fleet was out by 11:00 AM with sunny skies and 10 – 15 knot winds from the southwest. By the time we turned into Eastern Bay, the wind was building to 20 knots and the crew of Silver Bird put her through her paces. Little Darling crossed our bow by only a couple boat lengths near Can 3. Taking advantage of our shallow draft and superior boat handling skills, we rounded a little inside the markers at Tilghman Point, and gained a good lead over the fleet.

The club monitors Ch. 69 to make contact every hour. But this is a popular channel for ship to ship communication.   This weekend there was a lot of powerboat and duck hunter radio traffic, some of it quite amusing: “Where are you?” “I’m riiight heeere." "Where'd yeh get that mallard?" "It were over here." We figured that no hunter wants to reveal his favorite spot.

Little Darling entered Tilghman Creek to be the anchor for the raft, followed by Time For Us while Silver Bird continued to take advantage of good wind. By 4:00 PM we reluctantly headed for the raft location. On with the engine – off with the engine – High Anxiety #3.   After putting down the sails near the outer marker, Steve smelled something burning and it wasn’t the oven (he asked).   Moments later the engine alarm sounded, not that anyone noticed. There was a decided lack of coolant in the exhaust. Steve quickly set the anchor in the channel and we called Bob on Time For Us for assistance. Mia was anchored and Bob was “thinking about it” but readily agreed to come to the rescue.

We soon formed a “Tilghman Island Catamaran” by rafting the two boats then raising Silver Bird's anchor.   Henry G., at the wheel of Time For Us, brought both boats to the raft. The crew on Time For Us, in honor of the locale, will from this point forward refer to this mobile raft as a “double-wide.” Time For Us dropped Silver Bird off on Little Darling's starboard side, after making a slight keel imprint in the mud close to the northern shore. Trouble on the back burner – we were safe - we didn't even mind her crew calling us the "Dangling Participle."   We informed Mia that we were not letting go of her when she left for Annapolis in the morning (attached at the hip).

After all boats were secured, it was time for the traditional hors d’oeuvres party. Little Darling's crew won the unofficial food award with an absurd excess of delectable dishes served in their very roomy cockpit, including crab meat that Mia picked while her crew sailed up Eastern Bay.

Most of the crews headed for their bunks around ten o'clock. Silver Bird turned in late, after forcing Maureen to watch Steve’s entire “end of season” video and slide show collection. Even Mia yawned and went home after four season's worth.

Monday morning and it was High Anxiety #4. During checkout, Steve had been told not to touch the battery switches on Silver Bird – the start battery was isolated.   But after a night with no engine to charge them up and no shore power, both batteries were dead.   It turns out that the engine battery should have been turned off. Based on telephoned instructions from Scott at ABC, we primed the raw water filter and borrowed Little Darling’s start battery.   Jim B. was at the key when we tried multiple times to start the engine. Tom D. finally noticed that the button being pushed was the kill switch – start it like a car Jim! All was okay and Mia didn't even charge us rent for her battery.

We broke up the raft by 10:00 and motored through light wind and sunny skies back to Annapolis. We were back by 2:00 and the staff at ABC parked our boats (nice touch -- but we know they do it so they can be sure we haven't broken them).   We will not wait another eight years before visiting Tilghman Island again!

Larry Sherwood – Silver Bird
with additions from
Bob Rainey – Time For Us
Mia McCroskey – Little Darling