Leonard Town MD USA

Kalmar Nyckel motoring out of St Mary’s River

We left St Mary’s City directly after the morning radio net on Wednesday 13 June, initially motoring southeast down the river towards the Potomac.  As the river widened, the wind increased from pretty much on the nose so we switched off the engine and beat our way down to clear the sandbar off St George’s Island, the western headland between the St Mary’s River and the Potomac.  Behind us we could see the Kalmar Nyckel making stately progress downriver under engine and as she passed astern of us I managed to get another couple of shots of her, albeit into sun.

Members of the OCC fleet en route from St Mary’s River to Leonardtown. Clockwise from top left: Edna Mae, Seaquel, Sage, Sofia, Edna Mae, Dragon Run

Once on the Potomac we freed off and had a good fetch/close reach in a nice 8-10kts of wind, with plenty of opportunity to get pictures of some of the other yachts on the rally as we passed/were passed by them.  At the bottom of Breton Bay, the river leading up to Leonardtown, the wind ran out and we resorted to motoring the final 5 miles or so.

The fleet anchored off Leonardtown

We anchored as close to the Leonardtown wharf as we could get, conscious that we were arriving at the top of the tide. The chart plotter’s tidal prediction software suggested that by low water the tide would have dropped about half a metre at the entrance to Breton Bay but it was difficult to judge how much extra water was held in the pool off Leonardtown as a result of recent rains. In the end, we anchored in a pool that seemed amply deep and wide enough but we did touch bottom a couple of times at low water.  With the bottom, yet again, being a very gloopy mud, that hardly mattered at all.

Neil Langford (Crystal Blues) giving the first of 4 briefs on sailing in Cuba

We had needed to make reasonable time up to Leonardtown because Neil and Ley Langford (Crystal Blues) had offered to give some briefs on sailing in Cuba.  The take-up on their offer was so great that they ended up giving 4 briefs over the next couple of days.  They must have quite regretted their offer by the end of that marathon but we were very appreciative of their talk and, having already planned to visit Cuba over winter 2018/9 now have a better idea of what to expect and places to visit.

Dinghy drift selfie c/o Irial (An Gobadàn)

And following smartly on the heels of one unplanned event came a second – the great OCC dinghy drift.  We coagulated sort of off the Leonardtown wharf and drifted gently on the breeze, and a little on the current, until it looked as if we would go aground on a mud bank somewhat off the shore.  Then with 3 dinghy engines running, the whole raft was, somehow, manoeuvred back into wind across the pool where silence was restored.  That is to say, silence other than the sound of a lot of chatty yachties having fun and discussing their further plans for the summer.

Dinghy drift from another angle thanks to Tony Gibb (Sage)

It was all such good fun that we needed to reposition the raft several more times and small breakaway parties departed to on resupplying runs before returning to the fold. But, as the evening progressed the raft of dinghies became gradually smaller until just a hard core of 3 or 4 remained but when the squadrons of mosqitos came out in force as the sun eventually disappeared for the night, even we decided to call it a night…….

Dressed overall to celebrate Flag Day, 14 June.  Clockwise from top left:  Wilderness, A Capella of Belfast, Kealoha V, Dragon Run, Crystal Blues, Blue Velvet of Sark

…..but not before we had hatched a plan to celebrate Flag Day (14 June).  Bright and early the next moning the crack of flags breaking out on halyards sounded across the anchorage and as the morning progressed, the number of dressed yachts increased.  It was a lovely sight, particularly since the weather continued to play ball as well.

Leonardtown – lots of very attractive houses on quiet, well-kept streets and a far bigger town centre with more shops and services (though few food stores) than we have seen at several other waterside towns

And with the good weather we felt we needed to head into Leonardtown to see what this historic town had to offer. It’s certainly a friendly place and we spoke to several people on the wharf who welcomed us to their town and were interested to know why there were so many yachts at anchor and where we had all come from.  The town itself proved to be a much larger conurbation than Reedville (and, of course, than St Mary’s City) but we were still surprised at the lack of food shops in the centre of the town.  Had we walked further out it is likely that we would have found an out of town shopping centre within reach but we made do with the local organic, health-food shop for the few items we wanted, rather than needed.

Tudor Hall showing the inset portico, one of the unusual
features of the building (picture from St Mary’s County Historical Society advertising)

Lydia had proved us all with a self-guided walking trail of the older parts of town so we enthusiastically followed this, visiting the Tudor Hall, the Old Jail (now a museum) and viewing many of the other historic (and not so historic) buildings from the outside. The Tudor Hall was, in many ways, particularly interesting.  It was hardly a surprise to find that it wasn’t actually a Tudor Hall but the original land grant for the property dates from 1649 which is almost as old as it gets in America.  The building is now owned by the St Mary’s County Historical Society, having previously served as a private home, a public library and a Town Hall.  Having popped our heads in around the front door to view the hanging staircase (detailed as one of the unusual features of the house in the guide’s blurb) we were treated to a 45min tour of the ground floor of the property by one of the Historical Society’s employees.  The Society has aspirations to return parts of the building to as much as it would have been in the 1800s but, looking at the damp in the walls and the unsympathetic changes made to the building during its years as a library, they will have their work cut out and will need a vast amount of funding.

Leonardtown old jail.  In front of it is one of the original canons from The Ark,one of the ships that carried the first colonists to St Mary’s City in 1634

The Old Jail (now a small museum) was next on our list of places to visit.  The building was constructed in 1876 to replace a smaller jail that had become too small for the needs of the county.  The new jail, with living quarters for the jailer’s family on the ground floor and cells on the first floor, remained in use until 1942 when its replacement was constructed behind the courthouse.  The museum houses a multitude of local artefacts as well as the expected reconstruction of a prison cell and some of the jailer’s living area. Interestingly, one of the exhibits is a reconstruction of the town’s doctor’s surgery from the mid-20^thcentury, presumably because the property that used to be the doctor’s home and surgery is now a private residence.

Leonardtown Courthouse

We spent a good few hours wandering around the town and enjoying the ‘larger small-town’ atmosphere of the place.

The Front Porch – site of the Rally’s final dinner

Importantly, we also found the Front Porch, the site of that evening’s final dinner of the rally, which was great fun as was the final cocktail bash which took place on the town quay.  We were even graced by the presence of the Leonardtown mayor who encouraged us all to stay a few more days and to visit one of the local wineries just a mile or so up river from where we were anchored.  And so, without any photos because we were enjoying ourselves too much to take pictures, the Rally ended and we gently tottered back down the hill to our dinghies and boats.  It had been a really fun few days, meeting many really interesting people and visiting places that we would most likely not have otherwise gone to.  We owe Bill and Lydia very many thanks for pulling it all together and, whilst we plan to see them again, we also hope to meet up with many of the other cruise participants in the future.

Leonard Town, MD, USA