Corrotoman River VA USA

It’s 45nm from Kiptopeke to Bill and Lydia’s home on the Corrotoman River and we had got the call to the party shortly after 1100hrs on Saturday 11 May.  To get there we needed to make tracks, and fast.  There was some breeze but it was quite fine to our track so we motor-sailed the whole way across a flat, grey Chesapeake, in rain from time to time.

Twin Cove on the head of Bill and Lydia’s dock, with Kelly Rae, belonging to Rick Simpson on the side closer to us and Dragon Run (Bill and Lydia’s yacht) on the far side

But we got there in time and at 1845hrs shut down the log, rapidly put BV to bed on the dock of Bill and Lydia’s neighbour and joined the gang on board George and Frances Sadler’s new yacht, Twin Cove, a beautiful Fleming 55 motor yacht.

Twin Cove

Aboard Twin Cove.  Left to right: Bill Strickland, Reg, Frances Sadler

It was a lovely evening.  We arrived just in time to sample some of the sill (Swedish pickled herring) brought by Rick Simpson to go with pre-dinner drinks.  Rick isn’t Swedish but he had spent time with a couple of Swedish yachts over the winter, had developed a taste for sill and had been gifted some when they had parted.  This was followed by a fabulous crab cake dinner, with crab cakes made to Frances’ own recipe and far better than any we have tasted elsewhere.  Jumbo lump-meat is, apparently, the key to the dish.  We will have to try to replicate it but I fear will come a poor second.

The fleet on the docks

It was a lot of fun to catch up with old friends and, in the case of Rick Simpson, get to know new ones and Bill and Lydia, as the generous hosts they always are, opened their house to everyone.

Dinner out at Adrift.  Left to right:  Doug Selden (Ithaca), Lydia Strickland (Dragon Run), Reg, Bill Strickland (Dragon Run), George Sadler (Twin Cove), Nicky, Rick Simpson (Kelly-Rae), Frances Sadler (Twin Cove)

We had dinner out at Adrift, a relatively new restaurant in White Stone, where the food was excellent but, of course, the company was better.

George and Frances depart on Twin Cove, heading home to Virginia Beach for a short stop before heading north for a cruise on the Hudson River

Just ‘the twins’ left – with us in our usual
position on Bill and Lydia’s dock

But all good things must come to an end and on the Monday George and Frances headed off back towards their home at Virginia Beach.  In a few weeks’ time they planned to be leaving there for a summer cruise up the Hudson River and into Canada – a lifetime’s desire for Frances.  With Twin Cove gone we moved across into our ‘normal’ position on Bill and Lydia’s dock and, after a final evening with Rick, making good use of Bill’s barbecue, we waved him off the next morning.  ‘And then there were two’.

Cleaning and re-proofing the sprayhood.  Something we haven’t done in years!

Over the few days that we were at Bill and Lydia’s we socialised hard but also worked hard, completing some of the never-ending list of boat chores.  Nicky scrubbed the mildew off the sprayhood and then re-proofed it (necessitating it drying in Bill’s workshop as rain threatened and the proofing agent needs to dry thoroughly before being exposed to rain).

Bill’s fabulous workshop where he let me use his tools to fit new zincs into anode
holders for our engine and fridge

Clean sprayhood refitted.  Now we just need
to do the rest of the canvaswork…….

I used Bill’s workshop press-drill to drill out the remains of used zinc anodes from their holders and so that I could re-use the brass holders, filled with new, screw-in zincs.  And, of course, we lent a hand here and there to Bill and Lydia and enjoyed evenings in their company.

But we had a lot of things to organise at Deltaville in advance of putting BV on the hard at Chesapeake Boat Works for the summer.  So, reluctantly, on Wednesday 15 May we left the Corrotoman for the short journey to Fishing Bay at the mouth of the Piankatank River.

But we had a lot of things to organise at Deltaville in advance of putting BV on the hard at Chesapeake Boat Works for the summer.  So, reluctantly, on Wednesday 15 May we left the Corrotoman for the short journey to Fishing Bay at the mouth of the Piankatank River.