Jutland Creek MD USA

A beautiful dawn in Hudson Creek

The penalty for our fabulous evening on the Nellie Crockett was that we delayed our sail south and had an 8-hour motor on Saturday 19 October instead of a roaring sail the previous day.  We started hoisting our anchor at 0755hrs in Hudson Creek but the chain was so muddy that it took 20 minutes before we were actually ready to depart.

Resolute at anchor

Gratitude (foreground) on which Jonathan and Dorothy Goldweitz, our friends from the OCC, were sailing

Nellie Crockett (left), rafted with Pearl (centre) and Grey Goose (right)

But the early start to make the best of the tide meant that we were treated to a beautiful golden sunrise over the millpond-like anchorage.  [Ed: We also lost several heartbeats when someone on Nellie Crockett marked morning colours by firing off some sort of very loud blunderbuss!]  We said our farewells to the CCA boats and then set off south.

Leaving the CCA fleet behind us

The wind stayed well below 10 knots throughout and so when we finally switched off the engine we had clocked 8½ hours.  Our stopping point was Jutland Creek near Lookout Point on the north side of the Potomac, just in from the river’s entrance to the Bay.  We had specifically tucked ourselves up there because the weather forecast for the following 48 hours not good.  Tropical Storm Nestor was sweeping up from Florida, bringing with it wind and heavy rain and we wanted sit out all that nastiness on Sunday and then move-on on the Monday.

Pouring rain – very reminiscent of winter in the UK, just a bit warmer

So, whilst it blew and rained outside, we hunkered down below doing maintenance chores and writing emails. Part of our reason for this cruise in the Chesapeake Bay was to check that everything was working before we made a long passage south.  During the long hours of motoring to get to Jutland Creek, we had checked the engine and found that the seawater cooling pump was leaking a bit, which was irritating because we had replaced the shaft seals not that long ago.  But, with a steady drip spotted early on in that passage, I had expected to have to strip the pump down again for a further seal replacement job.  However, before doing that we ran the engine to see how bad the leak had become after 8½ hrs of motoring.  Instead of a steady drip, we saw no sign of a leak.  Perhaps the seals had settled down on the transit or perhaps the seals only leaked when the engine was hot or at higher power settings.  But with no leak confirmed we decided that we would not take apart the pump and instead would just monitor it for leaks over the next few passages.

Our Aquadrive CV shaft showing signs of its age 'when wiggled'

The other motoring issue we had whilst motoring was an intermittent slight vibration in the drive chain.  We had heard this in June and it was back again.  It doesn’t happen often but it does happen enough to tell us that something is wearing out.  After some careful listening and feeling we think that the vibration is from the Aquadrive CV (constant velocity) shaft showing its age.  So I spent some of the rainy and windy day internet searching and fired off some emails to Aquadrive USA to see if we can get a new one made up and shipped to us.  It’s probably not as easy as I had first thought because our 20 year old unit does not seem to exactly match the sizes of the modern ones; there’s conflicting information on 2 different websites!  We’ll see what they come back with next week.

Right: The hot water tank with pipes disconnected and the overpressure valve removed.  Left: cleaning up and descaling the valve (actually our spare that we cleaned up at the same time)

In taking apart the woodwork to get to the engine we also spotted that the hot water tank overpressure/temp valve had leaked.  Whilst this is designed to release excess pressure in the tank, it is also very susceptible to leaking at lower pressures when it gets scaled up.  So, instead of working on the engine pump, we removed the overpressure valve from the hot water tank descaled it and then refitted it; hopefully that will cure that leak.

Jutland Creek when the rain briefly stopped late in the afternoon

The rest of the day was spent doing admin.  Hardly very exciting but it at least brought us more up to date with our finances and the blog.  Nestor may well be the remnants of a tropical storm but it didn’t bring very tropical temperatures.  Later than normal, autumn has definitely arrived which is apparent from the cooler temperatures and the trees finally taking on their autumn colours.

Overnight [Ed: the former Tropical Storm] Nestor’s rain eased but the wind rose.  We had 30 metres of chain out again in 3-4 metres of water which, by the book, is excessive but felt very comfortable with no jarring on the chain snubber as BV danced about in 20-30 knots of wind funnelled at odd angles down the creek.  It had been a useful period to catch up on admin, maintenance and bog entiries but we needed to head south towards Deltaville; we had some mail to pick up and a party to attend!

Jutland Creek, Maryland, USA

Hudson Creek MD USA

Morning views from our position in Plain Dealing Creek

Our attempts to visit OCC members Jonathan and Dorothy Goldweitz and the OCC Port Officers for Oxford Jim and Margy Robfogel, had come to nought whilst we’d been anchored close to the town because they were all away on a Cruising Club of America cruise in company.

Motoring out of Plain Dealing Creek

But whilst we’d been at anchor, Jonathan and Dorothy had emailed to invite us to join up with the group.

Sailing down the Choptank River

So, our original plan to take advantage of the great sailing wind on Friday and make a long jump south down the Chesapeake Bay was put on hold and instead we aimed for a passage of just 20 miles to put us in a creek off the Little Choptank River, one river south of the Choptank River (the river on which you find both Oxford and Cambridge on this side of the Atlantic).

Great sailing conditions – but perhaps a little chillier than we have become used to

The sailing conditions were excellent and BV bowled along under a beautiful blue sky.  The Chesapeake Bay was full of yachts all making their way south.  For us it was over 70 miles south to Deltaville and Matthews where we had our next appointment and Friday was the only day with a decent forecast to cover that distance but it’s not every day that you’re invited on board one of the last few historic Chesapeake Bay Buy Boats for an oyster roast; hence our change of plan.

Creeping into Hudson Creek

Anchored “by the big house”

Our brief was to rendezvous in Hudson Creek, anchoring right up above the big house. We dropped our mainsail in a wide part of the Little Choptank River and then sailed in as far as we could under just genoa.  But there are several shallow patches in Hudson River so for the last few miles we crept in with a careful eye on the echosounder.  At least it was low tide and if we did run aground we could sit on the mud and wait to float off.  The rest of the fleet was coming over from the western side of Chesapeake Bay and so we arrived in the anchorage first.  We worked our way as far up the river as we could, ran aground and then, having backed off the mud, we anchored a bit upstream of “the big house” but not as far upstream as we had been briefed.  That, we later discovered, was a little too far up the river so we repositioned a few hundred metres south to anchor in a large pool about half way up the creek [Ed: and just below “the big house”] where there was more than ample room for a fleet of about 12 boats to anchor.

Top: Nellie Crockett motoring past Gratitude.  Bottom: Nellie Crockett

From there we watched as the rest of the yachts arrived and tinkered with the wiring for the wind indicator, which was still periodically informing us that the wind speed was 99.9kts.

The 95-year-old Nellie Crockett one of the last remaining Chesapeake Bay Buy Boats

Checking the wiring connections to the instruments

With the oyster supper set to start at 5pm we had plenty of time for a bit of fault finding.  I found a couple of loose connections which I remade and I also put in an order for some new plugs to be sent to the boatyard in Deltaville.  With a new length of wire and some shiny new plugs I hope that the wind instrument’s gremlin will be tamed for good.

Ping moored alongside Nellie Crockett

Gratitude

Throughout the afternoon more and more yachts arrived often briefly coming alongside Nellie Crockett to cross-deck food and wine ready for the evening’s party.  Each section of the CCA has a special rum cocktail recipe and a huge wooden barrel that it is served from so one of the big events of the afternoon was watching that being transferred.

It was great to see Jonathan and Dorothy Goldweitz again.  They were sailing on Gratitude, owned by John and Susan Devlin, and they anchored close beside us.  Jim and Margy Robfogel also arrived on their yacht Ping, mooring in prime position on Nellie Crockett’s starboard side.

Left: Ted Parish

Current CCA Regional Commodore, Ted Parish, who owns and restored Nellie Crockett to her former glory was our host for the evening.  As the rest of the food was laid out, Ted set to shucking and cooking a whole bushel of oysters.  There were several more bushels on board to be served if the need arose and so, whilst Ted explained the history of the boat, we ate more than our fill of the oysters, all served in a variety of ways, and jolly good they were too!

To preserve the stocks, in Virginia oysters may only be harvested under sail which created the role for the Chesapeake Bay Buy Boats.  At one point there were around 2000 of them, each with an expected working life of around 10 years.  The fishing regulations allowed them to be motorised, so the buy boats could quickly circulate amongst the skipjacks, buying the oysters that they had harvested and taking them off to market.  This permitted the slower, wind-powered skipjacks to focus on harvesting the oysters rather than wasting time returning to port to sell them.  Nellie Crockett was built in the early 1920s and was one of the largest of the buy boats ever built.  Interestingly, during WW2 she was purchased by the military for $1000 and used as a fire and rescue pump boat.  After the war, her previous owner bought her back for $100, sold the pumps and oversized engine that the military had fitted for a tidy profit, and returned her to her buy boat role.  Ted had bought her as a half sunken wreck in the early 1990s and has since painstakingly restored her and used her as a family holiday boat.

Blue Velvet at anchor in Hudson Creek

With her large deck area Nellie Crockett is a perfect party venue.  It was a pleasure to meet so many CCA members and to catch up with our OCC friends once again.  The great company, superb oysters, interesting venue and beautiful clear blue skies all made for a truly memorable evening.

On board Ping for an end of evening for a nightcap.  Left:  Jim and Margy Robfogel

Hudson Creek, Maryland, USA

Trippe and Plain Dealing Creeks near Oxford MD USA

After our laundry and shopping session at Harness Creek, the plan was to sail over to Oxford, MD.  We had been told several times that Oxford is very pretty, so we wanted to see the place but we also hoped to meet up with Jonathan and Dorothy Goldweitz whom we had met on the OCC Chesapeake cruise in company both in 2018 and this year and who had offered to lend us charts of Newfoundland.  The OCC Port Officers there, Jim and Margy Robfogel, are also super company and we wanted to touch base with them too.

It all started well with a 0715 departure from Harness Creek and, once we were out in the main body of the Bay, we set off sailing south with a pleasant 12 knot wind.  By late morning, however, it had started to rain and by midday it was raining really heavily.

Oxford MD (photo taken the following day because the weather was so miserable on the Wednesday)

It stayed that way all afternoon (hence no photos!) and so it was 2 drowned rats that brought BV into the anchorage off Oxford.  Active Captain and the local sailing guides warn of very poor holding in the Oxford anchorage because of thin mud sitting over a harder surface below it.  That was a slight concern for us because all afternoon we had been listening to Coastguard warnings of an imminent gale.  We really didn’t want the faff of dragging our anchor overnight and so, when it failed to bite in firmly, we cut our losses and continued on around the corner into Trippe Creek which looked like it would provide some reasonable shelter overnight.

Trippe Creek when the rain finally eased off around sunset

Our decision had also been partly influenced by replies to our emails.  Neither of our planned rendezvous in Oxford would come to pass because both couples were off on a Cruising Club of America (CCA) mini-cruise in company.

Trippe Creek

We discovered that Trippe Creek suffers from the same soft mud issue as Oxford and we found ourselves dragging backwards when we tried to dig the anchor in with reverse power set.  Not to be deterred, we followed a local Cheapeake Bay anchoring trick passed on to us by Bill Strickland – lay out the anchor chain and then leave it for half an hour before trying to dig in.  We, of course, applied the British addition of having a cup of tea whilst we waited for the anchor to sink in under its weight.  Sure enough, a couple of cups of tea later and the anchor dug in properly rather than ploughing when we put the engine in reverse power.

Trippe Creek in the morning – what a difference a day makes

By morning the rain clouds had passed but it was still very windy.  One of the many emails we had exchanged with Jonathan had invited us to join CCA cruise for an oyster roast the following day, so we hatched a plan to avoid the near-gale and remain pretty much at anchor for the day.  However, as the day progressed the forecast was that Trippe Creek would become more exposed as the wind veered.  It also has terrible mobile phone coverage so we found it difficult to get an up to date weather forecast, plus Nicky needed to submit an article and some photos for the next OCC newsletter [Ed:  deadline imminent!].  Our pilot book suggested that Plain Dealing Creek, close to the northwest of us, would offer good shelter and better phone coverage and so, at just gone midday, we upped anchor and headed off in that direction.

One advantage of the rain clouds moving on was that we could actually enjoy the scenery as we moved anchorages.  We had gusts across the deck of over 35kts [Ed: ie true wind gusts of around 29kts, and steady winds of about 25kts true] as we motored the 3 miles to get us into Plain Dealing Creek.  All the while we passed larger and larger houses on the shore.

The Oxford area waterfront is just covered in huge mansions.

Anchored in Plain Dealing Creek

Plain Dealing Creek

On the north side of the Tred Avon River, Plain Dealing Creek is a little more reserved when it comes to housing.  We scouted around and got ourselves about as far up the creek as we could without risking running aground at low tide (and as the extra rise of tide due to the recent storm surges dissipated) and then set the anchor with a bit of extra chain out because of the wind.  Here too, though, ‘Oxford soft mud’ is an issue.  After focussing on our computers for a few hours we found that we had actually dragged down the Creek a bit, despite having dug the anchor in well and having felt that it was holding well too.  Second time around we applied the “leave it alone and have a cup of tea” technique and found that to work.  We actually put out 30 metres of chain because of the strong overnight wind even though we were only sitting in 3 metres of water.

The anchor held beautifully overnight and the wind came around to the north as expected; perfect for making some mileage to the south.  However, Jonathan and Dorothy Goldweitz’s invitation to a drinks party and oyster roast on board one of the last of the historic Chesapeake Bay Buy Boats was an opportunity not to be missed, so we set course only a short distance south for Hudson Creek on the Little Choptank River.

Trippe and Plain Dealing Creeks near Oxford, Maryland, USA

Harness Creek Annapolis MD USA

We had no water left in our aft tanks and the laundry basket was full to overflowing so Thursday 15 October had to be an admin day for us.  We left Weems Creek at 0930 and motored around into Spa Creek where the boat show had been.  There was already quite a lot more room to manoeuvre now that so many of the boats had left and we got onto the fuel dock at Annapolis City Marina almost immediately, where we had our holding tank pumped out and refilled the aft tanks with water.  Our timing was pretty good getting in ahead of several other yachts and we left 15 minutes later with an empty holding tank and almost completely full water tanks.

Approaching Harness Creek with the Quiet Waters Park out to our right

It is a short distance to Harness Creek as the crow flies but a 10-mile passage by water (out of the Severn River, giving the Thomas Point shoals (and lighthouse) a wide berth, before approaching the Annapolis area again but from South River).  Harness Creek runs almost all the way up through the Annapolis peninsula from the south, almost all the way to Spa Creek.  Here we knew that we could anchor and, during daylight hours, walk the couple of kilometres through Quiet Waters Park to get to a laundrette and some useful shops.

Creeping into Harness Creek watching the depth gauge carefully

We crept into Harness Creek at low water, watching the depth gauge carefully.  There was plenty of water for us but we knew that the tides were abnormally high at the moment and we wanted to be sure that we had plenty of depth in hand so that we would not end up inadvertently aground at low water or, worse, when the additional stand disappeared down the Bay.

There was space for us above the other anchored yachts in the creek

For a good laundry and shopping location, Harness Creek tuned out to be surprisingly pretty.  It helped that we had clear blue skies and very still conditions but when we had anchored up above some other yachts we felt that the creek merited a visit in its own right, and not just because of the convenience of the nearby shops.

But for us the laundry was the next big priority, so we launched the dinghy and hot footed it up through the park.  Nicky had suggested that we take the bikes ashore but I had been concerned that that the paths through the park were footpaths rather than bike trails.  She, of course, was right because the park tracks turned out to be tarmacked and as wide as most of the roads back home in Guernsey.  The exercise did us good though and whilst the washing machine was running through its cycle we made a quick dash to the nearby Giant supermarket followed, after the tumble drying, with a trip to the hardware store and West Marine.  There’s also another very good yacht chandlery, Fawcett, here so Harness Creek deserves its reputation as a good shopping anchorage.

At the hardware store Nicky had found a selection of baskets that might work as storage containers in the newly refurbished fridge.  Back aboard BV, she emptied the fridge and tried out various combinations, with and without the Perspex dividers that have long been a part of our fridge’s interior.  We decided on keeping most of the Perspex (minus one shelf) which meant that the fridge would now accommodate 3 large and 2 small baskets. So, with some containers needing returning, Nicky made a second trip (this time by bike) to the hardware shop.

I was left on board to sort our dinner which was much easier to do having just emptied everything out of the fridge to test the new storage boxes.  Normally whatever you need from our top loading fridge seems to be stored right at the bottom.  This time I had an organised pile of ingredients ready for me on the side.  We are hoping that the new baskets will help the cold air to circulate better (making the fridge even more efficient) and will make lifting everything out much easier.  More importantly, the veggies won’t be stored in sealed boxes which accumulate condensation, something which seems to have got worse now we have fitted the new, more powerful, fridge condenser and evaporator plate. It will be interesting to see how it all works out.

Autumnal colours starting to show

Nicky returned as the sun was getting low in the sky and the was light turning golden.  We stowed the dinghy ready for an early start in the morning and then relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful surroundings.  Harness Creek is definitely an anchorage to return to if we are in the Annapolis area again.

Harness Creek, Annapolis, Maryland, USA

Annapolis (Part 4) MD USA

Fog!

Monday 14 October saw the start of the exodus from Annapolis after the boat show weekend.  Ruby Tuesdayheaded off first thing and we had intended to follow but instead decided that we would make one more visit to the show, on its last day, to try to get Nicky some new sailing boots.

It was beautifully still in Weems Creek and quite a magical autumnal morning with a mist swirling around the anchored yachts.

The old capacitor that had failed (left) and the voltmeter reading 240 volts again – haven’t seen that level of output for quite some time!

As well as being beautiful, it was also a very productive morning for us.  Nicky set about converting the aft cabin back into a storage area whilst I worked on the generator, swapping out the old 30uF capacitor to replace it with the new one that Phil and Lesley had kindly delivered to us.  Fingers crossed, we pressed the start button and were most relieved when the voltmeter sprang into life and showed 240 volts, back where it should be.  It’s amazing that this one large capacitor is such a critical component in the system, in fact is the key component that regulates the voltage.  Happily, replacing it did the trick and far more economically than replacing any other components; we’ll be picking up a spare that we’ve had delivered to Bill and Lydia soon, just in case of future failure. [Ed: In our worst-case scenarios we had been anticipating replacing the generator windings or (shudder!) perhaps even the whole generator if that worked out to be more economic than a repair, so $20 spent on a new capacitor is the perfect result for us!]

Randall Street where we left our bikes for the day

Chores completed, we cycled our now well-travelled route back to Randall Street where we left our bikes so that we could visit the boat show again.  We got a few bits and pieces but there were no boots of the right size for Nicky so that buy will have to wait for another day.

The view over the show form the Fleet Reserve Club roof top bar

As we were there, we did another short stint on the OCC stand and then made our way up to the Fleet Reserve Club’s roof-top bar to meet up with other OCC friends.

Our crowd at the Fleet Reserve Club (left to right):  John Yanick, Peter Farkas (Serendipitous), Jeanette, Rob Kuijper (back, Bojangles), Bill Burry (front, Plover, OCC Port Officer for Mathews), Patty Moss (Serendipitous), Cathy (Five and Dime), Baudine Kuijper (Bojangles), Chris Burry (Plover, OCC Port Officer for Mathews), Nicky, me.  Kurt (Five and Dime) is behind the camera

Patty and Peter had told us about the spectacle of the rapid break-up of the boat show.  At 5pm a cannon is fired to mark the end of the show and then a team of tugs and workers set about completely pulling apart the pontoons and tents over the next few hours.  We watched the shenanigans from the bar whilst also chatting to Chris and Bill Burry the Port Officers for Matthews and Deltaville (Plover), Scott Berg the OCC Port Officer for Washington DC (Chardonnay), Don and D Wogaman (Southern Cross), a Dutch couple Rob and Baudine Kuijper on Bojangles, John Yanik who had so kindly let us come ashore on his private land in Weems Creek and several other locals who just liked our English accents.  The yachts scattered quickly as soon as the sections of the pontoons were removed to release them and then, for us too, as the sun set it was time depart and make our way back for our last night anchored in Weems Creek.

Weems Creek, Annapolis, Maryland, USA