Lake Arthur MSP

Photo by Captain Nico Soler,
owner of the O'Day 27, Albatross.
Capt. Soler honored me by
having me take the helm of
Albatross.  From left:
John, Murph, Tammy, Tom

Kelly VI, my RV, began the season in Pennsylvania with a terrific weekend joining biking and sailing friends at Moraine State Park, north of Pittsburgh.  Lake Arthur is the crown jewel of this park with many sailboats cruising the pristine waters.

Tammy, Murph, John, Nico

DHBoss celebrates Bill Bauer's Birthday! 

Sunset at Davis Hollow Marina, Lake Arthur, MSP

Evening sail and swim with Erik, Elsa & Bill

Claws grabbing at Davis Hollow!
Weather roaring into Davis Hollow.

This great crew showed up at Davis Hollow Marina
to sail and socialize over a mostly good weather weekend.
The fun joke of the weekend was to say that it was
"Welcome Back, Murph" weekend.   😊

Full Moon!

Cycling the trail at MSP

Cycling the trail at MSP

Cycling the trail at MSP

My walk this day in Evans City

My walk this day in Evans City

Different Day, Different Walk

Different Day, Different Walk

C'bay Cruise with Fleet 10, Day 8

Captain Sean and Murph underway

Fleet 10 Cruise Day 8, June 24, 2023

Per Captain Sean:  Allen Murphy and I were up at 0415 with the watermen Saturday to leave Knapp's Narrows at 0500 in the dark to be able to make it to Abigail's grad party in Washington.  We were already able to see features as we got out of the narrows. It was a calm motor back to Port A to end our week on the bay. Murph spotted a ray on the way back and I flipped the Sea Dog hasp on the starboard quarter locker en route. Otherwise it was a pretty uneventful final leg. We were tied off at Port A before 0900 and on the road an hour later. It was another great Fleet 10 cruise.

The Bloody Point Light has 
corroded to the point where
you can see through the
base of the light.

C'bay Cruise with Fleet 10, Day 7

Sunset at Knapps Narrows

Fleet 10 Cruise Day 7, June 23, 2023

Per Captain Sean:  We woke up in San Domingo Creek, weighed anchor and headed for Knapp's Narrows for the end point of the 2023 Fleet 10 National Cruise. We had about 5 minutes of rain along the way, but avoided yet another day that had predicted a solid rain earlier in the week. The wind was from the south and not very strong early, but when we rounded 1B out of Broad Creek and the Nelson Island Shoal, we were able to unfurl the jib and pick up nearly a knot motorsailing. We were all tied off by 1130 and sun actually came out, so Murph and I went for a swim. Knapp's ended up being a target rich environment for the Bug-a-Salt gun so we doubled our fly kill count to 15 and then closed up the companionway hatch. We checked out the bikes and road all the way to the southern end of Tilghman, hiked the nature trail down there and rode through Fairbanks on the way back. The whole crew had dinner at The Bridge and then hung out swapping sailing stories at the marina. I went back for a while to get sunset photos. For those who just like sunset shots, I made a second video in here that is just that.  We said our goodbyes, knowing that we needed to be on the water at zero dark thirty Saturday morning.

South Paw is third from the right.

Captain Sean walking the riprap at the
south end of Tilghman Island.

The clouds seemed threatening.

Murph hiking the woods at the
southeast end of the island.

Wildflowers along the bike trail.

Captain Sean & Murph
bicycle ride

Captain Sean's Cruise Video

Ducks paraded around the restaurant across Knapps Narrows.

Fleet 10 at Knapps Narrows

Captain Sean's Sunset Video

Captain Sean & Murph bicycle ride

Captain Sean & Murph bicycle ride

C'bay Cruise with Fleet 10, Day 6

Screwpile light leaving Cambridge.

Fleet 10 Cruise Day 6, June 22, 2023

Per Captain Sean:  Cameron Kasey Stull had to head home to get ready for a wedding shoot, so we are down to Allen Murphy  and I for the rest of the trip. It was great to have Cam for the majority of the week. Thursday was a completely unexpected day. We thought we would be soaked after 11am and the wind would drop to 5 knots. So, half of the Fleet decided to go straight to Knapp's Narrows. Instead it turned out to be a great sailing day and we only had a few minutes of misty sprinkles.  Murph and I were under full sail before we left the channel marks of Cambridge Yacht Basin. We were overpowered early, a gust heeled us, and my Yeti cup went bouncing overboard. We rolled in some jib for about half an hour, but then it was full sails again all day. Laurie Ford of Volunteer got some nice shots of South Paw under sail.  We sailed over 14 of the 18.2 NM into Broad Creek with regular speed in the high 5s and low 6s. We anchored in San Domingo Creek, dinghied into St. Michaels, ate at The Crab Claw, which is in its final season. The museum is buying it. We stopped at the Carpenter Street Saloon where Murph beat me at darts and I beat him at pool. We dinghied back to the boat in the dark around 10p.

South Paw under way

Fleet 10 in St. Michaels, MD

Captain Sean Cruise Video

Sailing track

Dinghy track from
anchorage to St. Michaels

C'bay Cruise with Fleet 10, Day 5

Cameron & Murph are serious at "Trekkin' the World" game.

Fleet 10 Cruise, Day 5, June 21, 2023

Per Capt. Stull: Hopefully this was the worst weather day of the trip. We never left the marina and I didn't even leave the boat until 4p.  So the videos you see are from when it was actually much better out.  The sustained winds were near 30 with gusts over 40 mph.  It was even worse in the main part of the bay.  Allen Murphy was more ambitious and walked into town in the rain for breakfast- and dessert. We played Trekkin' the World (Cameron Kasey Stull won), shot some more flies, and generally rested up. We briefly went to the Fleet 10 happy hour before Lorenzo met us around 5p to go do axe throwing in Cambridge. Murph's friend Harry joined us. Somehow from from the videos Murph looks like an ace at axe throwing, but that is not exactly how I remember it happening. They had a really nice set up there and we had a lot of fun. Harry is vegetarian, so he an Murph went to an Italian restaurant, while Lorenzo, Cam, and I made our surf 'n turf meal. Cam went back to Easton with Lorenzo to bring his car back to the marina here for the night, but he will be driving back in the morning to get ready for a wedding shoot on Friday. We made the most of a crappy day. Hopefully we can still do San Domingo/St. Michaels tomorrow, but it looks like a lot of rain for the rest of the trip.

Video by Captain Sean

Cruise Video by Captain Sean

Corpse of fly, dead from "Bug-A-Salt."

Captain Sean Video of one of Murph's few successful ax throws.

Captain Sean Video of marina in the storm.

Wind speeds 25+ knots &
occasional gusts to 40 knots.

C'bay Cruise with Fleet 10, Day 4

South Paw docked in Safe Harbor Marina, Oxford, MD

Fleet 10 Cruise, Day 4, June 20, 2023

Fleet 10 Cruise Day 4:  Per Capt. Stull:  Bad weather was forecast for Wednesday, so we ditched going to the anchorage in San Domingo Creek Tuesday and instead picked up an extra day at Cambridge Yacht Basin to ride it out. Chuck and Floy Marie Pease had their car in Oxford, so after breakfast; they left the cruise and took a ferry over to St. Michaels and then planned to head home. Cameron Kasey Stull , Allen Murphy, and I left Oxford around noon and sailed the entire way between marina entrances to Cambridge Yacht Basin. With only a full jib, we maintained 4.5-5.5 knots nearly the entire trip. Cam did a great job keeping us pointed high into the wind so we could stay between the shoals and navigate the bends in the Choptank River with minimal tacks (only 2 in 13 NM!).  Murph and my tactics and trim, South Paw's windward jib-only performance, and Cam's piloting all came together for a great execution and a really fun sail. We fueled up and pumped out on arrival, just so we don't have to worry about it in the rain later, and buttoned up the boat to prepare for lots of rain and 30+ knot winds. Sue drove us over to Bombay Social for a great, spicy Indian dinner. When we got back, we had been 'watermeloned', which is a Fleet 10 tradition. We knew that Heather and Carol of Yes II were not staying on their boat, so we launched a night Ops mission to dump the watermelon on their boat.  We have had four great days, but it looks like our luck with the weather has run out.

Chuck and Floy, at left, departed our crew from Oxford, MD

Sean, Cameron, Murph sailing to Cambridge, MD

Captain Sean at the helm

Dinner with the Fleet at Bombay Social, Cambridge, MD

South Paw was "Watermeloned!"

Video by Captain Sean

A great sail with limited tacks
in the twisty Choptank River.

Sailing track from Oxford to Cambridge.

C'bay Cruise with Fleet 10, Day 3

Fleet 10 Cruise, Day 3, June 19, 2023

Fleet 10 Cruise Day 3:  Per Capt. Stull:  We woke in Waterhole Cove to a nice sunrise, Floy Marie Pease went for a paddle and Murph a row, Cameron Kasey Stull made us some fancy strawberry waffles, and we left the anchorage around 1000. Cam took the helm so I could hop on a Teams call for work on the bow. Cam spotted a stingray in the Choptank. It was flat, calm and didn't look like we could sail, but as we approached the Tred Avon it started picking up.  So we unfurled to full sail as we made the turn north, and had a surprisingly good sail the 2 miles from green 1T to red 2TC. Cam took us through all points of sail from a wing-and-wing downwind all the way to close-hauled as we turned into Safe Harbor Oxford marina. We had some lunch, swam at the pool, and got cleaned up for dinner with the Fleet 10 gang at Capsize. There was a lot of discussion on what to do about Wednesday,  which is forecasted to be nasty with 20+ sustained winds, gusts of 35+, and rain all day.   We went for ice cream and then played Tenzi and Dutch Blitz in the Captain's lounge.

Cam's waffles

Capt. Stull's video for Day 3

Murph, Floy, Cam, Chuck
photo by Sean Stull

Moondance, a fellow Fleet 10 cruiser

Sailing wing & wing

Murph's row around the 
anchorage

Murph's row around the anchorage