Sunday, September 7, 2014

Shaw Bay Music and Mayhem, Sept. 5-7, 2014

When I watched the new luxurious Beneteau 50 sailboat drop her anchor only 50 feet away from Kelly IV, with barely enough chain to reach the bottom, I knew the show wouldn't end when the music stopped.
The weekend began typically enough as Kelly IV and I raised anchor and set off for Shaw Bay, a large, well-protected anchorage that was scheduled to host the annual on-the-water concert presented by the Eastport Oyster Boys. The event was a fund-raiser for the Wye and Miles Riverkeepers and is very popular with boaters. I had heard about the event for the past couple years, but never was able to attend. We departed the day before so Kelly and I would be there before the crowd and be able to relax the day of the concert.
Bloody Point Lighthouse
The breeze was light and from the south, so on the nose for the trip from Back Creek to Bloody Point. However, our course up the Eastern Bay put the wind off our starboard quarter for a fun reach until we turned the corner to head south again briefly before steering back northeast into the Wye River and Shaw Bay. Although our sailing speed rarely topped 4 knots and mostly hovered about 3 knots, we were in no hurry with plenty of daylight left. The sailing proved to be a relaxing, quiet time as we slipped through the water with a mild gurgle and bright sunshine.

Only six other boats were in the anchorage when we set our CQR anchor and 150 feet of rode. That is about a 7:1 scope, an important number to recall.

The next morning as I was lolling about the cockpit in the morning brilliance, I stumbled on some unexpected energy. Grabbing the bucket and a cloth for scrubbing, I began cleaning the teak in the cockpit. Once the dirt was scrubbed away, then I oiled the wood for the finish you see in the photos. Kelly IV really looks great with her teak all clean and glistening.
BEFORE
AFTER
As the day wore on, boats starting arriving until it seemed the anchorage couldn't hold anymore. Later we heard that almost 90 boats were in attendance. It was midway through this inrush of anchoring vessels that our huge Beneteau neighbor showed up and dropped anchor close by. As you know, anchor scope is the ratio of the length of the anchor rode vs the height of the deck above the ground. In Kelly's case we were in 16 feet of water with the deck 4 feet higher, so with 150 feet of rode (150/20) we had roughly a 7:1 scope. Our luxurious neighbor had maybe a 2:1 scope, if that. Then another large 47 foot Beneteau rafted to the fifty footer, so two large sailboats were depending on that anchor and minimal scope.

The forecast was alerting us to the likelihood of thunderstorms later, which was the reason I both set a proper scope for Kelly IV and was concerned about the poor anchoring job my neighbor did.

Well, the concert was a rousing success, great fun, terrific music and even had some good boat humor mixed in. With the concert concluded, a few boats raised anchor and headed elsewhere for the night, but most settled back for dinner, drinks and to enjoy the night where they drifted about their own anchors. Thankfully, the 47 footer broke off the raft with his larger friend, but (it became apparent later) must have attended the same anchoring school as he dropped his hook about a hundred feet away on the other side of Kelly IV.

Of course, the storm came roaring in an hour or so later and all the boats were now bouncing in the small waves and swinging on their anchors as the powerful wind roared through the anchorage at 30 or more knots. Kelly IV danced around, but her trusty CQR never budged, confirmed by the GPS I held in my hand to make sure all was well.

Our neighboring Beneteaus had a notably different experience.

At first the 47 footer blew away to our starboard and to our good fortune, but not to the vessels downwind of her, she appeared to be under sail, her anchor merely a decoration she drug through the water. She disappeared in the spume and dark.

When we turned our gaze to the fifty footer now off our port bow, we saw a similar action as her bow was forced to her port and her anchor also proved ineffective. She was blowing sideways before the wind and her stern swept right past Kelly's port sides with inches to spare. Their dinghy was in davits, much like Kelly IV's dinghy and the two dinghies just lightly brushed each other, and thankfully no more than that.

The thirty-footer aft and to port of Kelly IV was anchored just as securely as Kelly, so she became the stopping point for the luxurious Beneteau. In fact, the larger boat formed the head of a “T” as she was driven before the wind onto the bow and anchor line of the smaller vessel. It was an ugly scene as the solo crew on the small boat worked with the husband and wife crew aboard the Beneteau to release the larger sloop from being pinned broadside onto the bow of the well-anchored cruiser.

It seemed half an hour before the two boats were disentangled and the Beneteau motored off to disappear in the murk and rain. I kept a continuous watch to be sure no others were threatening to let the storm get the better of them. Although shouting, horns and whistling wind made for a noisy evening in the dark storm, no one else within sight had any issues and their anchors held in the blustery conditions.

The storm blew through and conditions settled after about an hour, but there was still a 15 knot breeze in the morning as we raised our anchor. When the breeze has some push in it, manually raising anchor becomes a significant exercise pulling Kelly IV forward into the blustery breeze. It requires that I rush back and forth from the foredeck to the helm as I shift the engine into forward to help press into the wind, then haul the chain, then anchor as we move forward. Of course, the wind blows the bow off to one side, so the process must be repeated frequently, to steer and shift so the chain and boat don't bang into each other.

Once accomplished, we now had a very nice breeze for sailing, except it was on the nose until we reached the end of the Miles River at the head of Eastern Bay. It was there Kelly IV and I raised the reefed main and jib for a terrific sail down Eastern Bay consistently making 5.5 knots and occasionally bursts exceeding 6 and 7 knots. Sadly, the wind was again on our nose as we sailed up and across the Chesapeake, into the South River to drop the anchor in Harness Creek.

Harness Creek was selected as Kelly IV would need to stay there unattended while I made a trip to Ohio and Pennsylvania. Although friends checked on her daily, it was good to return and bring her into Back Creek where she'll stay through the US Sailboat Show. Soon after the show, we'll depart for the ICW and southern climes for the winter.


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