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.
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| 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.
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| BEFORE |
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| 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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