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Thread: Fall Cruise

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  1. #1
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    Sunday morning we had a leisurely start on our way to the Schooner Race. For an hour or two, we wafted between close reaching and closehauled until the wind just gave out again, and then we motored the rest of the way to a quiet secluded anchorage. We spent the afternoon swimming and cleaning Grace's bottom to prepare for the race.

    The next day dawned with light NW winds. We had a lovely 19 mile spinnaker run to our anchorage just a few miles from Baltimore. Suzanne helms while I trim the spinnaker and take pictures.

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    Tuesday morning we picked our way out of the anchorage in the predawn darkness. We'd told the race organizers that we'd arrive at 9, and were 3 hours away. Three hours of motoring put us in our slip for the open dock portion of the race, where folks can come by and ogle the vessels and chat with the crews. We did some ogling and chatting ourselves and settled in. Wednesday was spent with more open docks, a captain's meeting about the race, and a parade of sail through the inner harbor of Baltimore. It was a challenging bit of fun sail handling in close quarters with so many schooners. It was good practice for Thursday's start.

  2. #2
    Admiral of the Fleet.
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    Heading back up north then Dobbs!
    Looks great weather too.

    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

  3. #3
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    One fun thing that I forgot to mention was that Suzanne and I started Wednesday with an invitation to crew on a Chesapeake 3 sail bateau, JollyDolphin.

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    https://thejollydolphin.com/

    The race organizers encourage the boat owners to take folks out for a spin who would otherwise not have a chance to play on sailboats. Since this was our first time attending this race, we thought that tagging along on someone else's boat to see their how they did it would be informative for us to do it next year.
    Last edited by Dobbs; 10-08-2023 at 09:19.

  4. #4
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    Thursday morning we were up at 2 bells on the morning watch (5am). There was a mandatory captain's meeting at 6:30 followed by a dash to the start line 22 miles away! Start was at noon and Grace has to work hard to make 4.5 knots under motor. The wind, or lack thereof was no help.

    The trip to the start went fine and we got there just as the start sequence began. There were to be 3 starts, with the biggest fastest boats starting first. We were in the last start, a half hour after the first, but we wanted to see everyone off. The forecast 5 knot SE breeze manifested itself as a shifting 5 knot NW wind instead. The flukey breeze dealt a cruel blow to Pride of Baltimore and drove her west of the starting line! She was just working her way into a position to cross the line when we started. It was painful to watch.

    There were dozens of spectator boats swirling around. There was even one right on the starting line as our start was counting down! Even with the confusion we were on the line at zero and the race was on. One other boat shared the line with us and another was less than a boat length behind us and to leeward. The rules of racing says that we have to stay out of the way of a leeward boat. With the light air, this was going to be tough...
    Last edited by Dobbs; 10-08-2023 at 10:44.

  5. #5
    Admiral of the Fleet.
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    Don't know what I was thinking of Dobbs. I had you still placed down near Annapolis. Must be my age old chap.
    Update on the chits. Lt.Bush has sent me a semaphore signal, and I now know where to forward his parcel which will hopefully be on its way by mail packet in the next few days.

    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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