This is a boat called Witchcraft, which is right next to us at Maryland Yacht Club. You can read about it in my log below.
This boat looks awesome...for being 106 years old!
We woke Saturday morning to a beautiful day in Rock Creek. This dinghy, with an electric motor, went back and for, most of the day, checking on their crab traps they set early in the morning. Later in the day, they had a young boy (about 5 or 6) in the dinghy, and every time they caught a crab you could hear a "waaahooo" coming from the boat.
Deb and I took a nice dinghy ride to the Stony Creek Cove, which is just to the east of our cove
On our way to the cove, we passed a couple of "dandy's" who were checking their crab lines. A crab line, is a long line (about 100 yards of so) that is connected to a float on each end, and lays on the bottom. The line has lots of hooks on it. On the hooks are pieces of meat, which are supposed to attract the crabs. If you look closely at the picture (by the right knee of the driver) you will see a make shift roller that the line goes across. The object is to go to one end of the line, and put it over the roller, and then slowly drive towards the other float (which is the other end of the line). As you do the line will come over the roller, and expose the hooks, which, hopefully, will have crabs on them. If so, you use a net to grab the crab as it comes by. Hey...it works.
Back in Stony Creek we saw this strange bubbling of the water
What we found out, by asking a local, is that these are aerators, meant to help keep the water fresh. Like an aerator in an aquarium.
Back at the boat, we had a very nice afternoon, and evening. This is dusk, just outside our boat in Rock Creek
And a beautiful evening turned into a beautiful morning on Rock Creek
A new boat is here this morning to try his luck at crabbing
This guy, and his dog, dropped about 20 crab traps, and have been checking them constantly
We have not seen him catch one yet...and if he does I doubt we'll hear a "wahoo"
Log 154
Day 424
Sunday, July 19, 2009
9:00 AM EDT
Location: Maryland Yacht Club, Baltimore, MD
Weather: 72 degrees with no wind...heading for the mid 80’s
Saturday morning...up about 6 this morning, and it is a little cooler than the last few days. It got down to 69 last night, and there is a nice breeze out of the NE. It is a welcome relief from the heat we have been having. That said...I have been talking to other folks, on the loop, and at home, and they have said it is cool up north, and summer has not shown up yet. I can tell you that Deb and I are not complaining, just stating facts.
Speaking of facts...I won’t get all the facts right, but I have to include an interesting story about a boat that is moored next to us in our slip at MYC.
· The boat’s name is Witchcraft (check out the pictures)
· The boat is 106 years old...originally built in 1903
· The original builder was a 26 year old “kid” who was commissioned to build the boat
· About 35 years ago, the boat sat on land, in terrible shape, and was bought again
· The new owner tore the boat apart, taking it down to just the keel, and main structure, and spent the next 10 years rebuilding it.
· It did not float again until 1993
· The boat was recently (in the last year) sold again, and bought by the son of one of the early owners. The son is in his 60’s.
· Recently the boat was visited by the granddaughter of it’s builder. The granddaughter is in her 70’s
· I talked to a young lad who was working on her yesterday, and he told me he was hired last November (2008) to do some work on the boat, and has been working on her, ever since. He means...every day...ever since last November. And he told me he has at least another years worth of work to do. They are completely re-doing everything.
· They hope to take a short sail to St. Michaels (about 25 miles) this coming September, and then bring her back and keep working on her.
· They are doing all the work while she sits in the water, because the boat is so old, and made of wood, once you take it out of the water (and the wood dries out) lots of bad things happen.
· He said “the only boats this old, almost anywhere in the world, are replicas of the originals...this is the real thing”
It seems to me there is always something happening in a marina, and as many interesting stories, as there are boats. Sitting on the back deck this morning, it’s fun to see the boats going out of the harbor. One boat just went by with two older guys in it, and a young boy about 10. I can just imagine how cool he thinks it is to be heading out. It looks like they are going out to check crab traps. There is also a dinghy out in the cove, setting crab traps. I counted 17 traps he set out. Deb said “I hope he has a bigger boat when he comes back to pick them up”.
Today (Saturday)...no real plans yet, but we do want to take a long dinghy ride and explore some of the coves around this area.
Sunday...it’s 8:15 as I write this log. I’ve been up for a couple of hours, doing my normal morning things. Make the coffee; turn on the computer; do “personal” stuff; check emails, and reply to them; weather checks of all sorts, and looking out several days to see how the weather may effect our cruising plans; look at the Google home page and review any important articles ranging from business...to the world (in that order); check on several cruising web sites to see where friends are (and I also follow a few other cruising web sites because they are so cool); write a captains log (or not); and plan the day...or future days. All important stuff, when you live on a boat.
It’s a beautiful day here...again. For the first time, in a long time, we slept with the windows open all night, and turned off the A/C. The cove we are in is so peaceful this morning. There are about 10 boats anchored here this weekend, and they are facing many directions, because there is no breeze to force them in any one direction. A new boat is in the cove this morning, dropping his crab traps. He and his dog, just go back and forth, checking one after another. The dinghy who (yesterday) set the crab traps is not out today, but they must have spent 5 hours yesterday checking them. Each time they got one, you could hear a big “wahoo”. It was fun to watch.
Yesterday...after lunch we took a nice long dinghy ride to Stony Creek, which is just one cove east of ours. There was a pretty stiff wind out of the west, and the open water was fairly choppy, but the coves were nice and calm, and we had a great ride. There was really nothing exciting about the trip, just a great ride, and a lot of exploring. Back at the boat, we had a nice relaxing afternoon (which included a captain’s nap) that lead to dinner (baked fish) and the movie was “Whale Wars”...which is a good discovery series that we record.
Today...this is our last day in Rock Creek, and the Maryland Yacht Club. Tomorrow (Monday) we plan to head back to the Baltimore Inner Harbor, and Anchorage Marina. We plan to stay there for a week (or so) and do some provisioning before we head north to New York the following week. I am already watching the weather 10 days out, to decide when to transit the C&D canal, and Delaware Bay, which can be an issue if you hit it when the tide and wind are not going in the same direction. We are also looking out, to plan our trip out in the Atlantic, so we can find a window for a smooth ride to NYC.
I’ll keep you posted.
Bob
Day 424
Sunday, July 19, 2009
9:00 AM EDT
Location: Maryland Yacht Club, Baltimore, MD
Weather: 72 degrees with no wind...heading for the mid 80’s
Saturday morning...up about 6 this morning, and it is a little cooler than the last few days. It got down to 69 last night, and there is a nice breeze out of the NE. It is a welcome relief from the heat we have been having. That said...I have been talking to other folks, on the loop, and at home, and they have said it is cool up north, and summer has not shown up yet. I can tell you that Deb and I are not complaining, just stating facts.
Speaking of facts...I won’t get all the facts right, but I have to include an interesting story about a boat that is moored next to us in our slip at MYC.
· The boat’s name is Witchcraft (check out the pictures)
· The boat is 106 years old...originally built in 1903
· The original builder was a 26 year old “kid” who was commissioned to build the boat
· About 35 years ago, the boat sat on land, in terrible shape, and was bought again
· The new owner tore the boat apart, taking it down to just the keel, and main structure, and spent the next 10 years rebuilding it.
· It did not float again until 1993
· The boat was recently (in the last year) sold again, and bought by the son of one of the early owners. The son is in his 60’s.
· Recently the boat was visited by the granddaughter of it’s builder. The granddaughter is in her 70’s
· I talked to a young lad who was working on her yesterday, and he told me he was hired last November (2008) to do some work on the boat, and has been working on her, ever since. He means...every day...ever since last November. And he told me he has at least another years worth of work to do. They are completely re-doing everything.
· They hope to take a short sail to St. Michaels (about 25 miles) this coming September, and then bring her back and keep working on her.
· They are doing all the work while she sits in the water, because the boat is so old, and made of wood, once you take it out of the water (and the wood dries out) lots of bad things happen.
· He said “the only boats this old, almost anywhere in the world, are replicas of the originals...this is the real thing”
It seems to me there is always something happening in a marina, and as many interesting stories, as there are boats. Sitting on the back deck this morning, it’s fun to see the boats going out of the harbor. One boat just went by with two older guys in it, and a young boy about 10. I can just imagine how cool he thinks it is to be heading out. It looks like they are going out to check crab traps. There is also a dinghy out in the cove, setting crab traps. I counted 17 traps he set out. Deb said “I hope he has a bigger boat when he comes back to pick them up”.
Today (Saturday)...no real plans yet, but we do want to take a long dinghy ride and explore some of the coves around this area.
Sunday...it’s 8:15 as I write this log. I’ve been up for a couple of hours, doing my normal morning things. Make the coffee; turn on the computer; do “personal” stuff; check emails, and reply to them; weather checks of all sorts, and looking out several days to see how the weather may effect our cruising plans; look at the Google home page and review any important articles ranging from business...to the world (in that order); check on several cruising web sites to see where friends are (and I also follow a few other cruising web sites because they are so cool); write a captains log (or not); and plan the day...or future days. All important stuff, when you live on a boat.
It’s a beautiful day here...again. For the first time, in a long time, we slept with the windows open all night, and turned off the A/C. The cove we are in is so peaceful this morning. There are about 10 boats anchored here this weekend, and they are facing many directions, because there is no breeze to force them in any one direction. A new boat is in the cove this morning, dropping his crab traps. He and his dog, just go back and forth, checking one after another. The dinghy who (yesterday) set the crab traps is not out today, but they must have spent 5 hours yesterday checking them. Each time they got one, you could hear a big “wahoo”. It was fun to watch.
Yesterday...after lunch we took a nice long dinghy ride to Stony Creek, which is just one cove east of ours. There was a pretty stiff wind out of the west, and the open water was fairly choppy, but the coves were nice and calm, and we had a great ride. There was really nothing exciting about the trip, just a great ride, and a lot of exploring. Back at the boat, we had a nice relaxing afternoon (which included a captain’s nap) that lead to dinner (baked fish) and the movie was “Whale Wars”...which is a good discovery series that we record.
Today...this is our last day in Rock Creek, and the Maryland Yacht Club. Tomorrow (Monday) we plan to head back to the Baltimore Inner Harbor, and Anchorage Marina. We plan to stay there for a week (or so) and do some provisioning before we head north to New York the following week. I am already watching the weather 10 days out, to decide when to transit the C&D canal, and Delaware Bay, which can be an issue if you hit it when the tide and wind are not going in the same direction. We are also looking out, to plan our trip out in the Atlantic, so we can find a window for a smooth ride to NYC.
I’ll keep you posted.
Bob
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