Wayfarer Reaches the Chesapeake!

With mild temperatures and light winds forecast, Charlie Scott took the opportunity to do some late November sailing on Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay in the club’s green Wayfarer. His cousin lives on the Eastern Shore, a prime cruising ground of rivers, bays, estuaries and historic towns.

Crossing the Appalachian Mountains, it took Charlie about ten hours to trailer the boat to Maryland. Near Hagarstown, MD he stopped to visit Antietam National Battlefield where some of the Civil War’s bloodiest battles were fought.

Day sailing from his cousin’s house (with its access to a dock) he spent a week exploring the area around Rock Hall, MD. The Chesapeake is the ideal cruising ground for small boats, with endless protected waters should the open bay be too rough. Launch ramps are plentiful and access is easy.

On the way home Charlie spent an afternoon exploring Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Flukey winds around the city’s tall buildings gusted from calm to 20 knots and he kept a double reef tied in. Baltimore Harbor is home to numerous marinas with sleek, ocean-going yachts, historic tall ships, a navy shipyard, and historic Fort McHenry whose War of 1812 victory inspired “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Having sailed the Wayfarer this year on Superior, Michigan, Huron and Erie, he made a detour to sail Lake Ontario at Rochester, NY. Back across the the mountains he arrived at the lake on a cold, cloudy morning. He packed flares, an emergency beacon, a VHF, foul weather gear and a bilge pump. In brisk winds he sailed (double reefed) along the shore staying tucked in under the protection of the lee.

Charlie encourages all club members interested in cruising to borrow the green Wayfarer and expand their horizons. The destinations are endless and a whole new world of sailing awaits.