Rope Fenders in Action

The rope fenders for Wisdom took much monger than expected! I thought they would take a few days to make and that it would give me something to do in my spare time last winter. The reality is they took up all my time last winter. 

Each fender consumed massive amounts of rope and time, taking almost the entire winter to complete. Instead of being a "spare time project", they were the main project. I still remember staying in a few weekends to work on and finish the rope fenders.  

When the massive sausage shaped behemoths were completed, worry about their weight was frequently asked. They weigh too much for Maddie to lift, so I am forced to bear their full weight. Luckily, being made of rope with hundreds of loops, I can grab on to them in any position; making manhandling them very easy. 

While weight may seem undesirable, I actually wanted them to be quite heavy. I have no desire to store bulky fenders in the lazarettes, so I ended up keeping them on the side decks. 

When we were in strong weather, these fenders would be picked up by the wind and dribbled on the deck like a bunch of basketballs. The constant pounding and smacking would make me want to throw them overboard! The only thing that stopped me was the fact that they are made of plastic and would only add to the already very serious problem of floating plastic debris in our oceans. For these reasons, I wanted to make fenders that were too heavy to float in the wind!  

Now they remain in constant contact with the deck. I am concerned with a boarding wave washing them off, as well as them rolling about the deck when we heel; which is why I tie one of their ends to the toe rail. 

When deploying them, having an end tied is also insurance against loss by dropping them in the water. Being made of solid rope, they do not float. Keeping one end tied ensures that if dropped, it can still be recovered.

Keeping that end tied is also helpful in reducing the amount of weight I need to bear when setting them. I can rest the fender on that tied end while I get it into position. Then the other end is tied to hold the fender at the appropriate height. While each fender is very heavy to dead lift, keeping one end tied to work off of greatly reduces the functional weight. 

I like to set them right on the rub rail. This ensures that the maximum distance between me and the rafted boat next to me will be maintained. My rub rail also extends a few inches (it's wide enough to comfortably walk on) and I would hate for it to shoot over the fender and dig into someone's gel coat. 

For added distance and protection, rafting boats can set their plastic fenders against my rope fenders. This way, none of the boats get hurt and we can all enjoy an afternoon together.  

Summer Cruise Day 5

Today we had wonderful winds! It seemed like if mother nature was saying "Sorry for the lack of wind yesterday, here have some more!"

We met up with Tim (Marialo) on the North side of Sharps Island (which is underwater). We met up for a while and then set off again while the winds were still excellent. We sailed until sunset and then dropped the anchor out in the middle of the bay in very unprotected waters. 

It was calm when we dropped the hook, but then the weather picked up. The current and winds were opposite each other, causing our full keel sailboat to point to the current while the winds caused the boat to ride over the anchor rode and take all the seas on the stern. This led to a very annoying slapping sound as the 1 foot waves smacked the stern overhang all night long.

Glenmar Sailing Association Labor Day Cruise

Today we set sail for the Chester River to meet up with the Glenmar Sailing Association!

I joined Glenmar about two years ago when I was invited to join by Dave Farhmeier. It's a great organization that will keep you busy! They have races, fun cruises, cookouts, lectures, meetings, and so much more! 

This cruise took us to Grey's Inn Creek, up the Chester River. This was a fun and relaxing cruise for us as we had just gotten back from our month long cruise South. We set sail Saturday morning and the winds were wonderful! Run out of the Inner Harbor, Broad Reach down the Patapsco River, Beam Reach all the way across the bay. 

When we entered the Chester River, the winds died down significantly, but the current was drawing us into the river at around 0.5kn. Not tremendously fast, but still moving in the right direction! 

As we rounded the southern channel marker, we made our turn to head North up the river towards our meeting point. This is when the winds picked up from the East and we were able to sail all the way up the Chester River on a beam reach. It's not everyday that the winds are always blowing in the perfect direction!

The Chester River is gorgeous! Calm waters leading to tree lined shores and sailboats everywhere! We entered the creek on a broad reach and sailed straight down between the tree lined shores towards our destination hidden in the Chesapeake Bay; it was so peaceful.

We rafted up with Dave Farhmeier (Down Home) and Tom Ritter (Twelfth Night) who made much better time than we did and then headed over to the party boats to hang out with new friends. Everyone brought drinks and hors d'ouevres, so everyone got to eat and meet all the other members.

As the night drew on, we grew tired and retreated back to our boats for a very calm night in some of the most protected waters I've been in. 

Sunday was a very relaxing day for us. We ate wonderful meals, did some work on the boats, and swam. I tuned my rigging before breakfast while the women did yoga in the morning on the aft deck of Twelfth Night. The tuning proceeded quickly, only taking about 20 min to do all the shrouds.

After that, I went up the mast of Twelfth Night to do an inspection of his rigging. While up there, I was able to capture a birds eye view of the whole flotilla. 

When things heated up, we all went for a swim in the pleasantly warm waters of the creek. Dave and I took this opportunity to scrape off any soft growth from our boats. This then transformed into another relaxing afternoon on the water followed by a night of card games.

Monday Morning we set sail at sunrise to ride the tide out of the creek and river. There was a gentle whisper of wind that was able to push us along at around 2 knots with all the sails up.

Along the way, the other members of Glenmar passed by and I was able to get pictures of their boats.

Once in the bay, the winds died completely and we drifted along with the tide as it flooded the bay. Thankfully we were out of the river by this point or else we would have been pushed back into the Chester River.

In the afternoon the winds returned and we were able to sail along between 4 to 5 knots as we made our way back to Baltimore. We arrived in our slip that night just after sunset, after a relaxing sail from a quiet creek filled with good friends and fellow sailors.

Summer Cruise Day 2

We raised anchor in the early morning and made our way South towards South River where we were to meet up with my parents boat. 

This was the only day when we had a destination with a time set on it. We were to meet with them for the afternoon and raft overnight for us to set sail the following morning.

We made good time during the morning, arriving at the mouth of South River by 2pm. That's when the wind died and we slowly made our way towards the river. We were there for so long that the tide actually changed and we were just barely able to keep our position under sail. We were slowly sailing forward in water that was pushing us backwards. Around 4pm, after 2 hours of sitting, we decided that we needed to motor up the river.

While under full sail and with a little push from the motor, we began moving along at 1 to 2 knots over ground. We finally arrived at our destination around 8pm, 6 hours after reaching the river! Maddie and I agreed that we would have simply anchored outside of the river rather than fighting our way in if we did not have a meeting time set up already. 

We met up with with my dad at the mouth of Harness Creek and went in together. 

The electric motor was able to power us up the river to this point, but it was too much motoring for the small battery bank, we burned the batteries down to 42% while struggling up South River against the tide.

It was all worth it though, we anchored and my dad rafted up to us for the night. My sister and her boyfriend made a delicious dinner for us to prepare for our big departure.

While we were rafted, I plugged Wisdom into my dads generator to recharge the batteries. Our new departure time was "As soon as the batteries are recharged!" This ended up being a long time since we were plugged into an outlet on my dads boat, only charging at 15 amps AC.

While rafted the next morning, we got had the perfect opportunity for a photo op.

Yes, we are a family of dentists! 

My boat is Wisdom, because of the wisdom that I have acquired while living and working on her. The dinghy is Tooth, because then it turns the whole name into what I do for a living, pulling wisdom teeth. Eggstraction, my dads boat, is an Egg Harbor.

The question is, should we get another boat and name it Bloody, and put it all the way to the left?