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WHEW! What a Cruise it was! The BCYC Annual Summer Cruise began with a poolside party and potluck dinner at Knapps Narrows Marina on Sunday, June 30th. Over 15 boats, roughly half sail and half power, participated in the week's events. On July 1st, members visited nearby Poplar Island by launch to see the extensive work rebuilding the area to re-establish the wetlands. The fleet then proceeded to Baby Owl Cove on Leadenham Creek where we spent a night on the hook and enjoyed a delicious "mystery potluck," expertly assembled by Karen K, who combined various ingredients requested from each of the participating boats. The main course turned out to be a delicious shrimp, crab and chicken gumbo. A major estrogen fest that ensued aboard S/V Harmony that night had all the boys scrambling for cover.
On July 3, the fleet proceeded to Cambridge, stayed at the Cambridge Municipal Marina and dined at the adjacent Cambridge Yacht Club. On the Fourth, club members proceeded via power boats under the bridge and up the Choptank River foran outstanding lunch at the Suicide Bridge Restaurant. Two of the faster boats got lost turning up the wrong creek after getting directions from John L. I thought he was in the NAVY!? That evening, following a catered barbecue dinner, we enjoyed an unobstructed view of the fireworks display fired off a few hundred yards away. While originally scheduled to move on to Solomon's Island on the 5th, small craft advisories with winds on the nose and predictions of thunderstorms throughout the day dictated staying over another day in Cambridge. This allowed for visits to town to shop, enjoy lunch at local pubs, and see the active business renovations underway there. Many visited the newly expanded Richardson Maritime Museum, as well. That evening, we enjoyed a picnic dinner on the Marina park grounds, courtesy of Jean S who drove all the way to Mechanicsville, MD to pick it up. Kudos to Jean for bailing us out. After dinner Pam L organized a bocce ball competition with 16 teams participating. She "made us an offer we couldn't refuse" and everybody played. The famous Italian team of Guglielmo K and Giovanni S was victorious. Fuhgeddaboudit!
BCYC members concluded their week-long cruise on July 6th with another poolside party and delicious catered meal of crab cakes and roast beef at the swimming pool at Hinckley's Yacht Services in Oxford, MD. Club member Mike L, with special guests Andrew F and Kevin B, provided nautical music for cocktails and dancing that evening, both before and after dinner. Commodore Rosie declared the cruise, organized by our Fleet Captain Wally, a great success and she thanked all of the organizers and helpers for their fine efforts.
The next day, the group proceeded back home, some stopping at various locations to extend their cruise one more day. Three boats enjoyed the breeze on the deck (and the air conditioning) at Tilghman on Chesapeake without apparent incident.
Another eight boats gutted it out one more night on the hook in Dun's Cove, hosted by S/V Sangeria. One boat provided considerable entertainment for the other seven by a grounding incident which resulted in three dinghys acting as tugs and trying to push it off. To no avail. But once again the old aphorism a "rising tide lifts all boats" prevailed and the now ungrounded boat was welcomed to the raft-up! We swam in M/V Friendship's Nettle Net and had another delicious pot luck dinner supervised by Michelle S, Pam L and Gail Has everyone emptied their refrigerators and coolers. Candy contributed what must be the world's best cheese and mushroom sauce and Juliana toasted marshmallows and made S'Mores for dessert on the foredeck of M/V Compass Rose. Really.
The Club Cruise was an ENORMOUS success and if you missed it, too bad for you! We hope you can join us next year. Thanks to Otto for much of the preceding text, which he composed for Spinsheet. Except for the Fuhgeddaboudit part.
Speaking of which, check out Otto's Club news section in both Spinsheet and Proptalk in which he writes a column each month highlighting our Club activities.
UP THE CREEK!!!
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