Pirates and Wenches Weekend 8-14-10

This weekend, Eileen and I escaped for a sail up to Rock Hall, MD. Since it was Pirates and Wenches Fantasy Weekend, we were not able to get a slip on the Bay side of Rock Hall. We had to transit the Chester River to get to the only marina in the area that had slips available. It was a lot of fun talking like pirates all weekend and enjoying each other.

On the sail North to Rock Hall, we enjoyed a steady 12 knot breeze from the East. We were underway for 7 hours, averaging 4.5 knots on the 30.5 NM trip. The handheld GPS that I recently acquired via a West Marine gift card from Sue sure came in handy. I had plotted our course before our trip and it made navigating the Chester much easier.

On the return sail, we encountered winds of 18 - 20 knots with gusts up to 24 knots out of the South. This proved to be one of the more challenging of our trips. The waves were impressive at 4 feet and steep, each one breaking. We made it back to port in 5 hours and were able to shave 6 miles off of the prior day route. All in all, we sailed 56 Nautical Miles this weekend. Here are some pics of the weekend...

We got underway on Saturday at 07:30. Here is my first mate with coffee in hand!

Since we were going to Pirates and Wenches Weekend, we had to fly the appropriate colors! "Surrender the Booty!"

After our 7-hour sail, we borrowed bikes from the marina and rode through the countryside. It was country that is for sure!

Main Street in Rock Hall, MD

A pirate band playing on the second floor deck.

This was hysterical. This guy had a ton of parrots and for a donation, you could get your picture taken with the birds. He kept putting more and more birds on these kids. I told the one in the brown shirt...Arrrgh, he's poopin! The expression was priceless.

Give me a kiss ya wench!

One of the locals

Waterman's Crab House and Dock Barrrrrrrrr. We had dinner here. Notice the dink on the right...there was a contest for the best decorated dinghy.

This is prior to the 24 knot winds and horizontal rain we encountered on the way home! Once again, Eileen gets the first mate of the year award. She was incredible on this trip! She even made herself into a human dodger to allow me to navigate in challenging conditions. We were happy to have our foul weather gear on board! All in all, it was a great trip and I would sail anywhere with my mate!