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Remote controlled sailboat racing in Solomons, MD
St. Michael's and the Maritime Museum
Scenes from Annapolis
September 20, 2011
Sunday we attended the Waterman Festival. If we were out west, we would go to the rodeo to watch the cowboys demonstrate their skills. In Solomons the watermen are the equivalent of cowboys. These are the men who make their living crabbing and fishing.
Bleachers are set up to view the docking competition and of course the best aspect to all fairs and festivals other than the beer is the food. As the action began, we munched on crab cake sandwiches -- mmm good.
Handling a boat is the prime skill of all watermen. The captains compete to see how fast they could back his boat between 4 pilings and put lines around a piling.
The first group was large commercial boats. At the sound of the gun, the captain speeds out of a slip and backs into another slip. It may not sound like much, but it takes tremendous skill. Some of them slid in with only inches to spare. Some boats missed the pilings altogether because their own wake pushed them passed the slip. The winner in the first event did it on 16 seconds. The second group was smaller boats. They are the boats that we see out crabbing. They had to do the same thing but had to put a loop attached to a rope on all 4 pilings. No one beat the 16 second time of the first boat, even the smaller boats.
Early Monday morning, we left for Deltaville. When we arrived in Deltaville, we were tied up to the same dock as we were 5 weeks ago. The work is going along quickly so we should be leaving before the end of the week.
Sunday we attended the Waterman Festival. If we were out west, we would go to the rodeo to watch the cowboys demonstrate their skills. In Solomons the watermen are the equivalent of cowboys. These are the men who make their living crabbing and fishing.
Bleachers are set up to view the docking competition and of course the best aspect to all fairs and festivals other than the beer is the food. As the action began, we munched on crab cake sandwiches -- mmm good.
Handling a boat is the prime skill of all watermen. The captains compete to see how fast they could back his boat between 4 pilings and put lines around a piling.
The first group was large commercial boats. At the sound of the gun, the captain speeds out of a slip and backs into another slip. It may not sound like much, but it takes tremendous skill. Some of them slid in with only inches to spare. Some boats missed the pilings altogether because their own wake pushed them passed the slip. The winner in the first event did it on 16 seconds. The second group was smaller boats. They are the boats that we see out crabbing. They had to do the same thing but had to put a loop attached to a rope on all 4 pilings. No one beat the 16 second time of the first boat, even the smaller boats.
Early Monday morning, we left for Deltaville. When we arrived in Deltaville, we were tied up to the same dock as we were 5 weeks ago. The work is going along quickly so we should be leaving before the end of the week.
September 26, 2011
We arrived Sunday afternoon at an anchorage called Hospital Point which is at mile 0 of the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway). We are between Norfolk and Portsmouth, VA. It is a great place. We can see two huge naval ships that are in dry dock. There are several cranes that are normally associated with the building of multi-story buildings surrounding the ships. The whole thing amazes Mike. Around the corner are two more navy ships in dry dock. All of the normal cranes and boom lifts look like miniatures in comparison to the ships.
We went to tour Old Towne Portsmouth. While we were looking at our map and trying to decide where to go next, an older gentleman stopped and asked us if we wanted to see the inside of a historic revolutionary war church. His name is Dean Burgess and he is the church historian. We walked several blocks with him as he pointed out historic sites. He took us through Trinity Episcopal Church originally erected in 1762. (http://www.trinity-portsmouth.org/history) Once in the church he pointed out the stain glass windows (several by Tiffany) and told stories about the history of the church, pastors and parishioners. We met up with him again after lunch and he walked us back through the historic neighborhood telling us stories about the history of many of the homes. We ended up finally at his house where we met his wife and were impressed with the richness of his family history and preservation of his historic home.
Portsmouth also has a movie theater called the Commodore Theater, luxuriously restored in a 1945 Art Deco style. It shows first run movies while you dine at individual tables, phoning in your order to the kitchen from the table. We saw the movie The Help.
On the way back to the boat we decided to explore the shore of Norfolk across the river from our boat. We pulled into a marina looking for a place to leave our dinghy. As we rounder the corner of the break wall, we were greeted by a swarm of police. One of the policemen motioned us over. (That is never a good sign! We mentally inventoried the number of life vests on board and registration information.) The officer said, “Now that you have come in here, you can’t leave.” He continued by saying, “There is a suspicious briefcase on a bench near where you entered and you can’t go back until the bomb squad has taken care of it.” We tied up at the dinghy dock and watched the bomb squad robot roll out of the truck and make its ways to the briefcase. It was like one of those TV programs Mike likes to watch.
In the meantime, a couple was getting off their moored boat to see what was going on. We told them about the possible bomb. Since the robot was taking forever, the four of us started boater talk – where are you from, where have you been, where are you going? After about 20 minutes, we could see that the situation was not going to end soon. (It is much more exciting on TV.) The four of us decided to go for coffee. We passed one of the groups of police, the guy in his bomb protective device and the local news crews as we made our way to Starbucks.
We chatted for about 40 minutes and returned to find everyone gone. We learned everyone was safe except the briefcase, which was blown up by the bomb squad.
Over time I am sure we will share the events of today many times. “Did I tell you about our experience with the bomb squad?” Already it is becoming more dramatic.
We arrived Sunday afternoon at an anchorage called Hospital Point which is at mile 0 of the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway). We are between Norfolk and Portsmouth, VA. It is a great place. We can see two huge naval ships that are in dry dock. There are several cranes that are normally associated with the building of multi-story buildings surrounding the ships. The whole thing amazes Mike. Around the corner are two more navy ships in dry dock. All of the normal cranes and boom lifts look like miniatures in comparison to the ships.
We went to tour Old Towne Portsmouth. While we were looking at our map and trying to decide where to go next, an older gentleman stopped and asked us if we wanted to see the inside of a historic revolutionary war church. His name is Dean Burgess and he is the church historian. We walked several blocks with him as he pointed out historic sites. He took us through Trinity Episcopal Church originally erected in 1762. (http://www.trinity-portsmouth.org/history) Once in the church he pointed out the stain glass windows (several by Tiffany) and told stories about the history of the church, pastors and parishioners. We met up with him again after lunch and he walked us back through the historic neighborhood telling us stories about the history of many of the homes. We ended up finally at his house where we met his wife and were impressed with the richness of his family history and preservation of his historic home.
Portsmouth also has a movie theater called the Commodore Theater, luxuriously restored in a 1945 Art Deco style. It shows first run movies while you dine at individual tables, phoning in your order to the kitchen from the table. We saw the movie The Help.
On the way back to the boat we decided to explore the shore of Norfolk across the river from our boat. We pulled into a marina looking for a place to leave our dinghy. As we rounder the corner of the break wall, we were greeted by a swarm of police. One of the policemen motioned us over. (That is never a good sign! We mentally inventoried the number of life vests on board and registration information.) The officer said, “Now that you have come in here, you can’t leave.” He continued by saying, “There is a suspicious briefcase on a bench near where you entered and you can’t go back until the bomb squad has taken care of it.” We tied up at the dinghy dock and watched the bomb squad robot roll out of the truck and make its ways to the briefcase. It was like one of those TV programs Mike likes to watch.
In the meantime, a couple was getting off their moored boat to see what was going on. We told them about the possible bomb. Since the robot was taking forever, the four of us started boater talk – where are you from, where have you been, where are you going? After about 20 minutes, we could see that the situation was not going to end soon. (It is much more exciting on TV.) The four of us decided to go for coffee. We passed one of the groups of police, the guy in his bomb protective device and the local news crews as we made our way to Starbucks.
We chatted for about 40 minutes and returned to find everyone gone. We learned everyone was safe except the briefcase, which was blown up by the bomb squad.
Over time I am sure we will share the events of today many times. “Did I tell you about our experience with the bomb squad?” Already it is becoming more dramatic.
October 9, 2011
We have been traveling the ICW for the past week with another boat, Avalon. We have made some long passages starting at sunrise and going until 4 or 5 in the afternoon. We have traveled 309 miles. We are trying to stay ahead of a weather front that keeps threatening. We stayed an extra night in Oriental, NC because of predicted high winds that never came. There are many bays and sounds that can become difficult to cross when the wind is strong.
Luckily the last couple of days of predicted strong winds (20-30 mph) never happened. Yesterday we were able to take advantage of current and wind and traveled an extra 20 miles. The last few miles before the marina the predicted wind became reality. After we docked, the wind grew even stronger. Currently we are in Southport, NC at Deep Point Marina pinned to the dock and can’t get off. The prediction for tomorrow looks like we will continue to be here. Hopefully the wind direction will change Tuesday or Wednesday allowing us a chance to leave. We have been to Portsmouth before and enjoyed the town, so if the rain holds off we will enjoy our stay. Mike and Pegge from Avalon are great company and every day ends with a 5:00 happy hour. No complaints!
We have been traveling the ICW for the past week with another boat, Avalon. We have made some long passages starting at sunrise and going until 4 or 5 in the afternoon. We have traveled 309 miles. We are trying to stay ahead of a weather front that keeps threatening. We stayed an extra night in Oriental, NC because of predicted high winds that never came. There are many bays and sounds that can become difficult to cross when the wind is strong.
Luckily the last couple of days of predicted strong winds (20-30 mph) never happened. Yesterday we were able to take advantage of current and wind and traveled an extra 20 miles. The last few miles before the marina the predicted wind became reality. After we docked, the wind grew even stronger. Currently we are in Southport, NC at Deep Point Marina pinned to the dock and can’t get off. The prediction for tomorrow looks like we will continue to be here. Hopefully the wind direction will change Tuesday or Wednesday allowing us a chance to leave. We have been to Portsmouth before and enjoyed the town, so if the rain holds off we will enjoy our stay. Mike and Pegge from Avalon are great company and every day ends with a 5:00 happy hour. No complaints!