Plastic Classic Forum

Well today was a long one. NOAA predicted 10 knots of wind with 1 foot waves. They only missed it by 7 knots and 2 feet. I had consistent 17 knots, +/- and waves high enough to send green water rolling down the deck.

The other bummer is my dinghy painter parted today and I lost my Porta-Bote. T stuff secured on the stern obscures the dinghy when she is on a short line and I didn't even notice it until I pulled into Calvert Marina at Solomons. Probably a good thing I didn't see it go, trying to recover it in those seas would not have been pretty.

On the good side the autopilot performed flawlessly. I am sure glad I had it since steering through those conditions for 5 hours would have been exhausting. I am tired enough as it is.

Solomons is a great place so far. I walked down to this little shack of a cafe and had some wonderful seafood chowder and a Red Stripe. This marina, Calvert, is also a BoatUS affiliated marina so I get a discount which makes it fairly reasonable, around $33.00/day including a 30A connection.

Hey that SPOT report is really cool. Does that come with the basic subscription price ($100/year +/-)?

Follow the sun, & keep up the reports!

Best,
John Ring
Cape Dory 28 Tantalus
(to be hauled 24th)

John,

The track feature is not part of the basic subscription which is $99.99. Track is $49.99 extra. I also got the $100,000.00 SAR coverage which is $7.95 for the first year and $150/yr after that (may not get this next year). As you can see, I forgot to turn it on when I left Tilghman Island.

The only problem with loosing your dinghy is that you are "out in the boonies" on the other side of the creek at Calvert!

Yes, 5-10 knots predicted this time of year on the Bay usually means 15-20 (as opposed to in the Summer when it means 0-5).

Make sure you check out the Calvert Maritime Museum!

I'm starting to figure the wind thing out. I may have to miss the museum. I rented a car today but spent all my time at West Marine and Boater's World picking up parts for some projects I am planning on doing tomorrow, then I'm off to Reedville on Wednesday if the weather is good. If I wind up staying longer I'll get another car and go for a visit. Not having the dinghy is like not having a car. I use to row all over, but now I'm stuck close to the marina.

New dinghy is payed for though, just need to figure out where to have them ship it.