After the fiasco the day before with me cursing the unlucky charter boat crew for taking 3 hours to up anchor, karma stepped in and slapped me down. As I pumped the handle of my trusty Simpson-Lawrence SeaTiger 555 MANUAL ANCHOR WINDLASS, I heard a "BANG"! Ginny, who was washing down the muddy chain as it came in (with the new super washdown pump!) said "Uh Oh, Dad..." The anchor roller shaft had snapped. At this point, the chain was up and down, with just the anchor buried in the mud. After some head scratching, I decided to have Tricia motor ahead and flip the anchor. This worked well, and I was able to raise the rest of the chain and anchor. Thank god for being in 7-8 feet of water and having a Fortress aluminum anchor. All the holding power, with 40% less weight (my guess). Didn't take us 3 hours to get underway, but another chore to add to the list. Did I mention that I tried to steal the shaft bolt from the other roller only to have the head break off easily? Now I am getting underway with no way to raise the anchor if I need to drop it. Ugh!
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| Geisler Point Marina |
Bodkin Creek off the Patapsco River on the way into Baltimore is a fairly unknown destination for sailors. The entrance to the creek requires careful reading of the cruising guide, as there are a series of shoals and a preponderance of crab pots. Having navigated successfully from Seven Foot Shoal to the entrance buoys at the mouth of the creek, I was surprised to see my depth sounder read 4.5 feet. We figure the transducer is 2 feet below the waterline, so depth was 6.5 feet. We officially draw 7 feet, and felt the drag as we slithered through the clay bottom and over the hump. Tricia's Dad, Bob Geisler, owns Geisler Point Marina just inside the entrance on the right, and Cappy (as his grandkids call him) was standing on the pier waiting for us. Unfortunately, a combination of an unusually low tide and recent silting had left his slips without enough water to float Music. We tried mightily to plow our weigh in, and ended up waiting for the tide to unstick us. Bob was clearly disappointed, as he had made plans to be our host for 2 days. We then headed further up the creek to Pleasure Cove Marina.
Pleasure Cove was closed for the night, but there was room and, importantly, adequate water beneath the keel, at the fuel dock. Pleasure Cove has a restaurant, the Cheshire Crab, and Bob treated us to a wonderful dinner and several stories of his adventures in 44 years as a marine contractor/ tugboat skipper on the Chesapeake. The next day, Bob ran us around Pasadena and Glen Burnie to get parts to fix the anchor rollers. As an old boat, the right replacement parts weren't available. So, we jury rigged something with trailer parts and fittings from the most AMAZING old hardware store that had everything. Cary and Ginny worked out at the Pleasure Cove Marina gym, and relaxed. We then had Cappy over for a nice chicken pot pie dinner. The next morning, Cappy came down to see us off at 0730, as we headed up the bay.
Pleasure Cove was closed for the night, but there was room and, importantly, adequate water beneath the keel, at the fuel dock. Pleasure Cove has a restaurant, the Cheshire Crab, and Bob treated us to a wonderful dinner and several stories of his adventures in 44 years as a marine contractor/ tugboat skipper on the Chesapeake. The next day, Bob ran us around Pasadena and Glen Burnie to get parts to fix the anchor rollers. As an old boat, the right replacement parts weren't available. So, we jury rigged something with trailer parts and fittings from the most AMAZING old hardware store that had everything. Cary and Ginny worked out at the Pleasure Cove Marina gym, and relaxed. We then had Cappy over for a nice chicken pot pie dinner. The next morning, Cappy came down to see us off at 0730, as we headed up the bay.
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