by tomodda » Wed Apr 07, 2021 12:40 am
Ok, gotcha. Hope your new home is near the Magothy. Not my favorite river (too many houses! too many stinkpots! Jetskis, ugh) but it can be pretty. Plenty of nice sailing spots in day driving distance of you, though. The limiting factor is pretty much the boatramps, there's never as many as we'd like... with parking, without insane fees (I'm looking at you, Talbot County), and at reasonable distance from good sailing grounds. But they're out there, all it takes is a bit of planning.
As for a "circumChessiegation," well.. crawl, walk, then run, take it slow, huh? From NorthEast River to Cape Henry is 200 miles, straight line. Figure 500 miles for a circle route, and that's without really going up any tributaries. Steve Earley did a 460-mile Chesapeake trip last year, Eastern Shore only, took him 21 days. So that gives you a ballpark. Without getting into too many gruesome scenarios, the real problem with such a trip is being in a hurry, trying to "make miles," trying to meet deadlines (such as work). That causes you to try and sail in marginal conditions when you should just wait it out, leading to mistakes - deadly mistakes. Which is what I call a very complicated and expensive way to drown, you'd save yourself a lot of aggravation just jumping into the local creek holding a cinderblock in your hands.
Anyway, it's late (midnightish here) and I'm being morbid. Dinghy cruising is great, but the margin for error is MUCH smaller than in a "big boat." You need to plan and sail VERY conservatively. What's OK for a daytrip (pounding upwind for 8 hours thru a hollow chop, for instance) can lead to deadly mistakes when you finish your day exhausted, searching for a secure anchorage in the dark, rather than pulling your boat out and sleeping at home. You need years of shorter trips to understand the difference between a safe trip and being a hair too far "over the edge." So, please take it slow. I've never overnighted my DS, but have done a good bit of camp-cruising on a Hobie 16. Same rules apply. On a positive note, one trick from back when I did a lot of cruising - start early! Wake up before dawn, get the hook up as soon as it's light enough to see. Sail till 3PM, 5PM max then anchor, beach, or get a slip, get your campsite or "night mode" sorted out. Well before you're tired, well before dark, well before anyone else takes up the good spots, plenty of "time buffer" for any unknowns. Then spend the late afternoon enjoying the scenery, swimming, fishing, reading... isn't that the REASON we're sailboat cruising? Enjoy it!
I'll share some ideas on local cruising spots maybe tomorrow. But one of my favorite trips in your area is Severn River/Spa Creek (Truxton Park), around Thomas Point, up South River and into the cove on Harness Creek (38°56'03.0"N 76°30'25.3"W). You get a little bit of all the best that the Bay has to offer. Funny thing is what's 2 miles on land is 12-15 by sea. So it may take all day, but you can anchor then swim ashore and Uber/Walk back to your car. Do it all in reverse the next day! Or do it out of Mayo, less distance. The great advantage of the DS is it'll go into much skinnier water than most other boats want to deal with. For instance, the bar in front of the Harness Creek Cove keeps most of the idiots out but is absolutely no big deal for our DS's. So use this "superpower" to your advantage!