HOTCR

[Bob23]

My wife will understand if Dana (wedding dress lady) comes with me. Yeah. She'll understand all right...and the jury in her murder trial will probably also understand.
Elk: I suppose those of us that are sailing to this much talked about event will need to find out exactly where you are on the Elk river.
Bob23

[Tim Gardner]

I know where he is, but I  can't go to the hotcr, dammit!

Great site for a rendezvous!

Color me green.
TG

[Elk River]

Hello All:

    All this talk of murder and mayhem; live dangerously, fast (well, sailboat fast, anyway) and take no prisoners!!  Besides, we'll have a legal professional in our midst..., so, no worries, mon!

    Where we will only have the weekend, the Bohemia River may be all that we can count on for a destination, the mouth of which is roughly 6 n.m. from the meeting place/slips.  With some good wind, we can sail up the river a ways, then backtrack to Veazey Cove to anchor for the night.  Look for "myChart" #31504 by Hempenius Publishing (www.myChart.us).  It is a little waterproof chartlet that is perhaps 15" by 20" opened up.  One side covers our area of interest, plus the C & D Canal up to Chesapeake City.  Upon looking at the chartlet, one can see that after exiting the west end of the Canal, a hard turn to starboard headed up the Elk River would be in order.  Elkmore, the community I live in, is listed on the chartlet on the port side just before cans "8" & "9".  The channel swings in very close (as in, very close), to the Elkmore slips.  Blue Heaven is the token sailboat there, everyone else has the other kind of boat.  It would behoove any boater, even with shallow draft to MIND THE CHANNEL, PARTICULARLY AFTER CANS "6" & "7", as there is an island forming to starboard of the channel.  It is often visible at low tide.  After leaving the slips, motoring or short-tacking down river for a little bit, things will open up to be able to use the whole width of the river, assuming we are beating to the Bohemia.  The river is oriented Northeast to Southwest.

    Remember that you will need four dock lines and springlines if you want them.

    Think warm,

    Elk River

[Bob23]

Wow. not much water up there, Capt Elk. Are you trying to lure me into the shallows? I wasn't able to open that chart link but I have Maptech charts which show the area. I'll check it out. Thanks.
Bob23

[Mike K]

Elk,
Not to change the destination from Veasey cove in the Bohemia, but have you ever checked out Cabin John Creek?  It's only 1 mile south past the mouth of the Bohemia on the east side also.   (Same side as the Bohemia).  It's much more protected and cosy than Veasey cove, not to mention much more scenic.  Veasey Cove is where I often try to drop hook for lunches, and it can get very rolly from all the traffic with all the marinas up the Bohemia River.  I've never overnighted in Veasey, but it is wide open to the shipping lanes going into the C+D canal, and is unprotected from wind from 3 directions.  I know some big sailboats overnight there, but that's only because they wait for favorable tides and current before entering the C+D canal, and are forced by their deeper drafts to use Veasey.

I know you guys are already coming a long way, but if you can spare the extra time for the extra mile, I'd recommend Cabin John Creek.  I stayed there overnight last year on my CP Legacy.  The water is really skinny in there especially where I like to anchor (about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way into the creek on the south side) but it's not a problem for Com-Pacs.  It also "dead-ends", with no marinas at the end, so all the big powerboats pass it by to hang out in the Bohemia.  

The downside to Cabin John Creek is that it can be so protected and free of wakes, that during the weekend days, kids like to hang out in there on Jet-skis and some ski boats.  Annoying, but they tend to be lightweight planing boats (small wakes) and not the huge displacement cruisers (big wakes) on the Bohemia.  But in the evening, the kids go home, and it quiets down nicely.  The sleeping is nice and protected from most winds and wakes from the bay.

Just a suggestion, but I'm OK going anywhere.

[Craig]

Totally concur w/keougmi! Cabin John is a great spot for an overnight. Veasey is not really very protected. Nice sandy bottom for swimming/lunch though.

[Elk River]

Cabin John Creek could very well be used for the Saturday night anchorage.  We have been there and as mentioned, the only annoyance was high speed water skiers, etc.  The water may be too cold for them during our May Day rendezvous, unless, of course, they are using icebergs for ski jumps!  If the weather is right, though, it might still be good to go up and down the Bohemia, then swing around to Cabin John Creek.

     I am also thinking that we will host supper Friday evening for those that are able to arrive on Friday.  It will be a lot quieter than at the restaruant at Triton Marina, which is up river a little bit.  Breakfast on Saturday morning can also be handled here, so boat meals would be perhaps lunches on Saturday and Sunday, supper Saturday night and breakfast Sunday morning.  Perhaps, Mike, you could sail up here Friday and take a slip (and help pull Bob out of the mud...).  That would make for quite a few boats headed out together on Saturday.

     I will let everyone know of any more schemes that I may dream up.

     Elk River

[Mike K]

Elk,

Although I'd like to meet up with you guys in the skinny waters of the Upper Chesapeake on Friday night for the inagural HOTCR, I already bought tickets to see a play with Cathay.  So, it looks like I will have to start from the Bohemia on Saturday morning and meet up with you guys sometime during the day.

Marty, it sounds like you have all kinds of viable alternatives for crew.  I should be OK sailing by myself from my home port, because this year I think I will be renting a seasonal mooring ball, rather than having the hassle of launching off the trailer every time I want to sail.  However, if nothing else works out, you're still welcome to sail on the P-21.  Just drop me a private e-mail and we can arrange it.

Mike
PS- Not to make you all jealous, but I'm heading to Florida in a few days and next weekend, I will be solo sailing my Com-Pac Legacy on Charlotte Harbor to Cayo Costa state park.  There I hope to meet up with the West Coast (Florida) Trailer Sailing Squadron guys for a weekend outing.  I think there will be a lot of little sailboats attending, and it should be a blast!  I'm looking forward to the warm temperatures as Elk experienced not too long ago!

[Elk River]

Mike:

     That certainly can be a workable plan.  You could sail down the Bohemia and up the Elk until you came across us headed south.  We can all communicate by VHF, smoke signals or some other method. 

     Enjoy Florida, it will be a lot warmer for you than when I was there.

     Elk River

[MKBLK]

Elk,

Thank you for sending the chartlet. It appears that I will be joining Mike as crew for this adventure. We'll be getting together early (hopefully) Saturday morning as Mike has an important commitment Friday.

Pray for fair weather with zephyrs... cool is okay, precip, nah.

Marty K.

[Bob23]

Has anyone had experience with Harbor North Marina? I'm looking at alternate launch sites and this caught my eye...not too far from Capt Elk.
Bob23

[Bob23]

Senor Elk:
   What kinds of temps can we expect down there in the beginning of May? Any other info may be helpful too. Looking forward to this adventure.
Bob23
(ps: I'm bringing the dink-might be fun to re enact the BBB rowing race)

[Elk River]

Bob:

     If you are thinking of launching at Harbor North and not coming through the canal, why not drive the extra to Elkmore?  Harbor North probably can't offer free parking, launching and the verbal abuse that I can (also free).  Tides here are 3 hr. 20 min. after Baltimore, which ends up looking something like this:  High Tides at Town Pt. Wharf, Elk River:1 May, 0905 & 2120; 2 May, 0945 & 2200; 3 May, 1020 & 2240.  Weather?  Geez, ya big sissy, bring a jacket and hat.  Forget the bathing suit, that's a little too scary.  From the Old Farmer's Almanac:  the general weather report is that Spring will bring above average temperatures to the eastern half of the U.S. from late March through early May, precipitation will be below normal in most states near the Atlantic.  The Atlantic Corridor regional forecast indicates the following:  April & May will be warmer and generally drier than normal.  For May:  avg. temp 65, May 1st - 4th scattered showers, turning hot.

     Ah, the race.  Perhaps this year there will be a handicap system in place to make things, um, "equal".  Bring your Walker Bay and perhaps two oars, the rest of us will use my 6 Hour Canoe (15'3" by 12'7"LWL, beam 31.5" by 25" at the water, built from one 16' sheet of plywood).  The canoe paddles like a canoe or one sits low facing forward with a kayak paddle.  This sounds like a pretty fair deal to me and I am not even from New Jersey!  I trust you can see that your host is doing his best to make this a comfortable experience.

     I'll see what other "fun" I can dream up.

     Elk River

[Craig]

Bob, I kept my Seidelmann there for a number of years. Great place to launch! Short sail across the channel up to Elkmore and Elks place.

[Mike K]

Hi Bob23,

I've never actually been to Harbor North Marina, but on ActiveCaptain.com, they are NOT listed as having a boat ramp.  Again, maybe they do, but I find that Active Captain is pretty accurate in most cases. 

I know definitely that further south on the Bohemia River, a marina called Bohemia Vista Marina (not Bohemia Bay Yacht Basin) has a ramp that I think increased to $20 per launch, which is steep for what you get, an old single ramp that gets rather busy on the weekend.  I know because I launched there regularly for the last 3 years.  Also, if the tide is low, sometimes there can be an issue with getting even a 2' shoal draft sailboat off the trailer.  But 95% of the time, I didn't have a problem with my 16" draft CP Legacy or the 2' draft Precision 21.  However, below the waterline of the ramp, there is about a 4" drop-off due to washing away of dirt at the end of the concrete.  It's not usually a problem, but don't be surprised if it feels like your boat is heeling before you even get it off the trailer!

Then again, I guess you could always take Elk up on his offer of the Elkmore community boat ramp?

Take care,
Mike