St. Marys River
Cruise
May 30-31, 2003
One Oar in the Water
by Brian Forsyth
May 30-31, 2003
One Oar in the Water
by Brian Forsyth
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St. Marys River
Cruise
May 30-31, 2003 One Oar in the Water by Brian Forsyth |
| After some arm-twisting
and promises of great adventure, buried treasure, dragons to slay, damsels
in distress, etc, I convinced my sons Matt (16) and Sam (13) that the second
annual “Assault on Hog Island” was not to be missed. We were all part
of the party that had made last year’s attempt, only to be put off by weather
(and the fact that our Dovekie Little Wing was at that time
engineless). This stirred in all of us the “not to be denied” instinct
and they finally assented that this was “worth missing a day of school”.
Something has certainly changed since I was in junior high and high school!
All of the prospective participants were watching the weather forecasts for the coming weekend and we had some conference calls culminating in a prudent Thursday decision that this would not be the best time to visit Hog Island. We discussed some alternatives and settled on St. Marys River, which was more than fine with us Forsyths, as it is just one river over from our homeport in Solomons, MD. |
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| We checked out this gorgeous schooner just up Carthagena Creek from Dennis Point Marina |
| After relaying
this change of plans to my crew, they independently realized that since
this was just “local” sailing, they could go to school on Friday and have
Mom drive them down to meet me Friday evening. Sometimes you just have
to take what you can get. It wasn’t until I was getting everything
sorted for the trip later that evening that I realized I’d be singlehanding
Little Wing for the first time. No biggie. I’d
sailed her a few times with my crew. I had my waterproofed copy of
Peter Duff’s wonderful and comprehensive instructions. I know which
end is the pointy one (actually they both are, aren’t they?). So Friday
AM it was off to the launching point at Dennis Point Marina on Carthagena
Creek off the St. Marys River for some adventure! |
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| Ken in the Sanity motors toward
the St. Marys River |
| When I pulled
into the marina, Ken Murphy and Sanity were nestled across
the creek in a nice cove, out of the mild breeze, the perfect place to
sort out and raise sail. By the time Little Wing was ready for launching,
Ken was out of sight and into the river, and Norm Wolfe had arrived (boatless).
Norm was going to sail for the afternoon with John Zohlen and his beautiful
restored Peep Hen, Terrapin. Norm kindly assisted me
with the launch and I proceeded under oars to the little cove across the
creek to get sorted. Now Little Wing does have a motor
and the reason I was rowing is not that I’m a purist or anything, but after
10 or 15 pulls the iron wind refused to start. The previous weekend I had
replaced the impeller and plug and hit the grease points. She started
OK a couple times, on the first or second pull. I was now having
impure thoughts about outboard motors, but wasn’t going to let that spoil
what was surely one of the most beautiful days of the year. In the
cove I tried many more pulls and started deviating from the instruction
book on choke position, throttle position, cleaned the plug, etc. No
joy. By this time John and Norm had past me heading out, me giving
them the “everything’s under control” sign. After a bunch more pulls,
I realized that I was in a SAILBOAT and the wind was blowing! I unfurled
the main and I was soon into the main body of the river, scanning the horizon
for fellow privateers. |
