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Greetings everyone,

This week’s episode of Epic Conditions on the Weather Channel featured sailing on the Chesapeake Bay. The show started with some obligatory shots of the Annapolis waterfront, the Naval Academy, and the Thomas Point lighthouse. They progressed to some interviews with some of the local salts (former America’s Cup winners, coaches at the Naval Academy, etc.) who explained the unique weather conditions on the bay, the big wind, the moderate water, and the constantly changing conditions that make sailing on the Chesapeake so challenging and why it is such a draw for hard core sailors.

There were some absolutely fabulous clips of large racing sleds being driven hard to windward in gale force winds, which included several former America’s cup sleds and the Volvo 70’s ocean racing series including Moviestar, CA, Pirates of the Caribbean, and ABN Amro 1 & 2. The sailors were dressed in foulies and the boats were surfing along at speeds above 25 knots. When they crashed into some of the larger waves they would ship green water from stem to stern and the crew would be diving for cover behind the deckhouse lest they be swept clean off the boat; an abject demonstration of why a dodger is called a dodger. The poor driver was lashed to the binnacle like captain Ahab with a death grip on the wheel, bracing himself and leaning into each wave as its frothy remnants streamed on by in a white sheet that covered the deck from rail to rail. Oddly enough, they were all grinning from ear to ear.

You might want to check your local listings for an upcoming replay on Friday and Saturday nights. There will be several replays sometime in the near future.

Sadly though, missing from the coverage of the hard core sailors on the bay was anybody from the Southeast fleet.

What gives?
:?: :?: :?:

tombayus RE watch the video when you have a chance. Angie sails with the two instructors from the Navel Academy. She is also a member of the South East Fleet. She lives in Shady Side MD.now but is still a member of the South Eastern Fleet. Bud.

I grew up on the Chesapeake and can attest to it's finicky nature. You can be enjoying a fine sail in gentle or moderate wind, when a sudden squall comes along and triples the wind strength with little warning (if you're not paying attention). I've raced everything from frostbite dinghies to big schooners on the bay and it always lulled you into a false sense of security, just before it spanked you. Living there, you get a feel for the patterns and seasonal differences, but visitors often comment on the suddenness of the changes.

Greetings Bud,

Excellent. Angie is a celebrity of sorts. Quality sailing partners are hard to find. Around here they are mostly drunks. But at least the drunks can be entertaining to watch as they cartwheel their Hobie cats from time to time.

I remember that part of Maryland quite well. I was seriously thinking about the Academy as a college choice. Pretty campus. I grew up just across the Potomac in the Virginia suburbs of DC and spent some time on the bay. There used to be a boy scout camp not to far from there where we used to eat oysters cooked up right on the dock delivered fresh from a Skipjack. I miss the Skipjacks. Sailed on one once. If I ever get a larger garage, I just might build one.

How is the traffic around Annapolis these days? DC now suffers from severe gridlock. Rush hour seams to start around 6:00am and finishes at about 8:00pm. hock:

Paul,

I think that finicky weather stretches quite a bit inland too. One of the times we were crabbing on the Rappahannock river, a Virginia tributary of the Chesapeake, at a point just south of the town of Tappahannock where the river was about two miles wide, the weather went from calm and balmy to Gilligan’s “three hour tour” weather in about fifteen minutes. Nearly tossed my cookies. But we saved the crabs … until about 6 pm when they went into the boiling water. :wink: Mmmmm