BIH Get Together (formerly:Navigating the Chesapeake)

[ImpulseIII]

Dominic,
Tell Mark (MTHOR) to follow you over to BIH. I have an extra name tag for Delores and he :smt043 !! See you tomorrow!! :thumbsup:

 

[osd9]

Got to take a 48DA out for a ride.....man that was nice.......I also saw Skip's next boat......

 

[walts]

Well we are in. Stern to xravenx and Nauti Boys III is to John's port side. Hope all have a safe trip, we look forward to tomorrow.

Walt

 

[Converse48]

Looks like Four Suns is on the way. They were at our marina last night and they just left. Really great people, although don't believe a word Gary says!

Have a blast over there and I'm sorry I'm going to miss it!

 

[Mthor]

I wish I could be there but work always gets in the way. Frank H - thanks for the invite maybe next year. Spent some time with Dom at Schooners MM getaway. My money is on Dom for cleanest boat - not a smudge on that beauty. Dom - I hope you had calm seas heading to BIH. We had a pretty rough one on Sunday morning (3 -5 ft seas, winds from the NE and a couple of 10 ft rollers) but we all survived. Enjoy your week!

 

[osd9]

We left Wildwood NJ about 7AM and pulled into BIH around 2PM. As soon as we got out of the Cape May Canal, we ran into some pretty serious seas at the mouth of the Delaware. The admiral kept saying something about "karats" and "Diamonds" and "get me to a jewelry store" The seas at the Mouth of the Delaware were a steady 3-5 with again, that Yippie Kie Yeah every so often. We also had a strong NNE wind blowing so the chop and period were not in our favor either. I was barely able to keep plane and make 15-16 knotts for about the first hour or so.

As we got further up the Delaware, and into the C&D, the seas really flattenned out nicely. The rest of the trip was very enjoyable. Because of the heavy seas in the begining of the trip, Mike (Dolce Vita (gas 390)) was running low on fuel, so a local guy talked us into tolchester's were we fueled up. The guy on the radio was nice enough, but his pricing was a little off. He told us thatthe price of diesel at Tolchester's was the cheapest on the bay....he must be the owner's Brother-in-law, because the diesel was $2.99. Jeremy, (Nauti Boyz) gave me some coordinates for a stop up the Bohemia on the way home where diesel is rumored to be in the $2.45 range....that's a big difference when you're taking on over 200 gallons

Anyway....The get together last night was nothing short of "FANTASTIC".....It was great to meet some of the folks that we've been cyber talking with for a few years and putting faces to the e-names...not that I'll be able to remember everyone's name... :smt017 .....that's that old man thing again....

The BIH Marina was an excellent choice. Clean and new with great views of the Inner Harbor.

I have to thank everyone that came by and the docktail "dish" party was a success....plenty of great food.

Oh, and I Wasn't the only guy smoking cigars.....and I DEFINITELY wasn't the only guy enjoying a cocktail either.... :wink:

I'm just kind of getting some things together right now, so I'll post some pics later....I saw a lot of cameras, so I'm sure others will also post a few pics....

 

[Four Suns]

We did have a little problem upon arrival though...

 

[RiverGalsMan]

Damn, that's funny! :smt043

 

[ImpulseIII]

Well we are home after a really great weekend at BIH. Great food, great location and most of all GREAT PEOPLE!! To all my old friends it was great to see you again and to all my new friends, great to meet you (finally).

Dominic, GREAT JOB putting this thing together, thanks...... :thumbsup:

Skip, Thank Andy for the pictures! :smt001

Gary, Thanks for nothing !!!!! :grin: (oh yeah, great TP job on Skip's boat!)

Seriously, we really had a terrific time and lets hope that at next years BIH extravaganza, we can double the number of CSR'ers that attend. This year 12 boats 40+ people and 2 Golden's. Should be easy to beat!

Nofoodpalooza had nothing on our party!!!

 

[Four Suns]

Here are a few pictures from the get together. I have more in my droning story in my cruising thread but thought I would post these here:

A few of the attendees:

And

Here’s Dom trying to dock. I couldn’t find my camera in time to get Frank’s attempted docking.

Skip had a neat-o emblem added to his boat:

Although I think he ran the boat into a wall with his anchor or something:

Here’s Skip on his engine room inspection of Dom’s boat… note the Cat flag...

Here’s Skip coming back with his clip board after inspecting all engine rooms with a white glove:

One of my dogs with the appropriate name tag… I was drinking so I forgot to focus:

We all had fun hanging out and spilling drinks on Frank’s boat:

And here’s Dominic:

And more drink spillers:

Some of the boats in harbor:

The crew of Chessie at Hard Rock:

And of course the childish toilet paper job on Skip’s boat:

 

[ImpulseIII]

Gary, I only got the picture of skips chairs. Could it be me? (be gentle) or are the pictures in cyber-space??

Great meeting you, Susie and the kids (and dogs). safe home!!

 

[ImpulseIII]

Gary, disreguard my last......pilot error on my part (but you know that already).

Great pictures. I'll go through mine tonight.

 

[CJ Martin]

We are home safe and sound as well. :smt001

What a great get-together. Great people, great conversations. My only regret is not being able to spend more time with everyone. Impuse III seemed to become party central and Frank and Karen were wonderful hosts. I don't think I spilled anything although last night got a little fuzzy towards the end. :grin:

Getting there was a bit of an adventure. We set out in Skip's wake into 3-4 footers and fair amount of wind. With Truly Blessed II knocking down the heavy stuff, we were able to make 21 knots and got to Baltimore in just under 4 hours. Every bilge switch cycled at one point or another during the trip, not from water but from the bouncing. My forward emergency switch tends to hang in rough water even though I can't seem to duplicate the problem when I work on it...the switch is very free moving.

Had a bit of excitement when the aft bilge alarm can on and stayed on. Called Skip on the VHF and told him I was slowing to check it out. It sure was nice to have another boat standing by "just in case". Once the hatch was up I found another stuck switch - no excess water. Got back up on plane and the very next wave reset the switch.

Burned right around 100 gallons over 67.3 nm. Not great numbers but we had the wind and tide against us all the way.

The trip home was forecasted to be near perfect but obviously that was wrong as we hit 2-3 footers from the Bay Bridge south. Skip had run on ahead while we were fueling but we remained in contact until he passed the Patuxent. About 10 miles North of Cove Point I had to slow down and lower the bow to get a decent ride. That said, we made excellent time, arriving at our marina just after 1300.

No matter, the people we met more than made it worthwhile. We can't wait for next year!

-CJ

 

[JeffM]

We had a great time! Dominic, what a wonderful idea -- thanks for organizing it! Hope you guys had a better trip home than you did down...fewer carats :grin:

Marilyn wanted me to be sure and mention that everyone in the family (not just me) had a good time. I'm still not allowed to say anything that starts with a "3" or "4", though. She really enjoyed meeting the other Admirals, and the kids were acting like brothers and sisters by the end, so I guess they either had a good time or hate each other. Sorry about the "kids boat" thing, Gary, but you had the better theater system.....our laptop just didn't cut it!

I didn't get too many people pics, but here are a few of the Inner Harbor and Marina.

Two overviews of the marina:

The Inner Harbor:

We, too, are looking forward to next year!
Jeff

 

[aquadancer]

Nice location, fun dock party, and most importantly a great bunch of people!

Our entire crew had a very good time and we're looking forward to the next get-together.

Dom, thanks for making this happen (and for updating my plotter - mada a big difference and user cards work now).

Our trip home on Monday was wet and choppy all the way to Turkey Point. On an intresting note, we saw a big explosion just north of Pooles Island. Looked like a boat blew up and it scared the crap out of me until I realized we had Aberdeen direcly on our port side.

Couple of pics to add to the thread:

 

[walts]

We had a great weekend, thanks to all. Here are a few more pictures.

 

[Skip]

We had a great time, and thanks from the Jones Family to Dom and Frank for pulling this together. Gary's post on the Tuesday weather on the central Chesapeake is spot on. It got plain ugly south of the Patuxent River. Unevenly spaced 4' with a few 5' to keep you on your toes. Once we turned west towards Point Lookout we were taking the seas on the port beam and the spray over the top of the bimini and through the zippers on the front panels made for a nice white crunchy coating on everything. Once we completed the turn west we were riding the following sea. Boys and the Admiral were quite stoic through the whole thing.

As others have alluded to, the BiH linkup was just outstanding. Great group of people, and you would be hard pressed to find a more lovingly maintained bunch of Sea Rays anywhere, with owners who clearly go the extra mile to keep the boats running and looking good.

I am glad that Gary's rapid fire camera did not catch me moving 45 feet and 14 tons of Sea Ray laterally into the wrong side of the slip as we came in. The sudden 420 knot gust of wind clearly caught my bow and fouled up my approach..... uh, yeah.

So it goes.

One cautionary tale, or more appropriately "why my kids wear life jackets all the time"
On Sunday night my oldest son tried to step from the floating dock on to Four Suns swim platform. I don't know if he was not watching where he was going, (possible) or if the legendary coordination he inherited from his old man took over (likely) but he slipped and fell into the water between the end of Gary's platform and the dock. It was dark, and my son is a mediocre swimmer at best. He was wearing his life jacket, which prevented him from going deeper than waist level, and CJ Martin was right behind him; I was in Gary's cockpit discussing the inherent superiority of Cummins QSM-11 Diesel technology, the utility of the open seacock, why we should not toilet paper other people's boats, or some other such weighty topic. At any rate, CJ grabbed my son and slowed his descent, and I grabbed him from the front and together we pulled Andy out of the drink. Like a Martini in a James Bond movie , my oldest was shaken, but not stirred.

In all seriousness, what turned out to be a non-event could have been a tragedy. Dark dock, weak swimmer, and if Andy had come up under Gary's platform or under the dock with a mouth and nose ful of salt water it could have ended differently than it did. This is why life jackets are non-negotiable on our boat--until the kids are well and thoroughly comfortable in the water and strong swimmers, the jackets stay on. Each day, once we had cleared the Marina gate and were up into the BIH tourist area proper, the jackets came off. Sure they get hot, so you make sure the kids stay hydrated in the jackets.

I'd encourage everybody to go back through Gary's posts..when the boat is underway they all wear life jackets. A great example, and one that my wife and I will model.

Humorous note of the day: By now you all (I mean youse guys for the north of the Mason Dixon Line guys) will have seen Gary's post and picture of my wife and his wife discussing the merits of the 480DB from the epic Month on the Chesapeake Thread that Gary has so masterfully done.

It worked. Today at lunch my wife was surfing the web looking for the pricing parameters on 480DBs, and asking if a 480 Bridge Boat would fit into our current slip. Prediction: Two years and I will have a pristine 03 420DA with about 600 hours on the clocks for sale. We will see.

We look forward to next year!

regards
Skip

 

[Converse48]

Skip-
Chilling story, I'm glad it turned out well.
Also, as sedan bridge? I wish I'd thought of that! :wink:
Get one... you will love it!

 

[osd9]

Well....I can't say anything more than was already said except....Let's do it again next year..... :thumbsup:

We had an absolutely perfect ride from BIH into Atlantic City. A complete 180 degrees from the trip into BIH. Other than an errant wake from an approaching fishing trawler out of the Cape May inlet, nothing but wind hit my windshield.

We had a follwing sea and follwing currents the entire trip. I was making 1-2 knots more than the trip down at the same RPM.

I was traveling with a 390DA gasser so we made one stop in the Bohemia River for fuel. Pulling into the Bohemia River was like entering a post card. Crab boaters setting their pots, Sailboaters Bunkholling close to shore and beautifully green landscaping on the rolling hills on the shores. Just wish we could have spent an extra night in the harbor.

Jeremy...as an aside, the first marina in the Bohemia does NOT sell diesel. I had to pull out head in to the BBYH (Clarks) for diesel....no bargain either....$2.91/gallon. I'll say this for Joesey, we certainly have cheaper fuel prices.

We made our way into Farley's state marina in AC at 3:45PM. We left BIH at 7:10AM. The GPS recorded 180 miles. We spent two nights in AC and after fueling up and pumping out, we pulled in to the home dock today at 2:35PM. Total trip was apprximately 465 SM rountrip.

Again, Fantastic time with fantastice people..... :smt038

 

[osd9]

A few pics of the gang enjoying the "bring-a-dish"......I never did find those Lobster Tails... :smt017