Washington College

Images courtesy of Brian Palmer, Alison Percich and Lena Hess

Thursday, Oct 13 - Rock Hall to Annapolis
Weather - west wind 12-18 MPH, scattered showers

We left Rock Hall after loading everything we'd need for our four-day journey around the upper bay, with a destination of Annapolis, the Sailing Capital of the US.  We timed our departure to be passing just south of the Annapolis Bay Bridge minutes before the start of the annual Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race.

A blend of modern schooners, replica vessels, and older boats set off on a race down the bay some 150 miles to their destination.

After the last in the fleet headed south, we continued our day's trip by heading for Annapolis Harbor where we picked up a mooring, hopped in the inflatable dinghy with cameras in hand, and went ashore to explore.

The U.S. Naval Academy offered a variety of photo subjects between architectural views, candid portraits, and other campus details.

An extremely high tide crept up into town, forcing the closure of some waterfront businesses and inconveniencing patrons of the US Powerboat Show taking place at the harbor's Ego Alley.

Friday,  Oct 14 - Annapolis to Fairlee Creek
Weather - southwest wind 12-18 MPH, building to 20-25 MPH, scattered showers

The next morning, after breakfast on the boat and showers at the Harbormaster's facilities ashore, we headed out of Annapolis, with winds following us.  We were hit by a few passing showers that dumped heavily on us at times, and sent some crew below to take shelter.  Once the quick passing showers moved on, we shot up the Bay, passing back under the Bay Bridge and close by the Sandy Point Light House.

With the rains past, Brian began filming some video for the trip documentary with his DSLR.  The dynamic sky photographed and filmed well as a backdrop to tell the tale of our passage.

As we arrived at the inlet of Fairlee Creek, a large sailboat was attempting the tricky entrance, and went aground, forcing us to wait outside while they freed themselves.
After making our way inside and dropping two anchors to secure our place in the windy anchorage, we ventured over to the remains of the beach which was nearly completely covered due to the uncommonly high tide.  We made a fire with drift wood and roasted marshmallows as the sun set and eventually the moon rose over the water.

Saturday, Oct 15 - Fairlee Creek to Baltimore Inner Harbor
Weather - southwest wind 20-25MPH, building to 35-45 MPH, clear skys
Some of us ventured out in the inflatable dinghy before sunrise to take advantage of the "golden hour" of light and look for wildlife in the quiet cove.  We were rewarded with great blue herons, Canada geese, and a curious fox that was exploring the water's edge.

We headed out of the inlet and raised a double reefed mainsail and the staysail (the smaller of the two roller furling jibs on the foredeck).  This balanced us well in the gusty wind and propelled us at speeds over 13 MPH at times.  But, with the wind blowing up the Bay, waves were building all day, giving us a rough ride and producing a fair amount of spray over the deck.
As we entered the Patapsco River, we received protection from the shore that limited waves, but still presented us with wind gusts in excess of 50 MPH at times, according to the anemometer mounted atop the mast, which reported wind speed to a gauge in the cockpit of the boat.

We arrived at the Inner Harbor Marina at about 5:15PM, docked, and grabbed our photo gear to explore the waterfront.

We paced ourselves along the harbor, and arrived at the World Trade Center, the world's talled pentagon shaped building, just before 6:30PM.  The 26th floor observation deck gave panoramic views of the city.  With the fading light, we had some wonderful photo opportunities.  Using long exposure techniques, we allowed commuting cars to paint the streets with their moving lights, which balanced the colorful dim sky nicely.

Having had a long day, we ate a well deserved dinner at Five Guys and headed back to the marina, shooting more images along the way.

Half the group relaxed on the boat while the other half jumped in the inflatable dinghy and rowed to different dock locations to shoot long night exposures of the city lights.  The dinghy allowed us to explore all around the harbor without the concern of walking through the streets late at night with bags of photo gear.  We'd just pop up on shore for a few photos, and back into the dinghy to move on to the next location.

Sunday, Oct 16th - Baltimore Inner Harbor to Rock Hall

Weather - southwest wind 12-15 MPH, building to southeast 20-25 MPH, clear skys

After showers ashore at the marina, we grabbed breakfast on the go as we departed from Baltimore.  We didn't want to get a late start, since the winds would be less favorable as the day progressed.  We sailed on a close reach out the Patapsco River, under the Francis Scott Key Bridge, past Fort Carroll, and across the bay to arrive in Rock Hall in the early afternoon.  The more relaxed pace of this last day was a welcome change over the previous two days of large waves and high winds.