Timm’s Picnic & Home!

Saturday, August 13:  Coleman invited us to have breakfast with him at the club this morning.  He prepared bacon and eggs for me and bacon and pancakes for Ted and himself, plus baked toMAHtoes.  We ate outside on the club’s big porch and enjoyed the pleasant morning, lingering over our coffee. 

There was a smoky haze in the air from a big brush fire in the Dismal Swamp to our south that had been burning for several days.  The air was clear, here, last night, but the wind changed direction this morning, bringing in fairly thick smoke and it’s distinctive smell.  The visibility was less than a mile.  It was going to be a warm day, with high in the upper 80s, moderate humidity, and a good chance of showers and thunderstorms.

After spending some time cleaning the boat inside and out, we dropped lines from the club docks around 11:30 and motored over to pick up Stephanie.  She rowed out in Ted’s dead battery dinghy to meet us, so we would not have to tie up at her dock.  We were on our way over to the club picnic at the Timm’s house on the Eastern Branch of the Corrotoman river (Lance decided to drive his car over). 

There was just enough wind to sail, so Ted put Stephanie at the helm of Bottlenose and the rest of us did the trimming, as we cruised up the Rappahannock and into the Corrotoman river.

We next stopped at Ted’s private dock to pick up Sheila and Ted’s wife, Ene-Mai.  However before we left for the picnic, we had some drinks and a tour of Ted & Ene-Mai’s beautiful home.

At the picnic, there were around 50 people and lots of food, drink, and games.  We played a round of Bocce Ball, before the eating, drinking, and socializing got into full force.

We were talking with our friends about the cruise we just completed and what cruises the club might sponsor in the future.  One idea was a circumnavigation of the Delmarva Peninsula, where we would sail from our club, down the Chesapeake Bay to Hampton, VA, out into the ocean along the Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware shores, up Delaware Bay, through the C&D canal, and down the Chesapeake Bay back to the club.  This is a popular “bucket list” cruise for many coastal cruisers.

Ted pointed out that the Delmarva circumnavigation is exactly what we just did (plus an extended side trip to Block Island, Long Island Sound, and the New York City area)!  OK – I can cross this off my list!

Toward the end of the picnic, we had a light rain shower, with distant thunder.  When this cleared, we dinghyed back to Bottlenose and motored back to Ted’s dock.  Ted drove Sheila and me in his car, the short distance to our house.

In all, our cruise lasted exactly three weeks and covered about 1000 nautical miles, half of which was blue water ocean sailing.  We sailed as much as we reasonably could, usually only motoring when our boat speed dropped below 3 kt.  We also used the spinnaker a lot.  Ted said it was the most he had ever used it in the 10 years he has owned Bottlenose.

All in all, a fantastic blue water adventure!