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This Log is current to June 18, 200 May 24, 2004 on the Chesapeake Bay: Photo: There is nothing quite so soothing as sunset in an isolated anchorage. This is La Trappe Creek, off the Choptank River on the Chesapeake Bay’s eastern shore on May 22, 2004. While we were sailing, a beautiful sailboat, a Sabre named Pretender (photo taken near Oxford, MD) pulled alongside and the captain called over, “Love your we site....been reading it for a long time.” He had seen the name “Pioneer” on our transom. It always takes us by surprise when people recognize us from this website. It’s wonderful -- because we know they share our interests. A more stressful situation still playing out. Our friends Rich and Jane aboard a 36 foot Dickerson sailboat named Cabochon (cahbo-shawn) departed Miami on Saturday, May 15, hoping to sail nonstop in the Atlantic all the way to the Chesapeake Bay, a voyage in excess of 1,000 statute miles. A sail of this nature is extremely difficult, since most of it involves sailing the Gulf Steam. The Stream flows northward along America’s east coast. We sailed it nonstop last year from Nassau in the Bahamas to Beaufort, North Carolina, a distance of 767 nautical miles (882 statute). We were lucky, having only south winds and no storms. Ships of all sizes have sunk in the Stream, having suffered a north wind. A north wind against the Gulf Stream quickly creates huge, steep, and very dangerous waves.
We hope to hear more today. Rich and Jane are two of our dearest friends (photo from two years ago). They are battered, but based on their phone message, not beaten. They don’t have the latest expensive equipment -- or even hot water on their boat -- they are brave and resourceful and they traveled with the best forecasts available, just as have some of the most famous explorers in history. In the sailing world there are a lot of interesting people, and there are some total phonies. There are people who falsely brag about being circumnavigators and there are the quiet ones who don’t brag -- they just do. We offer a hearty congratulations to Rich and Jane -- true sailors and wonderful friends. Welcome home.
On top of their other challenges, a mechanical problem kept them from using their engine, and with light winds in the Chesapeake and few untorn sails remaining to provide propulsion, their progress was often less than one mile per hour.
We helped wrestle them into a slip in our marina and when they set foot on land for the first time since Miami, Florida, they were more than happy. We have the deepest admiration for this couple, as should anyone in the sailing community. They demonstrated the highest values of determination, competence and seamanship. We are working on a story of their trip, with maps, which we’ll soon post in this site. June 1, 2004 at Solomons, Maryland KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - An explosion ripped through a bus in Nepal's capital on Sunday, injuring at least 21 people, three critically, police and witnesses said. We have just received a report from another part of Asia in horrible distress. The situation in Burma grows worse as the Army continues to seek out and kill ethnic minorities, especially those who refuse to make illegal narcotics and cut the Army in on the profits. We we sail our beautiful Pioneer, our joy is tempered by what we’re learning from people we know who conduct secret missions into Burma in support of millions of innocent victims there. The Americans risking their lives to help as they can travel the jungle at night, dodging Army troops.. June 6, 2004 in Solomons, MD If you are near there on a Friday night, drop by a restaurant called Vin Rouge for the town’s newest jazz show. “Rah and Her Lost in the Stars Trio” (photo: Rah) promises to take you back to the cabaret days of “early Hollywood glamour, wit and smoky sex appeal.” It’s too far inland for we sailors, but if you take in the show, send us a review! Meanwhile, we’re going sailing. June 7, 2004 Update: June 11, 2004 in Solomons, MD If you are interested, you’ll find lots of new photos imbedded in our log text -- right back to the first log from December, 1999. Most of these photos are not found in the photos sections. CLICK HERE to go to the logs section. Meanwhile, we’re off sailing. June 14, 2004 June 17, 2004 heading north in the Chesapeake Meanwhile, we leave you with this photo of an entry in the Unofficial St. Mary’s County Cardboard Boat Race. A group of friends designed and constructed a small fleet of boats solely out of cardboard, and raced them. This boat, constructed by our neighbor Gordon and a bunch of his pals, came in second (it may have had a tiny streamlining problem). On the other hand, it didn’t sink, even when four huge guys took their turn -- and that’s a major accomplishment for sailors of paper boats! And so goes life in Solomons, Maryland, USA. Temp end PREVIOUS LOG |
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We have been anxiously waiting for word from Rich and Jane, knowing they were in the Stream without a life raft, short wave radio, radar or emergency satellite beacon. Finally last night, as they entered their eighth day at sea, we received a phone call. They were limping toward the entrance of the Chesapeake, their Genoa shredded and their mainsail badly torn. They had been caught in vicious weather in the open ocean, had taken a terrible pounding, and barely had enough sails left to move the boat. 
May 30,2004 on the Chesapeake
Still, they refused to ask anyone for help, and when we intercepted them outside Solomons, MD there they were with their dinghy in the water, dragging Cabochon to safe harbor.
