2017 Fall Crusty – 2 Vessels participating: Cappy-Ta – with crew of 3 Painkiller – with crew of 3

Wednesday – loading of vessels and a fantastic dinner prepared by Crusty Chef Sharon at Chez Chuckie’s in Deltaville.  Allison and Charlie Maresh and Tom White joined the sailing crews for dinner.

ComCrusCru IV brought out the new Crusty flag he had made by US Flag on the internet.  The crew of Cappy Ta was present for dinner but the new owner Chip Huling could not make dinner but did show up on Thursday to take his vessel out.  Bill Vaughn sold Cappy Ta and he and Russell invited the new owner to join us on the Crusty with them as crew.  What a great way to get to know your vessel by going out for 4 days with the previous owner and his lead mechanic.  I think we may see Chip again on a crusty.  Chip did a good job in putting together a video on You Tube of Fall Crusty 2017: 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDdYlYIxt6g

 

Dinner and dessert were great- Thank You Sharon

 

Thursday – Off to Tangier Island   We had very light air and Painkiller did not raise the sails and had an uneventful motor across to the island.  We arrived right at peak current flowing through the channel at Parks Marina but Capt. Chuck did a great job at backing Painkiller into the slip.  It was so impressive that he got a big at-a-boy from Milton Parks the 86 year old owner and dock master of Parks Marina.  Milton is still riding the piers on a moped after breaking a hip two years ago and he spent a great deal of time hanging with us and telling Tales of Tangier.  We helped other vessels coming in for the evening as the current was causing quite a bit of excitement.  One vessel kept grounding on the mud flat in front of the slips and the captain was afraid to kick it hard to get over the flat and into the deeper water of the slip so Mr. Parks sent them to the Tour Boat dock to tie up for the evening.  We did get a group picture of Mr Parks with our new Crusty Cruise flag in the background.  We all had dinner at Lorraine’s as the other eateries on Tangier have closed for the season. 

Friday – we started out with light winds and headed to Reedville to tie up at the Crazy Crab.  Painkiller ended up motor sailing across the bay as the winds never really provided enough force to sail us across.  The weather was just great the entire weekend with cool nights and warmer days and no rain.  Arrived at Crazy Crab in time for cocktails and horderves in the cockpit of Painkiller.  There was a big wedding rehearsal dinner on the outside patio and the inside was loaded as well.  We all had a great meal.

 

 

Saturday – We left Reedville and went across the creek and up into a small creek where Bill Vaughn’s new house is located and tied up at his dock and did a walk through tour of his place.  Nice home with great views and low maintenance yard.   On leaving the pier we promptly ran aground but were able to free ourselves without assistance and started our motor down to Little Bay.  We were heading into Little Bay and I followed the same route that we had used before but learned that either the pound net was moved or there has been some shifting of the sand bar and I ran aground but once again used the muscle of the engine to get free and after getting tied up, I updated the chart on my GPS and put in a No-Go Waypoint to stop us from doing that again.  We enjoyed the scenery and had a wonderful yoga demonstration by a petite young lady on the foredeck of a sailboat anchored nearby.  Watched the Va Tech game and then enjoyed Chuck’s famous Crusty Cruise Pot Roast.

 

Sunday – Back to homeports for both boats.  An uneventful motor back to Deltaville as there was no wind for sailing once again.

 

Note:  I am sure that we will have Chip Huling joining us on a Crusty in the future assuming he can find crew as I expect Bill and Russell will go back to sailing on Snack Bar.  Be sure to go out and watch the video on Youtube and enjoy the attached pictures.

 

Note 2:  OK Guys, we all say that we need to expand the Crusty fleet but then you come up with lame excuses not to come out and participate.  What’s with that?

 

Spring Crusty 2018 is April 25-29.  Write it down, tell your family, and be there – no excuses…..

 

See you on the water – Capt. Penn

 

 

Captain Penn Burke  (See you on the Water)

 

"If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane"      J. Buffett