2014 Spring Crusty Cruise Log
Submitted by ComCrusCru
IV Penn Burke
Vessels and Crew:
- Painkiller – Chuck Craven, Brian Taylor, Penn Burke
- Snack Bar – Russell Dixon, Bill Vaughn
- Exodus – Perry West, Mike Goodman and Mark Schroeder
- Gadfly – Charlie Maresh, Tom Dreelin, George Snavely, and Gary Hinkson
- Windora – CJ Maresh, Teddy Enright, and Michael ?
Wednesday April 23rd –
Dinner at Chuck’s place in D-Ville. All Captains and most crew were
present for a delicious meal prepared by Chuck’s personal Chef (Sharon).
She served us Maggiano-Inspired Rigatoni D, tossed salad with home made
dressing, bread and homemade butter. This was topped off with a great dessert (homemade
cheesecake, & apple pie and brownies from Allyson Maresh). Prior to dinner
all Captains received 30’ of fine cotton flags in various colors that
came from decorations used at Miller & Rhoads Department Store back in the
50’s or 60’s. These were from the Milton Burke Private Collection
of stuff that is old. The flags looked great pulled up to the top of the mast
at various stopping points and we received lots of comments about them.
Thursday April 24th
– Great wind almost out of the right direction allowed us to leave
Deltaville, sail hard and go to Crisfield
Md. We docked at Somers Cove
Marina (which is now mostly floating piers and has a remodeled bath house and
office. We all went to dinner at the Waterman’s Inn
and all I heard was “good food” comments so everyone enjoyed their
meals.
Friday April 25th
– Leaving Crisfield our destination was Solomon’s Island
for the 2014 season opening of the Tiki Bar. We had good wind again and
favorable current for our start and sailed up to Kedge’s Straights and
headed across the bay to the Patuxent. Lot’s
of military aircraft were flying but none used us for target practice. It was
wing on wing sailing for most vessels. The wind continued to build and was
howling as we got to the other side of the bay and into the mouth of the
Patuxent. We were heading for Carter Vaughn’s (Bill’s son) up on
Mill creek where Carter was waiting for us with a 26’ pontoon boat to be
used as a water taxi to get us to the Tiki Bar. We arrived and found a brand
new (two week old) pier that allowed all 5 vessels to tie up/raft off and gave
us good protection from the storm that rolled in and rained hard for 3 ½ hours.
We used the storm period to cook and eat dinner and then 12 of the hearty souls
(younger set) went off at 10:00 PM to close the Tiki Bar, they returned around
3:00 AM and that is the entire story you will get from this Commodore. Carter
has done a great job on restoring the home and old post office on his
property. It was great of him to let the Crusty Cruise come in and use his
pier and home for the evening. Thanks Carter.
Saturday April 26th
– Left Solomon’s Island and headed
south to Reedville with a forecast that was great but with weather conditions
that did not match the forecast. After a while everyone was motor sailing and
we all arrived at the docks of the Crazy Crab restaurant. We put up our
vintage decorative flags and received lots of comments from the staff and the
diners at The Crazy Crab. Two boats cooked on board and the other Three went
in for a great dinner with fantastic service. It was Crusty Cruise shirt night.
I later heard that some of the old timers on Gadfly were whining because they
did not have shirts. After diner, there was a lot of story telling and
cocktails on board.
Sunday April 27th
– Left Reedville and continued South with good winds again for a nice
sail down the bay to home ports.
Summary: After
having the Fall 2013 planned trip
to Annapolis for the boat show get blown and rained
out, we were all looking forward to a great trip and I believe that this Crusty
Cruise was just that. Five vessels, two new crew members and good weather with
favorable winds (most days) everyone had a great opening to the sailing season
of 2014.
See you on the water,
ComCrusCru IV Penn Burke
Captain Penn Burke (See you on the Water)
"If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane" J. Buffett
