March Mainsheet

We have had the cruising and racing seminars and by the time many of you will be reading this, boats in the Chesapeake Bay will be getting ready to go back in the water. The cruising seminar was well attended. We sorted out the cruising schedule for the year, and this is now available on the Alberg 30 web site. Thanks to all those that agreed to be a cruise coordinator and / or host.

A theme that ran through the cruising and racing seminars was the desire to schedule activities so that the racing boats and the cruising boats can cross paths more often. The Alberg 30 is a unique boat and Association in that it is entirely possible to be racing one weekend, and cruising the next. The vibrancy of the Association is in part due to the fact that there is this unique mix of cruising and racing. The Spring Rendezvous has been scheduled to coincide with the NOOD Regatta this year. In addition, I would encourage folks that generally cruise to consider the Queenstown race raft up. Last year, there were two separate Alberg rafts, and a good mix of folks. I believe that I am right in saying that there were more kids at the Queenstown raft up than there were on the childrens’ cruise.

This year we have two events at the Potapskut Sailing Association (PSA); the Spring Series (5/9) and the Canadian Friendship Weekend and Regatta (10/17). While both of these events are racing events, they are excellent opportunities for cruisers to drop a hook for a few days and socialize.

Another little change this year is that we have scheduled the Orioles Game Cruise to coincide with the last weekend of the Summer Cruise (7/3 through 7/12). The Orioles game was well attended last year, and with the summer cruisers also attending, we are looking for a large turnout. Trish Lehman has scheduled slips in Inner Harbor Marina in Baltimore – at the Rusty Scupper. Currently we have 45 slips on hold, and Trish needs to know by April first who will be there in order to hold the slips. This marina has good facilities, access to numerous bars and restaurants, and use of the pool at the nearby hotel. In addition, it is a manageable walk (or water taxi) to the Camden Yards stadium.

The Summer Cruise itself will be in the upper part of the Bay, and Bill Carter has offered to help Ray Meyer with some local knowledge to schedule an interesting series of stops. This is the first of the large cruises that I will have been on, and I am looking forward to the whole thing!

Enough of the future – back to reality. Our boat goes back in the water on March 22, so I do not have much time left to get organized. I have promised my wife that I am going to focus on the little things that make life easier aboard – like putting all the cupboard doors and drawers back into the boat. On the way to the boat this morning to try and get my new chain plates on (unsuccessfully), I was struck with an amusing thought that even with each new piece of equipment I HAD to purchase for the various jobs, I was still saving vast sums of money over what a boatyard would have charged. This is the same approach to saving money that my wife references when she declares how much she has saved by purchasing some item of dubious necessity on sale. Hmmm, but I think it is different for a boat? It must be – If I do not get the boat back together, the world will stop! That is my story and I am sticking to it!