It was an absolutely beautiful day on the Shore, and Ted Bautz and I decided to take advantage of the moment once Pete had her in the water. Everything worked in our favor. Pete and his team had done everything that needed to be done to Dorie Leigh. We boarded her at Mathews Landing a little after 1:00 p.m., and the flood tide was nearly at its peak. We took off at 1:20 p.m. and dinked through the wide part of the Choptank just below Denton. As soon as we hit the point where the river narrows, we took off going 24 knots SOG on top of blue water with a mirror finish. It was a beautiful run all the way down to the Dover Road Bridge, and much to our delight, the bridge tender had her turned in about five minutes. We continued ripping down the Choptank pulled by the tide until we got to the Route 50 bridge at Cambridge. There, the wind hit us head on as the tide spilled under the bridge setting up a good chop, but we could still make about 16 knots. Once we passed the mouth of the Tred Avon, the water flattened out again as the wind died. We slipped through Knapps Narrows seeing our second boat on the water of the day and once again we lucked out. The wind had died on the main Bay, and even though we were running against the tide coming out of the Eastern Bay, we were still doing 20 knots over nearly flat water up around Tilghman Point, up the Miles and into the St. Michaels Harbor. To cap the day, the church bells rang out 5:00 p.m. as we dinked towards our dock at the Perry Cabin townhouses. In other words, we did it in three hours and 40 minutes. How can you beat a day like that!
It was an absolutely beautiful day on the Shore, and Ted Bautz and I decided to take advantage of the moment once Pete had her in the water. Everything worked in our favor. Pete and his team had done everything that needed to be done to Dorie Leigh. We boarded her at Mathews Landing a little after 1:00 p.m., and the flood tide was nearly at its peak. We took off at 1:20 p.m. and dinked through the wide part of the Choptank just below Denton. As soon as we hit the point where the river narrows, we took off going 24 knots SOG on top of blue water with a mirror finish. It was a beautiful run all the way down to the Dover Road Bridge, and much to our delight, the bridge tender had her turned in about five minutes. We continued ripping down the Choptank pulled by the tide until we got to the Route 50 bridge at Cambridge. There, the wind hit us head on as the tide spilled under the bridge setting up a good chop, but we could still make about 16 knots. Once we passed the mouth of the Tred Avon, the water flattened out again as the wind died. We slipped through Knapps Narrows seeing our second boat on the water of the day and once again we lucked out. The wind had died on the main Bay, and even though we were running against the tide coming out of the Eastern Bay, we were still doing 20 knots over nearly flat water up around Tilghman Point, up the Miles and into the St. Michaels Harbor. To cap the day, the church bells rang out 5:00 p.m. as we dinked towards our dock at the Perry Cabin townhouses. In other words, we did it in three hours and 40 minutes. How can you beat a day like that!
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