Chesapeake Bay Events Archives

Brush Up on Your Boating Skills

With many boats stored away in the Mid-Atlantic, winter is a fine time to visit cozy, indoor boating and fishing shows or brush up on your boating skills.

Winter is a great time to take a boating safety course. It’s also a good time for mariners to schedule an upcoming lesson with One Knot On Water Boat Training. While basic boating courses oer information on navigation rules and basic boat handling skills, actually docking a boat in a strong current or wind can be an anxious undertaking. One Knot, now available in Virginia Beach and Myrtle Beach, helps mariners gain confidence in maneuvering their boat on the water. John Phillips, a licensed captain, launched One Knot in 2016.

“We learned that our market is bigger than new boat owners,” says Phillips. “The people most interested are husband-wife and parent-teen teams. It turns out husbands and dads aren’t the best instructors.”

Phillips tailors training sessions to each customer’s needs. A general overview can be offered or more focused instruction on specific aspects of boating, such as handling lines, understanding throttle response, setting an economical and safe cruising speed, and so on. Instruction starts at $225 for three hours.

oneknotboating.com

The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Maryland, offers hands-on learning opportunities throughout the year. From 10 AM to 4 PM on January 12th, work with shipwrights and learn some boatbuilding fundamentals by taking part in the restoration of Delaware, a 1912 river tug that hauled scows laden with lumber and towed schooners up and down the Eastern Shore’s narrow, winding rivers. On January 19th from 10AM to noon, knob turning, button pushing and screen reading will be part of Capt. Jerry Friedman’s talk titled “Electronic Navigation for Non-Technical People.” Friedman, a 100- ton, USCG-licensed Master, will answer questions and provide short non-technical descriptions of how GPS, GPS plotters, radar, depth sounders, and automatic identification systems work.
cbmm.org

Safety Course IDs Required in Virginia

Virginia boaters looking for an easy way to demonstrate they have passed a safety education course can now order a lifetime boating card through the Department of Game & Inland Fisheries website. The durable, driver’s license-styled card is $10 and is available to anyone who has passed a course approved by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA). If you have yet to take a basic boating safety course, winter is a great time to get it done or take a refresher.

In Virginia, all personal watercraft operators ages 14 and older and all operators of motorboats with a 10-horsepower or greater engine need to take a boating safety course and must have a course completion card on board when operating a vessel. There are, however, some exceptions, such as proof of relevant military service or U.S. Coast Guard license holders. If you have previously taken a NASBLA-approved boating safety course and still have a card or certificate, carry it with you. Most state boating courses, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary courses, and U.S. Power Squadrons (USPS) courses are now NASBLA-approved.

Both online and face-to-face course options are available and affordable. The basic Boat Virginia Course offered by the Department of Game & Inland Fisheries is free. Courses offered by the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and USPS may include some cost to cover materials, generally $25 to $50, but they are well worth the investment and may help save your life.

dgif.virginia.gov

Winter Boat Shows

With many boats stored away in the Mid-Atlantic, winter is a fine time to visit cozy, indoor boating and fishing shows and plan for the next boating season. Besides offering a large selection of boats to mull over, many shows offer seminars focused on ways to improve your skills on the water and present a large selection of information booths and vendors offering the latest equipment, accessories, and service.

By Chris Knauss, Southern Boating February 2018

Maryland Seafood Festival at Sandy Point

September is my favorite month on the Chesapeake Bay and the Mid-Atlantic for several reasons: Most summer vacationers have departed; the weather is cooler and more comfortable and the fall colors make it a great time to cruise and to fish.

If you like seafood, you’ll love the Maryland Seafood Festival. The 50th annual seafood festival is September 9th and 10th at Sandy Point State Park in Annapolis. The tented beach event offers delicious seafood dishes, interactive cooking demonstrations, and cook-off competitions, along with maritime-related exhibits, contests and family fun. Local craft beer and wine will be available. Throw in the live music, sand soccer, and fireworks, and you have a very entertaining scene.

A portion of the festival’s proceeds goes toward local nonprofit organizations, including YMCA Camp Letts and the Foundation for Community Betterment. Tickets are available online and at the door. The park’s large marina has six finger piers for temporary day-use docking on a first come, first-served basis. visitmaryland.org

By Chris Knauss, Southern Boating, September 2017

Wave Reduction in the Chesapeake

Wave reduction will protect an Outer Banks reef structure

Outer Banks anglers should see more fishing opportunities in the years to come due to artificial reef work being done near the Bonner Bridge. The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) has built a living shoreline wave-attenuating structure about a mile west of the bridge. The 500-foot long structure is made up of blocks of concrete that allow water to pass through and around it while limiting the force of waves.

The reef structure is made of stacked concrete with natural rock embedded in it. The project is part of NCDOT’s bridge demolition and replacement plan, which will be completed in 2019. The goal of the reef is to aid the growth of seagrass by creating a 50-acre “wave shadow” on the lee side. Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) will benefit from a reduction in wave action. NCDOT plans to monitor the SAV growth and marine species in the reef over the next five years.

Young crabs and shrimp will use the structure and the seagrass beds as a refuge to hide from predators, while species like sea trout, striped bass and flounder will search those vegetation beds to find food. Spotted sea trout, grass shrimp and bay scallops spawn in SAV habitats.

Water depth surrounding the structure at low tide ranges from two to three feet, and there are no fishing or access restrictions. The reef is well marked, visible and out of the way of navigation channels. It’s accessible when transiting “the Crack” channel between the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center and Old House Channel. Please be mindful that boat propellers can uproot and kill swaths of SAV, leaving scars across the grassbeds.

NCDOT also plans to restore four existing artificial reefs along the northern Outer Banks with the demolished bridge material. An additional new reef is planned and will be funded from fishing license fees. An estimated 80,000 tons of debris from the demolished bridge will be used to build up the old structures with work targeted to begin by late 2018 and continue for about 10 months.

An additional reef is planned for a location about 2 miles south of reef No. 160, or 8 miles south of the Oregon Inlet. The plan is to sink two retired vessels to anchor each end of the reef and then to sink used concrete pipe in between. The reef will rise 25-30 feet above the ocean floor in about 70 feet of water.

—By Christopher Knauss, Southern Boating Magazine April 2017

Welcome to Mumfest

New Bern, North Carolina, hosts Mumfest on October 8-9, a fantastic fall destination for Mid-Atlantic cruisers filled with the vivid colors of the season and family activities. The festival includes street performers, ticketed and free music, children’s entertainment, crafts, rides, and delectable food in the beautifully restored downtown and waterfront. This year’s entertainment includes the Xpogo team—a stunt team on next generation pogo sticks. Their stunts reach incredible heights, and they hold 15 world records and several Guinness records. The Tryon Palace Gardens are free and open to the public during the weekend with country music artists performing on the South Lawn. Galley Marina has more than 400 feet of day dockage and 400 feet of transient dockage with 25 slips for boats up to 100 feet. If you arrive ahead of the festival, take part in the Eastern North Carolina Boat Show hosted by the New Bern Grand Marina Yacht Club and Hatteras Yachts on October 1-2. mumfest.com

Chestertown docking
Historic Chestertown, Maryland, on the banks of the Chester River plans to revitalize its town-owned marina right after Downrigging Weekend in late October. Money for the first phase of the two-year project comes from a real estate sale to Washington College and from the state’s Waterway Improvement Fund. The work will focus on the bulkhead and boat ramp. A second phase, scheduled for the fall and winter of 2017-18, includes demolishing the existing marina store and replacing it with high tide flooding mitigation in partnership with the Fish Whistle restaurant. The town has applied for a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and is also asking $1.5 million from Governor Hogan’s capital budget.

Rally to the Cup
Registration is now open for Offshore Passage Opportunities’ Rally to the Cup, which departs from multiple east coast ports including Annapolis on June 7, 2017. This allows enough time for arrival in Bermuda before the June 17^thstart of the 35^th America’s Cup finals. The rally will provide dockage at St. George’s Dinghy and Sports Club for the first 20 to 25 boats registered and a designated anchorage area (with launch service) or a berth along the wall in St. George’s. The rally fee includes planning and logistics, three socials, weather forecasting by WRI, Radio Net, and help with customs and immigration as well as logistics in Bermuda, a rally burgee and T-shirts for the crew. sailopo.com

Take the Wheel in Annapolis
City Dock in Annapolis will transform into a gigantic boat extravaganza with the annual sailboat show October 6-10 followed by the powerboat show October 13-16. Among many attractions at the sailboat show is an on-and-off the water learning opportunity entitled Take the Wheel Interactive Workshop designed to fast-track boating knowledge and to narrow boat search lists. During the afternoon on-the-water part of the program, registrants can sail aboard mono and multihulls and get a stem-to-stern look with wind in the sails. There’s also the opportunity to try before you buy at the powerboat show’s Demo Dock. usboat.com

By Christopher Knauss, Southern Boating Magazine October 2016

Chesapeake Cowboys’ season finale at the Baltimore Yacht Basin

Extreme boat docking will make its debut this month on the western shore at Nick’s Fish House and the Baltimore Yacht Basin. The Chesapeake Cowboys are bringing their season finale boat docking competition to Nick’s and the yacht basin located on the middle branch of the Patapsco River in Port Covington. Boat docking competitions are a 50-year-old sport and family tradition on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, and this event will mark the first competitive docking event on the western shore. Workboats and charter boats compete within their divisions to motor from a designated point before a hard reverse into the dock where pilings are lassoed during a timed competition. The cowboys compete for cash, prizes, trophies, and bragging rights. The festivities kick off at Nick’s on Friday, September 23^rd at 6PM, with an official Chesapeake Cowboys Captains’ party. The party will continue at the yacht basin on Saturday, September 24^th at noon with live bands, local brews, crab picking, and oyster shucking contests. The docking competition will run through Saturday and concludes with a “Grand Finale Shootout,” where the best of four Captains will compete for the fastest time to be crowned “King of the Bay.” chesapeakecowboysboatdocking.com

More access at Hart-Miller
Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources has opened an additional 300 acres of Hart-Miller Island for recreational purposes such as biking, hiking, camping, and nature watching. Accessible only by boat, the island has more than a half-mile of beachfront open to the public. The south cell of the island will be open and staffed Thursdays through Mondays from 11AM-4PM. The cell contains over eight miles of trails that circle around a large pond and include picturesque views of the Chesapeake Bay. Bike rentals are also available on the island. Located at the mouth of Back River, the 1,100-acre artificial Hart-Miller Island used to be two islands called Hart and Miller. In 1981, Maryland began the creation of what is now Hart-Miller Island by construction of a dike that linked the two islands. The resulting impoundment was filled with material dredged from the Baltimore Harbor, its approach channels and the channels in the upper Chesapeake Bay. Along with the new hiking and biking trails, Hart-Miller Island currently features swimming, wading, sunbathing, picnicking areas, 22 campsites, and an observation tower that offers a bird’s eye view of the beachfront and the bay. dnr2.maryland.gov/publiclands/Pages/central/hartmiller.aspx

Trawlerfest take two
The threat of Hurricane Joaquin forced last year’s Chesapeake Bay Trawlerfest to be canceled as Maryland and Virginia declared a state of emergency. Event organizers will try again this year at the Bay Bridge Marina in Stevensville, Maryland, featuring what should be an impressive array of seminars and boat and trade displays offered in a rendezvous-style format with evening events and activities. This year’s Trawlerfest will run from September 27^th through October 1^st. Attendees can expect course offerings on such topics as diesel engines, the boat buying process, boat handling, coastal navigation, and cruising the Intracoastal Waterway. baybridgemarina.com/events

By Christopher Knauss, Southern Boating Magazine September 2016