06/02 - 06/04 - Lankford Bay Marina, Eastern Shore

Dun and Becky, we'll miss both of you.

I have just posted the "final" list as of today, 1 June. I will bring enough hard copies for everyone to get one. Please don't take more than one.

I will get there mid afternoon on Friday and launch at the ramp. If you have last minute questions, you can call me today or this evening at 804 580 4591. We will leave here about 9AM and meet up with Brad and Pat on Life Savor somewhere along 301 on the way North (I hope).

See you all soon.

Charlie and Sally
 
We have finally managed to finalize our plans. Dawn Treader will be arriving by water early afternoon on Saturday and leaving Sunday. That's as long as we can get away, but we're looking forward to it. See you all there!

Norma Scogin
 
Charlie Man... Looking forward to getting the T-Shirt. Thanks for your trouble and time. Just got an Email from Terry....in his motorhome....tossing down some red and hot dogs... I can taste it from here. Just wanted to say that I am for sure looking forward tothe posting of pics from this gathering. Just posted the latest pics of C-Byrd and she is whinning just a bit cause she is on the jackstands getting her face lift work completed. Sure wish I was there. I can almost here the strings a pick'n....
 
My son Mike & I just firmed up our plans. We will be leaving PA Saturday morning and should arrive at Lankford Bay by mid-afternoon.

I appreciate your generous offer Nick & will look you up. Mike has never even seen a C-Dory up close. He already has his camera packed as we hope to get a lot of ideas as far as electronics, etc.

We made reservations at Tallaluah's for Saturday night. Thanks Charlie.

Thanks to you as well bluecrab, we used your post to figure out which night would be best for us to stay.

Looking forward to meeting all you folks this weekend.

Al
 
Almas Only, Sea Angel and Orca are spending tonight (Thursday) in St Michaels. Had a nice dinner in town and plan to leave here mid-late Friday morning for Kent Narrows.

Steve on board Orca
 
We are planning to head out of Middle River about mid-morning on Friday. I was somewhat worried about the weather, but now Friday is beginning to look better than Saturday for crossing the bay! Everybody watch the skys and be careful! We'll be monitoring VHF 16 and 9, give us a shout if you see us.

Scott and Teri on <grin> :-)
 
Here is a question for all you people who know the bay...

How far by water is Piney Narrows Yacht Haven from Lankford Bay?

Just curious...

Al
 
At this moment, we should be up at Lankford Marina meeting many of you at this long awaited event. Instead, we are back home "thinking about it." The Palsgroves in "C-Rapture and Judie and I in "Passages left home on schedule yesterday and, after a very rough sleighride up the Bay, we anchored as planned in Little Choptank. Very soon, we were assaulted by a nightlong "light show: of lightning and thunder. In the morning, the NOAA forcast greeted us with similar, perhaps worse forcasts for the next few days. So rather than go up 50 more miles, and then face a very nasty 100mile trip back, we decided to head home with heavy hearts. The marina kindly refunded our second night stay.
I hope in the coming year, we willl have the chance to visit with many of you in our locale. And we hope some of you will find your way to our dock in your travels as well.
Wayne and Judie in "Passages.":(
 
So sorry you had to turn back. We are trying to figure out what to do. For us it would be a realtively short ride across the Bay from Essex, but the reports are calling for small craft advisories tomorrow. We are a bit new to this kind of boating and are unsure how risky that is. The difference for us is that we can (and will) hop in the car and drive over for the Saturday evening festivities if we decide not to bring the boat. Any advice from the old timers on this weather?

Norma Scogin
 
Norma... I am sure glad to see this post. I answered you other "Newbie" post. Great to see you get in the mix of those folks. All of us have had our 1st days in "ruff stuff." I find it very interesting that my 1st "ruff stuff" was in the exact bay back in 1995. They sent me to a military school at Ft. Monroe for 3 weeks and I kept my boat in "somebodies" dry shelf for the entire time, other than having it put in just about every day for some fun. Sunset Marina maybe?? I was there on the heals of a hurricane, in a boat I had never "slid down a wave in."...until about day two. I also learned what the "commercial channels" were for...and why folks have radar (I did not but you could almost set your coffee ( :mrgreen: :beer ) on the fog it was so thick. My goal was to get out to the light houses, all three generations of them on Cape Henry. (1st "santioned" light house by U.S. Congress???) My mother is nuts about light houses and to get a picture from my own boat in the blue water with all 3 in the same frame was awesome. ANd it was also the 1st time I had dolphins jumping about my boat in all directions. My boat was an 1802 Bayliner Trophy Walk-Around Cuddy Cabin. It was a great boat for me and never gave me one minutes problem.. The 22 C-Dory would have made that trip much....much more enjoyable due to the totally differant hull designs.. The C-Dory would have had a grin from ear to ear. Can't wait to hear reports back from the gathering and I sure wish I had been able to get C-Byrd up there. You for sure met a great bunch of folks...and many of them will walk you thru many and any situation. The owners of these boats sure make them special.

Byrdman
 
Well... the crabs and red wine must be great even if the weather is kicking a little bit... I have traveled with some of these laptop carrying wireless C-Dory owners.... and no official reports yet.... :cry :cry

I guess the good news is that I have not seen any of them on Fox News or the Communist News Network(CNN) :mrgreen:

Yall do tell.
 
OK, here is a brief report from a C-Dory owner with a wireless laptop...

My son & I drove down to Lankford Bay this afternoon as it was not possible to bring our boat.

We are now sitting on the back deck of the bed & breakfast where we have a room for the night. The sky is red & it is a beautiful evening.

As for the rendezvous at Lankford Bay it was awesome! Actually it still is awesome as Mike & I were the first to leave. Long day, long drive.

The crabs & red wine were excellent, as were the steamed clams.

The best part was meeting fellow C-Brats.

May I be the first to offer a THANK YOU to everyone who must have worked so hard to make this happen!

Al
 
Patrick - that's the funniest damn thing I have seen in a long time!! Sorry, but folks shouldn't have to click to see it so here it is. Thank you so much for being the definitive C-Brat!

06_GULF_COAST_GATHERING_002.jpg
 
Patrick, with such a mournful expression as that, I have to imagine that you are able to get any of your wishes fulfilled while at home! :roll:
 
Well, the cruise started inauspiciously for us when we arrived at the boat to find it ankle deep in water due to a bilge pump that failed to kick on in the heavy rains of the two nights before. It delayed our start but we did take the Dawn Treader across the bay yesterday afternoon. As you can see by the fact that I'm posting this, we survived, although we ended up pulling into Rock Hall harbor instead of going the long way around to Lankford Bay. Had to pay double for slips that night, but the trolley ride to the gathering was much easier than the last part of the trip would have been by water and with the 8 year old complaining of being seasick and waves somewhat higher than the 2-3 feet predicted (I say 4, Sherry says 4-6), a bit easier on the nerves.

The company was great, the music was fantastic, the hot dog and two glasses of red wine just right! And Keelin was thrilled to have kids to run around with. Even Little Bit enjoyed it as much as a nervous beagle can enjoy a party because she got all the hot dogs she could eat! I'd post photos but I have none because I left my camera on the boat when we took the trolley to Lankford Bay and it was too long a ride to go back and get it. I look forward to seeing pics from others who were there.

The only really bad part of our decision to resort to Plan B was that there is a new restaurant and bar on Rock Hall harbor and there was a live rock band playing 3 progressively louder sets starting at about 10:30 last night. Didn't get enough sleep before the sun came up. I'm sure Lankford Bay Marina was a much more peaceful place last night and I'm sorry we weren't there.

We headed back across the bay at about 9 this morning to beat the wind and waves predicted for this afternoon. The water was not exactly calm even that early, but it was a great ride and we made it in safely, our last outing before having the boat hauled to our vacation place in MA next week.

A huge thanks to Tom, Charlie and all the others who organized and ran this event. It was truly memorable for Sherry, Keelin and me. I'll wear my t-shirt with pride!

Norma
 
well, it was our 1st time with the group but had a really nice time.we had some time to ourselves as well went into rock hall( i do think though a lot of businesses seemed to be closed?? oh no!!) so it seems that dory owners are just plain "rightfolks" and how cool was it to see all those dorys docked around??? yeah.
 
Boats started pulling out of Lankford at 6:30 this morning. I left at 7:15 and made it as far south as the York River when Neptune got very agitated and turned the sea into a fury. About that time the Mayday calls started to roll in and the Coast Guard had their hands full. I was still proceeding south at 9 knots with the sea on the port quarter when an urgent weather notice came on 16, telling mariners to seek safe harbor. I did so reluctantly since I was only 25 miles from home. I followed a deadrise running with the sea to his back into the Poquoson River at 20 knots and he pulled into a waterman's marina. They gave me a slip for $25 and directed me to a tiny seafood restaurant next door. Best crabcakes I have had in a long time for only $13.95. Hey maybe this was a good thing after all.

The thunderstorm is directly overhead now so I can imagine that I am still at Lankford Bay.

I hope to make it home on Monday.

Great rendevous. I hope to see everyone next year.

Steve on board Orca
 
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