July 25, 2012
Afternoon sail with new bimini. Need to adjust rear strap support so that it does not snag on the mainsheet.
July 8, 2012
It has been too hot for sailing this past week. Saturday was 101 deg F, but Sunday was a cool 96 deg F.
Sunday sail to Chester was hot and humid with less than 5 knot breeze falling to no wind, and smooth reflective water. A controlled drift out with end of the ebb tide and return with beginning of the flood tide.
July 12, 2012
Installed Walmart "paddle boat" bimini, more 90 deg F+ to come;
June 30, 2012
Mid-day sail at Essington, 5 to 10 knot breeze out of the SW with some gusting at Darby Creek. Yesterday the temperature was 101 F at the Essington fire house so no sail yesterday, today it was a cool 97 F and felt more comfortable with the breeze.
Stern with Autohelm Mark II holding course
June 23, 2012 Day sail on the Delaware River
June 8 -June 11, 2012
Essington to Chesapeake City
Depart Essington at 7:00 AM and sail/motor sail with an ebb tide to Reedy Point and the C&D entrance early for the flood in the canal. Motor against the last of the ebb tide then ride the flood to Chesapeake City
Off Newcastle approaching Pea Patch
Fort Delaware on Pea Patch from main channel
Chesapeake City Town Dock
Chesapeake City
Chesapeake City to Maryland Yacht Club on Rock Creek Baltimore
Depart Chesapeake City at 5:30 AM, for a mixed gusty wind sailing and motor sailing to Rock Creek. Secure the dock lines at MYC at 4:45 PM after a short detour taking me to Bodkin Creek rather than Rock Creek.
Meet up with a group from Sailnet at the yacht club pavilion overlooking the Patapsco and Chesapeake Bay.
Leaving the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal at sunrise
Maryland Yacht Club on Rock Creek
Rock Creek to Delaware City
Depart Rock Creek 5:30 AM at sunrise on a long hot motor sail/sail in the upper Chesapeake to the C&D then ride the end of the ebb current through the canal to Reedy Point and dock at 5:00 PM at Delaware City.
Early morning departure from Rock Creek
Delaware City Marina, Hunter 27 with electric drive in background
Delaware City to Essington
Depart Delaware City 4:15 AM dark before twilight, on the last hours of a flood tide then ride a slack or minimal current to Marcus Hook just as the anchored tankers begin to swing, than against a building current to Essington. Secure in a flood tide at Essington at 10:45 AM.
Sunrise over the NJ side of the Delaware Memorial Bridge, last pylon up river on the Pea Patch Dike
Uladh the gaelic spelling for the territory of the U-Nail chieftains in the ancient Irish province of Ulster (English/Norse), originally the counties of Down and Antrim, but now including Derry, Armagh, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan, also referred to as Ulidia (Greek/Roman),.
Uladh was the home of a pre-celtic, cruithne (crew-en-ya) pictish tribe, who may have been descendants of prehistoric tribes indigenous to the British Isles since the retreat of the last ice age.
Evidence from cut marks on deer bones from more than 30,000 years ago found in the karst formations of the Burren probably from hunters suggest a homonid precence.
Archeological finds date first inhabitants (DNA evidence suggests dark or black skin and blue eyes) to about 6,000 BC and trade goods from Rathlin Island, County Antrim off the northeast coast of Ireland made from porcellanite stone appearing in Egypt and Crete by 2,500 BC.
The early tribes of Ireland where displaced by later waves of migrants from mainland Europe; about 1700 BC by bronze age tribes, celtic tribes about 500 BC, and in the past two millenia; Roman trading posts, Viking settlements, English plantations... and in the 21st century a welcome increasing diversity from the European Union and the world.
SV Ulladh (for vhf clarity I use "sailing vessel ul-la") is named for the territory of the first peoples to settle in Ireland after the retreat of the last ice age.
