| Rock
Hall
2004 Thursday photos by Uncle Al |
 |
| According to my
trusty
directions from Expedia and MapQuest, it is a
drive of 9 hours
and 5 minutes from Oakville, ON to Chestertown, MD.
Since my crew, Marc
Bennett, had once again been kept at work, I left alone
on Wednesday
evening, enjoying a peaceful drive and by just after 11
p.m., reaching
my overnight rest stop in ... ... |
 |
| ... Binghamton,
New
York in intermittent rain. By early afternoon Thursday,
SHADES
and I had
reached ... ... |
 |
| ... sleepy
Chestertown
on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, and more
specifically ... ... |
 |
| ... the little
dinghy
park of the Chester
River Yacht and Country Club on a hot
and muggy afternoon ... ... |
 |
| ... with the
Chester
River as a backdrop. ... |
 |
| Soon SHADES was
ready
for the next day's Chester River Race ... ... |
 |
| ... her first
outing
since Marc and I had spent a month re-doing her
interior, the decks and
the transom. ... |
 |
| It is a lovely,
quiet
area, and afternoon heat ... ... |
 |
| ... brought out a
few
swimmers from ... ... |
 |
| ... Chester
River Yacht and Country Club across the road. ... |
 |
| Some lovely,
classic
boats at the dock, and ... ... |
 |
| ... nice
little
home across the river. ... |
 |
| A quick 5-minute
drive
later, I was ... ... |
 |
| ... back in
downtown
Chestertown ... ... |
 |
| ... supremely
ready
for a nice, cold beer. Alas, I discovered that in sleepy
old
Chestertown, no place would be open to serve beer until
4 p.m. which
was still nearly two hours away! Later, I would try the
Starbucks-like
coffee shop and get a very nice coffee, but even there I
would strike
out on Sunday afternoon when they were already closed
when I wanted to
start my long drive home with a nice coffee to go just
after 4 p.m. ... |
 |
| Ultimately, I had
to
go back to the Chester
River Yacht and Country Club for a
much needed ... ... |
 |
| ... and most
refreshing ... ... |
 |
| ... beer from a
lovely
young waitress who seemed un-offended by my sailor's
attire of Wayfarer T-shirt, Tilley shorts plus bare feet in Birkenstocks. ... |
 |
| By quarter to
five I
had followed Frank Pedersen's flawless directions to his
home with the
Wayfarer signpost. With the BBQ not scheduled to start
until some time
between 5 and 6, I sat out in the car admiring a
downpour and doing a
crossword, until ... ... |
 |
| ... Frank's wife,
Sue (l)
and her daughter-in-law, Kim, noticed me and forced me
to come in and
join them. Despite violent thunderstorms all around the
area, people
began to show up: ... |
 |
| Lee and Karin
Cowperthwait who would provide me with the best billet
anyone could
imagine, and my crew for the next two days, the new owner of W3627, Bill Bagwill (r). ... |
 |
| Sue and Kim
supervise
the refreshments. ... |
 |
| Frank's daughter,
Sarah, had
flown in all
the way from Boise, Idaho, to be his crew in W4270. ... |
 |
| (l to r) Vicki
and
Richard
Budden (Wayfarers and neighbours of Frank's), our host,
Frank Pedersen and Bill Bagwill ... |
 |
| Nick and Mary
Seraphinoff pulled in a bit later from Detroit, only to
tell us they'd
have to go back to the airport in Washington, D.C. (a
good hour's
drive!) to make a second try at picking up Nick's
daughter ... ... |
 |
| ... Julie Price
whose
plane out of Detroit had been delayed. A better rested
Uncle Al
volunteered to do the driving with Nick as navigator,
and we soon had
Julie with us and provisioned with a fine Sam Adams
beer. |
| The Rock
Hall 2004 River Race & Regatta River Race results Regatta results report pictures: Thursday Friday - 1 Friday - 2 Friday - 3 Saturday - 1 Saturday - 2 Sunday |