Just In: Knock Off #66 Cruises the Chesapeake Bay to St Mary's (Tuggers Vol. 60)

John Niccolls and Knock Off #66

By John Niccolls
Knock Off #66

johnniccolls@comcast.net

With a friend, Dave Martin, and my nephew, John Stuart, I spent Wednesday night through Sunday afternoon on Knock Off.  We did some damage to a fifth of Scotch Wednesday night but still managed to get out of Herrington Harbor South and on the Bay by eight o'clock Thursday.  We anchored in Smith Creek just around the corner from the Potomac's Point Lookout.  The seas were kind to us on the way down and the 53 NM were all pleasant. 

Friday we proceeded up the Potomac and docked next to Bob Allnutt's Victory #2 on St Inigoes Creek.  We invited Bob to lunch and he was happy to show us around the boat and his new home addition.  We left after lunch and found another creek off the St. Marys with a few small nettles, clear (well, pretty clear) water and few signs of human development visible. 

Later we stopped at St. Mary's College, walked the city then anchored around the corner in very nice water with no nettles.  After dinner we used the dinghy to inspect the anchored fleet off the college docks.  A very nice Sabre presented itself as potentially being my next boat—ha ha. 

Saturday we went down the Potomac, turned north, and then enjoyed a bouncy ride up the Bay to Solomon's Island.  For the night we stopped at Zahnizers and mooring ball H.  Sunday was a smooth day on the bay and an easy ride home.

Knock Off performed perfectly and we were humming along at 6.7 to 7.3 at 1500 rpm depending on the wind and tide. 

Editor's note: The above came from a lightly edited email from John Niccolls, Knock Off #66.  Nettles, aka stinging nettles are nasty little jellyfish found in the Chesapeake Bay's brackish warm waters.  Their stings don't hurt as much as a bees but they do hurt.