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Smith Island in Big Thorofare ~ Video 2 of 4

direct Youtube link

 

Arriving at Smith Island from the Eastern Shore of Maryland, we enter Big Thorofare. A quarter mile wide and very shallow, this main channel into the heart of the island is over two miles long. Beautiful sailing as the sun was getting low.

Once inside at North End Bottom, we sailing up Tyler Ditch before the wind gave out, and the light. Then rafted up in the center of the island for the evening, before anchoring there for the night under clear skies.

Thanks to Kevin Brennan for the clips of Obadiah from across the water.

The companion article appears in the July 2015 issue of Small Boats Monthly, a WoodenBoat publication. A month of access to the current issue and the full archive is $2.99. You can cancel a subscription at any time.


 

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To Smith Island ~ Video 1 of 4

direct Youtube link

 

Leaving Janes Island State Park, past Crisfield, and across Tangier Sound to Smith Island. A beautiful afternoon crossing in light but steady wind and warm sunshine for a mid-Spring day.

The companion article appears in the July 2015 issue of Small Boats Monthly, a WoodenBoat publication. A month of access to the current issue and the full archive is $2.99. You can cancel a subscription at any time.


 

 

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Smith Island ~ American Venice

Sailing for Smith Island, Kevin Brennan in his Navigator Slip Jig 

 

From the ramp at Janes Island State Park it’s a half mile down a straight and narrow canal to open water. Separating Janes Island from the mainland, the canal is just wide enough for small boats to tack into a breeze. Tall pines line both banks, making a trough that channels the wind, so in the canal it blows only one way or the other. We have a light headwind, but the tide is with us.

 

Sail tracks for Days 1 & 2


 

Passing Crisfield aboard Obadiah 

Continue reading “Smith Island ~ American Venice”

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US 1

Fog Bank, Pigeon Point Lighthouse

 

Skate boarders, hipsters, panhandlers, buskers, high end shoppers, protesters, lots of women in yoga pants. Firemen in full regalia, boots to helmets, jangling heavy gear-festooned coats, clomp past awkwardly. Knights errant in full armor. A false alarm – no fires, or earthquakes, today.

Chilly in June in the shade, then hot in relentless sunshine under brittle blue skies. Always, always blue skies. The young man in the long green tie-died sarong next to me says his name is “Nature.” This the view from a coffee shop in Santa Cruz on a Thursday afternoon.

Took an all night sleeper car on the train from Portland, after a week spent there. Drove down US 1 from Oakland a week ago. The photo above from the drive.

Some boating scattered throughout, of very different sorts, and hiking. Quite a West Coast odyssey.

Still traveling. More later.

 

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Smith Island ~ Withholding Evidence

 

Silence since the trip to the Inner Islands is not without good reason. I returned with over a thousand of photos and video, better than most trips, and good stories to tell. A draft write-up and sample images were sent to Chris Cunningham, editor of Small Boats Monthly, and he wants to use them in an upcoming issue of the online magazine, probably July.

Chris rightfully wants first dibs on the photos and video, and I’m happy to comply. That means I won’t be posting whatever he doesn’t use until he’s made his final selection and the story is published. A longer delay than usual, even for me, but well worth it. A very good reason indeed.

The grid of thumbnails above is just a small sample – the first 24 – of roughly 200 select shots and video clips culled from over1126 photos, and more than an hour of video. A lot to look through. The article will display the full frame of whatever shots are used, and the story of what it took to get where the photos were taken.

Clearly, a great trip.

More on this soon . . .

 

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