Chesapeake Bay - Be Careful of the Weather

[RedDog]

I spent the weekend on Chesapeake Bay (Matthews VA area) at some friends' weekend home. My brother keeps his 33 Blackfin docked there. He took my boys and BIL out for a "3-hour cruise" for flounder. No luck on the flounder and we managed to get caught in a hell of a thunderstorm with big winds, much lightening, and driving rains. Visibility was so poor for a while that even with a GPS chartplotter we ended up 180 degrees off course for a while trying to get back to the harbor. And to top it off, after the storm broke and we were fairly close to home, we drug bottom even though clearly in the marked channel. We didn't know anything was wrong until back at the dock and noticed that all of the bilge pumps were running. Turns out 1 of the 2 rudders dropped out (presumably after we hit bottom) leaving an open rudder shaft hole through the bottom of the boat. We were able to temporarily plug the hole with a piece of rolled up beer coozie. Needless to say he was having it hauled on Monday.

Enjoy the pics - this is a really beautiful place to visit!

[zimm17]

My boat was way to small for the VA beach area- junction of the Chesapeake bay and the atlantic ocean. I entered 2 poker runs- being the smallest boat by 8 feet easy- most were in the 30-40' range. I broke both times from slamming around in the chop- cracked windshield, busted loose bennett trim pump, broken mount on fire extinguisher, blew my radiator cap off and lost coolant, made a gown adult passenger cry (no kidding, and pleading for his life). After that I kept it to places called "broad bay" and "back bay" to get out of the white water.

[Marlin275]

I lost a mast on a 37' Trimaran at the mouth of the Potomac River
and saw some of the worst weather ever in the shipping channel with live ships on top of us in 30 ft visibility,
real rough neighborhood!