By Michaela Watkins The 2023 Chesapeake Fishing Open (CFO) at Port Covington Marina located within Baltimore Peninsula, the waterfront destination in South Baltimore, will close with a celebration of fresh oysters, soulful blues, and cold brews at the all-new Oysters, Blues & Brews festival. The event calls on seafood lovers, music enthusiasts, and those who are ready to enjoy the best of the Chesapeake Bay seafood and local culture, while supporting conservation. The event kicks off at noon on Saturday, September 16 with plenty of great seafood, as well as a variety of family activities and educational seminars. Local oysters will be available, both raw and grilled. Food trucks will also be on site providing other food options. For adult attendees, pair your meal with a Bloody Mary or Orange Crush at the Absolut Peppar bar. For beer lovers, head over to the Chesapeake Beverage beer truck for a variety of cold and tasty beers. Soulful melodies from renowned local blues band, Kelly Bell Band, will accompany the festivities starting at 5:00 pm until the festival closes at 8:00 pm. This festival is more than just a celebration of food, music, and beer, it is an opportunity to connect with the local community, support sustainable oyster farming initiatives, and help preserve the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Festival-goers are encouraged to take part in a shoreline cleanup organized by the Maryland Waterways Foundation starting at 1:00 pm, as well as a Youth & Family Fishing Derby with boats departing from the festival at 10:00 am and again at 1:00 pm. Event partners include CCA Maryland, Chesapeake Fishing Open, Maryland Waterways Foundation, Minorities in Aquaculture, Blue Water Baltimore, Combos For Kids, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and Chesapeake Oyster Alliance. Together, these organizations look to preserve the Chesapeake Bay to ensure its beauty and resources…
By Jeremy Cox Skipjacks, deadrises, log canoes, tall ships, bugeyes — the Chesapeake Bay has no shortage of iconic boats. But if a core group of devotees has anything to do with it, a vessel closely associated with the South Pacific could be next. The outrigger canoe is practically synonymous with Polynesian and Hawaiian cultures. Many Americans of a certain age, though, likely received their notions about outriggers from the closing credits of the original version of the TV crime drama Hawaii Five-O, which showed a sequence of muscly men vigorously paddling through waves. That depiction — of brute strength and more than a whiff of masculinity — continues to loom over the sport of outrigger racing in the popular imagination. But the brand practiced by Maryland’s Kent Island Outrigger Canoe Club tends, by intention, toward inclusivity and working in harmony. “People of all ages and abilities can do this,” said Bill Key, 72, a longtime member. “You can’t screw it up. We’re thrilled to have you out here no matter what.” To that end, during routine club practices, members are often found welcoming newcomers who want to try their hands at the ancient sport. This spring, they hosted a series of outings explicitly geared toward coaxing novices onto the water, with the hope of boosting membership. So, there I was on a Sunday morning in April, standing with a strange-looking paddle in my hands and absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into. The first thing you notice about an outrigger canoe is how long and narrow it is. Single and tandem versions are available. But, like the one in the Hawaii Five-O intro, the craft I boarded could comfortably seat six adults. Most outriggers in this class measure more than 40 feet from stern to bow, roughly…
By Jeremy Cox As the deadline looms for the Chesapeake Bay’s 2025 cleanup goals, the annual progress report from the University of Maryland shows that the estuary’s overall health is neither declining nor improving by significant margins. That can be interpreted as a win of sorts, given the challenges that the Bay faces from a growing population, intensifying farming practices and climate change. But it certainly falls short of the progress that multi-state and federal partnership had in mind when it launched the current iteration of the cleanup a decade ago. In its 2022 report card, released June 6, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science issued a score of 51 points out of 100 for the overall health of the Bay and its tributaries — good for a “C” on the center’s scale. That was a one-point gain from 2021, but it marked the third consecutive year of improvement. This year’s progress was driven by better water clarity, an increase in underwater grasses, and a decrease in pollution from the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus, according to the report. The region as a whole also saw lower levels of chlorophyll, a measure of harmful algae blooms. However, dissolved oxygen and benthic communities (the bottom-dwelling creatures) were down. “While the trajectory of improvements, particularly concerning nutrients in the Bay, is in the right direction, we need to pick up the pace of restoration so that we can hit our nutrient reduction targets in the future and ensure our resilience to climate change,” said UMCES President Peter Goodwin. Around the Bay, nine of the 17 regions saw increases in their scores. The biggest decline – from a 50 to a 36 – was seen in the Choptank River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The Upper Bay experienced the greatest improvement, jumping from a…
By Bob Tagert With summer looming large, a trip to the beach seems to be in order. No…not Ocean City or the beaches of Southern Delaware – the sandy place on the Chesapeake we know as North Beach. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge was first opened in 1952 allowing access to the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean; but before the bridge, folks from Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia would take their weekend retreats to the Chesapeake Bay, and one of the most popular towns was North Beach in Calvert County. In the early 1900’s, the town provided an ideal site for the vacation cottages of part-time residents from the city, but it also served well as the home for working watermen. You can often see the classic bay built boats out on the bay either hauling up crab pots or taking out anglers to try their luck with bottom fishing or trolling for the massive striped bass or “Rockfish”. When the Bay Bridge opened, the summer crowds at the western shore getaways soon dissipated. The end of legalized gambling was the final blow that ended the heyday of North Beach as a rollicking resort. Following that period of decline, the last 12 or so years have produced a rebirth of civic pride and a sense of community. Flower gardens blossom and the popular Friday Night Farmers’ Market is jammed with locals. Summer movies on the beach and an array of festivals and special events happen here year round. The sense of community is strong and everyone is extremely friendly. Located on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay, the town of North Beach epitomizes “land of pleasant living.” The seven-block waterfront has a fishing pier and a half-mile-long boardwalk. The boardwalk goes right up to the bay at the southern end…
By Jeremy Cox, Bay Journal News Service Bald eagles are conservation darlings. Once lurching toward extinction, eagles flew off the endangered species list as the number of mating pairs nationwide soared from a low of a few hundred in the 1960s to nearly 10,000 by 2010. And the Chesapeake Bay region has continued to burnish its reputation as one of the country’s top bald eagle breeding grounds, registering a nearly fivefold leap in paired males and females during the past two decades. But can there be too much of a good thing? Perhaps so, according to one of the region’s leading avian researchers. Bryan Watts, founder and director of the Center for Conservation Biology at Virginia’s College of William and Mary, has authored dozens of academic papers on bald eagles over a more than 30-year career. In the past 20 years or so, he said, he has documented a shift in the behavior of adult males during the nesting season. The change was subtle at first. But as Watts continued to monitor the phenomenon, he realized that he was watching a population grappling with the limits of its recovery. “It’s a natural part of the recovery process,” he said. “The species are just going to have to work it out for themselves.” The main cause of the eagles’ near demise half a century ago, experts say, was the widespread use of the pesticide DDT, which caused the shells of eggs to become too thin to withstand incubation. Its’ banning in 1972, coupled with water pollution crackdowns, habitat restoration and reintroduction programs, are credited with bolstering the rebound. Along the Chesapeake Bay and the tidal reaches of its rivers, the eagle population exploded. At one point, their numbers were doubling every eight years, Watts said. “It’s obvious when you’re in that…
By Michaela Watkins The 2023 Spring Shows Are Coming Bay Bridge Boat Show – April 14th-16th Spring Sailboat Show – April 28th-30th The Annapolis Boat Shows, producer of in-water sail and powerboat shows for over 50 years, launched a new website and updated their brand in February. With a focus on their continued growth and enhancing the boat show experience, the new website features a streamlined design that offers easy navigation, a user-friendly interface, and a mobile experience that convey the unique experiences visitors from around the world have come to expect when attending the shows. “Our old website was terrific – when we launched it. It’s great to have retired it in favor of this new site. It loads quickly, is easy to navigate, and is a great resource for planning a visit to our shows.” said Mary Ewenson. “With the supply chain issues easing up, we’re expecting a big increase in the number of boats at all four of our shows as well as many new exhibitors. The new website is launching at the perfect time.” The launch came just two months prior to the spring shows: Bay Bridge Boat Show (April 14-16) and Annapolis Spring Sailboat Show (April 28-30). Set at the foot of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge at the Bay Bridge Marina, the Bay Bridge Boat Show will feature a large selection of new and brokerage powerboats, as well as the latest in equipment, accessories, and apparel. Favorites such as PropTalk’s Demo Dock and Boat U.S. Foundation “On-Water Training” will return, and new features for 2023 are slated to be announced in the coming weeks. Closing out the month of April is the Annapolis Spring Sailboat Show, which features new and brokerage boats including catamarans, monohulls, family cruisers, daysailers, and inflatables. Guests may meet with boating…
by Molly Winans I refuse to burn my socks. It’s a quiet refusal. I’m not trying to mess up anyone’s rites of spring or to rally support for an anti-sock-burning movement. It seems to me that my quiet rebellion, exercising my right to just be me, is in the spirit of the season. I’m not the only sailor in Annapolis who will attend a sock-burning gathering for the vernal equinox and walk away still wearing socks. I’ve seen a few shamelessly sock-clad friends participate by pulling old socks out of a pocket and dropping them into the bonfire. As if removing and torching one’s footwear as a seasonal ritual isn’t quirky enough, imagine what the outside world would make of such cheating. As well as a fondness for the occasion, the sock-in-pocket crowd and I share a preference for warm feet on damp, chilly March days. Besides toasty toes, I have other reasons for clinging to my socks. I don’t have that many pairs. If I’m wearing them to a bonfire party, it’s likely that I consider them part of my sailing gear. I’m not trying to perpetuate the stereotypes of the frugal sailor or the starving writer. I can afford new socks, but I choose not to buy them often. Why? I’m not desperate yet. My feet are still warm. I have enough pairs of socks to get by—just not enough to sacrifice to the equinoctial gods for fun. I think a lot of sailors have this sort of attitude toward their gear. They hang on to it until it’s lost, destroyed, or so leaky that they suffer for one bitter day before throwing it away, if they can part with it. Imagine a sailor friend blowing out a toe in his old dinghy boot. Does he: a) immediately…
By Tim Wheeler Sunlight glinted off the water as Billy Rice stood on the gunwale of Miss Jill, his 24-foot Chesapeake Classic boat. Gripping the wooden handles of his scissors-like oyster tongs, he repeatedly worked them open and shut. From the murky depths of the Wicomico River came a scraping sound as the teeth in the metal claws of the tongs raked up shells lying on the bottom. “Yessir! That looks pretty,” exclaimed Kevin Warring as Rice lifted the tongs out of the water and deposited a batch of muddy oysters on the boat. Nine of the bivalves clung together in a clump that Rice said watermen call a “flower.” Those oysters represent a new wrinkle in the centuries-old business of harvesting the Chesapeake Bay’s once-bountiful shellfish. Rice and Warring are members of an unusual oyster farming cooperative in Charles County, MD. They and the other 10 co-op members are raising oysters on 28 acres of leased bottom in the Wicomico, a Potomac River tributary. There’s nothing out of the ordinary about farming oysters that way. There are nearly 480 oyster farming leases in Maryland, and more than three-fourths of them are for raising bivalves on the bottom. Many are held by watermen looking to supplement what they can forage in the wild from public waters. But what’s sending ripples across the Bay area is that the co-op is getting paid to plant oysters. In July 2022, Charles County struck a deal with the co-op, agreeing to annually pay at least $53,000 for the next eight years to cover its costs for planting fresh batches of hatchery-spawned oysters. Aquaculture operations generally must come up with their own operating capital. The co-op still gets to harvest and sell the oysters when they’ve grown to marketable size after two or three years. What…
By Molly Winans To someone who prefers the couch to the cockpit when it’s wintry outside, the only question that makes sense to ask those who frostbite race is: “Why do you do it?” Yet, when you ask active frostbiters that question, their answers tend to make so much sense and exude so much enthusiasm that it makes you want to get up off the couch, gear up, and give it a try. Harbor 20 sailor Bell Carty has been frostbite racing in the Annapolis Yacht Club (AYC) series since the early 90s. She says, “The appeal of frostbiting is to be on the water. It’s a little outside of the comfort zone, but still fun! Bundling up can be fun—it’s cold but not too bad.” Jay McGinnis races his 1979 J/30 Blitz, also in Annapolis, and has done so for the past decade. “First and foremost, I appreciate and enjoy the relaxed atmosphere,” he says. “We are all out there to have fun and to try to improve on some aspect of sailing that we can carry over into the next season. I think all of us understand that ‘it’s just frostbite.’ Not that we aren’t competitive! I mean, we are sailors… of course, we are competitive! “As a skipper, I really like the two-race format. It gives me an opportunity to really focus on positioning the boat during the start sequence. If I make a mistake, I can get right back on the start line for the second race and try it again.” Heidi Frist is a little bit newer to the game, having started her frostbite race career aboard her J/30 Suzie Q three or four years ago. She says, “I enjoy frostbiting because my crew and I can focus on fine tuning our basic skills (i.e. timing…
By Cheryl Lecourt The 40th Anniversary of Eastport Yacht Club Lights Parade presented by the Long & Foster Real Estate Eastport Office is an event you won’t want to miss. On Saturday December 10th, Annapolis will be celebrating a momentous anniversary of one of its signature events, the Eastport Yacht Club Lights Parade. This much imitated statewide award winning event draws people from all over the region to Annapolis city dock, waterfront area restaurants, watering holes, hotels, homes, offices and Eastport’s street end parks. The event kicks off at 6 pm in Annapolis Harbor, and runs until 8pm. Anywhere from 40 to 50 uniquely lighted yachts will suddenly appear out of the dark, and parade up Spa Creek and Ego Alley providing a dazzling visual holiday light experience. Music, singing, and visual surprises are part of the event. The air is electric, and you will want to be part of the excitement. Come early in the afternoon and wander around City Dock and see many of the yachts in the process of decorating for the evening parade. Two fleets participate and switch places mid-event: one circling in front of Eastport Yacht Club, City Dock and the Naval Academy Seawall, the other circles the length of Spa Creek, inside the bridge. Serving as Diamond title sponsor for the Lights Parade for the third year in a row is the Long & Foster Real Estate Eastport Office. A choice viewing spot is on the bridge near their office. Parking and shuttle buses will be provided from the Naval Academy Stadium on Rowe Boulevard and West Street garages. To get up to date information on parking, shuttle buses, viewing spots and more check out the www.eastportyc.or/lights-parade and the city website www.Annapolis.gov
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