June 7 – 11

Growing up in the West End of Louisville we played a game that to this day, when I eat an apple, makes me think of this city. As kids, if someone was eating an apple, when they finished the apple they would shout “APPLE CORE”

One of the other kids would respond with “BALTIMORE”

The kid who ate the apple would then respond with “WHO’S YOUR FRIEND”

Other kid would respond with the name of one of the other kids in the group like “JIMMY ROGERS”

Kid who ate the apple would then whop Jimmy Rogers upside the head with the apple core.

I would torment my big brother this way.

No wonder West End kids were/are so cool.

First time in this city, so much history.

Time lapse video of the trip up the Chesapeake from Annapolis to the Anchorage Marina in Baltimore .

More like a Light Condo” than a Light House

Thought it would be fun to play a game of “chicken” with this guy, but thought better of it.

Big ships like this have a feature called a “bulbous bow” Beneath the water line on the bow is a sort of knob that sticks out from the hull. In this photo you can see how it raises the water just in front of the ship. This feature modifies the way water flows around the hull of the ship increasing fuel economy better’n 12%.

Another light house.

“Delicate David” taking a break from the many duties assigned to him by the resident evil taskmaster.

David in command.

Debbie and I have sailed in the British Virgin Islands on big sail catamarans and always had a ball doing so. Watch a mono-hull sailboat leaning over in the wind makes me want to lose my lunch.

A unique feature of our navionics package on board WB is a “autoroute” feature in our navigation software. While we were in Annapolis I could (but didn’t) set a waypoint where we wanted to go, like the Anchorage Marina in Baltimore, tell the Auto Pilot to autoroute us there and it would literally guide the boat to the marina without me ever having to touch the steering wheel. A trip of about 30 miles. The software does not allow for small detours for such things as cruise ships, aircraft carriers or container vessels though. So ya really can’t totally abdicate your responsibility of being in control of your vessel. For the heck of it once we entered Baltimore Bay I thought I would try it out. I pulled the throttles back to a little faster than idle speed, set a waypoint at our marina, maybe 3 miles away and hit the go button. On the chartplotter the route the AP selected took us way too close to the boat eating concrete structure you see below. Supposedly about 100 feet away the route veered to the port and then proceeded under the bridge. Uhhhhhhh, as we approached that massive piece of concrete I became a little antsy and turned off the AutoRoute feature. In this regard I will remain a control freak.

This type of container vessel is called a RoRo for Roll on Roll off. These vessels move all manner of cargo such as cars, farm equipment, construction equipment and anything else that needs to get from one side of the pond to the other.

Look how many 40 foot long containers this ship has stacked on deck. Whole bunch more below decks. Just so ya know, each one of those containers can carry 1400 cases of wine or liquor.

After securing WB in her slip we took a walk looking for a place for lunch. Found a really good Wings and Pizza joint. Went in, sat down at the bar and turned our attention to one of the TV’s…

GO CARDS!!!

So much fun to see the Home Team playing on the tube when you are in a far away place. A few years ago my brother Jim and his wife Connie along with Dave and Sue Heilman, Debbie and I went to Europe for a few weeks. In the hotel bar in Munich we watched a UofL basketball game. That was a blast! Also helps when “America’s Team” comes out on top!

Sunset Thursday night.

Before going to bed last night I gave David a sampling of terrific bourbon. The bottles in the middle you recognize. Van Winkle 12 and 15 year old. What you probably are not familiar with is the Maker’s Mark Keenland bottle from 2001 back when Maker’s was aging their bourbon 7 – 8 years. On the far right is a bottle of Four Roses Single Barrel that Master Distiller Jim Rutledge had selected. David will tell you he is no expert by any stretch but which did he choose as his favorite? The Maker’s! Of course he did not know which was which in his glasses.

Below is Fort McHenry. Very historic spot. Know why? Two years into the War of 1812 the British had just sacked and burned Washington DC and then turned their evil intentions on Baltimore, the 3rd largest city in the US at the time. Fifty British warships were headed to Baltimore to do the same but due to the shallow waters of the bay only 16 came within 2 miles of the city. Francis Scott Key sailed out to meet the British to negotiate the release of a POW friend of his. British held him captive while they attacked Fort McHenry. Four thousand troops were off loaded 14 miles from the city while the 16 British warships bombarded Fort McHenry for 25 hours straight with cannon balls and exploding cannon balls. After 25 hours of bombardment the British gave up the campaign. Key as captive had no idea what the cease of the cannon fire meant. Did the British win? Did the US win? When the smoke cleared the commander of the fort replaced the soaking wet storm flag that was 17′ X 25′ (it rained all night hence the “storm flag”) with a giant (30′ by 42′) US “garrison” flag signaling the end of the unsuccessful attack of the British in what has become known as the Battle of Baltimore. When Key saw the flag through the rain and smoke the next morning he was moved to write The Star Spangled Banner.

On the morning of September 14, 1814, this is what Francis Scott Key and the British saw flying over Fort McHenry when the smoke cleared. The flag in this photo is a “storm” flag. Imagine what the 30 X42 garrison flag looked like flying from that flagpole!

One BIG flag!

This photo gives you an idea how big a “garrison” flag is.

If the British had seen these guys there probably would not have been a War of 1812!

This wierd device in our marina collects trash floating in the bay. A pump moves water up to the top which turns the wheel on the left which then turns another wheel that causes the stairs to the top of the wheel move like an escalator. The trash that is collected drops into a dumpster located on the back. You can see how the trash is channeled into the “mouth” of this thing.

My nephew David Doll, good looking kid.

Almost as handsome as his uncles.

Our last day in Baltimore was busy. First thing, we went across the street to the grocery for provisions. For lunch we went to Fells Point to meet a former wine supplier I had done business with at Party Mart. Great gal! Sarah Fiocco was responsible for getting Debbie and I invited to the Premiere Napa Valley Auction held at the Culinary Institute in Napa. No other store in Kentucky had ever attended this prestigious event. This was in 2010 and we have remained friends since then. Sarah has often spoken of her husband Vince. Never met him. Sounds like a great guy. Never seen ‘im. Starting to wonder if he really exists. For those of you of an age similar to mine you may recall Phyllis Diller always spoke of her husband “Fang”. Ya never saw him. At lunch today Sarah gave us some story about why Vince/Fang couldn’t join us. Bet he doesn’t exist.

Sarah on the left, her daughter the graduate, and Fang (probably photoshopped him in from a GQ cover shoot).

Off to the top of the Chesapeake tomorrow.