Town Creek Reunion
I had originally planned to leave for the ICW on September 26, but in early September old friends Ray and Marla Dils invited all of the old Town Creek Landing slip holders to their house on the South River for a party the weekend of Oct 2.  I couldn't pass up a chance to see old friends together again after nearly ten years.  I also wanted to see the Dils' new home they built on the South River. 

I started cruising the Chesapeake with these friends from Town Creek Landing almost 30 years ago when most of us were slip-holders at Zahniser's Sailing Center in Solomons.  In the late 1970s five of the couples in this group purchased a small, run-down marina across the Patuxent River from Solomons.  They refurbished the marina, mostly using their own labor, and subsequently moved most of the boats on Zahniser's A dock to Town Creek Landing.  I was in the process to moving to Newport, RI at the time so I was not among the original residents of the marina.  However, I did move Vela Llena, my Columbia 8.7, to the marina in 1984 when I returned to the Chesapeake area.  For over ten years we created an informal cruising club, sailing nearly every weekend to some Chesapeake harbor or anchorage.  Most of us used the marina facilities year-round.  Even in the winter we would come to our boats and have a party in the club house.  By 1996 many of this group had either moved away, left boating or passed away.  This party was our first reunion and hopefully not the last.

Click on image to view at full resolutionRay and Marla had lived on the West Coast for most of the last 20 years while Ray developed his business.  When he eventually sold the business a few years ago, they moved east and began building the home shown on the left.  During that time he also had a 56' motor yacht built by Alden Yachts in Rhode Island.  There are no pictures of that yacht on this page for reasons best left unsaid.  Let's just say Alden Yachts is not likely use them as a reference for future customers, although those customers should talk to Ray and Marla before they sign on the dotted line. The Dils home is located on a un-named creek (at least on chart 12270) between Aberdeen and Crab Creeks on the north shore of the South River.
Click on image to view at full resolutionSarah and Caurus (Dick & Gale Juppenlatz's Nautilus 40) tied to the Dils' pier.  The pier was designed for the missing 56' Alden motor yacht.

Pictures of the Dils' yacht can be seen at Seiki II

Click on image to view at full resolutionThe Town Creek Landing crowd working the 14 dozen crabs cooked for the party.  That was only the start of non-stop feeding that weekend.
Click on image to view at full resolutionThe cake provided by Ray & Marla to commemorate the start of my Atlantic Circle.  They converted it into a circumnavigation.  Since I ate the cake maybe I'm now obligated to do the circumnavigation rather than just an Atlantic Circle.