Punch It Margaret!

Yeah! thats not good!

First, Happy Memorial Day Weekend! The start of it all, and a humble reminder of the freedom we all are blessed with thanks to the brave souls that keep us free to enjoy weekends like this. Personal sacrifice for others is an amazing thing. Last night we had a wonderful dinner with some family, and friends at the Crazy Crab dockside. What a wonderful experience.

What a nice cruise out to the bay! Pose! and click

But we knew storms were a com’n, and kinda cut it a little close. This weekend is supposed to be a wash out here in Virginia. But the real magic can happen between storms. So after dinner thats what we did. Tried to cheat the gods. But! Storms on the Chesapeake Bay move fast. Real fast, and come out of nowhere. And thats what happened.

Oh! SHIP! mmmm, can we …mmmm. Are we gonna die?

Mr B wondering what in the heck is going on!

Heading into the storm

The good news is we were on Sweet Pea, and the bad news is we were on Sweet Pea, which couldn’t out run anything. I could hear the Boatress yell from the cabin. PUNCH IT MARGARET! And so it goes. 2100 RPMs at 10.5 knots. That old lady just cranked and cranked. Spewing global warming all over the Bay!

YIKES

The good news, is we are so slow, the storm passed in front of us. But I got some shots and a fun story…. ish.. Okay quit your bitchin. Its all I got. But STAY TUNED. I do have a whopper coming. ish!

Hopefully your weekend plays out well. BTW, we have not had rain in months! So we are very happy. And for those of you wondering who is Margaret?

37 replies
  1. Greg Lewandowski
    Greg Lewandowski says:

    Glad you made it back to port OK. I remember that commercial. We got our rain yesterday. Will do some boating this weekend.

  2. Jim Staib
    Jim Staib says:

    You got washed out. We got froze out. Supposed to warm up and be nice for the Little Bohemia boat show today. If you consider mid 60s nice.

  3. Frank@Falmouth
    Frank@Falmouth says:

    So this is one of those things that get me, being raised in a military family.
    Memorial Day is not Veterans Day, which was designed to celebrate those who serve our country in both times of peace and war. Rather, Memorial Day was created to pay respect to the dead. By turning Memorial Day into the unofficial start of summer, the true meaning of the day has been lost.

    Memorial Day is a time to remember our fallen; it is meant to be a somber reminder of the brave sacrifice men and women have made to keep the United States a free and just society.

    But I get it, its the “start of summer” and a three day weekend for many. And we want to say something positive after over a year of… well lets not go there……
    Please remember and pray for the fallen for making the ultimate sacrifice and allowing us to be able to celebrate our lives and country daily. God bless us, our Country and WoodyBoaters everywhere!!

    • Mike D
      Mike D says:

      I hear you Frank. I was going to text Matt directly and mention how wishing someone a happy Memorial Day is inappropriate, but you said it for me so I want to give you an atta boy. My comment for this and Veteran’s Days is to wish people a meaningful day. They can have fun, but everyone should remember the reason for both days.

  4. Troy in ANE
    Troy in ANE says:

    Great shots of that storm Matt. Glad everything turned out OK.

    Crazy weather pattern for sure! It was 80F here last Wednesday, expecting mid 70’s this coming Wednesday, but the weekend is going to be in the 50’s with rain. Go figure!

  5. David Clyne
    David Clyne says:

    A Sweet Pea adventure with a little bit of everything. Who could ask for anything more ? Great photos ! You “punched it” Matt.

  6. Berlin Büro
    Berlin Büro says:

    Possibly the last known photos of my beloved hat. However, as years of boating has taught me, there is no more noble way for a hat to go out than taken by the sea / wind gods

  7. Horace
    Horace says:

    I have never seen anyone who loves to brag about how stupid they are and the stupid things they do on a boat like you do, Matt! Like the time you ran up on the rocks cutting a corner, or running without a chart, blissfully unaware of underwater obstructions. Now you went out despite weather warnings and alerts that were out since the morning. Oh yeah, so cool! What an adventure! God watches out for drunkards and fools. Some day, it will catch up with you, You do not belong on the water, and especially taking other people out on a boat. If a tragedy occurs, you will be responsible. It is not a joke. It is not funny. It is not cute. You are a menace to other boaters, to your passengers, to that dog and to yourself. Seriously. Get off the water before someone gets hurt.

    • Doug
      Doug says:

      O “Horace”, you’re adorable with your red faced, glassy-eyed fury…trolling a free website you choose to visit routinely. When your inevitable stress-induced cardiac arrest strikes, I imagine you’ll regret the time wasted. Cheers, fella!

      • Horace
        Horace says:

        No, “Doug” it is irresponsible to promote disregard for elementary rules of boating safety. And if something ever happens to that dog, it will be the end of Woody Boater!

        Cheers!

        • Matt
          Matt says:

          HA! Mr B would shrug off an A bomb! Speaking of F bombs.. Well, thanks for the compliment. HA. There is this thing called Radar, and its very accurate. We watched and as a group thought we could dodge it. We did. easy, just looked rather dramatic.
          Regarding the rocks. Ya.. That was my bad, should have known better. BTW, its a local hell here , and happens monthly. And if I had not needed the Railway that day, maybe I wouldnt have found out about the Railway for sale form George. So? WIN in my book. All the other dumb stuff.. Well. ya. Okay you have a point. Now if you will excuse me, I need to fix the garbage disposal. Its okay, the power is out here.

  8. floyd r turbo
    floyd r turbo says:

    Lots of factors to consider when boating like proximity to shore, protected waters, seaworthiness of ones boat, experience of captain, etc. Might be a little harsh there Horace, but here’s a storm sign you might recognize…

      • Mark in Ohio (sometimes da U P)
        Mark in Ohio (sometimes da U P) says:

        I was going to stay out of this today. But that was a good one Floyd. I will have to cut, copy, and paste that pitcure for future use! I believe that Matts photographic skills are good, and his story telling ability is great. So it probably was not as bad at seems. Its Memorial Day weekend, lets get ou and enjoy it!

  9. Dick Dow
    Dick Dow says:

    Radar, weather reports, capable boat and boat handler, inland (familiar) waterway, good visibility – Heck, in a car driving to the embarkation point is more dangerous than going for the boat ride… Have a reflective, thankful Memorial weekend everyone!

  10. The Boatress
    The Boatress says:

    Geez Horace get a grip. Matt would NEVER endanger his family, friends, dogs or even people he doesn’t like. Enjoy your weekend.

  11. Berlin Büro
    Berlin Büro says:

    Might I suggest another website if you cant handle the journalistic drama on this site. Hell, people replying to you on this thread was probably the highlight of your week.

    The weather was not nearly as bad as the story makes it seem. Us and many other boaters were out on the water for dinner, fishing, crabbing, etc. No heavy winds, lightning, no swell, no weather warnings on the radio – we were monitoring it. The only fatality was my hat after the knots increased from a snail’s pace to that of a turtle.

  12. Ollon
    Ollon says:

    Dang Horace. Anybody can go boating on a good day. As a kid my Dad would take me out in fog and rough weather so he knew I’d be able to handle it on my own in both power and sail boats with nothing more than a compass and a chart. We have a family member who’s parents were killed on the way home from the yacht club by a drunk driver. And don’t get me started on all the pilots who just jump in a plane and take off without a good preflight. At least we can drop anchor or get towed in.

  13. Horace
    Horace says:

    Matt / Madame Boatress

    You cannot have it both ways. Your story presents as though it was truly a dangerous situation. If it truly was, then you should not have been out there. If it wasn’t then . . . . well, nevermind. You know.

    There are a lot of ding-a-lings out there who do not need any encouragement to be stupid on the water. They could smash up your classic boat, or hurt you. As Ralph Kramden once said to Alice when she said “I’m not going to help you make an idiot of yourself” he replied “I don’t need your help, I’ll do it myself!”

    And as you said, in that tub, you could not outrun anything. Have you ever seen the Chesapeake Bay go from flat calm to 4-5 foot short breaking waves in about half an hour? Visibility go from several miles to 50 feet in 10 minutes? Ever seen a waterspout come out of a cloud formation like that? I have. All three. Trust me, it is no fun.

    It is nothing to make light of or with which to take chances especially with passengers on board.

    I’m apologize to all your loyal followers who were offended by my concern for your safety and that of your passengers and especially the safety of your innocent little doggie!

    Safety is no accident! Just remember, it is better to be at the dock wishing you were “out there” than it is to be “out there” wishing you were at the dock. Words of wisdom from long ago that you should consider.

    Go listen to the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. They had radar, too.

    • Kentucky Wonder
      Kentucky Wonder says:

      The Fitz had lost both of its radar units. And the homing beacon on Whitefish Point was out as well. Plus, the charts were wrong, and the weather was truly the worst Captain McSorley had seen in decades of lake service. Waves so large, they were seen on radar from shore. Somewhat different than the conditions noted in today’s episode.

  14. Matt
    Matt says:

    Keep the clicks coming! Woohooo. First off. Mr B WAS driving. Now Captain B, BTW.. Now, he is new at this, so I suppose that was a tad risky. But I didn’t fear anything, since it’s highly unlikely a squirrel would also be out driving a boat out there.

  15. floyd r turbo
    floyd r turbo says:

    I had a friend/work colleague, actually, my best friend an IT Systems Analyst that would always tell our customer’s that if we did what they wanted it would be a “disaster of epic proportions”. I pulled him aside to tell him, look, you’ve got to be careful about how you explain things to the customer. He said, but I’m telling the truth. I said exactly, its a truth torpedo and that’s too blunt (like Horace’s head) “you’re going to sink the ship”, to coin a phrase. You need to candy coat it so they can swallow the message. He got the picture. Maybe you can too Horace. As I said to that friend at his retirement, its you’re closest friends that will tell you what you don’t want to hear, your enemies will just slap you on the back and let you head down the same path as that torpedo. And that comes from the cloud. Now go out and go boating, “eff” the weather, have or wear your life jacket. Safe boating my brothers.

  16. briant
    briant says:

    Let’s see….

    A great story for the day….yep.
    Cool photos…..yep
    A well intentioned comment sounding terrible….yep.
    A little soft core….yep.
    Zip the smoking chimp…..yep.
    A big ol fight…..yep.
    Ticked off Boatress…..oh wait that’s new.

    Yeah, yeah….another cool fun day on WB !!

    • Troy in ANE
      Troy in ANE says:

      briant:

      Best comment I have ever read from you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      To play off of MarterCard:

      Ticked off Boatress……………………PRICELESS

      I suggest we kick back on a beach and share a drink!

  17. Matt
    Matt says:

    Yup, a good WB day. Ticking off the Boatress. Oh boy.. Somehow its all my fault I am sure

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