Tune into WBAL 11 on August 6th or 7th (I’ll get the confirmed date shortly) for a news segment that will feature our little old lighthouse on the Bay! I took a news crew out Friday morning (after yet another boat mishap, but many thanks to Michael’s Bay Marine for fixing the seized steering right up and making it on time). Naturally, I love showing off the lighthouse and was thrilled to take them out. I just hope I answered the questions well and did the piece justice! I guess we’ll see when it airs. I learned a few things to keep in mind for future interviews (no matter how many times you are asked the same question, remember how you answered it before!). They liked getting different ‘takes’ in different locations and I think I answered some questions better in some locations than others because like the scenery changing, I veered to different answers each time since I was thinking, “I already answered this, you must want more information!”. You’d think what little YouTubing I’ve done would have taught me a thing or two - not only on sticking to the story on retakes, but also not speaking so fast and without pauses that there’s no where to cut the film. My apologies to whoever has to edit that!
The weather cooperated beautifully, unlike the rest of the weekend, and we had no trouble getting out and tying up without getting wet. We were even able to take a quick spin down to the Baltimore Light and shoot some exterior video for the piece. I noticed they have a big new sign advertising their website on the railing. I had only been putting ours up when we’re out there, afraid it would rip and shred in storms, but we ended up putting it up over the weekend and leaving it up. Fingers crossed it handles the weather okay. It survived Sunday’s storm…
Which brings me to the rest of the weekend…. We headed up as a family Saturday afternoon after the farmer’s market and put the boat in the water at Bill’s Boats around 2 PM, where we always do. We had planned on going to the lighthouse to get as much done as possible, maybe eat dinner out there, and then head to the sailboat over at Old Bay Marina before sunset and spend the night there before going back out on Sunday. Many boaters were coming into Bill’s for a drink and food and escape from the rough waters they warned us about as we put the boat in the water. I could tell by the wind and forecasted wind that it would be rough that afternoon and calm in the morning, but of course, you don’t really know how rough until you get out there. We hadn’t even made it past the last channel markers by Millers Island light before we began debating turning around and driving over to the sailboat! Wow, it was a churning mess out there. We had already determined we would head straight around North Point to Old Bay and skip the lighthouse, knowing tying up would be darn near impossible.
We wrapped my camera bag in a rain parka and pulled the inflatable “emergency raft” (the dinghy to the dinghy) out of the seat and laid it over our bag full of clothes and my laptop(!!). And we forged on. It took us over two hours to make the trip and included gallons of bay water splashing over and on our heads. By the time we reached the sailboat, we were all drenched to the core. Exciting stuff! That’s probably the roughest outing our little boat has made, but it survived and so did we. Besides, it was made for that kind of stuff. It just handles kind of squirrelly in the waves because it wants to either surf them or veer sideways from them. So we took the trip very slowly.
Sunday morning couldn’t have ordered up a more perfect setting. The winds had died, the water was perfectly calm, and we zipped out to the lighthouse in 15 minutes. Access was a piece of cake and even the kids had no trouble shimmying up the new ladder. We hung our sign proudly from the railing in a permanent way and I intended to get pictures of it from the water when we left, taking our time to finally get some good photos of the new paint job as well with my good camera, which I haven’t used yet out there. Kent cleared the gutters (inches of fossilized crud in them!), fixed the wood around the lantern door so the weatherstripping I had installed Friday made more of an impact, and the kids cleaned the deck and railings as I continued the job of painting the posts behind them. Things were humming along smoothly until I stood up for a break and walked around the deck and peered to the southwest.
Ruh roh!! Storms had popped up seemingly out of nowhere and looked too close to try to risk making a break for it and running to shore. I still had an open paint can, supplies were scattered out in use, and we’d have to pack up and likely cut it too close. We determined it was safer to stay put and ride the storm out. Besides, I’d always wanted to be in the lighthouse during a storm and now opportunity knocked.
The only problem was the boat. Without a boat lift (still), I was terrified it would break free of its ropes during a strong storm. I whipped out my iPhone (hey, 3G works out there!) and checked the radar. The first thing that popped up on the screen was “Severe Thunderstorm Watch Until 8 PM”. 8 PM?! We were planning on leaving at 3 PM! It looked like there was a strong band nearly on top of us (red radar blobs) with a break before another one. We decided to ride out the first one and see if we had enough of a break to run to shore before the next one. I ran down the ladder and verified the boat was secure.
Wow, was that ever exciting! The wind completely changed direction and howled while rain pelted down so hard, we had to close the front door and stop watching all the lightning in amazement. “Bam!” The plywood boarding up the outhouse blew off - we battled the wind and rain to pull it inside the lighthouse. Tyler (my son) kept running down to the basement to peer out the porthole and make sure the boat was still there. And then suddenly, silence. We thought maybe we could run then, but I looked behind us and ominous clouds were still bearing down on us, so I said no, we had to wait a little longer. Another line went through. One rope (out of three) broke off the boat. I could see the lines rubbing on the ladder and worried they would fray. Those elastic ropes are awfully cool, though. They’re sheathed in intertwined elastic roping with a thick rope in the middle and never frayed or broke. Whew!
Oh yeah, did I mention our creative docking has evolved over the years?! Not only are we now using a rubber multi-chambered inflatable boat, but I’ve resorted to elastic lines and caribbeaners for quick tie-ups and less strain on the glued rings on the boat (since many have ripped off). Since the boat and the lines held up through this gale storm, I think we may have a winner! With one slight adjustment - no matter how much of a hurry we’re in to leave, we should still have one person fish the springy line back up through the eyelet and drop it into the boat. We all locked up and raced to the boat to get back before the next line of storms, so I had to pull the line through. The outer sheath bunched up and got stuck in the eyelet, so I pulled harder and harder until it finally broke free and slingshot back at me, with the beaner hitting me square in the cheekbone! Ouch!
So needless to say, I didn’t dawdle to get a picture of our cool sign newly hung for good. Darn! We raced back, the seas had temporarily calmed until just before we reached the channel markers, and we had the boat up on the trailer and out of the water before the rain poured down again. Whew! We were also present to identify a few prominent leak spots. Next time out, flashing over the range light housing and downspouts to redirect the gutter runoff out to the bay instead of into the basement…. We also didn’t set off the bug bombs as we left like we meant to. Life can be very unpredictable in the middle of the Bay!
Next time: Finish painting the exterior of the Watch Room and the main roof over the keeper’s quarters, as well as the railing (wow, the bird poop cleans off fresh paint so much more easily!). Install pipes for downspouts. Flashing over range light housing. Install dock bumpers on ladder… Set off bug bombs, get picture of sign!
In search of: flat platform work raft that can be towed out behind our boat (or has a small outboard) so we can paint the caisson and finish stringing guide wires around it…. Can double as “floating dock” access platform for bringing volunteers/visitors out. Volunteers!
Just like when Geraldo Rivera opened Al Capone’s crypt to much fanfare, I eagerly anticipated opening the privy (outhouse) on the Craighill light. It had been sealed shut for more years than I’m aware. Of course, unlike Rivera, I expected to find nothing inside, only hoping for a stable floor. I was delighted to find the full bench seat still intact after Hobie and Tony, volunteers with the Chesapeake Chapter of the US Lighthouse Society, pried the boarded up doorway open. I held my breath and waited as the last nail came out and the ‘door’ was wiggled out. “There’s a skeleton in there!” they joked! Nope, nothing - just a bunch of paint dust. With a couple upward whacks of the hammer, the seat even lifted up, revealing the drop to the water below. Too cool!
