Welcome Fred

Sunday evening, 1 June

Fred and the Mate have come to an understanding. It may be a tad early to say they are or will be “friends,” but it’s clear they are getting along. Getting along, in fact, far better than at any point in their decade-long acquaintanceship. A formal introduction later, but first…

This dispatch comes from Still Pond, a cove on the eastern shore, just north of Worton Point which seems, on this particular afternoon, to be aptly-named. Open to the north, its ten-foot-depths are embraced by a thin strand of sand, then woods, on the west and south, and a tall clay bluff to the east. In other words, this would seem a perfect anchorage, where Churn Creek spills into the Pond, for tonight’s predicted southerly wind.

As its name would have one believe, Still Pond is a quiet refuge from the busy traffic on the Bay.

After a quick nine-o’clock stop for ice, Steadfast slid down Swan Creek and turned west at Green-3 to cross the bar, the Baltimore skyline in the far distance. Once back into 18’ of water, she bent around Swan Point on a heading that generally followed the Tolchester Channel, catching a fair tide that pushed speed-over-ground into the low 6s. Sweet.

By 1300, she’d put another 22 NM under her keel and was riding to anchor in Still Pond. And Kate had decided she and “Fred the Fridge” can get along, after all.

This is no small step. Fred’s a tad old-fashioned and stuck in his ways. Many were the times when he would lose his cool. Resistant to change, he has been slow to accept attempts to modernize, as when the 12-volt cold plate was installed a couple of years ago. He can be tough to reach, back there in the corner, and items left in his care have been known on occasion to simply disappear, never to be seen again.

Normally clouded-mouth, this is as close to “hello” as Fred gets.

But Fred has begun to tow-the-line, as it were. He’s organized, holding cheeses in one plastic box, salad fixings in another, bread there, condiments over here and, of course, ice cubes. Fred, it seems, has met his match. At very least, he and Kate have reached an understanding.

And I, ah, I can reach the ice.

Steadfast out.