South River – Edgewater, MD

Sunday, 14 September

Sandy Point Light is near the mouth of the Magothy River, just north of the Bay Bridge.

The plan is to rendezvous this night in Selby Bay—some 30 miles south—to raft up with good friends Kathy and Bob aboard their Fleming 55, Discovery. This’ll be the first time to see folks from home since we left. It’ll be really fun.

First, though, some “fun” in the engine room, that little left over fuel issue from last night.

The so-called primary filter, a Racor model 120R water separator, is on a bulkhead behind Red. When it clogs with junk filtered from the fuel, Red won’t run. After nearly 300 hours motoring this summer, it’s overdue for a change. So the old one’s off—and it is filthy—and a nice clean new one installed with relative dispatch.

The culprit: gunk in the fuel filter.

Red, however, is not impressed. She still cranks like a champ but balks at starting. Okay, message received. She wants a new secondary filter, too, which then means bleeding the fuel lines. (That additional step, by the way, is why the secondary seldom gets changed; it’s a pain.)

The secondary is in a cup the size of a Texas shot, mounted in easy reach on Red’s right shoulder. It’s off in no time and with what’s inside, it’s a wonder Red ran at all! Gross. Lesson learned: from now on, the filters get changed every 200 hours. Period.

Discovery moored in Selby Bay off the South River.

New one installed, lines bled and—gee—Red fires on the first crank! Waddya know? By now it’s nearly noon but Steadfast is soon underway through that skinny channel out of Fairlee Creek and on her way down the Bay, past Sandy Point, under the Lane Bridge and round Thomas Point Light. From there, it’s a short three miles or so to Selby Bay.

Being with Kathy and Bob is, as anticipated, lots of fun. Stories are swapped along with suggestions for stops along the way as they head up to “The Islands,” i.e, Block, Nantucket and others in Southern New England.

The “plan” works.

So does Red!

Steadfast out.