it's your birthday...

it is claud w. somers' birthday so we need to party. come visit me and claud (no, really: don't) in the northern neck and celebrate this infamous skipjack (in the water) at the reedville fisherman's museum...

it really is something to see!

bluefish derby

i have had zero luck so far this rockfish season, so maybe i will try my line for bluefish...the reedville bluefish derby starts tomorrow and there are 30 different fish classes with prizes totalling $25,000...i am sure i could catch a croaker if i tried: under pressure, i could pull one in.

oyster roasting

saturday 2-5 is the reedville oyster roast at the reedsville fisherman's museum...its all you can eat with music, dancing and such: you better get there early! if you cant make it, you can have your own oyster roast at your leisure.

skipjack tale

i have seen the chesapeake bay skipjack claud w. somers many times at the reedville fisherman's museum...most recently two weeks ago at the antique and classic boat show held there: the plaque on the 99 year old virginia-made work boat explains the sign painter accidently left the 'e' off of 'claude' when painting the skipjack's name...that is about all it said in addition to a little info on the builders...then today i ran across this article about a storm story that took the captain and his oyster crew of five's lives in a spring squall back in 1977.

yikes: it might have ghosts!

weekend water events

    

if you missed the show in reedville last weekend, head to jersey for this antique and classic boat society-judged show. there will be marine vendors, artists, custom cars, radio-controlled boats, and lots of antique and classic boats to check out at the New Jersey Museum of Boating in Point Pleasant, New Jersey from 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

antique & classic boat show

this weekend was the reedville antique & classic boat show..there were some sweet rides there. 

this turquoise one was my favorite...love the wings...

the annual event and parade is held at and around the reedville fisherman's museum.

they have some beautiful chesapeake bay wooden workboats there...

 

the skip jack claude w. somers is listed in the national register of historic places.

we missed the parade.

memorable memorial day

i did a lot of boating this memorial day weekend...a little fishing...and too much socializing. here we are at smith point marina picking up friends: winding your way into this marina is a trick! we headed out of the narrow and splashy smith point jetty-which was filled with boaters hooking rock, crappy, skate and croaker- and headed toward smith point light, where we took a sharp right toward the great wicomico river. i drove up the river, past cockrell's creek and tifanny yachts, under the 200 bridge and past all the boathouses and big houses around the bend. we turned around and headed toward horn harbor for a late lunch. after dropping everybody back at sunnybank, the wife and i raced back to heathsville, quickly got cleaned up and headed to crazy crab for dinner with andi and mike. oh, i didnt catch anything this weekend: i think it was too hot for the fish.