Rhode River and the Annapolis Gam

We arrived on a Thursday night for our first meeting of the SSCA, the Seven Seas Cruising Association. The Rhode River, part of the West River, is a popular spot and often houses crowds from Annapolis and Baltimore on summer weekends. The anchorage includeas a huge pond-like area, fully protected from winds and waves on the bay. There are three islands there, one which is now under water, but pretty clearly marked by bouys. About 45 boats were anchored there with room for another 45. The actual gam, a gathering of boats and boaters, took place at Camp Lett, a YMCA camp on the shore. The event exceeded our expectations with 200 attendees and really informative lectures on electronics, cruising the Chesapeake, cruising cheaper (Rick liked that one), interpreting marine weather, and several travelogue sessions.  We had a chance to listen to Lin and Larry Pardey, world famous cruisers, as they shared  their amazing adventures about being boarded by 5 Arabs with machine guns and rounding Cape Horn in their 28 foot sailboat, which survived the hurricane force winds they encountered.

The adventure on the Red Sea was particularly funny. After going through the canal, Lin and Larry anchored near shore. Five Arabs boarded the boat, demanding their passports. Lin and Larry didn't think they were official and were reluctant to release their passports, so Lin scrambled below and filled some papers with signatures and postage stamps from all the countries thay had visited. No one boarding could read English, and they seemed satisfied with the stamps and started to return to shore. By this time, the sun had set, and the wind was howling. The Arabs were unable to row their small boat back to shore. After almost an hour, they seemed exhausted and in danger of being pushed out to sea. A fishing boat anchored near by and the Arabs tried signalling to it......by shooting their machine guns. This terrified the fishermen, who pulled anchor and sped away. Finally, Lin and Larry threw them a line and pulled them back to the boat, but before allowing them on board, Lin insisted that they put their maching guns in a garbage bag, which was stored safely below. The five Arabs spent the night curled up on the deck of their 28 foot boat. Lin spent the night hoping they didn't realize that down below thwm sat a Jewish girl holding their machine guns in a garbage bag.