Tilghman Island to Slaughter Creek/ Waterman Rodeo

August 27 -Tillman Island to Slaughtery creek Marina - Taylor Island

We left this morning after a long night. Last night,  John and Pam on Short Vacation had things stolen off their boat. John awoke in the middle of the night, went on the back deck and was surprised to see one bike missing and a shirtless, shoeless young man standing on the dock. After immediately confronted him, he returned the other bike which was on shore. They spoke with him for a short time then he left, only for John to find other items stolen off the flybridge. The police were contacted, a report written up, and an investigation start. Upon leaving the island, the one foot chop of water was hitting us a beam. The ride was not comfortable. Once again the entrance into Slaughtery creek was tricky. Follow the markers carefully. The marina is old but the facilities include a pool, restaurant, and nice people. Even the cruising guide calls this place remote for the Eastern shore. We met friendly people in the pool, enjoyed live music in the restaurant, and spoke with many friendly locals. The night ended peacefully.

Sunday, August 28 - Taylor Island

Tom and Pam accepted a ride to the local fruit stand, while Colletta slept in.  Today is the waterman rodeo roundup. There are bleachers set up, food and beer stands and t-shirts for sale.  This event is a fund raiser for the local fire department.  A rodeo roundup is a timed event where the local watermen drive and maneuver their boats.  The boat starts in one dock, bow first, a horn sounds and he has to pull out in reverse, spin the boat around and back into an adjacent slip, as well as lasso 4 individual pilings as quickly as he can.  It is very exciting to see how talented these people are and how well they know their boat and handling skills.  The boats fit into one of three categories, may be up to 40ft. long as well as a team event for lassoing the pilings.  There is also a category for those under 16, in which a 12 year old girl competed and a 11 year old boy won.  We never knew anything like this even existed.  The rodeo is on a regular circuit and a competition may be found somewhere on the Bay every weekend.  Trophies were awarded to winners with the fastest times (24 seconds) as well as some prize money too.  We greatly enjoyed this event-one of the highlights of our Chesapeake cruising.

Before the crowds arrive for the rodeo

Slaughter Creek Marina
 

The crowd is here ready to go



this young captain is placing his hoop. He is 13 years old
and his is his own boat. He fishes with his father and saved his
money to by his own boat. He drives better backwards then I
do forwards.

This is the completion. You back out of one slip, spin around and back into
another slip and drop off the 4 rings as you go by the posts.
This is the guy who won the competition  with a time of 22 seconds.

 

 

 

I could not get these in as one video but this the same

guy on one run.