Salty Dawg, the non-profit cruising group, has just announced two rallies this summer, first from the Chesapeake up to Rockland, Maine, and then the second on up to the Bras d’Or Lake on Cape Breton Island at the top of Nova Scotia (see the picture above). The rallies are open to both power and sail boats.
Cruisers can join one rally and continue on, or just go on one, or even join a rally somewhere along the way. Each rally makes several stops to visit local harbors and sample the local food and drink. But the main attraction is the camaraderie and safety of cruising with a group, as well as enjoying some of the best cruising grounds on the East Coast.
The first rally will start in the Chesapeake on July 7, while the second will leave Rockland, Maine, on Aug. 4. The Chesapeake rally will have two departure points – the Blue Water Yachting Center in Hampton, Virginia, which will leave the bay at Cape Charles and cruise directly to New England, and Annapolis, which will travel up the bay to the C&D Canal and down the Delaware to Cape May, New Jersey, before heading up the coast.
That rally will make its first stop in Dutch Harbor, Rhode Island, near Newport, then on July 14, with a favorable current, it will cruise through the Cape Cod Canal and continue overnight to Rockland, Maine, for a lobster dinner on July 17.
After leaving Rockland on Aug. 4, the Nova Scotia rally will stop at village of Shelburne, and then go up the rugged Nova Scotia coast to St. Peters, at the entrance of the Bras d’Or Lake canal for what the organizers call “a rousing reception of food and music.” The final stop will be at Baddeck, which is known as the Gateway to Cape Breton.
The rallies feature a weather-routing service, pre-departure briefings and daily updates from Chris Parker of Marine Weather Center. A fleet also will have a radio net for communications among boats on the rallies. Read more:
