First Long Sail — Derrick Cogburn

In October 2014, I had a tremendous opportunity, facilitated by my buddy Yaya. He invited me to serve as crew on a daylong sail on the Bay with Rodney, sailing on a Morgan 36. Rodney is an amazing sailor, who shares a passion for the sea. After learning to Sail at DC Sail, he worked his way up from sailing his 27' O'Day out of Rock Hall to the 36-foot Morgan out of Baltimore. What an incredible day. We left Baltimore harbor very early in the morning, and the crisp, cool air made for a spectacular departure. I've been to Baltimore many times, and absolutely love the Inner Harbor. However, I had never experienced it from the water, and sailing out of the harbor and down the Patapsco River, past Fort McHenry, and then past many of the sights I had seen on the television show, The Wire. We sailed out into Chesapeake Bay, and down to the beautiful Magothy River. This was my first docking, as we found a restaurant for lunch. It ended up being too crowded to eat there, and there were no empty transient slips. Afterwards, we headed back to Baltimore on a more relaxed pace, listening to music and arrived at Ft McHenry right as the sun was starting to set behind it. Seeing downtown Baltimore, and the Inner Harbor bathed in golden sunset light was magical. Again, if I wasn't hooked on sailing before, there was no question about it afterwards. I also learned so much from this sail, including some of the challenges of docking against the forces of wind and current, and the logistics of managing a sail with both knowledgable crew and passengers. Thanks again Yaya and Rodney!