Silver Heel Sailing

Welcome!

The Silver Heel is one of a dozen or so Chesapeake Bay Log Canoes that duke it out for fun and bragging rights each summer on the Eastern Shore of the Bay in a series running between Chestertown, Rock Hall, St. Michael’s, and Oxford, MD.  Built in 1902, Silver Heel proudly flies the house flag of Janet and Robert Hewes, III of Chestertown during the annual series the likes of which you won’t find anywhere else on earth.

Although the Heel has often gained renown over the years more for “fun” and less for “bragging rights,” the two go hand-in-hand on the Eastern Shore.  Either way you look at it, and whatever your goal on the water (or in the bar), log canoe sailing is special.  For some, it’s the history of a fleet steeped in a century-plus of tradition.  For others, it’s the stunning beauty of three massive white triangles (sometimes five, and in years gone by, six or more) gliding across the bay against a backdrop of trees and blue skies.  Others will swear that it’s the rush of walking the plank voluntarily in 20 knots of breeze on that rarest of windy Chesapeake summer weekends.  Others won’t be able to articulate why they love log canoes, because it’s hard to talk when you’re a case deep in 10 oz. Budweisers at C-Street on a Saturday night.

In the end, the reason doesn’t matter, but we jealously guard the reputation of log canoe sailing as a treasure of the Eastern Shore.  With this blog, I hope to let you in on my reasons for loving the canoes and, more specifically, the inimitable Silver Heel.

Enjoy (or not).

Berry Kurland