On Dec. 31, 2023, while many boats were tucked away in shrinkwrap for the winter, David Sites completed an incredible 365-day streak of taking his boat out on the water. Not weather, nor illness, nor his job as a master plumber, got in the way of Sites’ one-year streak. So did he end the streak on Jan. 1, 2024, and winterize the boat? No.
Sites continued his streak for the entire year of 2024. He did it again. Only this time, it was a leap year, so Sites was able to beat his own record of 365 days by one. The self-taught Bay photographer, well known for his striking images of ships, Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse, and the Bay Bridge, now stands at 731 consecutive days on the water—shooting photos all the while.
It all started in 2023, when Sites joined the SpinSheet Century Club, a challenge for Chesapeake boaters to log 100 days on the water within the calendar year. Somebody said, “Hey, I bet you could win that.” He blew the 100-day goal out of the water and set a record for logging days on the Chesapeake. Now, he’s set a new benchmark that will remain unchallenged for at least four more years (when someone could choose to challenge him on a leap year).
For his last day of 2024, a group of friends joined Sites on the water to celebrate his accomplishment of 731 consecutive days spent on the Chesapeake. Three boats filled with 15 Chesapeake Bay enthusiasts joined him on his last trip of the year to Thomas Point Light. Lighthouse manager John Potvin allowed the group onto the main deck of the lighthouse.
It seemed as if the Bay was celebrating Sites’ achievement too, serving up a slick-calm day with sunny temperatures. “It was a perfect day,” Sites says. While most would still consider New Year’s Eve an extreme time to go boating in Maryland, it was nothing compared to conditions Sites had faced on some days of his streak: swells, ice storms, hail, and almost anything else he could dream up. “A calm, sunny day was one of the less exciting rides,” he says.
In his 731 consecutive days on the water, Sites saw everything the Bay had to offer. “That’s why I kept going out,” Sites says “The promise of meeting new people or seeing new things made it fun and unpredictable.”
Sites claims he does not intend to add another 365 days to his streak, but he has continued it into the new year without interruption so far. The streak stays alive.
We asked him if it will be difficult to stop, given his level of commitment to getting on the water daily. “It’ll be tough for me to stop, but I’m ready.”
Watch our Jan. 2024 interview with Sites just after Spinsheet‘s Century Club inspired him to extend his streak to a full year:
