Voyage 2009: Chapter 1

9 Oct 2009, Solomons Island, 38 19.70 N/ 076 27.00 W

Well, we did get off and nothing broke (or so we thought). We left yesterday at 0700 with clear skies and a favorable westerly wind. Jay of SV Airborne gave us a wave from E Dock as we left Herrington Harbour. We also got a call from Vicki and Butch as they saw us depart from their office. They said it was too cold to go on the docks. They were right, it was barely 50 F when we left. It was one of those rare trips to Wilmington where we used all three sails. By the time we reached Herring 'G 1', the wind was out of NW@10-15 kts. While we headed for Solomons, we averaged 7 kts. Not bad. The Patuxent saw us take our sails down as the wind was shifting all over the place. We found the perfect place on Mill Creek to anchor and we were alone.

Today was a lazy day. We splashed the dinghy at 1330 and headed for the dinghy dock at Holiday Inn. The wind was blowing out of the south so that we moved slowly against it. USD 2.00 for the dinghy dock which included trash was a fair price to pay. Nice dock and friendly people. There are two strip malls behind the Holiday Inn. One has a very nice organic super market and the other has a Roy Rogers and West Marine. We were good and didn't buy anything at the West Marine but did get our fill of junk food at Roy's and good stuff at the super market. Later we hopped back in the dingy and headed back to Jule. We tried to watch the Survivor show on TV but the 'new' digital TV system is not so good. The picture comes and goes with quite a light show in between. We'll try next week in Norfolk and see how it does.

11 Oct 2009, Fishing Bay and Hospital Point, 37 32.13 N/ 076 20.20 W

Yesterday they (the evil weather people) were calling for 15-20 out of the W then the NW so we decided 'jib and jigger' was the perfect sail combination. Well..., that was OK until we approached the Potomac River when Bob saw this neat cloud behind us. He said it was part of the cold front that was passing. As the cloud moved overhead, the wind gauge went from 8 to 26 knots then to 30. Jule was not happy. Ann was not happy so Bob was not happy. (Note to Bob: remember neat clouds are using not a good thing).

The wind blustered the rest of the day from 20-30 kts which we accommodated by reefing the jib from time to time. As we passed the Great Wicomico, the seas were getting rather uncomfortable at 3-4 feet. As we passed the Rappahanock, the waves were 4 feet and with many larger. As we turned towards Deltaville, we dropped the jib and headed towards the bay with motor and mizzen (probably should have just reefed the jib further).

Weaving through the marked channel for over 30 minutes, we found Fishing Bay where 3 other boats were anchored. We even found a family 'water skiing'. Tough family. We anchored at 1630. Nice anchorage! We were tired! Still Bob did his after mission review of the engine and found that a couple of the nuts on the stuffing box had vibrated off and fell into the bilge. After the engine cooled, he went into his spares and found a couple of nuts that would do the job temporarily. Fixed until Elizabeth City!

Today was a bit anti climatic. While the winds were out of the NE as predicted, they were only blowing 5-10 kts for much of the day. So we put up the jib and turned on the motor for a leisurely motor sail to Hospital Point off the shore of Portsmouth, VA. Ann saw her first dolphin of the trip while Bob was checking to be sure the stuffing box was behaving (it was). We will arrive at the anchorage shortly and it does not appear to be crowded. That is a good thing. Nuts still on stuffing box.