Sailing to Windward
22 October 2006 | Solomons Island, MD -to- Reedville, VA
Doug Mayle
We awoke at first light, and had the anchor hoisted by 07:30. It turns out that on a calm morning, I can pull 18,000 lbs of boat along quite easily. Pulling the anchor off the bottom is another story, however. Once I had the rode straight up from the bottom, I had Sheryl motor forward just a little, and the anchor pulled free easily.
While Sheryl motored us out of the creek, I grabbed the hose to our deck wash and proudly cleaned my anchor and rode. I was certainly the envy of all those other cruisers who have to lower a bucket on a line to rinse the mud off of the anchor rode (just as I used to do on Ashiya). Well, my friend, hubris is a dangerous thing. As I smugly completed my spray-down task, I bent over the hose connection, let off of the sprayer and WHOOSH!! a geyser of creek water hit me in the face. Looks like the quick-connect fitting for the hose is also a quick-disconnect fitting. Note to self: put another item on the need-to-replace list, and remember not to be prideful.
As we motored out to the Chesapeake, the wind was coming from exactly where we wanted to go, just as NOAA had predicted. We put up all the sails, including the staysail, and began tacking our way south. The apparent wind built to 18 knots as we took the zigzag approach to our intended destination of Deltaville. Since our staysail sheet was looking a little ragged, we decided to bring it down in these brisk winds. Then we reefed the genoa to reduce power a bit more. Before long, Sheryl was calling me the 'Sailing Instructor' because I was constantly suggesting that we change the sail conditions. I guess the tendency toward instruction is an occupational hazard for me.
All that 'sail play' came at a cost. By early afternoon, it became obvious that we had to adjust our destination, because we were not going to make it as far as Deltaville before sundown. It looks like we may have to spend more than our planned 3 days coming down the Chesapeake. I looked in the guidebook and found a nice anchorage in Reedville, VA.
We took down the sails, and let Otto (our wonderful electronic autopilot) take the helm. When Sheryl and I first went sailing, we could not imagine why anyone would want to give up the opportunity to steer the boat. It was so much fun for us to get to be at the helm of someone else's boat. This day in particular, we learned the value of a good autopilot. With the afternoon turning grey and cold, the skies threatening rain, and 22 knots of wind on the nose, we sat behind the dodger, sipping on General Foods International Coffee while Otto steered us onward.
We finally had to give Otto a rest as we approached Reedville and the crabpots began to appear on the water. Sheryl and I both lent our eyes to the chore as we maneuvered around a minefield of crabpots, before finally reaching the anchorage in Reedville. We found a nice secluded spot and made mental notes of the passage into the anchorage. It was our plan to be off at the very first signs of light so that we could begin to put some more miles toward home beneath the keel. A large smokestack on the bank of the entrance to the anchorage would serve us well in the early morning hours.
Confident after our last successful anchor experience, Sheryl selected a spot and we repeated the procedure from last night. With a little more wind than the previous evening, and an overnight wind shift predicted by NOAA, this was likely to be a little bit stronger test of our anchoring skill.
Our evening engine check showed the accumulation of water, once again, in the pan beneath the engine. Assuming that the stuffing box was still not tight enough, we agreed to tighten it up on our first down day. Of course, the stuffing box is supposed to drip steadily while under way in order to lubricate the point where the shaft passes through the hull and I had read that too much leaking was really not that serious (unless a boat left unattended took on water from a very leaky stuffing box). I decided to check it again in the morning to be certain that there was no accumulation of water when we were not underway.
Dinnertime was followed by Chart Talk. Sheryl really wanted to get down to Hampton or Norfolk, but the math was saying that the speed limitations of our boat just would not allow us to tick off that many miles before sundown. We selected several possible anchor spots just north of there, anticipating that we would head the rest of the way into Norfolk on Tuesday. Following Chart Talk, we were off to bed, anticipating an early departure tomorrow.
Day 2 Statistics:
Start: Mill Creek, Solomons Island, MD (38�19.805' N, 76�27.031'W)
End: Cockrell Creek, Reedville, VA (37�50.269' N, 76�16.597'W)
Nautical Miles Traveled: 48.61
Hours En Route: 10.25