Wow! We had an awesome day sailing on Saturday. When I woke up and checked the forecast they were saying 25 knot winds, 30+ knot gusts, 3-5' seas and a 30% chance of thunderstorms. It was dark and cloudy outside and I was beginning to wonder if it was worth driving all the way out there. I had no one lined up to join me on my boat and I would not want to take on that kind of weather single handling. Dave sent me an email the night before saying he may go and see how it is with his friend Chris that was visiting in town. I called Dave in the morning to see what his plans were. He and Chris were going to go ahead and take on the wind. I didn't have any other plans so I decided to get on the road and join them.

We departed around 11am and even on Cadle Creek there was a strong breeze. We motored our way out and the wind was even stronger on the Rhode River. We were heeling 10 degrees without any sails even up! We knew we were going to be up for some action today. I raised the main sail and Dave put in the 2nd reef while we were in the cove area of the Rhode River. We then sailed out towards the West River using only the main sail. We were in between a close reach and close hauled heading and the winds were sporadic with some strong gusts coming and going. If I recall, I think we were cruising around 4-5 knots. Dave was at the tiller and I had the main sheet. I had the sheet in my hand most of the time, ready to de-power the sail when we had the very strong gusts. The winds were around a constant 20-25 knots, with many gusts in the 30+ knot range, some over 40, and the highest we noted on Dave's wind meter was 46 knots! It was a fun and wild ride. Once we got into the West River, Chris took the helm as Dave went below to find some sailing gloves. Constantly adjusting the sheets with the high winds is tough on your hands and gloves sure do make things easier. As Dave was below, I was trying to keep the main de-powered as we were heading close to the wind. I didn't want to throw him around in the cabin. We tacked back up the West River.

On the radio we heard a Coast Guard distress call about a small sailboat that capsized further down the West River. A few minutes later we also saw a local police helicopter flying in circles over what we finally were able to determine as a small sailing dingy capsized with a couple other boats helping out. Those boats flip over all the time and the CG probably didn't need to be called. The person that called on the VHF notified the CG that they righted their boat and canceled the distress call. That was apparently a different boat further down the river because this other one we saw didn't get theirs upright as quickly and we saw the club power boat come out to assist. These boats were probably from the local sailing club. I was looking forward to seeing the Coast Guard coming down to where we were. Their ETA was about 15 minutes from Annapolis to the West River. I'd like to see their boat fly through. The upcoming film "The Guardian" interests me quite a bit. I tried to join the U.S. Coast Guard, but they denied me an asthma waiver even though I only had mild asthma as a teenager and never once had an attack. When I see videos or read stories of the Coast Guard, I wish I could be a part of them. Growing up as an Army brat, I have the utmost respect for our military and the U.S.C.G. is the branch I always wanted to join. Oh, well, I'm getting a little side tracked...

We sailed close hauled into the West River and were having a hard time getting upwind because the winds were so strong. The waves were building as well. Dave decided we should just play motor boat and store the main sail. We motored our way down the river and explored the far ends of it. There sure were a lot of nice boats at all the marinas down there. I still need to go to Pirate's Cove restaurant/bar sometime. I think that would be cool to sail down there, tie up in a slip, and enjoy some food/drinks. After exploring most of the river we turned back and made our way back towards the bay.

Chris took a photo of Dave and me:

We had some lunch as we made our way back which was now running downwind. We opened up the head sail, shut off the outboard, and sailed out towards the bay. The wind had calmed down a bit with not as many gusts. I went up on the bow enjoyed the view from up there. It's fun watching the water rush by your feet and riding the waves from the bow.

It wasn't that rough while I was up there and we weren't heeling since we were going down wind. Then we had a strong gust come up on us and caused us to turn hard and begin heeling over! I was just holding on to the pulpit as the boat is heeling over hard. That was fun and added a bit of excitement.

As I was walking back to the cockpit I told Dave, "let's raise the main". I was actually being sarcastic because of the huge gust we just had and the winds were getting stronger, but he agreed and was serious. I told him I was joking and we shared a laugh. So, we raised the main with both reefs in and prepared for some action. With three of us on board, we could divide up the responsibilities. Dave was at the helm, Chris with the main sheet, and I took care of the head sail. Dave set us on a close hauled course towards Eastern Bay and we were cruising! It was a fun ride and the waves were building, probably between 2-3 feet. We sailed out and enjoyed the ride for quite a while. There sure wasn't much traffic on the bay since not many people were sailing in this weather.

We decided to head back around 3pm and Dave had fun fighting the tiller with the rising seas. It was a fun ride, full of gusts, lots of heeling, some random rounding up into the wind, and definitely some good experience. Dave checked his inclinometer during the strong gusts. Often we hit 30 degrees, sometimes more, and the highest we got was 45 degrees of heel! Talk about exciting! We made it back to the main channel to the West River shortly and we took some good photos with the strong gusts. Here is Dave and Chris:

Here I am being rail meat, it's fun up there:

We made it down the Rhode River, lowered the main sail just outside Cadle Creek and motored our way back to port. We got everything put away on the boat and concluded an awesome day on the water. I sure am glad I decided to join Dave and Chris. Originally I wasn't too sure if it was going to be worth 3 hours of driving with the forecast but it turned out to be a great experience.

We then stopped at a German restaurant just down the road from our marinas and enjoyed some good German beer and appetizers. We were on the outdoor patio and the whole German theme reminded me of when I lived in Germany. They even had a lady playing some German polka music on the accordion style instrument and singing.

That concluded an excellent day of sailing.