Saturday I went out for a seven hour single handed sail. No one could join me, so I went on my own. There was a heat advisory and they said the heat index was 104F so I made sure I brought plenty of water. Once I got out on the water, it actually wasn't that bad sitting in the shade of the bimini and having a nice breeze. Winds were around 8 mph on my way out. I sailed on a broad reach north east in the bay, past Thomas Point Lighthouse.


It was a very hazy day and visibility was probably only a couple miles. Normally you can see the bay bridge from the West River which is more than twice as far as Thomas Point Lighthouse is, but you couldn't even see the lighthouse. I sailed by this large tanker anchored in the bay.




I then headed over towards Annapolis and entered the entrance of the Severn River. I wanted to continue sailing further down the river, closer to Annapolis, but it was getting somewhere between 3-4 pm and I still had to sail all the way back home.


Since I was sailing on a broad reach out, I then had to sail close hauled to get back home. I had to make several tacks due to some tugs and barges making their way down the bay and the large tanker anchored out. After a few tacks, unfortunately the wind decided to die down to around 4 mph and my speed eventually slowed down to 1-2 knots. I still had about 10 miles to go and it was past 4pm. There is no way I'm going to spend 5-10 hours sailing back, especially since I had plans with friends later that night and had a 1.5 hour drive home. I hate having to use my outboard since I have sails, but I decided to motor my way, directly into the wind, straight to the West River. After about ten minutes, I passed Thomas Point Lighthouse again and noticed the wind picking up and other sailboats really heeling over. According to the TPLH website, the winds picked up to around 14 to 16 mph. I shut off the outboard, opened the genoa and sailed on a single close hauled tack all the way to the Rhode River at or near hull speed! That was the most fun part of my sail! Usually I stay on the windward side when sailing, but this time I was sitting back on the leeward side so I could see my blind spot and watch for crab pots and traffic. It was awesome just sitting there, the water rushing by and with the little bit of constant weather helm, I just let the tiller rest against my knee and sailed hands free. I left at 11am and got back at 6pm. The total distance was just over 25 miles.

Here is my course plotted by my GPS: