Cloudy, Lower 60s, E to SE Winds 11-15 , Waves 2-4 ft
10/24/2008, Fishing Bay, (Piankatank River) VA (37o32.409 x 76o20.190) to Chisman Creek, VA (37o11.077 x 076o25.388)

Friday, October 24, 2008

After coffee we went up to weigh anchor at 8:00 am and leave by 8:30 am but couldn't seem to break anchor. Forward, backward, spin in circles - no luck, didn't matter. At times between the windlass and the motor the bow was being pulled down, so we had to very carefully rethink our tactics to get unstuck! Wayne chided me for worrying about dragging during the night... We weren't going anywhere... Finally after maneuvering forward, backward, circles again, with the bow bending down to try and pull whatever was there up, we could feel a mighty weight being pulled to the surface. Wayne thought it might be an old mooring weight, but as he lifted it higher with the windlass, it was our anchor... attached to....another anchor. A monster anchor covered with clay, oysters, and other materials. The anchor was better than 6 feet in length. Wrapped once around our chain and snugged into our anchor. I kidded him that he really shouldn't have thrown out 2 anchors last night, just a little more rode. This anchor was a beauty - a better than 6 ft long Herreshoff anchor (the old Popeye type anchor). The ketch next to us (Grand Eagle) radioed us that they had bolt cutters if we needed them and offered assistance. I didn't want to cut it free, I wanted to drag it up and keep it!!! Oh boy! It would look great on our front lawn. Only problem was, how do we get it up? Then, how do we get it aboard. Then, will it fit in one of those one price mailers that the post office offers??? It was longer than our bow or the topside of our deck... I asked Grand Eagle "would you like an anchor?" LOL, they responded back that they already had four of their own. I radioed back that we were trying to figure out how to keep it and get it up and they suggested going dockside and trying it there - so we did. As we pulled up, one fellow came to help us in to the dock."Look what we caught!" He looked stunned to see what we had attached to our anchor, while helping us tie up. Then a voice came from above. What can we get for you, what do you need (we'd pulled up to the gas dock)? Um, help getting an anchor up? What? What can we help you with, what do you need? We picked up an old anchor in your bay with our anchor and can't get it up off ours... No response. Wayne finally went up to the marina office, I think they thought we were kidding, and I just looked at the anchor trying to figure out how we could ship it home. I couldn't figure out any way that the anchor could leave with us and had to come to grips with leaving it - donating it to the marina. Fishing Bay Marina was going to be the proud owner of our anchor . I walked up to the office too and the dock master said a couple guys were going to come look at it and help us. One sight of the anchor had them drooling too. Yes! We'll help you! Yes! We'll take it off your hands! They had us pull into their dock area where the travel lift was and ran and got their hoist. Fastest I ever saw dock hands move - they were afraid we'd change our minds and want to take it with us I guess. We wanted it bad. So did they. They won. We had no room anywhere. So we caught the big one. Fortunately not the ship it was attached to. Unfortunately we had to let it get away. Fortunately we didn't lose our anchor, or our bow, or our boat from the strain of lifting it... Damn I really wanted to keep that piece of iron! Needless to say we didn't leave the harbor until 10:00 am and I guess we were lucky to have left then. Wow...

Windy and wavy we proceeded down the Chesapeake to Chisman Creek. This is a snug little creek, not much room to error here, depths change from 8-10 ft to 1-0 feet pretty fast, but bad weather is predicted for tomorrow so hopefully we'll be okay. We're anchored by a small marina and next to another sailboat from Canada in the channel by a red buoy. Made excellent time, anchor time 4pm. 33.5 miles in 6 hours. Beef in gravy over garlic mashed potatoes for dinner. Hopefully no "anchors away" tonight...

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Winds were supposed to be 10-20 knots, waves 2-3 ft with air pressure at 30.58 and rising… not!
10/23/2008, Reedville, VA to Fishing Bay, (Piankatank River) VA (37o32.409 x 76o20.190)

I got up and made sweet rolls and coffee and after breakfast we hoisted anchor and winded our way back out through the shallows, past the crab pots, and seafood processing plant. This time we could definitely smell the fish uggh smell as we passed it at 8:30 am. I'm not sure we were listening to the right weather forecast on the vhf though because as we left the waves and winds were kicking up. We raised the headsail for balance but it was wicked. The waves were more 6 ft than 2-3 ft, with strong winds and currents running together down the bay. The fetch gave us more than expected and Wayne needed Dramamine (I ordered it) before he became sick. We could hear stuff crashing about below but couldn't do much about it at that point. It was scary & exhilarating at the same time, and I kept the helm. I'm not sure what the wind speed reached today, our anemometer isn't working, hasn't for a while now. I thought it was on the chore list yesterday but I guess it didn't make it on the to do list.

We reached speeds of 8.7 at times with the currents, sail, and motor and reached Fishing Bay, VA at 1:00pm. We could have gone further but it looked like the high was actually a low-pressure system and we were at the boundary where the clouds were building and thickening.

When we finally anchored and I went below, I was relieved to see that my wine glasses were still intact. The glass that had shattered belonged to my Rose's Lime bottle that came crashing out of the upper cupboard. I've been meaning to do something about that cupboard to secure it, but had forgotten about how it slides open so easily. After cleaning up all the glass and Rose's lime that was all over the floor, ice box top, stove and cupboards, I think I'll have that on a TO DO list for sure...

This is a nice little anchorage. Two for the price of one - Godfrey Bay to the south if the winds are from the south and Fishing Bay to the North if the winds are out of the north. I can't believe how fast the day passed. I made spaghetti for dinner, plotted in a new course from here to Chisman Creek tomorrow and am now exhausted. Wayne's doing suduko puzzles as I write this, but I think that after I finish this I'll play a game then hit the sack early. It looks like we have phone coverage and internet access but I'll post these some other time. Tomorrow we go about 33 miles... if the weatherman is correct. I finished reading An Embarassment of Mangoes by Ann Vanderhoof. I liked her book, she has a writing style similar to mine (long sentences). I hope she writes another book. Stephanie should recommend this one to Marge (I think that's her name - another sailor).

The wind was really kicking up so after getting into bed, I convinced Wayne to let out some more rode (anchor chain) in case we started dragging.

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High 58, Low 36; Winds 20-30, wave & small craft advisory out
10/22/2008, Cockrell Creek, Great Wicomico River, Reedville, VA (37o50.262 x 076o16.537)

There was small craft weather advisory out today so we just stayed at anchor. Pretty uneventful day. We listened to the wind howl and did unfinished boat chores. I figured because it was cold it was a good day to make beef roll-ups (it's been a longggg time). I had thin sliced steak; stuffing stuff too, sooo spent the afternoon listening to music, making dinner, etc.

This is a cute little fishing town. Beautiful houses, but the fishing industry must be faltering. There were many factory buildings and large ships that looked derelict. Only one factory & fleet remains. Very nice anchoring in here though - there are 6 boats, one of which is one of the schooners that was in the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race - The Martha White out of Chestertown MD. She's a 65 ft double gaff-rigged wooden schooner purchased by Bob Kay to be used as a waterfront stage for playing bluegrass music with friends (turquoise hull makes her stand out). The race supports future preservation of the Chesapeake through education programs to make kids (students) aware of the great traditions and natural resources they have here.

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