Potomac Creek: the party is on and ..... we are invited!
13 October 2012 | Potomac Creek, VA
Marta Portoles
We left Lewisetta Creek early in the morning with a long day ahead of us: 55 miles to our next destination, Potomac Creek. Another nice protected anchorage set up in one of the big bends of the river.
I have to say, what I like best about sailing the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding rivers is the many beautiful and shallow protective creeks scattered along the coast. Is the wind unfavorable; have you had enough of pounding waves; or you simply want to stop for the night? Not to worry, one is bound to find a quiet little anchorage to drop your hook in the next 10 miles or so. Once in one of the creeks, the wind and waves disappear as if by magic. Houses, big or small, will line the shore; all of them will sport a dock and have a boat of some sort. So peaceful! So timeless! Sometimes there are few other boats; other times, like in Lewisetta, we will be the only boat around. Moreover, the anchorage will be no more than 10 feet deep and the bottom will be soft mud; smelly and dirty when you pull up the anchor, but so easy to set!
If only the water was clear .... (call me, Marta, the Redundant)
Back to sailing up the Potomac, we had a little bit of everything sailing wise. First, high winds and the pounding waves (unbeknown to us, the waves knocked the outside shower valve and we dumped about 50 gallons of fresh water in the river before we realized it and closed the valve - we had only 40 gallons of water left, Argh!). The wind eased up and we put the spinnaker up. Shortly, we had no wind, the spinnaker came down and we motored up the river. Mark, obviously bored, decided to use his time by changing the spinnaker setting from our current sock to a soft-furling system. Soon, we had the 2000- square foot spinnaker flying around in the cockpit - lucky the wind was on vacation somewhere else. Of course, we had to test the new system. With only 3 to 5 knots of wind from the stern, the conditions were ideal. Up and down the spinnaker went few times. Roan was at the helm, I at the spinnaker halyard, Alec, at the sheet and Mark at the furling line; it was much easier to test with the four of us working together. The take down did not seem as fast as with the sock to me. Apparently, the head of the sail (built to be on a sock) is a bit too stiff for the new arrangement. Mark has some ideas on how to make it better. More on this after we try to take down the spinnaker in higher winds or waves or both.
Mucking around with the sails, we made it into Potomac Creek just before 5 PM. We were once more the only boat around, dropped the hook in 8 feet of water and relaxed in the cockpit, taking in the peaceful surroundings. We saw a pontoon boat coming straight for us. Mike, introduced himself and proceeded to invite us to a block party with bonfire included that was about to start at the closest shore. He offered to take us in, but he was unsure if he could take us back out after the party ;-) We were both surprised and delighted and quickly accepted the invite.
We dinghied to the end of the dock where Mike said the party would take place. Sure enough, we had a welcoming party as we arrived: Amy and Cullen. They brought us to Mike's summer place. The wood stove was roaring. We sat in the comfy sofa and drank and talked with our newly acquired friends. Soon, it was time to go next door for BBQ and bonfire. There was a fantastic Jalapeno dip, the best BBQ pork we had for a very long time (it was up there with Matt's ribs) and a bonfire so big it warmed one to the soul. We met so many nice people that I wish my memory was better at remembering all their names. They made us feel really at home. There was laughter and banter, sharing of stories, memories and plans for the future. We all had a blast. Amy and Cullen were leaving for the Bahamas the following week to get married - Congratulations!!!. They will be back here before we get there, but maybe our paths will cross again in the future. We left the party still going at full force but well passed Alec and Roan's (and Marta's) bedtime. As we were ready for bed, we heard Mike's boat horn call out and we replied with Por Dos' fog horn. A good laugh and happy dreams!
Marta