I have covered over 300 miles since leaving Deltaville last Tuesday - and have logged just 2 hours of engine time! I consider such things a personal victory. True, the winds did not allow me to consider stopping at Ocracoke, Cape Lookout Bight or Beaufort but the sailing was great.
The harbor at Deltaville emptied out Tuesday morning as we all jumped on the northerly forecast to continue our trip south. The winds started NE and slowly backed throughout the day becoming NW. What started as a run downwind - wing and wing - became a fast broad reach. I honestly can't tell you when I have had such cooperative winds in the Chesapeake! Usually random wind shifts, dieing winds or, worse yet, ballistic winds creating nasty waves over the shallow bottom take some of the pleasure out of the experience. I find myself wanting to be out in the "real" ocean.
The backing winds also gave me a chance to test my newest piece of gear.
Some time ago, I had seen a boom brake advertised in a sailing magazine. Made by Wichard, it caught my attention because it looked like an oversize belay or rappel device used in rock climbing. Dead simple, with no moving parts, it struck me (an aging and no longer particularly active climber) as a really great idea. A boom brake is rigged with lines run to either side of the boat and controls the boom as it comes over during a jibe. Since accidental jibes on both legs of my voyage to the BVI two years ago caused damage, I was receptive to a solution. The alternative, rigging a "preventer" to hold the boom in position helps but can also cause real stresses to the equipment as well as the Captain.
As KR sailed directly downwind wing and wing on Tuesday (our new Wichard boom brake rigged and ready) the winds (12 knots apparent with the full main out) backed to the NW - slowly creating and increasing the risk of a jibe. I watched the situation develop and purposely did nothing. There was no better time for a test. Finally, a wave caused the boat to roll a bit more than usual and yaw a bit too much. The main sail fluttered and back winded and the boom ... simply came over from port to starboard slowly and under perfect control. With a mild thunk, the main sheet once more had control of the boom. Sweet. Made me want to jibe it back and forth a few times on purpose just for the feeling of power. It is not good sailing karma to tempt fate, however.
My Gyb Easy is now my new favorite piece of gear. It was rigged for much of the sail from Norfolk here to Wrightsville and handled another "accidental" jibe (Again I had seen the situation develop and purposely let it happen) as well as one that I did on purpose (with a reefed main in 20kn apparent) as we rounded the shoals at Cape Lookout and reset our course for the final 70 mile leg of the passage.
After spending Tuesday night in a slip in Little Creek near the southern terminus of the Bay Bridge, I got under way around 10:00 Wednesday morning. The forecast was amazingly good for the voyage - very scary, that. It almost guaranteed that the forecast was going to be significantly wrong. And it was, but not horribly.
I had every sail and combination of sail rigged at some time over the next 48 hours and I saw winds from as little as 7kn to near gale force of 33kn. But the winds were always fair. The forecast bright clear skies for Thursday and Friday became heavily overcast with almost constant mist. The sailing was good, however.
Late Wednesday afternoon, the winds diminishing and had clocked enough that I could no longer engage both the jib and the main. Sailing with just one sail was going to be brutally slow. The choice - start the engine or set Jennifer the Gennaker. It was going to be dark in two hours and I have seldom flown the kite on passage - never after dark. I really did not want to start the engine, however.
It was a beautiful evening of calm winds, absolutely clear skies and a bright, slightly over half, moon. I laid back in the cockpit and watched large and colorful Jennifer (in sepia tones) flying nicely and pulling us along at an average of 4 knots. It was so perfect, I buried the time-speed calculations that my engineer brain kept doing automatically. It was going to be a long time at sea with over 200 miles to go and the boat moving slowly.
Jennifer flew until 2:00 that following morning when I saw a thin line of clouds pass overhead in the otherwise clear night sky. While idly contemplating the meaning of the clouds, I felt the first wisp of the predicted strong northerly wind. I snuffed Jennifer immediately and 15 minutes later was up to 6 knots under reefed jib and main in winds over 20 knots of wind.
I saw a few ships well out to sea, only one other sail boat (a go-fast boat that quickly passed me by) and a few pods of dolphins (none of which stopped to play - bummer) but not much else in the gray, misty conditions. When the Carolina coast came into view when still 5 miles out, the theory that the GPS was accurate (and that I therefore knew where I was) was proven true.
I had set out from Norfolk with the hope of finding perfect conditions to attempt entering the Ocracoke Inlet - the forecast made it seem possible. Not only were conditions not perfect but in fact nothing was right. The Ocracoke Inlet is a "fluid" situation. Every storm changes the channel so charts are worthless and even the buoys (which the Coast Guard moves frequently) are more of a suggestion than an absolute. For a boat with a 5' draft, you need to time your attempt to a rising tide, with perfect visibility (overhead sun is best) and not too much wind. I had none of the above so continued on towards Cape Lookout.
The forecast had indicated that the winds would clock to easterly by the time I cleared the extensive shoals off Cape Lookout. My Plan B had been to head north to Cape Lookout Bight - a lovely seashore which I had enjoyed on an overnight cruise with Jeannie and Paul a few years ago - and spend a few days there. Since the winds were still mostly from the north (maybe a little NNE) and blowing over 25kn, Plan B was not possible. Plan C - which was to head NNW to Beaufort - was equally dead for the same reason.
So it was on to Wrightsville Beach - which was fine with me. My only concern - if the forecast continued to be wrong and the winds stayed strong (particularly if the they came more easterly) the Masonboro Inlet might become too dangerous to attempt.
The winds moderated somewhat around 5:00am and they stayed Northerly. No problem with the inlet. I was definitely ready for a nap, though.
I'll wander down the ICW from here tomorrow and anchor in Southport near the entrance to the Cape Fear River. There is a good window forecast for the jump to Charleston either Monday night or Tuesday (Notice the power of positive thinking in that last statement? Particularly since I have been dissing the forecast throughout this whole post.) It will be an easy overnight and I can avoid the bouncy stuff by staying in close to shore. Let it blow.
Best to all.
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Comments [1]
I didn't post anything last weekend because the weather sucked so badly that any post would have been mostly a series of whines. It's so wet. It's so cold. It's so windy. You get the picture.
I had seen it coming, of course, and did place myself in a good position for the blow. By anchoring in San Domingo Creek on the south side of St. Michaels, I had great protection and holding and was close enough to the dinghy dock so that the lovely town of St Michaels could be explored and enjoyed a bit. More importantly, I wouldn't be stuck on board for the 4 day blow! Two other cruising boats joined me in the anchorage. Scott and Wendy on Scott's 62' floating palace and Russ on his 31' double ender were great company. Cocktails and dinner were on board the palace - naturally (and thankfully - their heat worked great).
Since then, I have wandered south, enjoying two nights in Solomons (including a nice long paddle - it had been way too long since the kayak was last splashed) and an evening in Reedville (the menhaden plant was running but wasn't too obnoxious) before arriving here on Thursday. My night in Reedville included dinner with Tom and Alan. I had met Tom in Long Island in the Bahamas a couple of years ago. I had anchored near Tom's PS 34 Gypsy Venus - same color scheme as KR - and noticed that he also had a Fatty Knees dinghy like Katerik. Way too much coincidence! It was great to see Tom and to meet Alan.
My time here has been used to catch up on boat projects (like that is ever possible!) before making the next push south.
As always, the highlight of my cruising life is the time spent with other cruisers. Rick and Carla are here in Deltaville getting their beautiful Cape Dory 40 ready to start heading south. They joined me for pizza night on board KR last night. New friends, Ned and Barbara, will be over for cocktail hour tonight. Their PS 24, Camelot, I had first seen in Pulpit Harbor, Maine three years ago when I met her previous owners, Craig and Carrie. And, dinner Saturday night was with Suzie and Kirby, last seen in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. I'll see them again in their hometown of Charleston.
My general plan is to move fairly quickly to Charleston going "outside" as much as the weather allows. I am watching the forecasts closely. I have a few favorite places along the way to Charleston - Ocracoke, Oriental and Beaufort (NC) among them - and will try to arrange to enjoy some time in each.
However, I plan to spend more time wandering the ICW from Charleston south. There is much to like about that section of the "ditch". Charleston, Beaufort (SC), Savannah and Cumberland Island (one of my all-time favorite places) are all fun - each in their own way. I intend to be in St. Mary's, Georgia for Thanksgiving. The town of St. Mary's has been hosting a great (and very well attended) cruiser's gathering for Thanksgiving for some years now. I have not made it before but it sounds like great fun.
Best to all.
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I arrived in Annapolis yesterday and shoehorned KR into a small gap in the anchorage in Back Creek. The harbormaster was not particularly thrilled with my effort (the picture does not show it but the boat behind me is not quite a full boat length away - there was more space between us until the wind shifted) but was not overly threatening so I stayed put. There is going to be a bit of wind tonight as a front passes through. I have two anchors out and they are both well set so I am not overly worried. However, there will be some sleep lost, I am sure.
My travels have gone well. I did leave New York City on Sunday. While not idyllic, the passage was not too painful. Lack of winds Sunday afternoon left me to motor out to Sandy Hook. When the winds filled in they were from the SSE (where in God's name did those come from?). I decided to beat it out until the passsing front allowed the forecast westerlies to arrive. I was soon fully powered up and moving fast towards Cape May. And, I was able to sail right to the channel entrance by 2:00pm on Monday. Unfortunately, the last 30 miles had been beating into 20-25knots of wind. It was wet.
Looking at the weather and currents for the Delaware River that night left no doubt that Tuesday was the day to make the next jump - no rest for the weary. There were not going to be any winds to speak of but if you have to motor, it was definitely the right day for it. I jumped on the early part of the flood current starting up the Delaware and carried a fair tide all the way to Chesapeake City on the Chesapeake-Delaware Canal. I saw over 8 knots on the GPS for 3 hours straight and over 7 knots for most of the remaining 40 miles! That doesn't happen often with KR.
I chose to motor up the Delaware Tuesday because of the forecast for Wednesday. With 40 knot winds predicted, it was clear that I should be hunkered down in a better harbor than Cape May. Chesapeake City is a small, completely land-locked harbor - great protection from all directions. And, miraculously, there was still space on the (free) town dock when I arrived. With the docks nestled into the West corner of the harbor and westerly winds forecast, it simply couldn't be a better place to hang out. The dock soon filled and we all had a new batch of "best friends for the day" as Suzie calls cruising friends.
The entertainment for the day was a large ketch (with 9' draft) that had come in late Tuesday night and had to winch itself sideways through the mud until they lay alongside the canal maintenance sea wall. When I met the Captain later in the day my question was "Why in the world are you bringing that boat into the Chesapeake?" They had their reasons, of course, but will not, I am sure, relax completely until they leave Hampton Roads.
I spent Wednesday morning baking bread and doing boat projects (I had a new crop of shellfish inhabiting the impeller wheel for the knot meter. New York apparently has a healthy mollusk population) and expecting at any minute to hear the plans for a cruiser's cocktail party that evening. Lunchtime came and went and still there were no plans. We had 20 boats hunkered down with windy (but sunny and warm) weather - and no one had put together cocktail hour. This was, simply put, very wrong.
So, I launched Katerik and endeavored (successfully) to row around the anchorage in the 30 knot gusts at the time to spread the word.
We had a nice gathering that evening with over twenty cruisers - including two very talented guitar players - enjoying themselves and each other.
Thursday morning at 4:00am the entertainment continued as the ketch tried to leave. After 20 minutes of straining engines, prop noise and bow thruster whining, the ketch was still there and I was wide awake. It is amazing how sounds travel through the water and resonate in a boat hull. I decided to get under way and, literally, plowed a furrow in the mud with KR's keel all the way to the harbor entrance. Apparently, the previous day's winds had created an artificially low low-tide. It was no wonder that the ketch couldn't move - it took all of KR's power to get her 5' draft out of there!
I understand the ketch made it out around 12:30.
I did the boat show today - a beautiful, very warm sunny day; perfect boat show weather. The highlight for me were the two North Carolina-built Pacific Seacraft yachts at the show. When PS went through liquidation a couple of years ago, a company in Washington, NC bought the molds, moved 18 of the California workers (and their families) and restarted production. The 40' at the show was a hull that had been laid up in California but finished in North Carolina - the 34' was all North Carolina production. They look great. Clearly, the current economic situation is not making the new company's life easy. However, I am happy to see that PS has a new lease on life. The boats are simply too good to go away.
My plan to head up the Potomac to Washington DC is in doubt. After 1 ½ months of heavy boat moving, albeit interspersed with down time along the way, I am thinking that a couple of weeks of harbor hopping down the Chesapeake would be a better idea. I'll make a decision in the next couple of days.
Either way, I'll get to Deltaville towards the end of October, spend a few days on boat projects and then continue the journey south. There are fewer time constraints from here on - except for the ones that I inflict on myself, of course.
Best to all.
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