Labor Day Weekend, 2010:

My buddy Rim, who has about 20 years sailing experience on all kinds of boats, helped me take my "new" (old) sailboat from where the previous owner had kept her, in Kinsale, VA, to the marina I selected, in Hudgins, VA - about 60 miles of sailing.

She's a 1968 Pearson Wanderer 30, overall in sound condition, showing her age a bit, with a little wear and tear around the edges for character, but ready to sail anywhere in the Chesapeake.

We took her out of the slip around 9:30 Sunday morning, Sept. 5, 2010, and arrived at her new home in Queen's Creek Marina about 5:00 p.m. on Monday evening (Sept. 6).

Pulling out of the slip in Kinsale, which we pulled off without any problems at all, although it was a tight slip (me at the tiller; Rim on the bow, fending off the pilings):



Last view as we waved goodbye to my wife Jody on the dock (the photographer here):



She drove back home alone, then met us at Queens Creek the next day - that's Rim up front and me at the tiller.

I didn't take too many pics on Sunday because we were too excited and busy, and also because - I got seasick. Lesson learned - take the Dramamine early. We were running downwind in low wind all day, so the boat was rolling around a lot. We did actually fly the spinnaker a bit, but even that was iffy, partly because we weren't totally sure we had it set up right, and also because there wasn't really enough wind. It took Rim about 45 minutes to figure out how to get it set up and flying, and we flew it for maybe an hour. It got us up to a whopping 4.5 knots, with the lack of wind. We finally realized we weren't going to get to the Great Wicomico unless we got moving, so we gave up and motored for a couple hours, unfortunately. But we made it to the Great Wicomico before it got dark.

A friend told me of a very nice anchorage spot, behind Sandy Point in the Great Wicomico, so that's where we stopped for the night, and he was right - it is a great spot to anchor for the night.

After we anchored, Rim got down to the serious work of sailing:



That's where he slept - starboard side cockpit seat. I slept on the port side. We figured the weather was so perfect and cool, why sleep below? We slept out under the stars.

Some of our neighbors at anchor Sunday night:



We woke up around 5 - 5:30 a.m. Monday morning and used our LED headlamps to give us some light so we could cook some bacon and grits, made some coffee and had some juice, while the sun started to come up. The weather was absolutely perfect, and by the time we got to the Bay, we had fantastic wind all day long - we were beating close-hauled all day long and really flying!

Tacking out into the Chesapeake, so that we can turn and make the Windmill Point light at the mouth of the Rappahannock - that way be Maryland:



We saw a lot of other sailboats out there. Another boat on the horizon:



Rails down!



Oh yeah, we had water over the rails a couple times... but only just. She's such a stable boat, it was hard to actually get the rails really in the water. The water on deck was mostly from splashing, not from truly submerging the rails. But they were darn close... Rim was impressed.

The sunshade is invaluable. We both still got a little sunburn anyhow. But without that sunshade, we would have been fried to a crisp.



Me at the helm with a Dramamine-induced smile. When Rim took this shot, the GPS said we were at about 6.5 knots, which actually is slightly above the hull speed for the boat:



And later that day, after we rounded Windmill Point, turned downwind slightly and crossed the mouth of the Rappahannock, we actually saw 7.2 for a couple seconds here and there - we must have caught a current coming out of the mouth of the river. But from then on down to the mouth of the Piankatank, we absolutely flew, mostly staying around 5.8 to 6.5 knots. Absolutely perfect sailing! We had probably 10-15 knot winds from the southeast all day.

We found the tiny Queens Creek inlet (thanks almost entirely to the new Garmin 441S chartplotter I bought) and slipped easily and neatly into her new home. Here she is in her new slip, all tucked in after two days of sailing:



One last parting look before driving home, tired, but satisfied...



Rim, who is an experienced sailor and has sailed many boats, had nothing but very good things to say about her. He loved the way she sailed and handled and told me several times he thought I got a great boat at a great price. In fact, he said he wanted me to finish fixing her all up so he could buy her from me! Maybe in a few years... in the meantime, we both had a total blast.

This coming weekend (9/11 - my birthday!), if the weather cooperates, Jody and the girls will come with me and we'll take her out for an overnighter for the first time. I'm hoping they like the experience as much as I do! (Important tip: start taking the Dramamine early!)