Chesapeake Bay

September 30, 2001

We left Bodkin Creek, near Baltimore the morning of Wed 26 Sept. It was our first sail in almost a year and it showed. We promptly ran aground in the middle of the wide river. It would have helped a lot if I had paid any attention to the marker, and gone thru the channel markers instead of outside. We were motoring slow and it was soft mud, so we backed off. Teach us to pay a little more attention, since the Chesapeake is shallow in places far from land. We then struggled up with the sails and had a great reach down the bay, doing some 10-12 knots in 16 knots of wind. Sure like the new hard bottom paint! The new props also perform well, a good 30 % better than the old props, in all respects. The solar plates give us plenty of energy, even though the sun is not out all the time. Spent a couple of nice days moored in the center of Annapolis. A great city that treats sailors very well. After a couple of days of civilization, we headed across and down the bay to the village of Oxford. It is a quaint, very picturesque, quiet village on the eastern shore. We had a great sail getting there, well maybe the first 25 miles or so, with the spinnaker flying in 18-25 knots of wind we were really moving in smooth water - there by early afternoon. Unfortunately we blew out the spinnaker at about the 25 mile mark, ripped it stem to stern. This is not the first time we creamed this old spinnaker, it has many battle scars and patches. We will try to get it re-sewn, to use as a spare, but will have to get a new one. They cost almost $2000, so it is not a small item. We really like our spinnaker, and must have another.

After a couple days of laying around in Oxford while the cold north wind howled, and the boat bounced around, we decided to head across and down to Solomans Island some 40 miles south. A cold front is coming thru and winds were predicted for 25 knots with small craft warnings. We figured that we were maybe a medium sized craft, and since it was all downwind, we might as well go. Well, we got here by early afternoon doing 10-13 knots in some big nasty waves, with only the genoa unfurled. Not a lot of fun and cold as heck. We got tossed about some. Winds were consistently higher than 25 knots with gusts in the low 30's. We are now anchored in a peaceful place, and have finished a nice hot lunch and shower. Maybe a nap next!

October 6, 2001

After getting a quote for a new sail ( we blew out our old spinnaker) for $4200, we decided to find a port where we could rent a car and drive back to Annapolis, almost 200 miles north to visit a store that sells used sails, and while we were there we might as well take in the boat show. We sailed into a cove not far from Kilmarnock, Va. We arranged to rent a car in town and I rode my bike the 2 miles into town. We picked up a car and drove back to Annapolis and took in the boat show and bought a very nice spinnaker that has only been used once. It is bigger and much nicer than our old spinnaker and cost $1050. A bargain! We arrived back late at night and it is now raining like mad with a cold front passing thru. They expect temperatures tomorrow night of 35 degrees - far too cold to be in a boat. Monday will be clear but still cold. Time to head further south. The trees here are starting to turn beautiful shades of red and orange. Virginia is definitely part of the south and they do things differently. I picked up the rental car at 4 pm thursday and returned it at 10 am on Saturday. We had the car about 42 hours. They tried to charge me for 3 days rental, saying that thurs, fri. and sat. constituted 3 days. I told them that everywhere in the world 48 hours was two days. They told me not here! Then I went to buy a short section of fuel hose, The man measured 3 ft, and I said maybe three and a half would be better. He said it was $1/ft. and they only sold it in feet, did I want 3 or 4 ft. We had a long discussion on why I could't buy three and a half feet. Finally he said he would do me a favor, since I was from California and didn't fully understand, that he would cut three and a half feet and only charge me for 3. One last item - we bought gas for $1.05 a gallon and a fill up cost $9.40.

October 8, 2001

It has been an interesting day for us. The wind was howling yesterday so we stayed in the small cove near Kilmarnock, Va. The wind was supposed to come down today, so we headed across to Nassawadox on the eastern shore to visit Bob and Ruth Meyers, friends from Saudi Arabia, and an F-31 sailor. Bob is a retired pilot and his wife does serious quilting. They retired a year ago and are working on their estate here. It is a lovely house on a point overlooking the water in three directions. When we got up this morning the entire boat was covered with a thin film of Ice! Yeh! real slippery stuff. I almost fell twice before finally realizing what the stuff was. Gotta keep heading south. We pulled the anchor and headed across. The wind was not down and the waves were nasty for the whole 32 miles across. The channel into the river, is not dredged or marked, so Bob came out in his flat bottom runabout to escort us across the bar at the mouth of the river, Well it was blowing like snot directly into the river, and when we went across the bar we dredged the channel. With the waves we banged pretty hard on the rudders, and were extremely lucky to get across without doing any visible harm to the boat. This is one tough boat! We will only attempt going back across the bar at high tide and calm water!!!!!! Next stop Hampton to get sails repaired, then wait for the correct weather window before heading out to the Atlantic for the longer sails down the coast.

October 19, 2001

We are finally! leaving the Chesapeake. We have been here in Hampton, Va. for over a week taking care of small problems. First a couple of torn sails, then bad weather, then a bad injector in one of the engines. Tomorrow AM, we set sail south out into the Atlantic. If all goes well, our first stop will be Beaufort, NC, about a two day sail. This gets us past Cape Hatteras and close to south Carolina. The forecast is for light winds and Ruth is happy with that. I would like a bit more than light winds but, am ready. The weather the past two months here has been great! The leaves are just beginning to turn. The sailing and hospitality from everyone has been fine. Sailing is certainly a bit different than the coast of California. One can run aground here miles from land. Two nights ago we had an extra low tide and most boats in the anchorage were really stuck in the mud. It didn't seem to bother them. We were floating in less than 3 ft of water except the rudders were about a foot in the mud. The anchorage here is full of Canadian boats boats all headed south for the winter.