Be careful what you wish for!
The winds today did indeed come around to the NNW. They were supposed to be 10-12 kts, but when we got out on the Patuxent River they already blowing 15. By the time we reached the Bay, they were up to 20, with 2 ft following seas! And dead astern. We cautiously unfurled a deeply reefed jib (I was afraid if I let it all the way out, I'd never be able to get it back in!) , and flew along at 6 kts. Within an hour, the winds had built to 25 kts, 3-4 ft seas, and we were doing 6-7 kts and wallowing all over the place. The autopilot simply cant handle conditions like this, so we hand-steered
 |
| Joanie at the Helm |
I got some video as well, and put it up on Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1AwPWE-xNsTX_2XA4VLZAS0kG-pzNz85Q
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1bdKUqmFGUiifr3rh95J_aMnvA15aNVMw
https://drive.google.com/open?id=15ZzGOncRxhFWyuFh7ZbO-uVAyiYH9EcN
Joanie was definitely feeling the cold today.
 |
| Brrrrr! |
 |
| Southbound! Seeking 80! (degrees!) |
Later in the afternoon, it eased off back to 15 kts, and then down to 10, so we rolled out the rest of the jib. And when it eased further to 7 kts, we tried to come up into the wind and hoist the main to go wing-and-wing, but the seas were still lumpy and we were rolling all over the place, and I felt it was just too dangerous to try, so we aborted the attempt and continued on under jib alone.
Crossing the infamous mouth of the Potomac was no more (or less) rough than we had experienced already. In fact, by the time we reached Smith Point, we were motorsailing in order to reach our anchorage on the Wicomico before nightfall.
 |
| Point No Point, North of the Potomac |
 |
| Smith Point, South of the Potomac |
We anchored inside of Sandy Point off of the Wicomico, despite the fact that it has no protection to the NNW. The winds were due to come around to WSW before tomorrow, so I figured we would not be too uncomfortable 'til then. and right after sunset they did come around and the water laid down still as a mill pond.
Joanie made a great dinner of homemade chili that warmed us up.
Life is good.
No comments:
Post a Comment