Crew Log for May 3rd – May 4th, 2023
Trip Summary:
• Hampton, Virginia to Solomans
• Trip Distance of 103 NM, Total Distance To-Date of 4,405.6 NM
The skies had cleared and it was cooler, and the wind had finally dropped off, or so we thought. The notation beside the weather summary in our log simply says, “…ah huh…”.
We left our slip at Old Port Comfort at 0645 hours and made our way out into the Chesapeake. There were a lot of boats on the move today given most people had been pinned down, like us, the past couple of days.
We enjoyed a great current push up the Chesapeake and with a brisk breeze, we were sailing along at over 7 knots at times, on just a reefed jib. Our original plan was to go to an anchorage that had a rather ominous sounding name, Antipoison Creek, which was just north of the Rappahannock River. However, given our progress we decided to head to Reedville, another 15 miles further north, which would shorten our trip the next day.
Everything was going along well and so Judy went down below to do a few chores. I had called down to tell her to hang on, which normally means we were about to be waked. In this case however, the skies turned black, the wind shifted dramatically and we were hit with a squall. I can’t remember if it ever hit 40 knots, but I did see 37 knots (69 kilometers per hour) at one point. I can still see the look on Judy’s face when she came up and saw what was going on.
Like the Northumberland Strait, when the wind kicks up on the Chesapeake, the sea state gets nasty in a hurry. Conversely, once things calm down, generally so do the waves and chop.
I had pulled the sail in moments before the squall hit us. Our only option really was to motor slowly into it, which pointed us to our original anchorage at Antipoison Creek. The boat was slamming into the waves, which sent walls of water over the entire boat. Elizabeth M is a fairly light boat at 11,000 pounds, which means she bounces around a lot in rough conditions. It was virtually impossible to keep her in a straight line as the waves and wind sent her in all directions.
We not sure how long the squall lasted, but as quickly as it came up, the skies cleared and the winds died. We decided to alter our course again, and head to Reedville. Our friends from Halifax on sv Beyond had left Norfolk that morning so they were behind us. They radioed to ask what the conditions were like where we were, and were also mulling over the options.
We had been getting weather warnings all day, usually after the fact, which lead us to conclude that no one saw this coming. We had also received a report of hail to the south of us towards Norfolk.
On route to Reedville, we passed a large “parking lot” for huge commercial ships bound for Norfolk, Baltimore or other ports off the Chesapeake. It was strange to see them seemingly resting quietly at anchor while we were getting hammered.
We had stopped at Reedville on the way down and so we were familiar with the anchorage. Most people avoid Reedville, since it is home to a large fishing fleet and a fish plant, which apparently when operating, doesn’t smell so good. Whether it was because we were up wind of it, or it wasn’t operating, we didn’t smell it on either of our visits.
There are a number of spots to anchor closer to the ICW, but we opted instead to weave our way up the Cockrell River to a spot adjacent to the Reedville Marina and Crazy Crab Restaurant. It is completely protected from all directions and provided a nice quiet spot to spend the night. No halyards slapping, no anchor alarms going off, and sunny skies.
We had been pushing pretty hard over the previous week or more to get ourselves north, and Judy had not been feeling the greatest health wise. We had a really tough day on the water and so it’s not surprising that crew morale was very low. We reviewed our plan for getting out of the Chesapeake, down the Delaware and up the Jersey Coast and made the tough decision to cut our visit to Annapolis short. That meant we’d cancel our plans to take a day trip into Washington, DC, focusing what time we had there on visiting with our friends, Corky and Alex.
Despite travelling over 55 nautical miles the day before, our trip from Reedville to the Soloman Islands was another 47 miles. The weather called for breezy conditions out of the north west, which meant we’d be heading right into it after we crossed the Potomac River. The other issue with a north westerly wind, is that when the wind opposes the current coming out of the rivers, the conditions are very unpleasant.
Our log notes are fairly sparce for this day, and include brief notations like “…absolutely horrible conditions…”, “…unpleasant weather and uncomfortable conditions…”, “…low crew morale….”. We weren’t having fun at all.
Sailing in these conditions reminded me of why I quit playing golf. You take this beautiful wide fairway (the Chesapeake), and plaster it with sand traps (shoals), ponds (standing waves) and numerous other hazards (crab pots). Unless the conditions were perfect, the experience was almost intolerable. It was without a doubt one of the worst days on the water for me. The Florida ICW was looking pretty darn good at this point.
We eventually made it to Solomans Island in Maryland. I was happy to be out of Virginia! Solomons is a small community close to the mouth of the Patuxent River and is a popular weekend destination spot for folks in the Baltimore – Washington metropolitan area. The harbors and creeks here are filled with boats. sv Beyond had tipped us off to Calvert Marina, on Back Creek, which provided transient slips for US$1 per foot.
We first ran into Rob and Bettyann in Annapolis last fall. We ran into them again in Black Point, in the Bahamas, but haven’t managed to connect since. They are out of the Armdale Yacht Club in Halifax, where we bought our first boat. We haven’t met any other Nova Scotians in our travels, so it was nice to finally reconnect. We headed off to a small local pizza place right on the water next to Calvert’s that also sold cans of local IPA beer for US$1.90, which was pretty good, as was the pizza. How can not like a beer that has "Live Pleasantly" stamped on the cans!
Thanks to a nice evening with Rob and Bettyann and the anticipation of reconnecting with Corky and Alex, crew morale had improved. Our plan was to head to Annapolis (Bay Ridge) in the morning, which meant another 50 plus nautical mile trip. We were looking forward to it.
But more about that, next time.
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