Crew Log for October 28th, 2022
Trip Summary:
Annapolis to Solomon Island
Trip Distance of 44.1 NM, Total Distance To-Date of 1,444.1 NM
Departed at 08h00 hours and arrived at 16h15 hours
The small craft warning was continued into today, but the conditions were expected to improve throughout the morning, so we decided to take our chances and head south. It was very quickly obvious that we weren’t the only ones thinking that way. At one point during the day I was looking on Marine Traffic for friends of ours and there was a stream of boats headed south.
We were being joined by sv That’s It and sv Bleue Jazz. Unfortunately, our friends on sv Magali were having alternator troubles and would have to wait in Annapolis for a few days for repairs.
We headed out on a reefed main and full jib. The conditions at the beginning were quite rolly and it was still very gusty. However, about an hour or so into our sail, the currents switched in our favor and we were hitting boat speeds of over 8 knots at times. The crew on That’s It couldn’t get over how quick our boat was and they never did catch us that day. In the interest of full disclosure, Andre was still feeling under the weather, so they likely weren’t performing at their best. However, we were proud of our little boat. It felt good.
We passed by the Thomas Point Shoal Light which is said to the most recognizable lighthouse in Maryland. It was originally constructed in 1825 as a stone structure on shore. After the lighthouse toppled into the Chesapeake due to erosion, a new structure was located out in the bay to its present location. The current structure is a National Historic Landmark and is owned by the City of Annapolis. The lighthouse is open to the public for three months of the year.
Halfway through the trip, the wind was directly behind us. We tried going “wing on wing” but actually found we made better speed with just the main. Fortunately a short while later the winds shifted again and we enjoyed a beautiful beam reach under full sail in perfectly flat water for the last several hours.
At one point we heard Rod from Onalee on the radio talking to one of the commercial boats. They and Teliki were coming from St. Michael’s where they spent the last few days.
We arrived at our anchorage, Bow Cove, just off Mill Creek after 4 pm. We had travelled just over 44 nautical miles and only used the motor to get out of the mooring field in Annapolis and into our anchorage at Solomon Island. We broke out the Pussers Rum to celebrate a great day of sailing.
Several other boats arrived shortly after we did and continued to arrive into the evening. I got a text at suppertime from Teliki saying they were waving at us from across the creek. Another boat from Quebec anchored beside us in the dark. They had a baby on board who was obviously tired from the day’s sail.
Solomon Island looked like an interesting place to spend a day exploring, and our anchorage was protected from any direction, so we debated whether we should stay or continue on. Since we had been in Annapolis for longer than we planned and we had great wind in the forecast for heading south, we decided to add Solomon Island to our list of places to visit on the return trip.
We were headed to Reedville in the morning.
But more about that, next time.
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