WOW, after a hot & humid July and August this past weekend on the Chesapeake was perfect, I'm still on a high
Saturday we sailed from Rock Creek down to the Rhode River. Winds were awesome, in the 20's with gust in the high 20's. The temps were in the 80's, low humidity, and just darn near perfect weather for sailing. There must have been a 1000+ boats sailing outside Annapolis! We were on a beam reach most of the way with a single reef in the main and jib, until the Bay Bridge when headed up into the mouth of the West/Rhode Rivers. It wasn't until I saw the sail rip just above the first batten did I put in a second reef (nothing a little sail tape cant hold for a while). The boat gained about a knot with the second reef , ha! The boat loves a beam reach, we averaged 6.8 knots and topped out at 7.8 I think. We set anchor just off High Island in a somewhat crowded anchorage. Later, chef2sail and his lovely wife joined us and we enjoyed some great boat talk late into the evening, accompanied by a wonderful fireworks display...who knew?
Sunday, we all woke to a cool morning breeze. After several cups of coffee and some breakfast we said good bye to Dave & Donna (sorry you had to work Monday, wtf, freaking congressmen) and took a visit to the little island with the kids. We contemplated staying in the Rhode for another day, but said nay, lets go enjoy another nearly perfect day of sailing. We choose to head into the Magothy and ended up in Broad Creek. Really sucks there, don't go, I promise . Winds were a little weird Sunday, you would get a gust in the high teens..then nothing, lots of sail trimming but we had fun. Elizabeth (6 yrs old) enjoyed helping me grind away while the admiral yelled orders at us all day from the helm! Na, j/k The sun on the water was beautiful! Wish we had taken some pictures but we were all having to much fun sailing. We set the anchor just inside the creek and cooked up some curried chicken and shrimp, one of the girls favorite meals. We felt a little bad since there was a rather large raft up downwind of us whom had to bear the smell of the curry cooking...oh well . The best entertainment of the evening was watching a couple try and anchor their new boat, a Chaparral something. I mean this was freaking hilarious...he came in and looked around for a second, sent the wife up to the fore-deck to drop the anchor. He was stern to the wind mind you, she dropped it as he throttled froward and powered right over top of it. Then he backed up a little, and she yelled that there was a lot of slack. OMG, then he made her pull it up. After a few minutes of discussion while I sat in the dingy and watch with a front row seat, he had her go to the helm and they did it all over again. Once they had the anchor down and the wind turned the boat around...I kid you not, he went up to the bow, looked at the anchor/rode...and scratched his head as if he was baffled. I decided to wait to see if they would spend the night there before I said anything, thankfully they left around dusk. I bet he didn't have more than a 3:1 scope. Poor guy, I feel sorry for him a little, even more for his wife
Monday came with another perfect day! We could have sailed more direct course home but wanted to fully enjoy the day and sailed over to the Eastern Shore near Love Point before heading West to the Patapsco. Mondays winds were more consistent, sunny with high 80's I think...bla bla bla, just another awesome day to be sailing. The Admiral took the helm again while I grinded away up Rock Creek passing by MYC and White Rocks with full sail and about 20 degree heel with a nice tack just after MYC so we could sail around the green can into our creek.
All in all I don't remember a better weekend of sailing this year...it was just awesome. The boat performed flawlessly, I love my boat, I love my boat!!! We all had so much fun it's almost criminal I think. Days like those are ones we will not soon forget and realize just how fortunate we are to be able to share such great times together as a family!
So, if I haven't put you to sleep yet...how was your Labor Day weekend sailing? :laugher
Saturday we sailed from Rock Creek down to the Rhode River. Winds were awesome, in the 20's with gust in the high 20's. The temps were in the 80's, low humidity, and just darn near perfect weather for sailing. There must have been a 1000+ boats sailing outside Annapolis! We were on a beam reach most of the way with a single reef in the main and jib, until the Bay Bridge when headed up into the mouth of the West/Rhode Rivers. It wasn't until I saw the sail rip just above the first batten did I put in a second reef (nothing a little sail tape cant hold for a while). The boat gained about a knot with the second reef , ha! The boat loves a beam reach, we averaged 6.8 knots and topped out at 7.8 I think. We set anchor just off High Island in a somewhat crowded anchorage. Later, chef2sail and his lovely wife joined us and we enjoyed some great boat talk late into the evening, accompanied by a wonderful fireworks display...who knew?
Sunday, we all woke to a cool morning breeze. After several cups of coffee and some breakfast we said good bye to Dave & Donna (sorry you had to work Monday, wtf, freaking congressmen) and took a visit to the little island with the kids. We contemplated staying in the Rhode for another day, but said nay, lets go enjoy another nearly perfect day of sailing. We choose to head into the Magothy and ended up in Broad Creek. Really sucks there, don't go, I promise . Winds were a little weird Sunday, you would get a gust in the high teens..then nothing, lots of sail trimming but we had fun. Elizabeth (6 yrs old) enjoyed helping me grind away while the admiral yelled orders at us all day from the helm! Na, j/k The sun on the water was beautiful! Wish we had taken some pictures but we were all having to much fun sailing. We set the anchor just inside the creek and cooked up some curried chicken and shrimp, one of the girls favorite meals. We felt a little bad since there was a rather large raft up downwind of us whom had to bear the smell of the curry cooking...oh well . The best entertainment of the evening was watching a couple try and anchor their new boat, a Chaparral something. I mean this was freaking hilarious...he came in and looked around for a second, sent the wife up to the fore-deck to drop the anchor. He was stern to the wind mind you, she dropped it as he throttled froward and powered right over top of it. Then he backed up a little, and she yelled that there was a lot of slack. OMG, then he made her pull it up. After a few minutes of discussion while I sat in the dingy and watch with a front row seat, he had her go to the helm and they did it all over again. Once they had the anchor down and the wind turned the boat around...I kid you not, he went up to the bow, looked at the anchor/rode...and scratched his head as if he was baffled. I decided to wait to see if they would spend the night there before I said anything, thankfully they left around dusk. I bet he didn't have more than a 3:1 scope. Poor guy, I feel sorry for him a little, even more for his wife
Monday came with another perfect day! We could have sailed more direct course home but wanted to fully enjoy the day and sailed over to the Eastern Shore near Love Point before heading West to the Patapsco. Mondays winds were more consistent, sunny with high 80's I think...bla bla bla, just another awesome day to be sailing. The Admiral took the helm again while I grinded away up Rock Creek passing by MYC and White Rocks with full sail and about 20 degree heel with a nice tack just after MYC so we could sail around the green can into our creek.
All in all I don't remember a better weekend of sailing this year...it was just awesome. The boat performed flawlessly, I love my boat, I love my boat!!! We all had so much fun it's almost criminal I think. Days like those are ones we will not soon forget and realize just how fortunate we are to be able to share such great times together as a family!
So, if I haven't put you to sleep yet...how was your Labor Day weekend sailing? :laugher