I’m anchored in Engineers Cove for the night, singlehanding back to winter storage on the hard. Weather was gorgeous today on the way from Rock Hall. I was on a schedule and winds were light, so I mostly motorsailed, but got a nice speed boost against the current in the Elk River (when the wind was building up a bit). Things were a little lumpy there since the wind opposed the current.

The Chesapeake City town dock and anchorage is crowded with snowbirds. I did not want to take a slip because it could be a pain getting out of it singlehanded before dawn tomorrow, especially if gusty. So far, the predicted 27 kt gusts have not materialized. In fact, I’m totally becalmed right now.

When I first came in I dropped anchor at what I thought was a safe distance from another boat. But the drift that occurred while dropping the anchor put me only about 50’ away from him. No dirtly looks from him - he’s probably down below sleeping. But I was uncomfortable, so I pulled my anchor up and moved another 50’ away (100’ total). Still close, but it’s tight in here. But just as I was backing down on my newly set anchor, another guy comes along and anchors between the two of us, right where I had anchored before. I’m not going to complain, because these snowbirds are more experienced than I am. But I will keep an eye on them.

While underway today I inspected my ground tackle and found pretty bad rusting on my ancor rode thimble. It’s starting to deform a bit due to weakness, and the rode around it is a little chafed (probably from rubbing against the chain in the locker). I was nervous with the gusts forecast for tonight, so I pulled another line out and did a running hitch around the chain next to the shackle, and let out both rodes with the anchor. If my primary rode chafes through in the heavy gusts, the second one will take over.

We’ll see if the gust front comes through tonight as predicted. So far nothing.