Elijah Reed Home
Well, we have gotten Release off the dock and headed south on
Chesapeake Bay. She has been so long at the dock , I was beginning to
think she was part of it. The summer was good for her as I had a chance to catchup on things; I scrubbed and polished, replaced motor mounts, replaced part of cabin sole, replaced insulation in refrigerator, installed new windlass switch, restitched Bimini, installed a mast for the radar, ......
We left on Saturday the 12th, a drizzling
windy day with plenty of horsepower in the wind. Coming out of Solomons
Island harbor into the Patuxant River with a 23kt head wind and waves
breaking over the bow was a little on the rough side. We soon realized
where all of the things were that needed lashing down! We were
wondering if a possible mistake in our leaving date was made. I
voiced my opinion that once we got into the bay and headed south it
would be better, but Francie wasn't as sure as I. We also noted that
there were 4 other idiots with sailboats and 2 power boats ahead of
us! Once we got an angle so that we could put out a little
head sail which held the boat better. Rounding the outer mark ,
we let out the rest of the head sail, picked up 3kt of speed and cut
the engine back. We were sailing at 6-8 kt depending on which side of
the wave we were on. What a ride, although a little bumpy, it was great
to be going. It was a little hard on the bodies as we had not made a thermos of coffee before leaving and there was no question of doing under motion this time. I put together a couple of wraps with bologna, salami and cheese which served our breakfast and lunch. We were lucky that we had a coffee and sweet roll at Susie's that morning.
We pulled into Reedville,VA- about 45 nm- at 1500hrs in the rain and set
our anchor with no one else around. This has been a favorite stop for us
between Solomons and Norfolk VA. There is a good place to let Skipper
run in a field, behind the Cockrell Creek Crab plant. We decided to lay
over here for a day and see Reedville. We lunched at the Crazy Crab House (delicious) and went to the Maritime Museum (wonderful!) in town. The wind has been
blowing late this afternoon quite hard and we have 4 more boats that
found their way here, one with another Brittany and friend - Zeb and Britta - Skipper happy to find friends! Guess we are happy to have stayed here today.
Today was also good for a few boat chores, tightening motor
belts, cleaning oil lamp, putting away all of those things loose around
the cabin. We will continue tomorrow if the weather is better. This
year we are planning on not rushing as much, seeing what we have
bypassed before.
No comments:
Post a Comment