Hot and Hazy

Hot and Hazy

Saturday 22nd May 2021

We left Yankee Point Marina this morning under dead calm conditions. That made backing out of our slip super easy. Our intention was to head back east to the Bay proper and then north to anchor near the mouth of the Wicomico River. This would allow us to break the 60-mile journey to Saint Mary City, MD into two shorter days. As things transpired we made the decision just to keep going and do the whole journey in one day. We started out just motoring and then deployed our genoa when it seemed there was a little wind, but as we turned east the wind was from behind us and the genoa just flopped. In anticipation of turning north and a more favorable wind direction we took off our main sail cover and did something we have never done before – we raised our mainsail whilst heading downwind. Our forward progress was canceling out the true wind and the apparent wind was steady at zero point zero knots. It was like being becalmed and the sail went up really easily! As we turned north we were able to use both sails, but with winds of 6-8 knots on the beam and a long way to travel we decided to continue gently motor sailing.

The water was pretty much flat, the temperature today was supposed to hit 92oF (33oC) and the views were decidedly hazy. We passed the time trying to do a crossword, which was fun, but I think we were only able to complete about half of it. Shortly after lunch we turned north-west up the Potomac river and the wind completely died before filling in to a respectable 10-12 knots. We would have been delighted except it was right on the nose and we were also fighting an ebbing tide! Finally, when we turned north up the Saint Mary’s River we were able to turn off the engine and head an excellent sail for the last hour and a half. We dropped anchor just before 6pm after almost 10 hours on passage. The area looks beautiful and we plan to spend three nights here before moving on. We’ll let you know how that works out. It’s predicted to be really hot again tomorrow and then cool off a little on Monday with the passing of a cold front.

Mike

38 11.595 N, 76 26.002 W

Hot and Hazy - Looking back across Chesapeake Bay from the mouth of the Potomac River (B&W)

Gloria getting to grips with the crossword puzzle