Getting out of bed when the night time air temps are in the low 40’s isn’t easy but since we wanted to be first to get use of the loaner car at 8:00 am when the marina opened, it had to be done. The grocery store was about 2 miles up the road and we arrived with our essential list in hand as technically we only had use of the car for one hour. Produce was not great but adequate enough for our needs and so we stocked up on many items. With 10 minutes remaining, we stopped by a fish market and purchased local Rockfish (striped bass) and another pound of crab meat thinking this might be our last opportunity for fresh fish, and then on to West Marine for a few supplies and were back at the marina only 90 minutes after having left, pretty close in my book and it didn’t seem like anyone was awaiting use of the car. We stowed the food on Juno, returned to shore and enjoyed long hot showers in heated bathrooms, and by noon decided to head out into the Chesapeake to make more distance southward ahead of the high winds forecast for the weekend. Our goal was to reach Sarah’s Creek on the York River, just north of Norfolk, VA only 35 miles away.
We had thought the forecast was for 15-20 knots out of the north with winds diminishing throughout the day, so we only unfurled the jib partway. However, once we got past a point that had slowed the winds and were out into the bay, the winds were a steady 22 knots with gusts to 28 and the seas were about 4-6 feet and choppy. We considered returning to Deltaville but we believed conditions would improve as we headed downwind. We were moving at 7-8 knots through the water, considerably faster than our typical 4-6 knots. We decided to reduce the amount of sail so that the jib was only 1/3 unfurled and to be safe, we decided to don for life jackets. However, during the slight mayhem we were coming up short one inflatable life jacket (Harry’s). After searching the boat for Harrys’s lifejacket without any luck, Sarah gave Harry her inflatable life jacket and donned Sally’s old Tufts life jacket. We clearly were a little rusty not having sailed in this much wind in a long time and in hindsight, we should have checked the local conditions before leaving and dug out life jackets before leaving. However, as the day progressed, the winds and seas did subside a bit to about 15-20 knots, enough so that we could assemble and eat a PB&J sandwich for lunch around 2 pm. About this time, we reconsidered our chosen spot (Sarah’s Creek) and decided instead for a slightly shorter sail into the Severn River/Mobjack Bay that offered equally good protection from northerlies but which would have us arriving well before sunset.
As we approached the more sheltered waters of Mobjack Bay and were rounding the point, we were both startled by a blow from the water beside our cockpit. A pod of dolphins had found us and were swimming alongside. It was a nice little reward and entertainment for the day until they swam off after about 5 minutes. We dropped our anchor behind School Neck Point in the Severn River around 5:30 pm, let out extra chain for the high winds that are coming this weekend, and went below to warm up and enjoy the Rockfish we’d purchased earlier in the day.
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