Juno 423: June 5 -7: Three Days of Sailing Up the Chesapeake… with Flies

Wind forecasts for the foreseeable future were such that it wasn’t looking favorable to take the most direct route from Norfolk, VA outside to Cape May, NJ (a distance of 140 miles) so we headed north up the Chesapeake with our goal to then cross the C&D Canal and down the Delaware River to Cape May (about 240 miles), anticipating our route to NJ would take about a week. We left Norfolk Sunday morning on port tack with winds 12 knots out of NE wind which shifted and increased to18-22 knots out of the east at noon. We then tacked onto starboard for the remainder of the day, reefed both sails, and crossed paths with the fleet of southbound sailboats racing from Annapolis to Bermuda, as well as about 20 tankers on anchor. We made good time as we were moving about 7 knots over the ground. Our first stop was at Reedsville on the western shore of the Chesapeake about 55 miles to the north.

Monday the winds backed off considerably and changed direction to the SSE so we motor-sailed much of the day until about 2:30 pm when the wind moved more southerly and built enough to put up the whisker pole that holds the jib out on the opposite side of the mainsail to aid downwind sailing. Throughout the day, we were constantly swatting at nuisance flies that had joined us for the ride, and we never seemed to get the upper hand as there was always another fly to be swatted. We dropped anchor in Pancake Creek near Solomon’s, MD on the western shore of the Chesapeake Monday night having put about 40 miles behind us.

On Wednesday, we had set the alarm to wake up at 6 am since we wanted to get north of the Bay Bridge and anchored ahead of some storms. Under overcast skies, we left Pancake Creek and headed north with light southerly winds. We got a lot of practice setting up, taking down, and jibing the whisker pole throughout the day. By mid-afternoon, just as we passed north of the Bay Bridge, the sky grew dark and winds picked up. Fortunately, we missed the worst of a storm that passed just south of us, giving us just a light rain shower. By 7:30 pm, we had reached a quiet, well protected anchorage in Still Creek, MD on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake having swatted many many flies and having covered 70 miles all of which was under sail save for two or three.