Sailing South: the Lower Chesapeake

Friday, October 23, 2009

Patuxent River, MD (38.33225-76.45729)

In the morning, Mary went to purchase groceries while I checked and topped up the fluids; oil, coolant and transmission. We also pumped the head and topped up the water.

Ready to go, we headed back into the Chesapeake. If you have not read it, and I know I mentioned before – Beautiful Swimmer by William Warner is a fabulous read on the importance of this estuary.

As we headed out of the Patuxent River, F16 Tom Cats from the Naval Air Station (NAS Pax River) put on a display. Actually, they were just practicing touch and go landings as most student pilots do. Only they were doing it in 38 million dollar jets.

Although we had ‘officially’ switched to cruising mode, the days (and nights) were just too cool and we want to be further south. Back to motor sailing and quickest in and out stopovers.

That night we anchored at Smith Creek off of the Potomac River. This is where the Chesapeake is the widest – almost 30 miles. We had really wanted to get across to Smith Point, but after our Delaware Bay experience, we had no inclination for after dark approaches to anchorages. Besides, Bruce had gone home for his son’s wedding. What a lame excuse!

The entrance had a sharp S-turn in it. The channel was narrow and the sides were very shallow.

Anchored_Smith_Creek The guides suggested we anchor just into the creek in a small cove on the north east side. Since the winds were out of the south, Mary and I immediately came to the same conclusion – too much exposure to the wind. We moved deeper into the creek and a found fabulous spot. In about 11 feet of water, we set the CQR anchor with about 40 feet of chain.

Anchored for the night, we re-heated Chinese food from dinner the night before at Solomons Island. It was as good the second time as the first.

The next morning’s weather report called for south winds and high waves. Sojourn does not like going directly into waves so we decided to stay at anchor, read, recover from the road trip and relax. Dinner that night was grilled chicken and grilled squash. The squash was cut into rings, seeded, covered in olive oil, salt and pepper and grilled along with the chicken. First time we tried that and it worked.

That night the winds shifted from the south to the north and we were up in the middle of the night, resetting the anchor. From now on 2 anchors.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Smith Creek, MD (38.12231-76.39659)

The next morning we were up before dawn. Our ‘get it done’ routine is wake just before first light, make coffee and porridge and get underway. Our GPS gives us our track out, so we just follow that. Breakfast is enjoyed underway.

The day’s sail was excellent. We motor sailed with the #3 jib up. When the wind, current and waves were with us, we surfed the waves at 8.5 to 10.5 knots. We really made some distance. We had selected 3 possible destinations for the end of the day – pessimistic, probable and optimistic.

Probable is what we got. Horn Harbor is described by the guides as a great place for boat with less than a 5’ 6” draft. We draw 4’ 11” so that’s a 7” window of opportunity. We ventured in. Sojourn is 36 feet long, 15000 pounds (sorry for all of the lack of metrics) and we are venturing into an anchorage with 7” to spare under our keel. Actually we are halfway between high and low tide so there was probably an extra 20” to spare.

We touched twice on the way in. Then we were aground. Realizing I was too close to the channel marker, I turned the wheel to the left, gunned the engine and we were on our way again, grateful for slippery mud bottoms.

I have always held to be true, there are 3 kinds of boaters:

Those that are aground

Those that are about to run aground

And those who lie.

In the Bahamas they say, if you have not been aground, you have not seen the Bahamas. Seems there is similar truth in this for the Chesapeake.

Anchored_Horn_Harbour We moved from buoy to buoy, in a channel that was just a little wider than our boat and we tracked depths of 5 to 7 feet.

At the end, we came to Horn Harbor Marina. They are not open on Sundays, but we found an anchorage just off the marina that was perfect for us after a day on the bay. True to our decision, we set 2 anchors, although in this thoroughly protected anchorage, only one was required.

Half an hour later, a Bayfield 29 came into anchor. The skipper, Adrian saw our port of call (Toronto) and hailed to us. He and his wife anchored artfully and we discussed their newly acquired chain anchor. We had been using ours since Toronto.

Anchored_Horn_Harbour2 The evening was magical. The water was like glass. I took several pictures and am still amazed at the tranquility and beautify of an anchorage that seemed so challenging to get to.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Horn Harbor (37.368217, -76.301417)

0630 – alarm goes off. Coffee on. Porridge made. Pull up the anchor.

Oooooooozzzzzze. The bottom of the Chesapeake is rich with nutrients and the richness of the Chesapeake is hanging off each link of our chain and anchor. Because we set 2 anchors, we pull up the CQR and chain first. I have to lean over the bow with a boat brush to clean the chain as Mary pushes the windlass button to bring the chain up from the bottom.

We have worked up a series of signals to improve our communication. ‘Thumb up’ means anchor up. Palm of hand up in the stop sign means stop raising the anchor. Thumb and forefinger close together and then thumb up means bring the anchor up a little bit – un poquito.

By the end, the deck is a mess with the Chesapeake ooze. My rain jacket, shoes and gloves are all covered in the grey – clay like mud. But we are underway.

The trip out is slow. We do not touch. We do not run aground. As we leave Horn Harbor, 4 dolphins come to greet us, play under our transom for 10 minutes and then leave us to fish the shallow flats. What a send off.

On the bay we sail on a broad reach and then a run at 6 – 7 knots under full main and a # 3 jib all the way to Norfolk Harbor. We douse the mainsail as we enter the harbor but carry the jib for the next 5 miles as we motor sail past battleship row. There were 2 aircraft carriers, several missile cruisers and a couple of submarines. Directions are quite explicit on approaching, passing and generally being around American warships. Under the watchful eye of the Coast Guard and US military we travel the 5 miles from the mouth of Hampton Roads to our destination for the day – Portsmouth Boating Centre. We are glad we made good time as the winds continued to grow for the afternoon and we tie up to the dock.

We have many choices for docking and anchoring in the Norfolk / Portsmouth area. This is the heart of the US Navy with the Newport News just up the river. The shipyards at Newport News build the large aircraft carriers. On a wander of town we pick up on more of the history. Portsmouth is the site of the original US Navy shipyards, originally called Gosport.

The Elizabeth River was chosen because of its large sandbar. In the days before dry docks, the only way to repair the hull was to careen it on a sandbar on an outgoing tide. Between anchorages, yachting centers and boatyards, I chose a boat yard. Our batteries were due to be replaced and have challenged been a challenge while anchoring, so they (the two deep cycle house batteries) decided not to carry on this adventure with us. We were also experiencing a lot of noise and vibration from the propeller shaft, and since we have just over 1000 mile of motoring down the Inter-coastal Waterway ahead of us, we decide to have it looked at.

The years have not been kind to the shaft and its various parts. As I write this, we are up on ‘the hard’ with a new shaft being machined to go into Sojourn. The fortunate part is we were able to get this done before the shaft failed on us at a less opportune time.

Since the boat is torn apart for repairs, Mary and I took the time to go back into Portsmouth for a final crab dinner. The Gosport Tavern was the first good looking restaurant we came to and the meal was delicious. We caught the $2.00 happy hour and doubled up on drinks. (We are not driving or boating.) The meal of crab cakes and lobster ravioli was incredible.

The People we meet along the way

Although the ports, scenery and food are totally fascinating on a trip like this, it is the people you meet along the way that is truly amazing. We have been here for 4 days and we have met some of the most delightful and interesting people.

Just after docking, I went into the ship’s store at Portsmouth Boating Center to purchase a fitting for the boat. They did not have that particular part, but a lady sitting at the computer used by boaters to check email said she knew a rigger (someone who works on boat rigging) and went to her boat to get his number. She also came back with a copy of the bridge schedule – we will have to transit 6 different bridges and 2 locks in the first day of our entering the InterCoastal Waterway (ICW). I thanked her and we both went about our business.

As the seriousness of our propeller situation became evident, the marina moved our boat from the lift and set it up on jack stands in the yard – beside what I thought was this lady’s boat – a beautiful 39-foot classic wood boat. Later, I saw her at another boat undergoing repairs and I thanked her for the information. The rigger did in fact have the part I was looking for and would get it to the marina. When I thanked her, I got this blank stare of ‘who are you?’ and ‘what information?’

I explained and she apologized. It seems the wood boat is not hers but she manages it for a couple from New York. The smaller steel boat was hers and it had had a fire the day before we arrived. It seems a welder’s torch had ignited the foam insulation and the boat’s interior was badly damaged. She did not remember the information she gave me the day before because she was still in shock over the damage to her boat – the one she had owned and cruised on for 13 years. Later we invited her for wine and got the entire story of how she fell in love with boating, first as crew on a small New England cruise line in her late teens and early twenties and how she chose a boating life – confessing she was now sixty.

She invited us back to the boat she was managing. What a beautiful boat. She is a boat varnisher by trade and delivers the boat to New York for the owners each spring and brings it back to Virginia and North Carolina each fall for refitting and storage.

We got to know each of the people who worked on our boat and the job was done to our complete satisfaction. This is definitely a place I would stop again.