When we left Annapolis, we just went, even though we had more things on various lists to accomplish. Time ran out and we set sail. I got a bit nostalgic about leaving my home town. I might not be back for 6 or 7 months. Yikes, what was I thinking? Did I really want to live on a boat?
But we were already underway and the time for choices had long passed. We made the trip down to Portsmouth in three full days. The first night we spent in Solomon’s Island, MD at the Spring Cove Marina on the Patuxent River. We’d taken courses there under John Kretschmer a few years ago. They remembered us and gave us a nice slip on the T-dock. Later, after the boat was secure, we went to have dinner at a restaurant nearby. The only memorable thing about our dinner was the singer up on the stage. He must have been in high school and he played guitar and sang songs from the 60’s and 70’s. It was thoroughly delightful. The next morning, we left at 8:30 as navy jets flew overhead. They seemed to wish us well.
We motored/sailed to Fishing Bay where we dropped our anchor. There were five other boats at the anchorage. Each night we got in in just enough time to secure the boat and have dinner. We were still exhausted from weeks of preparation. This is what our cabins looked like before we put everything away.
I made frozen eggplant lasagna for dinner and we finished off a bottle of wine, then we promptly went to bed.
We set off early again the next morning. The weather that today promised to behave, but just like that girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead, while she could have been very good, she was absolutely horrid! Willa (a tropical storm) had arrived in Virginia and was now categorized as a low. The remnants of Willa had just gone through as we slept, and the Bay was a mess with choppy seas and gray skies. Thank God our anchor held. Otherwise we would be sailing to Africa as I write this. The winds that day were some of the strongest we had encountered. We were dealing with sustained winds in the low to mid 30’3. The Chesapeake Bay was showing her snarly side. The first big wave that hit us broadside crashed our belongings on counters and tables onto the floor.
Later that day, we would be arriving in Portsmouth. We tried to put out sail to even the boat out, but it didn’t work. As we furled our sails, a line got caught. Jeff had to go forward to untangle it. After he freed the line, he made his way quickly back to the cockpit as he exclaimed that the whisker pole (which normally sits on the mast) had come loose and we now had a battering ram flailing around on the foredeck. Jeff put on his harness and a bike helmet, in case he got hit, then traveled back out to secure the whisker pole. I was behind the wheel, trying to keep the boat steady. But that was an impossible task. The period between the waves was very short which meant once a wave hit us and moved on, there was another to take its place.
He came back with the line still in his hand. As he entered the cockpit, he told me the whisker pole was gone. It must have flung itself overboard. We were planning on using the whisker pole on our sail to the Caribbean. Now we had to tell Steve (our rigging guy who was also part of our crew) we needed to buy a new one.
Hours later, I found the whisker pole! I was looking forward and up and saw it was caught in the rigging. Jeff said it was a good place for it and he didn’t want to deal with lashing it to the mast.
We dragged ourselves into Portsmouth late afternoon. I hope no one noticed our whisker pole in the rigging. Many people were on the dock catching our lines. However, we were bow first and needed to be stern first to hook up our power. In the process of turning the boat around a gust of wind came up and we blew into a catamaran that was on the fuel dock. We scratched her bow sprit. The bow sprit was black and after we hit her, we left behind a silvery downturned smile. Our stanchions fared better. We apologized profusely to the owners of the boat and ended up taking them out for a fancy meal. They said there was no structural damage and all’s well that ends well.
We checked into the marina office, paid for our slip for a week and then checked into the rally. Here’s what our cabins below looked like:
A few rally people stopped by to welcome us after we were back on the boat. I was so exhausted I hardly smiled as I came on deck. Still the air was cool and it was a lovely fall evening. I snapped these pictures from our boat.
We had dinner and some wine, and then we collapsed into our bed. Enough for one day, I’m sure.