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06/06/2007: "A very late Memorial Weekend update"

This is a late, even later then normal for me, update on Memorial Weekend. The forecast was for more of the same weather we had been getting all week, clear skies, light winds building to 10 to 15 knots in the afternoon, daytime temps in the 80’s and nighttime temps in the 60’s. Since there was no wind on Saturday morning we headed into town to run a couple of last minute errands and then back to the boat to go sailing.

We got out of the marina around 12:30 and since the winds were light we started a slow sail down the river. As we approached Oriental we were down to trying a spinnaker to try to keep moving. Eventually that failed and we just sat there. Every day that week the wind had picked up in the afternoon so we chose to just wait it out. It didn’t take too long before the winds came up and we were overpowered with the spinnaker. After an unsightly drop – we need a sock to douse the spinnaker – we were sailing again. By then we were close to South River which was one of our destinations. Since the winds were up and the right direction we opted to continue down river and spend the night in Lower Broad Creek. The Navy had an aircraft carrier offshore and we were listening to them warn the boaters to keep their distance. They also had fighter jets practicing nearby so we got to watch them make practice runs at the target area then do an impressive pull up – almost straight up and then come around for another run. We pulled into the creek and anchored off from the others and had a quiet night on the hook sharing the anchorage with only nine other boats.

Sunday we started out around 11:30 and caught a nice breeze making several tacks back towards Oriental until the wind finally died out. We motored for a bit rather then wait for it to come back up so we were just about to Oriental when right on schedule the wind started up from the southwest again. We sailed around with no particular destination until it was time to find an anchorage for the night. We motored into South River and dropped anchor for another quiet night.

Monday we started out about 11:30 again and started working our way upriver. Southwest winds mean we take a lot of long tacks to get back home. By the time we were across the river from Clubfoot Creek the wind died again and we started motoring home. Halfway there the winds came back, pretty much on schedule, but we chose to motor in and get things straightened up and cleaned up early.

Our first three day weekend of the year and nothing broke, unlike last year. We got to try out the windlass; it works but is somewhat suspect. I still don’t trust it. We got to fly the spinnaker again; we just need to get better at dropping it or we need to get a sock to douse it. All in all a pleasant start to the summer.