Back down the Potomac

Sunday, June 9 - We pulled the anchor in DC at 8:45, first stopping for a pumpout, then on our way slightly after 9 a.m. It was a nice day with some clouds and winds at 10 to 25 knots, with gusts that were manageable. The wind was mostly in front of us so we pulled the mainsail out half way and motor-sailed between 5 and 6 knots until 1:00 pm or thereabouts. Last night Kevin replaced the 9” chart plotter with the 12” warranty replacement from the one that failed on day 1 of this journey. We now have a full screen again, which is nice. After eating lunch we pulled the mainsail in as rain was coming from our starboard side. The wind picked up to 20-25 knots with gusts up to 30-35. Luckily we missed the rain storm and by 3:30 the winds had slowed to 15-20 knots on a port broad reach, but it was still very gusty. We pulled the main out again and motor sailed at 7 knots and at 4:20 we pulled the jib partially out.
After navigating around many crap traps we anchored in the Potomac on the Virginia side near Colonial Beach, between James Monroe’s birthplace and George Washington’s birthplace at 6:20 p.m. We had sundowners and ate our clam chowder and crab soup that we got at the fish market yesterday as we watched the sunset and listened to live music coming from a local restaurant/Tiki bar on land.

Monday, June 10 - We had an early start to the morning pulling the anchor at 8 am. Winds were mostly from the west (WSW) at 10 knots with gusts much calmer than yesterday. We pulled the jib then the main out by 9:30 and we motor-sailed at 6 knots. Kevin turned the motor off just after 11:00 and we sailed for about 90 minutes at 3-4 knots with the wind on a broad starboard reach. As we approached the anchorage the motor came back on at 12:50 and we were anchored at 1:30 by an area named Lynch Point. On shore there were several houses with what looked to be private beaches. There was a group of moms that brought there young children to play together on one of the beaches in the late afternoon, then they played on playground equipment. It may have been public, but it was directly behind a house so it was hard to tell. Per Google maps there was not much else there other than a few restaurants and small grocery stores, most too far to walk to.

Tuesday, June 11 - We had planned to leave at 9 a.m. to our next destination but we heard on the VHF that the Navy was doing drills and moving boats out from our planned route, thus we had to alter our route and add additional time so pulled up the anchor at 8:30. Once in the channel the winds were 16 knots across our port beam and we pulled the main out partially and the jib out fully, turning the motor off at 9:20 and sailing at 6.5 knots. It was cooler than the past few days, 67 degrees and partially cloudy, however the wind chill made it feel colder. Kevin was listening on the VHF radio instructions that the Navy was giving to a water taxi, which was to stay within 3/4 of a mile of land on the west side. He contacted the taxi to ask what his draft was, which was over 7 feet, and then contacted the Navy to ask if we could get approval to do the same. This saved us from adding an extra hour or two to our route by not having to make a wide circle in the opposite direction. Two other boats that were behind us contacted us to discuss the situation and said they would follow us. By 10:30 a.m. we were out of the Potomac and back in Chesapeake Bay. As we approached the Navy testing area we pulled the jib in but left the mainsail partially out, then made a turn that pointed us directly into the wind, which was then 20 knots. We continued to motor-sail around 5 knots. We anchored on Mill Creek off the Patuxent River by 2:30, along with the other 2 boats that had been behind us. One of the boats was Untethered whom we passed by multiple times in George Town but never met them. After we were both anchored Kevin hailed them on the VHS and chatted for a bit and we got together that evening on their catamaran to meet them. They had a call scheduled about getting their sail repaired that evening so we didn’t stay too long, and since we had the dinghy down we motored toward town to check it out and had a beer at a tiki hut across the street from the dinghy dock.Baca lagi