5 days of perfect weather is forecast. Wow….what do you do with such a thing? From Thursday thru Monday, the prediction is for clear skies, sunshine, temps in the mid-70s, and a nice W14-knot wind.
Day 1. Thursday, 10/7
We are up at 7:00 am (early for us) to take full advantage of this day. We cast off the dock lines at 8:15 and have a perfect exit from the fixed pier … straight out into the channel, no near misses with the bow sprit. As Maja clears our neighboring boat and both pilings, I can relax now that we’ve successfully left the dock, with just the two of us. However, that piercing noise is undeniable … the engine has died. WTF? Mr. Westerbeke has been our trusted powerhouse throughout this whole trip. Always starts. Always. Except today. So Dan fiddles; restarts the engine; engine dies shortly after being put into gear; Maja drifts slightly in the channel with docked boats on both sides; Dan fiddles; restarts the engine; engine dies shortly after being put into gear; Maja drifts slightly in the channel with docked boats on both sides; I nervously pace the forward deck of the boat with the boat hook in hand, wondering which obstacle we’ll encounter first.
After more fiddling and nervous pacing, Dan is able to get enough engine time to navigate the boat back into our slip. Whew; another lucky place to break down. The problem appears to be Dan’s latest boat improvement. During one of our rain days, he installed a fuel filter indicator which tells us how clogged the fuel filter is. This is considered a good thing to have, and it’s been on Dan’s ‘to-do’ list for awhile. But, I can’t help but wonder why he had to go cutting into the fuel line at this stage of our trip? Why mess around when things were going so smoothly? So, yes, we have our differences of opinion on the boat! However, nothing trumps the fact the engine won’t start now and neither of us are going anywhere until that gets fixed.
The culprit! Or maybe it's installation ...
Dan figures it’s gotta be a leak in the fuel line that is letting in air. Off he goes in our borrowed car to get a new fuel line (and of course, the first fuel line he buys is the wrong size, so repeat!). And he’s able to talk with the mechanic at the marina, so he’s now equipped with some good advice on how to tackle this problem. I, meanwhile, use this unexpected window of opportunity to take a shower at the marina!
Genuis at work!
At least Dan is working in a reasonable postiion this time. Usually boat repairs require some kind of contortion!
Who would have thought that a replacement fuel line for a boat would be hard to find? It took a couple of trips, each a little further away from Deale, to finally locate a fuel line that fits. But in the end, all things worked out, and our Westerbeke 52 is humming just like before. Unfortunately, the repair was finished around 2pm, so it’s now too late to start our trip down the bay. We need a good 6 hrs to get to Solomons, so it looks like we’ll spend another pleasant day at Shipwright Marina!
Other than pout because it was such a beautiful day to be underway, there was nothing else to do but tackle boat projects. I worked on polishing the stainless while Dan worked on cleaning the fiberglass in the cockpit. A pretty boat is a happy boat! Ed and Connie were back at the docks so we enjoyed another dinner out with them, talking about the return trip south to Brunswick. If all goes well, we’ll connect with them again next week in D.C.
Shiny!
P.S. Damn those NY Yankees … Twins lose game #2.
Day 2 – Friday, 10/8
Beautiful day #2 turns out just like predicted. Crystal blue sky, sunshine, Ed is even wearing shorts when he and Connie come over to our slip to help us off the dock! Hopefully, all good signs of things to come.
Our destination today is the mouth of the Potomac River; we hope to round Look Out Point (I wonder why it got that name?!) and anchor at the St George River, which is where the Potomac River and St Marys River meet (….go get a map!). It is a 60-mile day, leaving us ~90 miles to go. We are a day behind schedule and have good weather ahead of us which we hope means we can make good time.
a lovely, lovely day
Wind is a perpetual sailor’s dilemma. It’s good sailing the day after a storm front passes because the winds are still running high from the storm … of course, so are the waves … but you can typically make good time under sail. Such was the case with yesterday. We bemoaned being stuck in Deale with engine problems when the 1st day after the storm front was so promising … the winds were predicted from the NW 10-15 knots with gusts to 20. However, the day-after-winds are unpredictable, and by yesterday afternoon, we were kinda glad to be at the marina b/c the winds were more like 20-25 knots, so the swells in the bay would be around 4 ft.
Today, the 2nd day after the storm, would naturally see the winds and swells die down as the high front takes over. With 10 knots of wind, we had all sails up plus the motor running at medium speed, and we were flying down the bay at 7 knots! We had a run of about 45 miles down the bay to the Potomac River, one tact, and at 7 knots, we would make our anchorage at St. George Creek at 5:30pm.
The Potomac is a wide river!
That rush lasted for about 5 hours … truly ideal sailing … but the wind dropped to nothing at about 3 pm as did our speed – to 5 knots – meaning we’d be anchoring just about sunset. Which in fact is just what we did! The sun was just preparing to drop as our hook when down too. We finished our 10-hr cruise with just enough light to spare!
Day 3 – Saturday, 10/9
As predicted, it was another perfect day! We had 45 miles to go to Port Tobacco Bay and were underway by 9:30. Light winds … then no wind … then wind straight on the nose … so, we motored the whole way to Colonial Yacht Center where we were going to take on diesel.
Docking continues to be the one unexpected nightmare of sailing. You just never know what’s gonna hit you as you innocently motor up to the fuel dock with your bumpers out on the required side, dock lines coiled and ready, plan of attack to the dock rehearsed. We always feel ready … but then during the approach to the dock, Dan realizes that the wind he expected to gently push us away from the dock was going to be dramatically trumped by the strong current that was going to pull us onto the dock. Not a pretty sight! We landed at the end of the pier, and our stern was pushed around close enough to the boat in the ajoining slip that the captain came onto the dock! Fortunately, we had some capable lady dockhands, and Dan was able to motor Maja back into position. Never a dull moment! And it took 3 dock hands to get us off the dock and back on our way after filling our tank.
After that docking experience, the rest of the day was tame! I continued yesterday’s goal of getting some cleaning done on Maja's deck when we are motoring along on calm water. Yesterday, we cleaned and buffed the cockpit, and today I worked on the bow of the boat. So she’ll look pretty when we pull into a marina. We got out our new American flag to fly when we enter D.C. tomorrow. Only fitting.
Our intended anchorage at Port Tobacco was full of crab pots, and I mean a complete maze of buoys marking the entrance to the bay. So we opted to drop the hook along the shore just outside of the bay. It takes some getting used to that in these waters you can anchor anywhere your hook will hold and you're protected from the wind.
Day 4 – Sunday, 10/10
Underway by 8:30 for our 50-mile cruise into D.C. Thanks to a tip we got from Ed Dooley (s/v Surprise), Dan has cut down the time it takes to clean off the anchor. Now, in addition to our beer theory for anchoring (i.e. let the anchor sit for the time it takes to drink a beer before backing down; courtesy Ann and Lynn, s/v Sea Tramp), we have the cup of coffee practice for raising the anchor (i.e., let the anchor hang just off the bottom for the time it takes to drink your morning cup of coffee, and the current will help clean the bottom sludge off the anchor). Such enough, for two days now, Dan hasn’t had to use the wash-down pump to spray off the anchor as the chain came onboard, into our forward anchor locker.
The Potomac River is surprising wide and narrow at the same time because it is so shallow in most parts. You can see on the chartplotter below the white strip that we need to stay in to have depths of 20 ft. Move over into the blue area, and the depth drops to 4-7 ft!
The mornings are cool enough for me to wear my ear band, fleece jacket and gloves once the anchor is up. This reminds me that the seasons are indeed changing, and I don’t look forward to sailing in cold weather as we head south. Around 10:30, the sun has warmed things up enough to strip down to just a l/s shirt, except if you are behind the helm b/c you are shielded from the sun and buffeted by the wind, so you wear a wind breaker just about all the time.
Once again, the wind sucks so we motor along. Long slog today against the current (until around 2pm), so we’ll be pushing to get the anchor down by sunset tonite. However, the excitement sure starts to grow as Washington comes into our sights. First the Washington Monument, thankfully viewable from a great distance, and then the capitol building.
Once again, the wind sucks so we motor along. Long slog today against the current (until around 2pm), so we’ll be pushing to get the anchor down by sunset tonite. However, the excitement sure starts to grow as Washington comes into our sights. First the Washington Monument, thankfully viewable from a great distance, and then the capitol building.
woo hoo!
We are heading for Gang Plank Marina in the Washington Channel! We will anchor tonight across the bridge from the Jefferson Memorial! How cool is that. We’ll just the marina for a couple of days while we see the city and connect with a bunch of people we suddenly know in the D.C. area (Bob and Sue s/v Seahorse III, Ed and Connie s/v Surprise, and Michele Casey). Once again, how cool is that!
Day 5. Monday, 10/11 Ahhh! We're here! After the 3-day journey tio get here, it feels good to sleep in and take a long hot shower. We're kinda surprised by the number of people we know in this town! But that's another story ....
We are anchored in the Washington Channel. Just down from the Jefferson Memorial. We can take our dinghy into the tidal pool! We'll hang out here until Thursday or Friday and see the sights. This is our last "big destination" of the summer, after this, it all about heading south.
A few of the Washington Monument from our boat!
Day 5. Monday, 10/11 Ahhh! We're here! After the 3-day journey tio get here, it feels good to sleep in and take a long hot shower. We're kinda surprised by the number of people we know in this town! But that's another story ....
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