St. Michaels to the Solomons

Today’s NOAA forecast included a small craft advisory for west winds gusting to 25 knots.  I figured OK one more day in St. Michaels.  No need to sail in uncomfortable conditions, especially since Maryanne doesn’t seem to enjoy going out in heavy weather.  Surprise, surprise – Maryanne suggested we go down the Choptank river and if the conditions were too rough we would put into the little Choptank only 7 miles further south.  I was not ready for this.  I prepared the boat as quickly as I could but we still got off to a late start.  About 30 minutes out of the creek with the sails pulling well I looked at the dinghy realizing that I had forgotten to put an extra line on it to secure it.  Oops.  I didn’t just forget the extra line – I forgot to take the engine off the dinghy.  We had to roll up all the sails and drift while I locked the dinghy to the stern and removed the engine.  Broad Creek was well protected so the job was more aggravating than difficult.  Once again Maryanne and I discussed that check list that we know we need to institute. 

While the winds did gust once or twice to 25, most of the time we had perfect conditions, making almost 8 knots (2 more than we usually cruise at) for an hour.  We decided to go all the way to the Solomons on the Patuxent River.  Today’s journey took 6.5 hours with about 2 hours spent under sail, the rest – motorsailing.  We are 63 miles from Washington, D.C.  and maybe 80 from Norfolk, VA.