Weekend cruise on the Chesapeake

[Crazer]

Just to prove I actually do some sailing, I thought I'd share with you all a brief narrative of our cruise this weekend from Annapolis to Dun Cove and back.

We were sailing my new boat, a Cape Dory 28, which has replaced my Rhodes Swiftsure (another story entirely). I made the trip with a college friend of mine who is also the co-owner of the boat. Our plan was to sail from Annapolis to the Rhode River, anchor, and then participate in the local Pearson Sailors Association's Dun Cove race and raft up from West River to Dun Cove. I didn't get off work until late Friday, so by the time we'd provisioned, gotten some last minute supplies and cast off it was nearly 10. We made the Rhode River anchorage around midnight after a pleasant couple hours motoring. With the lateness of the hour we went straight to bed. The next morning, after a brief but pleasant rest in the cockpit while we had breakfast and coffee, we raised anchor and headed for Green 1A at the West River entrance.

The wind had picked up significantly overnight and when we arrived at the start we had a steady fifteen knots. We arrived with an hour to spare and set about raising the sails, which is when things started to go badly. The furler refused to let the headsail out and eventually I had to manually unfurl the sail as far as I could. We did manage to stay close to the start, only missed our start time by 30 seconds. Off we went on our merry way. Eventually, after adjusting the tension of various halyards, the furler unrolled the rest of the way. The culprit was the spinnaker halyard which had wrapped itself around the furler and under the genoa halyard, a problem that would plague us for the rest of the trip. Our sail down the bay to the first mark at the mouth of the Choptank was swift and pleasant. We had a reef in at the start which we shook out around Bloody Point and we hit hull speed as we sailed south. We were passed by the boats of the Annapolis to Newport race, plowing along under spinnakers. We reached the mouth of the Choptank around 2 pm, and tacked into the river. Here the wind began to build and by the time we reached the first mark we were battling well over 20 knots of wind and a strong current running out of the river. We managed to put a reef back in the main, but we were still carrying far too much sail and were slogging along at barely 5 knots SOG. After an intensely frustrating couple hours of tacking we finally reached the second mark and turned on a reach towards the finish. In hindsight, if we'd picked a more easterly course initially we would've reduced the number of tacks we had to make to get into the river and, combined with further reducing sail, would've done much better. We crossed the finish line around 4, and rafted up with the other sailors for the night in Dun Cove. We had a pleasant evening with a lovely group of people, talking about boats, sailing and commiserating about the conditions that day. Exhausted, we retired to our boats early to recover.

We all had a fair ways to travel the next morning and under the threat of rain, most of the group left early. We hung around, getting ourselves organized, and set off around 10. It began to rain as soon as we left the cove. We raised sail out in the Choptank, setting two reefs and unfurling half the headsail in anticipation of increasing wind through the day. In contrast to the day before, the wind was perfect, as we started on a reach, jibed downwind around Tilghman Island, and onto a beam reach up the bay. The wind steadily shifted north, the rain stopped, and we soon were on a close reach towards Annapolis, making an average of 6 knots SOG against the tide. We had some nice rollers coming across the bay, with us taking quite a bit of spray into the cockpit. After passing Thomas Point, we curved gently onto a run and headed into the harbor. The only blemish on an otherwise fantastic sail was a second bout of trouble with the furler that left us docking with a scrap of headsail out in 20+ knots of wind. Normally I'm a competent boat handler even in our tiny marina, but to my chagrin we resorted to clawing our way backwards along the pilings with the assistance of the engine before wrestling the stern into the slip. We packed the boat up and then retired to our favorite taco place for some well earned hot food and drinks before heading home.

All in all, it was a good trip, and although marred by technical problems we nonetheless managed to spend the vast majority of it under sail and quite a bit of it with the boat at hull speed. I learned a lot as this was my first race in a number of years and the first time I raced on my own boat. I think it's worth doing to gain skills if nothing else, and we certainly had a lot of fun relative to the amount of suffering. Next month we're planning to go Baltimore, this time with my fiancee and our dogs along which will be a different kind of adventure I'm sure.

[Norman]

Well done.  The first shakedown finds the problems, and the next time out should be much more orderly.  I agree that racing is very good for improving sailing skills.  The boats around you show you how to go faster, you just have to watch closely, and fast, as the best teachers leave you behind early in the race.  Since you have been crewing on other boats, they have taught you in the past, and that comes back fast.

Do you bungee your halyards to the shrouds when in the slip?  That not only discourages halyards getting fouled, but prevents the incessant slapping in the wind.  This is especially wise to do when anchoring, to improve the sleep.

We need more posts of short trips like yours, to keep the board interesting.  I have posted under the heading, Small Boats, Short Distances, and been well received.  Most of us do not do crossings to the Bahamas, but we do local cruises that are very interesting to those who are stuck at home.  Yours was well written, and enjoyable.  Thanks for posting, and I am anticipating the voyage to the far off Port of Baltimore.  Be advised it is protected by a famous Fort, and do not fly a British flag, they still have cannon!

Norman

[CapnK]

Thanks for the report, Avery! (and a Grog!!!). How much fun would it be to sail in the company of a number of other Pearson/Albergs, I can only imagine... ;D

I love the area where I live, but having that big ol' Bay there to sail and explore so many rivers, coves, inlets, islands - I do envy you that!  8)

[Crazer]

Thanks for the kind words guys. I will be sure to share stories of our future sailing adventures on the Chesapeake. Plus, next year we plan to circumnavigate the DelMarVa peninsula as a first step to sailing offshore to Bermuda in 2021.

We do keep the halyards secured, in this case the tangle seems to arise from the unusual arrangement of the headsail halyard and the location of the spinnaker halyard block. We ended up removing the spinnaker halyard for the time being, it got pretty chewed up by the wire jib halyard (one of the reasons I don't like rope to wire halyards).

Cheers!