A Long Day With High Winds

Chesapeake to Alligator River – 62 nautical miles sailed, 5 bridges

After a quick morning boat-to-boat tete-a-tete with Mike, we decided to push off at 8 am to make the first bridge opening which was about three miles away. The ICW felt very much like the Erie Canal, with decapitated rotten trees protruding up from the shallows, branches floating in the channel, wide sections that narrowed, then widened again, and a variety of landscapes from full forest to grassy marsh. There was a small craft warning today as the winds built to a sustained 20 knots gusting to 30, which was okay in the channels, but we had to travel through two very large and exposed bays – the North Landing River and Albermarle Sound, but fortunately the wind was behind us so we flew the headsail, making 8 knots at times, and the boat handled the chop well.

 

Mike and Carla sailed behind us and must have thought we were a couple of dopey amateurs as I first forgot to turn our VHF radio on in the morning (which is why I have a pre-departure checklist…which I didn’t bother to look at today) and only realized it when Mike was yelling at me as we waited at the bridge because the bridgemaster was trying to call us. Then again, when traveling through a very narrow and long channel in the North Landing River I had the boat on autopilot and Ana and I got so busy route planning that I forgot to monitor it, and when I did we were in the shallows with an inch of water below the keel. I cranked the wheel to the right, abruptly turning the boat back towards the deeper water as Mike and Carla no doubt looked upon us aghast. You could say I had a bad morning, and that’s the thing with this sort of traveling – you need to be paying attention ALL THE TIME because when you don’t, or when you take shortcuts, things can go wrong very quickly.

 

Mike and Carla dropped off at Coinjock marina, which looked like a lovely place, but we wanted to make more miles for the day so kept on going. Once we reached our planned anchorage tucked behind Buck Island we found the island was no more than a grassy marsh so offered little protection from the wind, so we decided to keep on going and made it to an anchorage in Alligator River. But we didn’t arrive in the inlet until sunset and for the last 45 minutes, Ana had to be at the bow in the rapidly darkening sky and 25 knot winds to spot crab pots for me so I could dodge them. We finally dropped the anchor in ten feet of water, got it set, then hunkered down in the cabin as the wind screeched, the mast creaked, shackles banged, ropes slapped, boat bounced, waves pounded, fittings squeaked, and fibreglass flexed.

Surprisingly, we had an amazing sleep. And I think 62 miles covered in a single day is the highest yet for this trip.