June 2022 Vacation - Day 4 - Quarter Cove on the Wye River

Joy or Terror?
(I'm not sure which one.)

Today's goal was to sail from our starting point at Herring Bay on the Western Shore of the Chesapeake, across to the Eastern Bay and up the Wye River to Quarter Cove for another raft up.

We both awoke with first light - one of us with help - and headed out to the beach where I expected the sun to rise from my photography app.  It didn't disappoint - you could almost hear the opening strains of The Lion King in the background as we watched the sun rise over the Chesapeake Bay.

Leaving the beach we headed for a fitness walk around the marina complex (sorely needed after all the food).  They have a lovely system of brick walks and elevated boardwalks that go around the whole complex.

So many spider nests seem all for naught... this one was actually productive.

Following the walk, Vicky wanted to have breakfast (leftover coffee cake) at the beach.

I then busied myself with getting ready to depart.  We left right around 10:00 AM after a quick pump out that involved tight-turning the boat twice in the marina fairways.

Lady L departing... I missed her yesterday.

One last glance into the channel for Herrington Harbor South.

Dennis and Carol on Weatherly departing.

The first part of the sail was nice.  We were on a broad reach with 12 knot winds.  The bay was a bit rolly with swells tipping us back and forth at a nice gentle rhythm.  Even then it was not a sail for the easily seasick.

We barely missed this nice little uncharted obstacle.  
(I think it was someone's fish trap.)

As we got farther and farther across the bay, the winds and gusts built up.  For the 2nd half we were hooning at 7 knots.

I think she is sleeping.

We were actually going a "fun" 8 knots when we reported our position just after the 84A buoy, but then some heavy gusts came and we realized that at 8.4 knots (SOG) it wasn't so much fun any more.  So we swung into the wind and reefed (pulled in) the main and jib somewhat to calm things down.

Looking back, our track says we were actually touching 10 kts for a bit.  (I'm not sure how, since hull speed for us is something like 8.4)  Either way, it was scary and we decided to reef.

As we were heading into the entrance of the Eastern Bay, Vicky decided to take the helm.  It was pretty challenging to hand steer, but we decided to try it anyway as Otto seemed to go back and forth too much for comfort.   

At one point things seemed too calm and I tried to undo the reef a bit.  That turned out to be a mistake as too much sail came out of the furler.  Soon afterward Vicky said it was too hard and handed the helm back to me.  The next forty minutes... hour perhaps... was the most intense sailing I've ever had.  

Gusts came up to 19 or 20 knots and Seas The Day leaned into them... heeling at well past the 10 to 15 degrees I was used to.  We heard things crashing below and realized there would be some messes to clean up.  We had frequent moments of terror followed by absolute bliss.  I found that I could ride the line between luffing and close-hauled and bear to port or starboard as needed to maintain control (and keep me from panicking too much).

Vicky mentioned how much fun this was so I asked her to take a photo.  She then yelled that she was afraid to let go of anything... just as she ventured to take this photo, a huge gust caused us to tip way over.  I was too terrified to check on the heel angle, but it was a joyful terror.

In the photos below, remember that the railing/wire behind me are typically horizontal.

We rounded the green daymark marking the entrance to the Wye River and turned onto a broad reach - almost a run (about 170 degrees off the wind).  Instantly everything calmed down.  Wind direction was from the SSE on the track above.

I waited until Scrimshaw rounded the mark and then hailed them to compare notes.

Scrimshaw rounding the green daymark

We then had a nice sail up the Wye River; slowly bringing in the jib and then furling the mainsail just before our final turn into Quarter Cove.

Scrimshaw coming up the Wye River

Colleen's photo from Scrimshaw of Seas The Day.
(Notice the absence of black streaks due to Vicky's diligence.)

Tonight we were rafting up with Mystic Star and Weatherly.  We were the first ones to raft, so I was able to grab a few pics of the rafting process before I had to help with a bow line.

Eau de Vie was on the neighboring raft.

A bunch of people went over to one boat to wish a happy birthday to one of the members

As evening approached, we hosted appetizers in our cockpit and then chatted to get to know some additional members.

After the gathering broke up, Vicky fished for a bit while I wrote my blog and we then enjoyed some wine as dusk settled in.

Tomorrow will be a lazy day... we need to occupy our time until we can leave for Saint Michaels.  We can only arrive after Noon and since they only have one dock hand, we can't all arrive together.  It's only 8 nautical miles, so it should be an easy trip of an hour or so... no wind is expected.

Summary of costs

Zero!  (We're at anchor.)