Century Club: Hank Messick
Arcas and Mt Vernon
Dark Star chasing Arcas
Juniper on the Potomac
We passed Morgan and Josef heading downriver
Morris-Fisher Stack at Reedville
Jake and I resumed delivery of Juniper from Horn Harbor after a three week hiatus for repairs.
Shoved off Monday. Double digit winds from the ENE creating a bad chop which forced us to helm from the cabin because Juniper was rolling to much to stay on the fly bridge. Arrived in Reedville that evening and stayed they thru Tuesday because of worsening weather. Almost every restaurant, and the maritime museum, wouldn't reopen till Thursday. No cabs, no Uber--Ghost town!
Wednesday weather improved and we were back on the fly bridge and had an easy passage to Colonial Beach and overnighted at the Boat House Marina. Celebrated Jake's 66th Birthday at an excellent (who knew!) Thai Restaurant.
Thursday was another easy passage although we wasted an hour being diverted by Range Control RIBs around the US Navy's Dahlgren Gunnery Range. As we were leaving the northern perimeter of the the range about 10 rounds were fired southward but we couldn't see the projectiles splash. We kept close to the shore as much as possible (Juniper's draft is 2.5 feet) to avoid a strong current from rain storms spawned by Hurricane Helene days earlier. About an hour out from our destination at Belmont Bay Marina (Woodbridge) the tide changed and we motored at over 7 knots to the marina. Bill and Brenda met us there and we drove to the "Dixie Bones" restaurant for scrumptious barbecue dinner!
We awoke to a beautiful Friday morning sunrise and three hours later reached Juniper's-new home port at Tantallon Marina on Swan Creek.
Moonrise over National Harbor
Carey, Steve, Howell, Dave and myself on Arcas and Tom and his crew on Moovin headed south of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge to race down to Mt Vernon. The wind and flooding tide had other ideas but eventually we made almost to Ft Washington before turning around and motor sailing back to the slip. The breeze ranged between one to four knots, and often not at all. We did have one sweet 45 minute beat, light but steady breeze, and no tacks. The moonrise over National Harbor was spectacular.
Dana and I went out for a few hours today. Eight to 10 knot of easterly breeze so we reached up and down the river occasionally making more than 7 knots of speed with a reefed jib top!
A rare beam reach evening with 6 to 8 knot breeze. Good start but can't keep up with the S2 7.9s, J24s, and an Albin 30 even though out PHRF is lower.
Juniper at Horn Harbor
We moved a friend 36' river boat northward to her final birth on Swan Creek on the Potomac River. We planned for a five day passage but after the first day we stopped at Horn Harbor to have the engine examined. We think dirty fuel. The boat had been little used over the past year.
Beautiful weather and a spectacular 2AM lightning storm last night.