6/13
Barometer was 30.04 and falling. Wind out of the South 5-10 with gusts to 15 and even more. Temperature range 76-82. Planned to go across the bay over to the Magothy. Was thinking of heading to the glass house, but with some strong southerlies expected, decided to go somewhere new - Eagles Cove/horse farm. Turned the engine off after getting most of the way down Langford creek. First mate took quite a bit of the time at the helm - which was good for her, while I managed the sails. We had the main sail rolled in a bit for most of the sail - and there were times when crossing the bay from the Chester to the Magothy that I thought - hmmm maybe we should have reefed, but it wasn’t too bad. Had some gusts get up to the 20’s while getting into the Magothy and up towards Eagle’s Cove, but all in all a delightful sail with the engine only used to get out of the marina and into the anchorage! Left the marina at 10:30 and anchorage was down at 5:20.
6/14
Took a bit of time in the morning to do boat work - had to fix a few things - first mate had some cleaning, then got out the paddle board and explored Eagle Cove. Wonderful place - had a few other boats stay the night - some left in the morning and a few others stuck around for a couple of days like us. Thunderstorm over night - little bit of lightening - but our anchor held firm!
6/15 - off to Annapolis
Barometer was at 30.21 and rising. Winds out of the north at 10 - 15 with gusts to 23. Sunny with a high of 84. Did a quick paddle of Eagles Cove first and then prepped the boat for the voyage to Annapolis - wanted to try and get a mooring in Spa Creek!. Decided just to use the head sail with the predicted winds…. At times, could have put up the Gennaker, but we stayed safe and just used the Genoa. Picked up anchor at 9:30 am and arrived in Annapolis about 2:30. A little bit of traffic waiting for the spa creek bridge, but got under at the 2:30 opening and picked up mooring ball 51 (getting pretty good at this) in Spa Creek in St. Mary’s Cove. Got the dinghy put together - first mate dropped the seat into Spa Creek - and we took a dinghy ride over to the harbormaster to get tokens for the showers and walk around a bit. Found some nice HH gloves!
6/16 - Annapolis day 2.
Did an early morning paddle of Spa Creek. Went all the way back to the last set of moorings which are right at a park. If they weren’t $10 more - I would go there! Spa Creek was lovely. When the first mate awoke and after she was ready, we took the dingy over to the dock and decided, after Starbucks, to explore the USNA. After all of that, did another paddle of Spa Creek and also went out into the main harbor on the Eastport side for a bit.
6/17 - Annapolis back to the Chester. Barometer was 30.21 and rising. Winds were out of the south 15 (for the most part) with gusts well over 20. Small Craft Advisory in effect. Got the sails - double reefed - up in the basin outside of Annapolis and began making our way towards the bay bridge. We were taking some rather large swells on our beam - not overly comfortable, but were also moving fast. Very glad I decided 2 reefs! Right before the bridge, the waves almost doubled in size to about 4 feet for a bit making things rather than exciting. Things calmed down a bit after the bridge and the first mate took over for the leg to Love Point. Managed to keep the sails up the entire way - had to do some tacking and jibing around eastern neck island to make that half circle that the Chester has there, but made the turn and decided to go into the Corsica - which again - we sailed into and down to Rocky Point where we anchored for the evening. A bit buggy - lots of flies, but thank goodness they weren’t the biting kind!
6/18 Corsica River to Conquest Beach and Cacaway Island
Pulled anchor about 10:15 with main sail up - was planning to sail out of the Corsica and down to conquest beach. Sunny, Barometer 30.43 Temp upper 70’s and winds out of the SW 10-15 - no real gusts to speak of. First mate at the helm and we began sailing and tacking up the river. We got stuck for a brief time - good learning/teaching moment for the first mate, but we set sails to help us heel and we got off ourselves! The rest of the sail was uneventful and we dropped anchor under sail about .2nm off of conquest beach ate lunch, picked up the anchor and motor sailed off to Cacaway Island for a nice peaceful anchorage for the evening.
6/19 - Cacaway Island to Lankford Bay Marina.
Motor Sailed from Cacaway into our home marina - Lankford Bay Marina. Ended up helping a dock neighbor hank on their sails… learned a few things about the way other boats are rigged! Went paddling afterwards!!