Got to the marina early for I had a few chores that had to be done... hanging curtains, sanding and painting some spots on the deck, oiling some teak - but got those jobs done fairly quickly so was ready to head out. The forecast was for Winds out of the west 5-10 knots and looking at the flags, that seemed rather accurate, but the winds also seemed to be falling off. Temperature was mid 70's - Mostly Sunny with the barometer 29.86.
As I was getting ready to depart, my dock neighbor came in and warned me that the winds were not was was predicted. He said he was barely moving and finally decided to motor. I headed out anyway - followed the sailing school out and got the main up fairly quickly (after ducking all the fishermen anchored in the channel!). Winds weren't terrific at first - sometimes as low as 3 knots - but was able to keep moving. Caught a couple nice breezes and moved across the Chester River basin between Langford and Reed creeks. Was thinking that it might be good to get the gennaker ready to fly back to the marina with the light winds - so I put the snap blocks out and got the asymmetrical on deck and ready.
Suddenly, I noticed the wind picking up - substantially. Winds well over 10 knots and a shift in the direction from West to North West. Checked the radar app to see if any storms were approaching - which there was none - but also noticed a special weather statement issued just 5 minutes earlier... with the alert about the wind shift and gusting winds - 10 to 15 with gusts to 20!. Needless to say, the gennaker wasn't going up! I decided to reef the headsail - so I moved the jib cars up, reefed in the headsail and things got very comfortable again. After a few more tacks, decided to head on back to the marina - as I needed to stop at the fuel dock and get some diesel before putting Bubbles away.
All in all, an enjoyable 4+ hour sail