First mate
Anchorage
June 3 - Left Lankford Bay Marina on June 3rd about noon. Winds were out of the east 5-10 but building to 10-15. Temperature was 73 when we left and never got over that. - overnight down to 57. Barometer was 28.88 and rose overnight to 30.04.
After leaving LanKford Bay Marina, we sailed out to Langford Creek where we got the sails up real quick. A couple of other sailboats - including a Trimaran were also coming down the creek. We did a nice sail - very quick - down the Chester to the buoys outside Queesnstown and Eastern Neck Island before turning back up the river towards Reed Creek - where we planned to drop the hook overnight (our first overnight outside the marina this year!) It was a brisk sail - decided to reef the headsail to a Jib which gave us far more control even though we were on a beam reach all the way down and halfway back up - where we moved to a close reach and finally a close haul to get to the entrance to Reed Creek. We saw a rather large Island Packet that seemed to be heading into Reed Creek - Sail La Vie II - but as we were starting, it turned around and headed back out... thought we were going to pass it, but then it turned and headed back in. Never having been into Reed creek before, I had gotten some "local knowledge" from dock mates - so I knew which ares to steer clear of and what marks to use for guidance. Caught up with the IP - who was in 2 feet of water (he was on the wrong side of the red marker). He asked what we were seeing - I told him 9 feet, so he backed out and followed me (a bit too closely for my first mate). We navigated the entrance easily and got to the first anchorage area which already had a few boats in. We headed for the second area, but found the wind a bit more robust there, so we headed back to the first anchorage and joined the other boats as well as the IP who also anchored there. Dropped anchor, put on an anchor snubber, had an adult beverage (or 2) and started dinner. Wind picked up, but nice holding.
June 4 - Woke up at 7:30 and made eggs and bacon before turning on the engine and heading out Reed creek. Winds were now out of the NE 5-10 with a few gusts and the barometer was 30.04. Chilly - it was a crisp 63 when we departed.... eventually getting up to 73 by the time we got back in the slip. We got the sails up right outside of Reed Creek as we headed towards to Corsica and just had fun sailing back and forth across the basin area outside Langford, Reed, Grays Inn creeks and the Corsica River. Wind sorta came and went - some nice runs and some very light winds. Finally decided to call it a day and got to Langford Creek just before the winds gave out.
Lovely first full weekend out... nice sailing and we found a lovely anchorage! Next week - Fairlee Creek!!