| Dick
Harrington
Takes the Wayfarers Cruising on Chesapeake Bay: Dick stays on a few days and crosses the Bay to Virginia pics by Dick Harrington ... |
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----- Original Message
-----
From: "Richard C
Harrington"
Sent: Thursday,
June 29, 2006 3:29 PM
Subject: the
Chesapeake
Cruise
I'm sorry to be
so tardy, but here are a few photos from the cruise
that I'm finally getting around to sending. (Al's note: the first eight
photos have been incorporated into the appropriate
time slots on the other pages.)
The last two pictures (below) were taken in
Onancock, south of Crisfield in Virginia.
  After you folks
departed Friday, things got pretty damp and it
continued to blow and rain all day Saturday. On
Sunday, under a clear blue sky and a very nice
northerly wind I got off to an early start and sailed
all the way to the mouth of the Onancock River, which
is south of Pocomoke Sound and about 22 NM from
Crisfield. A guy I met at Somers Cove Marina
told me that this was a very pretty town. Indeed
it is, but it would be the next day before I'd see
it. A mile off the river mouth the wind died and
I was forced to row. A large marsh, Parkers
Marsh Wildlife Refuge, on the north shore of the river
was my refuge that night as a series of horrific
thunderstorms passed through. As the black
clouds approached, I turned on the radio in time to
catch the weather service marine alert warning of wind
gusts over 35 knots and heavy lightning. I was
ready when the first wind blast hit. However, the
force was such that it threw the open boom tent back
over the cockpit and on top of me with such violence
that in the melee it also grabbed and took off with
both of my chart cases. The gusts and lightning
were bad and Blue Mist did another of her
wildly unsettling dances skittering back and forth
across the waves. Anything less than my big 5 kg
Bruce anchor might not have been sufficient.
Monday's
forecast remained iffy, but even in light winds I
managed the 4 1/2 to 5 miles upriver to Onancock by
11:00 AM. This is such a nice pleasant sail and
the town so picturesque that next year I plan to add
it to the islands cruise.
The weather
forecast for the week remained poor and I could see
myself spending a lot of time on shore. So when a
window of opportunity arrived Tuesday after a second
night anchored on the edge of the marsh, I decided to
call it a cruise. In 15 to 18 knots of wind that
occasionally picked up to 20-plus, still out of the
north, I beat all the way back to Crisfield under a
reef much of the way. After 4 1/2 hours of that,
I was exhausted and Blue Mist had accumulated
a good bit of water in her bilge. Thinking of Uncle
Al's words, I again tried using the self-bailers but
have yet to find the trick of getting mine to work
under such conditions. On the other hand, just one
session of heaving to and bailing with the diaphragm
pump was sufficient to keep the water level below my
feet. Wednesday morning the north wind was blowing
harder and was at least 25 knots. A 35-foot
catamaran that had left the marina earlier, turned
around and came back. It was rough
outside. Having partially unloaded Blue Mist
and sailing under reefed main alone, I was able to
negotiate between boat slips and I crossed the harbor
to the launch ramp without difficulty. All the while I
was under the watchful eye of two big boat skippers,
their boats tied securely in their slips, who had
nothing else to do but contemplate thoughts of my
impending disaster. One
asked, "Aren't you going
to put in the second reef?!"
Best wishes...........DICK |