Great sailing day the first day,
Wednesday – best sailing ever, sails set perfectly and humming along.
Thursday, Into Gulf Stream, but too rough with a weak following wind and sea, flopping
all over the place. Back towards the coast and out of the stream.
During Thursday, there was only one
other yacht in sight, way off on the horizon. A steady watch for 10 minutes
or so indicated that we were doing about the same speed and on a slightly
converging course. Three hours later and with the whole of the North
Atlantic available, our paths did cross...exactly. We had the right of way,
so stayed at the wheel waiting for the other boat "Thursday's Child" to
alter course. Solo skipper must have been zombied as he looked at us and
took no action. After we had altered course and gone around his stern, he
suddenly awoke and acknowledged us.
Picked up some wind which lasted until
early Friday, then no wind.
Motored most of Friday in calm seas.
Sailed a little Friday night until we
came to a halt as the wind dropped.
Motored again Saturday and most of
Saturday night as we
rounded Cape Hatteras on calm glassy seas in record temperatures of over
100F with not a breath of wind.
There were some serious wild fires in
the Hatteras area and the smoke was blowing out over the sea. Even 15 miles
offshore, we were in smoke haze, wood smoke smell and taste and low
visibility. Quite eerie!
We experienced several visits from
dolphins. The most memorable on Friday evening when we must have had a pod
of 20 or so travelling with us and playing for at least an hour.
As the water was so calm, we also saw
several large turtles, just basking on the surface. They didn't hang around
long when we arrived on the scene though. A quick flipper flap and gone.
We had made good time overall, and
realised we would arrive too early at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay
Sunday morning. So in the early hours, we raised the genoa and just drifted
north slowly at
2 knots in order to arrive at what we thought might
be a complicated Chesapeake entrance at dawn onto a rising tide.
Entered easily, (no space hogging naval
traffic, just a few tankers and enormous container ships), as the tide
turned. As we entered the last of the ebb tide flow we were reduced from 6.5
knots to 3. But within 30 minutes were back up to 7.
We arrived safely in the Chesapeake and
are now enjoying a very nice quiet anchorage in Sarah Creek, off the York
River. (Thanks to Bobbie and Gordon for the location advice).
