March 17 - Turned Back
Today was to be our finial leg, up to Rock Hall from Soloman’s Island. Mother nature, as she often does, had other ideas. We were up early ready to move on our last day. NOAA as calling for small craft advisory. But over the course of the last 11 days they have been wrong more times then right. They are calling for 15 to 20 north with gusts to 25. We check Weather Underground, they’re calling for 10 to 15 north. We split the difference and think we can make it even with the winds coming right down the Bay.
We motor out. Winds are gusting to 15 north. Should be okay. As we round Cove Point we are hit with 3 to 4 foot waves and wall to wall white caps. NOAA was right. We press on. Boat speed drops from 6.8 to 4.2. We take water over the bow in successive waves. Into The Mystic drives forward, pounding hard. Water dashes against the dodger sending spray over the cockpit. A flood tide against strong winds produces the worst of a Chesapeake Bay chop… one of the reasons that the Around the World race canceled Baltimore from its schedule. And they sail around the world!
We hold course. Some quick navigation shows that if the weather continues we will be hard pressed to make Rock Hall by dark. I’ve done this before but not after being beat-up for 11 hours. I check for a closer anchorage. Listen again to NOAA. They are calling for temps in the 20’s tonight. Not something we would like to experience, sleeping aboard without heat. Anything close would require anchoring.
NOAA is calling for the wind to shift tomorrow to the SE at 15 to 25. This would give us a swift sail up the Bay. We turn around and head back to Solomon’s. We surf back at over 8 knots! We’ll live to sail another day. We’ll also have heat tonight. One more night, one more day underway. So be it.