Monday on Mobjack Bay

I woke up early Monday morning a bit worried. Tropical Storm Hannah had swept up the coast, the outer edges dumping brief, heavy downpours on Richmond, and knocked over a few trees. One of those had fallen across our street, just missing the telephone pole on the corner of our wooded lot, but breaking the power lines. A little lower and a fraction of a second later, it crashed against the steel line that supported the cable television service.


That didn't break, but the weight and momentum of the tree snapped the telephone pole. The power company showed up promptly, and with floodlights blazing and engines rumbling into the night, had the pole replaced and power back on by 2:40 in the morning.

So... the worry wasn't at home. It was at Mobjack Bay. I had driven down to the marina, an hour and a half from home on Saturday morning, and found lots of other boat owners doing the same thing I was doing, doubling all the mooring lines and either lashing sail covers tightly or removing sails completely, as I did.

Hannah's track took it almost exactly across the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and on across Mobjack Bay, with winds predicted to be perhaps in excess of 50 mph, and storm surges of up to eight feet, which would have put the docks at Mobjack Bay Marina under the storm driven waves.

The marina was almost deserted when I got there, except for a couple of other sailboat owners. The air was still...so calm that the trees across the cove were twinned upside down on the still surface.

The sky was gray, and fog and mist drifted getween the trees and close to the flat water. All the boats had fared well. My sailboat "StarLady" floated serenely in her slip, and there was no sign of damage. All the lines had held.

I opened the hatch and went below. Everything was dry except for a couple of cushions that had been under a drip from the outside. I put the main sail back on the mast and boom, cleaned up the deck, and by then the sun was breaking through the clouds. Well....since I'm already here...

I hanked on the jib, ran the jib sheets back to the winches, checked the gas tank, started the Yamaha 9 hp outboard engine, cast off the mooring lines, and chugged quietly out of the slip. Rounding the red marker that warns of shallow water at the entrance to the cove, I noticed that the osprey nest built on top of it that had been home to a pair of the bay fish hawks in the Spring was now empty.

StarLady slid quitely across the dark mirror of Blackwater Cove past the green marker at Roy's Point, and as I headed out into the salty water of the North River, little wisps of the faintest of breezes scuffed their way across toward me from the southeast.

By the time I had run up the main and the jib the breeze had freshened enough to fill the sails nicely, although not strong enough to heel the boat at all. I went ghosting across the open stretch of water toward the not too distant shore, leaning back comfortably with one arm draped over the tiller.

Tacking into the wind can be strenuous, but this was not to be one of those times. A leisurely series of tacks back and forth across the Mobjack Bay brought me in about an hour to Ware Neck Point. The wind had strengthened some and shifted a bit toward the south. As I crossed the middle of the bay, a pod of dolphins I had spotted in the distance changed course to intersect StarLady. They overtook me easily, and played around the boat briefly before heading off on their original track to look for breakfast.




Starting my last starboard tack into the wind, I sheeted in the jib tightly, pulled the traveler on the main sail as far as I could to the port side, and went plunging through the increasing waves toward the mouth of the Severn
River.

At the channel split marker between the Ware and Severn Rivers, I turned to run before the wind, now blowing 15-20 mph, and we went corkscrewing back north up the bay surging along in following seas. Running directly on a broad reach instead of having to tack back and forth, the trip back took less than half the time it took to sail out there.

Approaching the entrance to Greenmansion Cove and the Mobjack Bay Marina, the water was almost as calm as it had been when I had left.

Exploring the Ware River - Saturday, August 23, 2008

Saturday was a great adventure. Our friends Leslie and Scott drove down to the Mobjack Bay Marina with us in the morning. There were nice 5 mph breezes out of the east as we left the slip about 11:00 a.m., which meant that I could put up the sails as soon as we had cleared the first marker. With the wind coming directly out of the east from the port side, Scott and Leslie took turns sailing down the bay, practicing the skill of making slight adjustments in the steering tiller as the wind veered a few degrees one way or the other, keeping the main and jib filled and sailing at optimum angle.
We sailed way down past Ware Neck Point, and then turned west into the Ware River, and I took the tiller. It's a bit tricky keeping the boat sailing directly downwind with the main sail pushed out on one side and the jib out on the opposite side like a bird with spread wings.
We sailed past a beautiful green marshy area called Windmill Point, swung around almost into the wind, and sailed slowly toward the shore until the depth meter showed 5 feet below the hull, then dropped anchor and lowered the sails. We put up a white sailcloth sunshade over the boom, and Leslie got out nice gourmet box lunches that she had prepared for all of us.
In the past few weeks all the jellyfish that I had seen in great profusion in July have now disappeared, so after eating I put the ladder over the side, and Scott an Jane went overboard for some refreshing swimming in water that was neither too warm or too cool.
Since the east wind was coming off the shore, I was able to raise the
anchor and put up the sails single handed as the breeze gently pushed the boat toward deeper water without starting the motor - something I had been wanting to try.
Now came the challenging part of the days' excursion...sailing directly
into the wind back toward the mouth of the Ware River. The wind had picked up to a good stiff breeze of 10-15 mph, kicking up a stiff two to two and a half foot chop. I zigzagged back and forth, back and forth across the wide river, gaining considerable amounts on each tack, while Scott and Jane took turns hauling in the jibsheets to switch the sail from one side to the other each time we came about. With both the jib and the main raised fully, the strong wind heeled the boat over 15 to 20 degrees, and whoever was on the higher side found comfortable positions with their feet planted firmly on the seats across from them.
StarLady plunged and leaped as it crested each oncoming wave and occasionally tossed cooling spray back to us in the cockpit as its bow splashed into each trough. As we rounded the last channel marker at the mouth of the river and turned toward the north everything changed.
Suddenly everything was serene, with following winds and waves coming from starboard side and the stern quarter, and it was time to break out another beer and relax as we watched several other sailboats heading back toward the marina.
To make the outing perfect, a pod of dolphins followed us long enough to pose for pictures.




With three other people assisting it was markedly easier to back the boat into the slip, get all the mooring lines secured and equipment and supplies stowed or
taken ashore.



Leaving Mobjack Bay, Marina Scott drove us past the almost invisible villages of Cardinal and Foster and across the swing-bridge to Gwynn's Island, where we ate fabulously delicious seafood dinners at the SeaBreeze Grill, which has big picture windows on three sides overlooking the water out to the sinuous back channel from the Chesapeake descriptively known as "The Hole In The Wall".









After dinner we explored the meandering roads around Gwynn's Island, stopping to admire a spectacular sunset over the mouth of the Piankatank River.













I snoozed in the back seat through West Point, and woke up as we were approaching Richmond. A most satisfactory day!

Sailing to Wolftrap - Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Today was wonderful; my longest day sail so far. My original thought was to go for a half-day sail on the Mobjack Bay with someone, exploring some part of the rivers or coves I have not yet visited, choice depending on the vagaries of winds and tides. My second choice was my friend Bill, who agreed at first, but then called back to say that he needed to clean out the garage! Jane wanted to spend the day with her friend, so I decided to go down anyway and perhaps to go for a short sail after doing some touch-up painting.
The day was so beautiful when I got there that I threw away all plans of work, rigged the sails, warmed up the motor, and chugged out of the marina into North River, headed for the middle of Mobjack Bay. I had not yet decided whether to sail across the south wind up the Ware River, or motor into the wind farther south to the Severn River to explore the south-west branch, where I hadn't yet been. Maybe with the wind out of the south I could round the Guinea Marshes and into the York River, or even go as far as Hampton. As I continued to motor straight out, I thought that since the waves were only about one foot or even less, I should just sail out into the Chesapeake Bay, al the way over to Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore. It was fun to weigh the possibilities!

By the time I had traveled for an hour, the wind had shifted to the southeast, setting up conditions so that I could shut off the motor and head straight out toward New Point Comfort at the mouth of the Mobjack. I rounded the point well offshore, following the marine markers to avoid the places where the bottom shoals rapidly. Sailing directly across the wind is the easiest and fastest way to sail, and with freshening breezes I decided to sail north up the Chesapeake another 6 or so miles to the Wolf Trap Lighthouse. I had seen pictures of it, but had never sailed that direction before.
My earlier plan had been to sail a short distance, anchor in some sheltered cove and cook myself some lunch, but instead I nibbled on trail mix for energy, and drank some water while ripping along. By the time I rounded the Wolf Trap Lighthouse it was about 2:00 p.m. and time to head back.

The wind had picked up to about 20 mph, and the infamous "Chesapeake Chop" had kicked in, building the short-period waves to about three feet, making for a pretty uncomfortable passage. I was kept busy tacking the boat at an angle into the wind balancing the pull of the tiller and adjusting the angle of the boat to keep it from heeling over too far, but it was exhilarating!
As soon as I passed the New Point Comfort Light and headed up Mobjack Bay, the wind was behind me, and I could relax, setting the mainsail far out to the starboard side and the jib far out to the port side, coasting along "wing-on-wing" at about 6 miles an hour back toward the marina.
I was back in the slip about 5:30, with a slight sunburn, some tired muscles, and a big grin on my face, having put almost 45 miles under the keel.

Sailing Mobjack Bay 6/14/2007

Thursday, June 14th, Flag Day, 2007...my 69th birthday! My son Mark met me at Mobjack Bay Marina in the morning, and although it was cloudy and a brisk wind was blowing from the east, we decided to go out on my 25' Lancer sailboat "StarLady" anyway.
Looking out into the bay, I could see whitecaps, so I reefed the mainsail before we even left the dock. The wind was blowing between 15-20 knots, and we absolutely ripped along on a broad reach, straight down the bay, past the mouth of the East River toward New Point Comfort.
The GPS indicated that we were making 6.5 mph with occasional bursts up to 7 mph, which is supposedly faster than the possible hull speed for the boat! As we approach New Point Comfort the already strong wind picked up a little more heeling StarLady about 25 degrees, and things began to fall off shelves below in the cabin.
Mark scrambled forward on the deck and dropped the jib, which eased the pressure, and we continued at about 6.1 mph.

We turned and ran before the wind, mainsail far out on the starboard, and ran the jib back up, positioning it off the port bow, running wing on wing, surging along with the big swells back toward safe harbor in Greenmansion Cove.
A memorable birthday!