the fall trip

The first day of summer was just over two weeks ago.  Why is it, with passing of the Fourth of July, that summer seems like it is half over?  It is time to start thinking about the fall trip.

More is known about where the sail ends than where it begins.  St. Michaels and the Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival is the destination.  Ideally I would like to start in Chincoteague, sail outside to Wachapreague Inlet, continue south inside the barrier islands to Cape Charles and then head north on the Bay, visiting the islands of Tangier Sound on the way to St. Michaels.  To do this I would need the right tides - a morning tide leaving Chincoteague and an afternoon tide coming into Wachapreague Inlet - and wind out of the north.  I can get predictions on tides, but won't know about the wind until the day or two before the start of the trip.  

Should I not find the right wind I'll start out of Cape Charles and just sail north, maybe all the way to the top of the Bay, then turn back towards St. Michaels.  There are a couple of rivers north on the Bay, the Sassafras and the Bohemia, that I think would be worth exploring.

In either case I'll need a ride back to the jeep and trailer, which will be in Chincoteague or Cape Charles.  With so many people at the small craft festival I'm sure there will be somebody heading south after the event.  I may just hang a cardboard sign on Spartina's bow sprit saying "Will buy gas and beer for a ride to Va."