ebb and flow

I chose my dates for the fall cruise based on work and family schedules, yet I was very pleased to find today that the starting date has tides that would make feasible another attempt to sail down the seaside of the Eastern Shore, round Cape Charles and complete my circumnavigation of the Delmarva Peninsula.  High tide is predawn and we could catch the ebb tide out of Chincoteague Inlet.  Low tide is late morning, allowing Spartina to come in with the flood tide 26 miles to the south through Wachapreague Inlet.  Perfect!  

So the tides are just right.  The other factor will be the wind.  I'll need wind somewhere out of the WNW to NNE quadrant.  Any other direction would make the passage difficult, particularly since there are no other navigable inlets between Chincoteague and Wachapreague Inlets.  We'll have to hope for the best.

My first choice, completing the circumnavigation, is marked in red above.  The backup plan, if the wind doesn't cooperate, is marked in yellow - quite simply a nice sail from Onancock through Tangier Sound, up the Honga River, then north to Tilghman Island and maybe St. Michaels, then back by whatever way seems interesting.  I've done versions of that sail before and all I can say is that I very much enjoy those waters.  

We're about five weeks out, time to start checking food, batteries, etc.