day seventeen - reliably unreliable

Drift off anchor at 6:50, raise full sail.  A quiet peaceful night.  Low overcast and light north-northeast wind.  

7:20 Bennett Point, 7:30 on the Miles River.  Making 4.0.

Overcast starts to lift, then settles back in, chilly morning.  4.3 tacking north.

8:00 near Parsons Island, tack as we approach the shallows along the island.  Suddenly less wind.  2.0.  8:50 motor sailing.

9:15 sails down, under power in the channel to Kent Narrows.  Make the 10:00 lift.  I am heading into the running tide so the large sailboat on the north side of the bridge, which is going with the tide, has right of way.  They come through and then I power up and pass through.  I follow the channel north and then northeast, out on the Chester River with full sail at 10:15.  

10:55 more wind and good sailing.  12:00 motor sailing.  12:30 no wind and under power.  I text friends MaryLou and Fred in Rock Hall asking them about meeting for dinner tonight.  Just as I hear back from them the outboard dies.   And I can't get it going again.  Very frustrated, I text MaryLou than I won't be making it up there and turn back down the Chester River.  Try the outboard a few more times.  No luck.  I realize that I'll have to spend the rest of the trip on the Chester.  Not a bad place to be, but I had wanted to go farther north.  I just can't trust the outboard and don't want to get stranded out on the open Bay.  Or worse yet,  get caught in the shipping channel with no wind and no power.

Wind fills in.  Hail Point at 1:40.  2:20 sailing up the Chester River and I see small sails in the distance.  3:05 sail into Reed Creek, a favorite anchorage.  Looking for a spot to anchor I glance to the east and see two small boats rafted up together.  It is friends Bobby on his Pathfinder LAGNIAPPE and Peter in his Iain Oughtred-designed NIP.  They are in a deep discussion, a topic worldly importance do doubt, and they don't see me until I am about 20 feet away.  They invite me to join them and I raft up to LAGNIAPPE.  Peter shares some red wine with me and we talk about our trips.  I voice my frustration with the outboard.

As I am ready to cast off I tell Bobby and Peter I will show them how outboard won't start.  I pull the started cord and.... the outboard runs like a champ.  I shake my head in disbelief.  The only thing I know now is that I can't trust the outboard,  it has proven to be unreliable.  I cast off and drop anchor about 40 yards away. 

 30.25 NM