7:30 raise the anchor, set centerboard and rudder, raise sails drifting on the tide. Comfortable night. Over 50° for a change. Nice! Light overcast, south wind, 2.1. Down Walburg Creek, with the current doing most of the work.
8:00 sailing on the Newport River. Grey dolphins, grey skies.
8:25 motor sailing. 8:45 feels like slack high tide, motoring down Johnson Creek. Sun breaks through for a moment, feels good. 9:30 at red marker "130" see signs of the ebb tide. A barge and tug coming from the south, slide over to the green side to give them room. I get a steep wake from the SOARING EAGLE.
Wind! 10:30 tacking into both wind and tide, 4.5 on choppy water. Slipping out of Johnson Creek, I am confused by the markers. A green marker to the north, with a red marker beyond. And a green marker to the south, with a red marker beyond that. It takes me a few minutes to realize there are channels heading in each direction. I want to the channel heading south, the one that leads to Sapelo Sound.
Make a series of tacks keeping red markers to starboard, reach marker "138" and fall on to Sapelo Sound at 10:55. Sailing hard on the wind but don't seem to have the speed I expect. Hook a crap pot float on the rudder, round up to slip it free. Still struggling to make some speed.
Check Navionics to see that I am making 3.0 kts against the full ebb tide running at 2.29 kts. That explains it all to me.
11:20 less wind, 1.6 into the ebb. 11:30 pick out the green markers ahead leading to the Front River. Better wind with warm gusts that feel good.
12:15 following the markers into the river. 12:30 begin tacking against the wind and tide, making headway on the ports tacks and losing some of that on each of the starboard tacks. 1:25 time the tacks to see it is about two minutes before I have to come about on the narrow river. Still fighting the ebb tide.
Sailing as close to the muddy banks as I can before tacking, the river bends south and narrows at green marker "155A." Tacks are now less than a minute each.
After a series of short tacks the wind builds and I worry about burying the centerboard in the mud. Under power straight down the narrow channel for the last hundred yards or so to the mouth of the Crescent River. Fall off into the river, drop anchor. Quickly realize I am still exposed to the wind generated waves coming off the Front River. Raise the anchor and use mizzen and jib to follow the Crescent River around the curve to calmer water. Anchor down 3:30. Tired.
24.19 NM
No comments:
Post a Comment