Day One - Rumbley to South Marsh Island

It was blowing strong enough for a small craft advisory, of course, as I drove across the marshes to Rumbley for the start of an eight day cruise. I would expect nothing less for a Chesapeake Bay sail.

The little Eastern Shore town about six miles north of Crisfield offered a very nice, free ramp that opened out onto Tangier Sound. It was 130 miles and a three hour drive, with a stop at Sting-Ray's in Cape Charles for breakfast, to the fishing village. I pulled into the parking area at 9 a.m. with a strong wind gusting out of the NNW.

The hardest part about rigging Spartina that morning was stepping the mast in the high winds. I have to stand the 18' mast vertically and lift it straight up, move it forward about 15 inches and then drop it down through the hole in the foredeck. The high winds, grabbing at the mast and all the lines, made this a challenge. I tried a couple of times, struggled, then waited about 30 minutes and during a lull in the breeze dropped the mast into place. (This was only the second time in six years of sailing Spartina that I have had this problem. Usually stepping the mast is easy, but high winds can be a killer. I'm considering cutting a slot into the foredeck this winter so I can set the mast at an angle and walk it into the vertical position. But I'll have to think about it for a while. I don't like to make any big changes on the boat without a lot of thought.)

Otherwise everything went fine. Got the boat rigged, pulled the jeep alongside and transferred all the gear, food and water for the trip.

I backed Spartina down the ramp just about 11 a.m. I was in no rush to get out on the water, the wind was forecast to drop midday and I wouldn't mind starting the trip in some more comfortable conditions. But the wind hung on so I pushed off from the dock under power at 11:20 and headed out the channel that leads to the mouth of the Manokin River and then to Tangier Sound.

I always plan the first day of any cruise to be an easy one. South Marsh Island was just about 12 miles away, an easy sail even if it was into the wind. I hoped to be there by mid-afternoon so I could get settled in the boat, have a good dinner and relax.

I started out sailing with just mizzen and jib doing a decent 4+knots. Once I got into a little deeper water the waves calmed down I raised the main with a single reef, sailing west towards South Marsh Island at 4.5 knots and better.

It was a beautiful, sunny day, not too hot. A great way to start the trip, with the added bonus of a forecast that called for the same kind of weather over the next several days.

By early afternoon the wind starting falling off as I approached the R"12" bell. A handful of boats were trolling the area, known as Chain Hole to fisherman, so I thought I would give it a try and put out my trolling rig. After a few passes I had no luck so I turned back west to South Marsh Island.

I reached the island just before 3:00 and spent about thirty minutes, with cb and rudder partially raised, exploring the east side of the island including the entrance to Little Pungers Creek.



At 3:30 I dropped the anchor in about three feet of water in Pungers Cove just north of the creek entrance. I had dinner (a single serving slice of spam, potato and chopped sweet onion, all cooked on the griddle) , set up the bivy for sleeping and then read for a while. A nice way to start the cruise. Below is my view of the world that evening.

steve

distance sailed 13 nautical miles

moving average 3.1 knots

max speed 6.4 knots

velajador solitário

I received a nice comment today from Fernando Costa, a sailor of a very classic looking boat called "Morning Star" or, in Portuguese, "Estrela d'Alva". Fernando has a very nice blog and -though I don't understand Portuguese - he seems to have a special interest in velajador solitário - I think that translates to "single-handed sailor". In fact today he did a nice post about Spartina and the single-handed trip on Chesapeake Bay. Cool.

Fernando is from Cabo Frio, RJ, Brazil. Brazil will always have a special place in my heart ever since I was invited to join the crew of the Cisne Branco, the Brazilian Navy's tall ship, on a sail from Charleston, South Carolina to Norfolk, Virginia. I did a post about that trip here. That was one fun trip. I was welcomed aboard by every member of the crew, given the ship's uniform - blue shorts and a tee shirt - and considered a member of the crew. I will never forget the kindness shown to me by every sailor on board.

I won't forget the excitement of sailing a hundred miles off of Cape Hatteras with that huge spread of canvas, the great food, the traditions carried on by the crew (the captain would often begin explanations of what was going on with the phrase "this is a tradition that dates back 400 years...") or the experience of working in my cabin with the boat heeled over so far that the porthole was underwater and hearing high pitched squealing sounds. I went topsides to see that we were surrounded by hundreds of dolphin.

So I was thrilled to receive today's comment from a small boat sailor from Brazil. That is Morning Star below, a beautiful, very classic sailing canoe. I don't know much about Brazil, or the rest of the world for that matter, but I do know that Estrela d'Alva is boat with a lot of tradition and history. I would love to sail on a boat like that.

Frenando, thanks for taking the time to read this blog. That is a beautiful boat you have. Fair winds, and please keep in touch.

steve

so the sheriff asks my wife if she knows where I am.....

I can't begin to describe what a great trip this was. Eight days, all sunny. Beautiful water, coves, bays and rivers. The gps odometer showed 191 nautical miles/220 statute miles of sailing. Below is a photo from one of the cloudier days. Really.

And fresh fish was on the menu a couple of times. In this case a striper. I also had good luck with bluefish.

Anchorages were nice and peaceful, like this little unnamed cove off of Broad Creek, which is off the Choptank River.

There were four days of small craft advisories while I was out, this was the third day of warnings with wind up in the 20 knot range with gusts higher. I was sailing upwind on the Tred Avon River, a two mile stretch of river directly into the wind to get to Oxford, Md., the northern most point on the trip. The yawl, under mizzen and jib, handled it very easily. As my friend Kevin (of Slip Jig fame) said, it was "blowing like stink out there" (we missed each other in Oxford by a matter a minutes).

And of course of some (beautiful) calm water mixed in there.

Hey, I don't look too terrible after six days on the water.

It was just a great trip. Lots of fun, adventure. I made a couple of mistakes here and there, pushed myself a bit and learned a little bit about sailing (and myself).

As for the sheriff, the Sommerset County, Md. Sheriff's Dept. called my wife yesterday asking if we owned a green jeep wrangler that seemed to have been sitting at the Rumbley, Md boat ramp for a long time. A concerned citizen had called in about it. Yes, she said, I was out on a sailing trip. She tried to explain my approach to safety and SPOT satellites and all that but by the end of the discussion she felt like she was being lectured (when it should have been me being lectured).

Deputy - "The Bay can be a very dangerous place."

My wife - "Yes, I know, that's why I am at home in my living room."

Deputy - "Well can you have your husband call us when he gets in?"

I did call the Sheriff's Office this afternoon and thanked them for their concern. I told them I had checked with the road dept. (who controls the ramps) and they said it was ok to leave a vehicle there in the parking lot. And pointed out that I had talked with the marina owner next door and told him that I would be out for a week.

And again, I thanked them for checking on me.

"OK, but how about letting us know before you go out next time?"

I will let them know. There will be a next time. It was a great ramp and a great place to sail.

I have a lot of cleaning up to do but hope to start posting daily logs in a few days.

steve

back home

Back home, great trip. Nothing but blue skies and great sailing. More later....

(Kevin, I can't believe I missed you. I got in to Oxford about 10:45, walked down to the market and then came back to Schooner's for lunch at 11:30. Back out on the water by quarter after 12.)

steve

spot track

Click here to see Spartina's SPOT tracking page.....

or copy and paste this into your browser....

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0JPDqxA4Ln2kgAnlVGkFVHAji21Fr0M76

I should be on the water before noon Friday.

steve

the sail away blues

I always have an unsettling mixture of emotions on the first day of a cruise. This will be my ninth trip on Spartina so I've got a little bit of experience, some good equipment and a decent idea of what I'm doing. But the feelings are always the same - excitement, apprehension, self-doubt and a little bit of guilt thrown in.

Excitement, because this is a trip I've been planning for months and I think it will be a great adventure. I can't wait to get out there.

Apprehension, because there are a lot of unanswered questions. What will the weather be like? Will it be too windy? Will there be enough wind? Will I make good decisions? Did I pack everything I need? What am I getting myself into?

Self-doubt, isn't that little emotion always hiding there somewhere on the boat. Do I know what I'm doing out there, out of sight of land with waves and wind on the bow? Hey, is that a thunderstorm coming my way?

And yes, guilt. After all I'm essentially ditching the family for a week. Once I turn off the phone and cast off the lines I'm concerned about one thing - me. Wife, daughters and dog will have to fend for themselves until I'm done fooling around on the boat.

That's me above in a photo shot by Bruce heading out of Engelhard, NC on Far Creek on the first day of the Skeeter Beater. I've done eight cruises, four solo and four with Bruce along. Having a good sailing partner like Bruce is a real plus. Interesting conversation, a lot of help with the sailing and a second opinion sometimes saying "Is that what you really want to do?"

I'll be on my own on this trip and I bet sooner or later I'll find myself saying "What would Bruce think of this?"

These are the notes from the first day of the Tag Team sail last June. When I look at the notes it sounds so simple and straightforward. But it doesn't begin to communicate the research, planning, packing and thought that goes into a cruise. Details about marinas, distances and prevailing winds were analyzed, thought and rethought, charts examined and satellite photos studied. And after all that, the first day boils down to a simple sail across the Pamlico River.

Of course the first day always includes the drive, in the case above a drive in the rain to Germantown, NC for my Spring solo sail. Two hours of rain. Talk about a sense of foreboding....

And on the first day, after the drive, comes the boat rigging and loading. Rigging takes about 45 minutes, loading another 30. Hot and sweaty, in a light rain (again) in Crisfield at the start of the Crab House 150. I always wear shorts and tee shirt on the drive to the ramp, with my sailing clothes tucked in a bag in the jeep. So after I get all worked up with rigging the boat I can change into nice clean clothes for the start of the sail.

Above is photo from Crisfield, this one in 2007 on the first day of my first cruise with Spartina. After packing the boat I sat there looking at it wondering if I packed everything I needed. I wasn't sure about that, but figured I packed enough to at least survive for a few days.

And talk about nervous, my heart was pounding. No SPOT (I didn't know what a SPOT was back then) and no GPS (I couldn't afford one). I did maybe 60 miles on that four day trip, Crisfield to Great Fox Island to Watts Island and Tangier. Then hunkered down while a front passed through, sailed back to Great Fox Island and then back to the ramp.

That's Spartina splashing through the chop on the first day of the Tag Team sail last June. Weather is always a big question when I leave the dock. Sometimes good wind, sometimes no wind and sometimes way too much wind. And throw in a little lightning or a sun that seems to want to blind you and you realize that sailing is only a small part of the deal. The rest is coping with the elements.

Above is Spartina drying out at the end of the first day of my Spring 2008 sail on Pamlico Sound. I was sailing south single-handed from Engelhard with a strong wind out of the SW. Reefed and then double reefed I spent hours beating into the wind and the waves. Once or twice I thought of turning back to the ramp. I hove to three times to bail out the boat. After one bail out I didn't sail two minutes before taking another wave over the bow. And finally tacking into Wyscocking Bay I see both a thunderstorm and a coast guard patrol boat coming my way. The thunderstorm moved on quickly, the patrol boat watching me until I entered the protection of the bay. I wanted to wave to them but worried my hand raised in the air would be misconstrued as a call for help. Calm water never felt so good.

And evening, on the first day of the Weekend Walkabout. That was a day that started with driving two-plus hours in the rain, rigging and loading the boat in the rain and sailing away from the dock under grey skies. That beautiful evening, I figured, was the reward for it all. Take all the money you want and you couldn't buy those colors, the glassy calm water and the rich glow of the sails.

That first day of a cruise is always an interesting one. And it is only in the evening of that first day that I start to feel comfortable.

Yes, I know why I am out here. Yes, I know what I'm doing.

steve

forecast

Looks pretty nice for the first few days.........

last few details

Oh, yeah, I guess I better figure out where the launch ramp is.....

That's it above, just to the left of Goose Creek Marina. I've never been there but it looks like a good ramp. I talked with the folks at the marina and they said it was a safe spot to leave the jeep (but maybe I'll ask them if I can leave the jeep and trailer on their property for a week for $20 just to be safe). It's just a few miles north of Crisfield, Md, about a 2 and 1/2 hour drive from here.

Got new batteries today, AA, AAA and lithium AA for the SPOT. And speaking of SPOT, here is the tracking page.....

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0JPDqxA4Ln2kgAnlVGkFVHAji21Fr0M76

I'll post it again right before I go.

And of course I'm starting to look at the weather. Above is the five day front forecast which I think means Saturday. Might be some rain before that, but then there are a series of highs which should keep the weather decent for a while. But who knows.....

steve

ps.....I just went to my SPOT profile to update for this trip and was very happy to find that they have simplified their web pages. It used to me (for me) very clunky. Now I can see all the information at once and edit as I go. Very nice!

packing

Spartina is a mess right now. Unpacking the day sailing gear (extra life jackets, bottles of water) and starting to pack the cruising gear. It has been raining all day, perfect day to start getting ready for the cruise.

In the morning I got on the computer and added a few more waypoints to my gps. You can see I've got most major points and islands marked, from Onancock, Va in the south to Tilghman Island and Oxford in the north.

I got out the cook kit and removed all the extra gear I would not need. The stuff at the left is staying behind, the gear on the right is coming with me. I cook simpler meals that Bruce, plus I'll be cooking just for one. No need to bring extra gear along.

There are my utensils. Spoon, spatula (both with handles shortened to fit in the cook kit), spoon, fork, knife and cutting board.

And there is a nice out of focus (oops) photo of my sleeping gear, it has been hanging in a closet since June. You can see (from top to bottom) the bivy, sleeping bag and sleeping pad. The dry bag to the left will by my overboard bag.

And there is a candle in a brass chimney that my wife bought for me over 20 years ago. On chilly mornings sometimes I reach out of sleeping bag to light the candle. The glow and the smell of the burning wick make the cockpit of an open boat feel a little warmer on a cold morning.

I'm very excited about my trip. And at the same time I am watching the preparations for another trip, the North Carolina Challenge. That's a Watertribe event run by SandyBottom. I'll back from my trip just in time to catch the ending of their race.

Fall is a great time to be on the water in the mid-Atlantic.

steve

anchorages

I've been spending time looking at charts and google earth for possible anchorages on this upcoming trip. The cool thing about Chesapeake Bay, as you can see from the satellite image below, is that there seem to be anchorage everywhere. It is not a matter of finding an anchorage, it's a matter of finding one that you like best.

The northern most point of the trip will be Oxford, Md. I would like to tie up there midday to resupply and maybe get a sandwich at the store in town. But I don't want to overnight there, I'll head off to one of the nearby rivers or creeks. The one that looks good to me right now is Latrappe Creek, about eight miles from Oxford.

Here is a detail shot of the lower part of LaTrappe Creek. I can't even begin to count the possible anchorage there. Wouldn't it be nice to spend the evening tucked in behind that quarter mile long sand spit right at the mouth of the river?

And below is the lower portion of Smith Island with town of Tylerton at the top center. Just like Oxford, I want to visit Tylerton but not overnight there. But you can see there are plenty of anchorages, some marked with X's, within a short sail of Tylerton.

I kind of see this trip as an extended walkabout. I've got a few places in mind that I want to visit - Oxford, Smith Island, the Hooper Islands and maybe Tangier Island. But I don't have specific goals for each day of sailing. I'll just look at the wind and go with the flow.

steve