We had another longish day in mind today – to Rock Hall
Harbor, where our friends Noel & Annette (on Amazing Grace) were spending a
few days before moving on. Winds were
forecast from the south, with high gusts later in the day. But we needed gas, so tied up to the gas dock
at 7:45, waiting for it to open at 8am.
By 8:30 we had found someone to operate the pumps and set off.
Winds were light, and from the SE which put us on a reach
but not quite strong enough to achieve the 5 knots we wanted to get us into
harbor before the big winds hit. So we
ran the engine, just enough to keep our speed above 5 knots. The plan didn’t quite work however. Before we reached the harbor, a squall hit,
and we had 30 knots on the nose. The
winds came on very suddenly, and we found ourselves furling the genoa and
reefing the main in 25 – 30 knot winds.
So we had an hour or so of motor sailing with just the double reefed
main in big seas. Actually the winds
didn’t last that long, but the waves did which made for an uncomfortable couple
of hours. Oh well, all’s well that ends
well and we picked up a mooring next to Amazing Grace, 39 08.815N 076 15.505W at 3pm.
Noel and Annette invited us to dinner on their boat. The dinghy ride there, fortunately not very
long, was wild as the winds were starting to pick up- well at least it was
downwind. Their boat – a 44’ Antares
catamaran - is beautiful. With full
sized showers, water-maker, washing machine, etc. etc. We’re not jealous – we can get under much
lower bridges than they can! By the way,
dinner was delicious and if you’re reading this Noel and Anette, thanks very
much. And you may have guessed, the
dinghy ride back to Quinita, upwind, was even wilder.
Ships Log: 6949.2, Trip: 35.7, Trip Total: 363.2
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