The Sailboat Tara

Four days with nowhere to be but the water. Four days to get past the mouth of the Potomac River, into the Chesapeake Bay and back home again.

How did that that trip to the mouth work out? Weather, check. Wind, check. Swells and a small craft advisory, check. Beautiful weather today, yes please.

Day Four, the final day of our four day sailing trip to the mouth of the river and back in which we wanted to sail into the Chesapeake Bay but instead ended up at an oyster farm, and in which we experienced weather worse than I knew was possible on the river.

We made it through a freeze warning the night before, snug and cozy in our down comforter.

Charles likes to pull up anchor and motor out before I wake up. As with all captains on the hook, Charles wakes up at night a few times to check the anchor swing while I sleep soundly, oblivious to whether we’re set or drifting. He’s also an early riser so I often wake up to the sound of the motor. Usually I go back to sleep or snooze and think about making him a hot cup of coffee.

This morning’s early motoring out was no different than usual however we were in for a treat with the weather; bright sunshine, blue skies, 1-3 knot winds and temperatures that didn’t warrant wearing all of our cold weather gear at the same time.

After the previous day’s foul weather, 3-4 foot swells, 20-30 knot gusts and a small craft advisory we were glad to be back in familiar parts of the river; the little island at the bend, the anchorage where we ran out of gas in the dinghy, our favorite anchorage close to home when we only have the afternoon to sail, the marina where we fill up the diesel and finally the bridge and our marina in sight.

We’re quite good at docking at our home marina because we leave the lines on the dock. I feel fit and skilled jumping from a moving boat and securing my assigned bow lines, something I imagine more experienced sailors do with the greatest of ease. It’s probably no great feat with little wind or current but I’ll take any small sailing victory I can get.

With freeze warnings and lower temperatures coming more frequently our conversations have turned from new anchorages and sailing trips to winterization. The four days we spent sailing to the mouth of the river and back were the perfect last hurrah to end our first season on Chiron. I’m holding out hope that before we dig into our winterization  and snow boots that we’ll have a few more days left of sailing in the direction of the mouth and back.