We have had two whole days of sailing, amazing! We left Quantico yesterday and rocketed down the Potomac River to St Clement’s Island. We had strong following winds and seas the entire way! We anchored on the east side of the island trying to hide from the strong north east winds. Well we did not escape the winds but the long curving sand bar to the north kept the waves out. We dropped anchor in 30 knots of winds and almost no waves. The winds howled all night but our anchor held well and so we slept well also. This morning we dragged ourselves out of bed (Tanya was ready before me!) and got under way with the winds still howling over 30 knots and temps in the lower 40’s. As we made our turn away from St Clement’s Island the wind was gusting to about 35 knots true. Again we rocketed down the Potomac hitting over 8 knots at times with following wind and wave. As we reached the end of the river the waves were cresting at about five feet, crashing right behind/next to us. It was fun surfing the boat down the waves! Had we been heading in the opposite direction we would have never left. We have anchored for the night in Smith Creek MD just a few miles from the Chesapeake Bay. We filled our fuel tank at the marina (ouch$), anchored out across the creek, took the dinghy in and had dinner at their restaurant, it was very good!
Tomorrow we are planning an early start so that we can take advantage of these north winds. We hope to be in Fishing Bay near Deltaville VA tomorrow and Willoughby Bay, Norfolk the next day. The winds have dropped from 30 to almost calm tonight so we will sleep well. Sorry no pictures but we have been retracing our trip along the Potomac and have not been taking pictures of the same scenery. We will be in a new place tomorrow and will pick up the camera then.
