38:20.082 N
076:27.617 W
18/05/10
When I got up this morning the boat was at a 2 degree
heal. The wind had changed in the
night and we had managed to find the one high spot in the bay. There was still another two hours of
falling tide to go and it looked like we would be stuck for about 8 hours before
we had enough water to lift off. A
man called out from the shore offering to send help, and a powerful rescue boat appeared in a
few minutes. Apparently this
happens all the time here. Because
of our flat wing keel which is a
good metre wide and 4 meters long
its grips the mud very well and it took 20 minutes of manoeuvring with us under
power as well to get off. The men
said they always get the boats off but this had been their most difficult effort.. The Smith Point
Sea Rescue is a non profit volunteer group and the man
on the shore is a charter member.
They don’t accept money as such but when they found we were British they agreed to accept a $100 donation to
their organization. When we weighed
anchor we found we had picked an old pylon and a huge amount of mud.
By 10 we were toodling down the river. The fleet of fishing boats we saw on the
way in had all gone out in the
night and were parading back, equally spaced, in a long line of at least 12 boats, all
almost the same design and age.
We are just crossing the mouth of the
Potomac which can be quite lumpy but we have a fair tide
and current and even though the North wind is against us, it’s pretty
comfortable.
We got in just before 5:00 pm. We motored most of the 44
miles only sailing the last few. It stayed grey and cold all day but
at least it stopped raining. The
last 1 ½ hours were very bumpy as
we were motoring into 30 – 35 knots apparent and the shallow sea got
choppy.
