Across the Albemarle to Buck Island in position 36:16.053N, 075:57.393W
AJAYA'S CRUISE
Phil & Nikki Hoskins
Thu 11 Jun 2009 00:16
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Crossing the Albemarle should not to be
considered in high winds as the waters are shallow and when blown against the
current very nasty conditions prevail. We were lucky that the gentle southwest
breeze was not going to cause us any problems. Our 2 hour transit proved to be
smooth. The southerly quadrant breezes were forecast to continue so we were
quite relaxed.
Once across we headed for our intended overnight
anchorage just to the north of Buck Island a small marshy area that had
sufficient depth off the fairway to be safe from ICW traffic. However, ahead the
sky was blackening rapidly as another storm brewed. Great streaks of lightening
could be seen forking downwards to the ground in front of
us a distance away. We decided to just pull off the channel we were in
and anchor to sit out the storm before heading into the anchorage a couple more
miles further on.
When it looked to have cleared we motored the last
few miles and set the anchor with 3 ft under the keels.The holding was as usual
pretty good. Within 30 mins 4 other craft had joined us, including 2
single-handers, all anchored in a close group facing southwards, so
being nicely sheltered from the south which was where the wind was forecast to
be from. Our friends brought across some pilots and charts for us to look
through before dinner. Then the rain started again as another storm front
seemed to have arrived. This lasted a couple of hours before fading away leaving
the anchorage relatively calm.
Shortly after we had turned in for the night
the wind suddenly (in seconds) increased to gale force from the north where we
had less protection. Pretty soon we were bucking up and down in the short
steep waves from the half mile fetch. The wind was sustained at the same
strength and whilst we had no fear of dragging any distance the proximity of
other yachts was more concerning. This situation lasted about 30 mins in
total before the wind subsided almost as quickly as it had come up and we went
back to bed again where our resident mosquitoes were eagerly rubbing their
proboscises together awaiting our return.
The weather bulletin retrospectively announced the
extreme conditions as a "gusty front" running ahead of thunder storms on the
N.Carolina-Virginia border. We didn't have any more thunderstorms overnight but
we clearly need to keep a sharp lookout for these "gusty fronts"
!
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