Wicomico River
Scott-Free’s blog
Steve & Chris
Thu 16 Jun 2011 01:12
38:16.7N
76:48.3W
Thursday 16th June
2011
Distance run: 52
nmiles
In order to catch
the ebb tide in Cockrell Creekand the flood tide in the Potomac, we lifted the
anchor around 0800 and motored downriver and back out into Chesapeake Bay. The
skies were grey and it was trying to rain, but there was a good wind coming over
the starboard quarter so we unfurled the yankee and sailed very nicely
under headsail alone. As we turned into the Potomac,we gybed the
sail,picked up a favourable tide and continued to sail under yankee until the
wind dropped at lunchtime, when we put the yankee away and unfurled the
genoa.
Around 1700 we
furled the sail away and motored into the mouth of the Wicomico river,on the
north side of the Potomac, where we planned to anchor for the night. As we
approached the anchorage, the sky darkened and the wind picked up
considerably,and we hastened to find as protected a spot as possible in which to
get the anchor down. With the anchor down,we switched on our newly
acquired weather radio and listened to the severe weather warning that told us
that we were now directly in the path of a very unpleasant storm - information
which was not really necessary as we were actually looking at the storm
approaching. We battened down the hatches and spent the next two hours
watching the storm as it passed right over us, depositing torrential rain as it
went. Fortunately it didn't seem to have much wind under it, so we decided
an early night would be a good idea as we would have an early start next
day.
At 0130 we woke up
because the boat was seesawing and the water was slapping loudly on the stern,
just by our heads. Another storm was passing through,and this one had
brought wind which was blowing straight into the anchorage, causing a horrible
swell. It was impossible to sleep with the movement and the noise, so we
got up and made a cup of tea and read for a while. By 0300 it was
beginning to calm down and we went back to bed, planning to be away by 0530 to
catch the tide.