A blistering sail at last
A year afloat: to the Caribbean and back
Sam and Alex Fortescue
Fri 17 Jun 2011 21:40
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38:31.02N
076:13.20W
Twas a spanking sail down the Chesapeake. We left
the Westcountry weirdness of Tangier Island behind at 6am, in order to sneak out
of the shallow channel before low tide. Once clear of the mudflats, we turned
our noses north towards Annapolis. Initially, we buzzed along at about 4 knots -
relieved to be sailing rather than motoring. But as the day progressed, the sun
disappeared and the wind built. Without any disceranble change, we found
ourselves surfing down big waves at 10 knots and racing north with goosewinged
sails. It was rodeo sailing - all holding on for dear life and whooping with
excitement.
It was cold enough for Alex to put on three layers
and sailing boots. The skipper was delighted to have some weather that reminded
him of home. This was not a view shared by First Mate Biffle at the helm. By
about 3pm, we reefed down hard and turned east into the Little Choptank River to
anchor up for the night. We sped across the crab-pot infested shallows into 25
knots of wind, then tacked around the bends of the river until we pulled into a
wide, pine-fringed marsh dotted with spectacular houses, out of the worst of the
weather.
The creek felt like a safe haven, so we dropped the
hook for the night, cracked open some vino and settled into the warm saloon. We
began to notice distant rumbling, which we first took to be naval jets taking
off. But as darkness fell, it became clear from the great flashes outside that
the noise was distant lightning. As the hours trickled by, and we sat below
reading, the storm moved closer until by 10ish, it was directly overhead. Lying
in the fo'c'sle berth, staring up through the closed hatch, we could see the
forks stabbing across the sky from cloud to cloud, silhouetting our mast.
Feeling suddenly exposed, I bundled the GPS, handheld radio and the laptop into
the oven again, to save them from disaster if we were struck. Then, despite the
blinding lightning raging around Summer Song, we fell asleep.
PS To find out whether we survived the night, be
sure to log on for tomorrow's thrilling installment of "The
Blog".
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