Century Club: George Hernandez

...and back. Then over to Willoughby Bay for the night.

A beautiful afternoon with an unseasonably warm south breeze. Original thought was to sail out to the ocean, but by the time I was under sail it was obvious it couldn't be done before the sun set. Instead turned back just before reaching Little Creek arriving at my anchorage about 30 minutes before sunset. Perfect sleeping weather. The following morning light winds turned my 4.5 mile sail home into almost 2 hours. But with warm sunshine, I enjoyed every minute of the slow motion sail back home...

Needing to be home by mid-afternoon on Thursday, I scaled back my sailing plans and only went as far as the Back River. Entering the river I stopped just inside and got off of the channel to drop anchor. I wanted to paddle to shore to walk on the beach but with a 15 knot west wind the water was too rough trying to climb down into the kayak. I eventually moved further up the river and down to the south side hoping to get a little protection from wind and waves. Finally the breeze shifted more to the south and decreased making for a more pleasant evening. One of the next things for the boat is to make a Riding Sail to reduce the boat sailing while at anchor. 

The sail home went well with a 15-20 knot wind right on my nose, as always! About 2/3 of the way home I realized I'd be late if I didn't fire up the diesel and aim straight for home...

Sunny and warm days, prefect for an overnight. Only missing ingreedient, wind. Light east wind as I left OPCM and for a while tried to make progress eastbound against the incoming tide. As I realized the net result was west, I fired up the Westerbeke and headed over to Willoughby Bay. Once in that channel it was easy to sail the remaining distance to the east end where I dropped anchor for the night. Before dinner I prepared all the wood on the boat for a coat of varnish the next day when back. I was comfortable through the evening in calm winds. The low reached upper 50's. A few more degrees and an additional blank would have been needed.

In the morning I woke to ships sounding their fog horns. To the west, over the main channel I could see the fog. It was slow going into the 5 knot west wind, but that was okay. Even though I have passive AIS, sailing on the shipping channel in the fog was something to avoid when possible. Passing Willoughby Harbor Marina I was in the thick of it. Nothing was visible around me as I slowly progressed up the north channel sailing on instruments. (and sounding my horn) Fortunately, just as I was approaching the main channel, everything cleared and I was able to continue across back to Fort Monroe.

A friend and new sailor ran aground on Poquoson Flats. She asked for my help bringing her boat back home.

A ferry ride from Sea Tow as high tide approached found the boat floating free at at anchor around 5 pm. Various problems including an overheating engine slowed our progress but we finally arrived back to Fort Monroe around 1 am.