8/1 - 8/2 Sailing for fun and anchoring in Reed Creek

8/1 - The oppressive heat finally left us, so we got Bubbles ready and headed out the morning of August 1. Our hope was to sail up the Chester, maybe to Chestertown. The winds were out of the NNE blowing sustained in the teens with gusts above 20. There was a SCA out and it was overcast with temperatures only topping out at 75 degrees. We saw the Sultana sailing down Langford Creek so we got sails up quickly and the race was on!  We beat her out of the creek with only sails (Sultana dropped sails and started motoring). Once out in the Chester we tested our limits - how close to the wind could we sail and if we were going to be able to sail through Spaniard neck and up the Chester. It was obvious after a few tacks that sailing up the river would be close to impossible, so we sailed around the basin, had some fun and then decided to head into Reed Creek to anchor for the evening.

8/2 - After breakfast and checking the forecast, we decided to head up the Chester and see how far we could get.  Wind was still coming from the NE, but only at 5-10 knots with some gusts into the low teens. We put the main up while on anchor and then pulled the anchor and motored out of Reed Creek into the Chester, got the other sail up and then cut the engine and headed off. Had to tack back and forth quite a bit - and we found the wind to be a bit shifty - but the shifts were to our advantage. We made it through the Spaniard Neck cut with no issues but with a lot of tacking back and forth.  That continued as we sailed up the Chester...which seemed to make all the powerboats a bit nervous! We dropped anchor at Quaker Neck a little after one, ate some lunch and then brought out the assymetrical for our sail back down (we realized there was no way with the current wind direction that we were going to be able to sail to Chestertown. We raised the genniker after our lunch and raced back down the Chester - seeing up to 6 knots! The winds died off about the time we reached Spaniard neck, so we limped back to Reed Creek and anchored.  Fun to be sailing again just for the sake and fun of sailing!!