It was Sunny to partly cloudy - temps 58070 and winds - were 8-15+ out of the South - South West. Barometer was 30.22 falling to 30.08 between 11 and 4:30. Winds were much higher than expected by all of the forecasters - and even Predict Wind and Ventusky who all had it light winds - 7 - 10 until very late. With the winds that strong, I decided to go right out instead of plowing through some chores around the boat first. Got the main up quickly in Langford Creek and then got out the Genoa - reefed as a jib and turned the engine off! Pretty much beating in to the wind for the first half - letting the autopilot take the helm while I manned the sails. Had the autopilot sail to a wind direction which did pretty well going downwind... I know it works well on a beam reach too - with good winds, but compass heading is probably better for broad and running. Tacked down the Chester a few times - and about 1 pm the winds picked up substantially, so on the next tack I stayed into the wind a bit longer and reefed the main - as I was seeing 15 knots steady with gusts. Made it down to the green/red marks 11 & 12 off of Quesnstown Crrek/Eastern Neck Island where I decided to turn back. Before I put my plan into action (tacking/stalling - pulling in Genoa, dropping main, turning the bat to head downwind and opening the full Genoa) I got hailed on the VHF! It was a sailboat testing out their AIS - wanted to know if I saw them. Following that, turned and had following seas and fair winds pushing Bubbles all the way back to the marina. A lovely 4 1/2 hour sail and I only saw 4 other boats out! Shame for such a lovely day!