Trip 15 - Still Pond Yet again! Excitement on the way home!

Trip dates: 
Saturday, August 22, 2020 to Sunday, August 23, 2020
Trip length: 
2 days
Type of watercraft: 
Sail
  • Still Pond - Strange food barge coming out of Still Pond Creek
  • Still Pond - Cleaned out the starboard lazarette
  • Still Pond - Yummy Spanish feast
  • Still Pond - Sunset from the northern side is always better

We left early afternoon in a light Southerly breeze which picked up out in the bay to 10-15 knots so we had a broad reach up the bay and eventually a run to Still Pond. We anchored on the north side as there was a very large crowd on the south side along with a steady stream of boats going into Still Pond Creek. A funny food barge? came out of the creek as we watched it head northerly up the bay. It was quite interesting. We had a relaxing swim in 84 degree water and then Sue presented a nice Spanish feast of cheese, chorizo, bread, tortillas, and arroz con pollo. (chicken and rice). We relaxed until it was cool enough to go below - around 11 pm. 

Awake around 7 to make coffee. It was cool topside with a light rain. We had eggs and sausage for breakfast. We had a relaxing swim as I cleaned the waterline with 'Hull' cleaner. Once again we grilled dogs for lunch and then cleaned out the starboard lazarette. After removing everything we installed dri-dek before re-stowing and organizing. Then we took another swim. Finally, about 4pm we saw that a storm was brewing on the western shores so we decided to head home. We were motor sailing with full sails and only 8 knots of wind and very little heeling. When we almost got to red 2 of Bush River we came about to port and headed on a starboard tack. Then the wind shifted direction by 180 degrees and gusted to over 30 knots along with a very close strike of lightening. The NMEA 2K network seemed to go down knocking all wind and depth information. We very quickly were heeling over 30 degrees and the boat developed a very strong weather helm. I steered into the wind and got the sails in irons. I quickly ran up and reefed the jib to about 3/5 and the main to 1/3. We then headed behind Pools Island with the wind gusting as well as changing direction significantly multiple times. The network seemed to come back and I had all instruments available We finally made it to Middle River and dropped the sails and motored to Parkside. As I finished tying up the lines the heavens broke though and we had a 30 minute deluge with thunder and lightening. We lost power so I was getting ready for a warm night. Finally power was restored later in the evening and I showered and ate dinner. Bedtime was early as it was quite the exciting sail home. 

Days: 2   Days to date: 45

Miles: 33.6   Miles to date: 1003.6