Bird
Haze
Gennaker up
Hazt
Haze
Haze
Fairlee Creek
Fairlee Creek Beach
Kayaking
Kayaking
Kayaking
Wednesday, June 7
Arrived at the marina early - as this was a day to get ready for a longer trip - up to Fairlee Creek to meet some friends. Provisions had to be loaded on and stowed properly and then there were some chores that had to be done before I headed out. After storing the food, I got to work with the other items… bringing the Yamaha dinghy engine onboard, cleaning the speed wheel under the boat, putting some thread sealant on the hose from the fuel filter/water separator that was removed when the engine was removed (and was leaking some diesel), filling water tanks, and finally, getting the dinghy out of the locker, put together, blown up and tested. Had some fun with the dinghy - paddling it around and then lowering the engine on to it and running it a bit before Kayaking around the marina. Fund to spend the day on the water!
Thursday, June 8th
Was up at 6 in prep for the trip/sail - then found out that some people were planning on meeting at fairlee were having second thoughts because of the smoke and haze from the Canadian wildfires. Left the dock at 10 not sure what I was going to do. Got the asymmetrical up and started a nice run down Langford Creek and down the Chester. Went ahead and made an executive decision - after playing a bit - and decided to go to Fairlee Creek regardless. Informed the rest of the crew (onshore) so they knew where to come Friday. Had a nice conversation with another sailor - sailing the “Meander” down the Chester as I passed him. He was headed to Whitehall Bay. Outside of Kent Narrows, had to drop the Gennaker and start the engine as I would be going directly into the wind from that point. Motored for a while - then noticed (outside Rock Hall/Swan Creek) that the wind had shifted and was from the south at about 7 - 9 knots. Put the asymmetrical back up and was flying up the Chesapeake. After some time, I noticed that the autopilot was having difficulty keeping course and then saw that the winds had picked up substantially. I was getting true wind at 15 knots + from the south. Took the wheel and as the wind grew - up to 20 knots… devised a plan to drop the gennaker before it got too late. While the original plan didn’t work so well - managed to get the gennaker down safely and motored the additional 3 miles to Fairlee creek ([put out the genoa, of course). Current was running out, so I had to give it a bit more power - but got through and anchored in a nice place in Fairlee Creek about 5. Will be here for the weekend!
Friday, June 9th
After doing some chores, got out the kayak and explored parts of Fairlee Creek before friends and family started to arrive. Beautiful area - lots of wildlife. The haze was a lot less pronounced - maybe the southern winds from yesterday helped blow it back up north! Friends came in around noon - I was working on the dinghy engine when they came in. After repairing the spring - at least a bit (so I could start it), I kayaked around Fairlee Creek - exploring quite a bit of it. Found a wonderful little house past the marina - odd, but very artsy!
Saturday, June 10
Had an early morning kayak and then after a good breakfast - wife went off paddling in my kayak - I watched a YouTube video and learned exactly how to fix the engine. Took about an hour - and all is good. Around lunch went over to join the friends at the beach just past jellyfish Joel's. Had a lot of fun!
Sunday June 11
Planned to stay at least till Monday, but the weather was starting to look bad for the next day, so decided to head back a day early. Winds were out of the South West fairly consistently - sometimes as little as 4 knots, and as much as 15! Had to motor down past Love Point - and right outside of Kent Narrows, we were able to raise the sails and ride them the rest of the way in. Started off cool - 70 and got quite warm - 82. Sunny with a barometer reading of 29.82 and steady Anchor was up at 8:22am - back to marina at 3:55pm - sails were up at 10:52! Lovely day - lovely trip!