The forecast was for some nice winds.... right around 10 knots or so for most of the day so I headed off to the marina for a fun day. Got to the marina about 10 and was out of the slip by 10:30. Temperature was 67, winds were 10 knots with some gusts and the barometer was 30.00 and steady. Sunny to partly cloudy skies. There was a small craft advisory until 11 - which was extended to 1 pm.
Headed out, got the sails up before daymark 7 and headed down Langford creek to the Chester. Decided to go for a longer sail - so I headed right down the Chester and kept going around Eastern Neck Island. After 2 hours of sailing I was right at the entrance to Kent Narrows which is when I decided to turn around and head back. I was averaging about 5 knots most of the way down with a close reach/beam reach. Had to go to close haul once around eastern neck though.
Heading back - all was good. Was first on a broad reach until I made the turn at the Chester river buoy 11 and then I was between a close reach and a beam reach most of the way up. When I got parallel to Eastern Neck Narrows, the winds started to pick up significantly - was seeing 16, 17, even 20 knots.... so it got a bit exciting. I reefed the headsail which made everything a bit more comfortable and I was able to keep the sail up all the way to daymark 7 in Langford creek before turning, dropping the sails and heading into the marina.
A lovely 4 hour sail!