Chesepeake Bay Summer Vacation

[Bad Obsession]

I have a 1982 Hunter 22. This will be my second cruising season on this boat. Last year I went into the Bay and headed North to Solomins Island. It was a great trip but I hit some nasty conditions coming back into the Potomac River from the Bay (3-4 foot waves going against the current and 25 knots of wind on the nose). From my experience those are obnormal conditions for that time of year (First week of June). My boat and I did Okay but it was a stressful situation.I am planning another trip into the Chesepeake Bay this summer (June 1-12). I sail out of Colonial Beach and I plan to come out of the Potomac River and head south of Smith Point. I have three destinations that I want to get to....Deltaville, Tangier Island, and Chrisfield MD. Is this a reasonable amount of time to alot to get to all of those destinations or should I only plan on two of them? Also, is it too long of a sail to go from Point Lookout Marina or Kinsale Marina to Deltaville in one day? If so what is a good place to ancor for the night. I believe that I can make Deltaville to Tangier Island in a day and Tangier Island to Chrisfield, MD in one day. Where would be a good place to stop if I went from Chrisfield MD back into the Potomac River?Last part of this.....If anyone has any suggestions for some NICE marinas I would greatly appreciate them. Oh, and if anyone has some information on Marinas that should be avoided I would appreciate this as well. Thanks in advance, everyone!

 

[Don s/v Tellico]

Ideas...

What's your average speed and desired travling hours for a day? That is, take a speed you can generally make (closer to the lower end of your range) then figure out how many hours you want to travel a day, a x b gives you your range. Take that range and plot out your entire route. Some days you will do better than you plan, others not as good. But it's the planning you definitely need to do. As I have said here before, the challenge with that part of the bay is that the anchorages/marinas are a good distance off the main part of the bay. I add 1 hour to and from my anchorage (total of 2 hours) for each day, and that's with a 6mph planning range.Do you have the Cruising Guide to the Chesapeake? If not, I encourage you to get it. They cover almost every inch of the bay and give you a planning map that helps plan your route. Do you have GPS? You can/should plot your entire course ahead via GPS (which I hope you have for these parts). The CD version (ex: BlueChart for Garmin) is perfect for planning ahead of time and you can transfer routes/waypoints from that to most GPS.I suspect that Pt Lookout to Deltaville is a stretch for you. I do it from Solomons to Deltaville, but it's a long day and I average 6+ mph an hour. Dividing Creek is an excellent anchorage about midway, well worth the visit. Also, Reidville is a good layover, up the Great Wicomico. They have town docks (inexpensive) and 2 restaurants (both a little pricey.) I always eat lunch outside at the seafood house accross the river. In Deltaville, go up the creek to Deltaville Marina. (I forget the creek name, but it's to the E/NE of Fishing Bay.) Excellent anchorage if you want, and dockage if that's your preference. Good facilities, laundry, pool, club house, free bikes, etc. With your draft, you may have lots of other options, that's why I think the Cruising Guide would be a good thing to have.Never been to Chrisfield or Tangier, so I can't speak to that part of your trip. I know that Smith Island to Reedville is a quick trip, but can be tough depending on the weather. As you know, this is big open water. Plan every mile of it out, really makes for a much more relaxing trip. Be sure to leave free days for exploring and weather. I can't imagine doing the Potomac with 25mph/3-4'....glad I wasn't with you.Good luck.

 

[Jared]

Onancock, VA

I have not been there yet, but Onancock is supposed to be really nice. That may be a good layover for when you are over near Tangier. Reedville is nice but hit or miss depending on the fish plant. Mill Creek near Reedville is a great anchorage. Also, a great anchorage is in Fleet's Bay down near the mouth of Antipoison Creek (between Reedville and Deltaville) called Pirate's Beach - little sand island, nice beach, great anchorage.Nice marina - The Tides Inn. You have to go up the Rappahannock River for about 10 miles or so to get to it - in Carter's Creek. You probably won't find much nicer than that one.The Cruising Guide to the Chesapeake is a great resource. You can get in from Chesapeake magazine or West Marine, wherever - highly recommended.

 

[Don s/v Tellico]

Boater's World...

usually has the best price on Ches Guide.

 

[Bill O'Donovan]

Try this

Set an itinerary to Deltaville, which has five marinas on the Rappahannock side and two on the Piankitank side. You can also stop at the rebuilt Windmill Point Marina, nearby. This is a conservative trip that keeps you on one side of the Bay but provides plenty of things to see.Ches Bay Guide referenced above is excellent.

 

[georich]

Tangier Island should be on your list to visit, very quaint. Water is very shallow, check the tides, use a new large scale chart and you should be okay in your 22. Don't trust the GPS chart plotter.Somers Cove is the marina in Crisfield and has very good facilities (nice hot showers). Be sure to get the worlds best crab cake at the Captains Galley restaurant. There is lots of building going on in Crisfield now that will change it forever. See it now.Don't miss Onnancock. Onnancock Creek is a day sail south of Crisfield. You can anchor in Parkers Creek just inside the mouth of Onnancock or can motor the couple miles up to the marina in Onnancock. It's a very nice old small town with magestic homes. Rent some bicycles at the marina office and ride around. Surprisingly there is an excellent restaurant in walking distance of the marina and even and art gallery. It's our favorite placeHave fun. Early June is the best month to go and yes you might find some more bad weather. But hey, that's sailing.-Buddy Richardsons/v Cowardly Lion H28

 

[Bob Cunningham]

Tangier Island

Be sure to visit Tangier on your trip. It is a delightful stopover...like going back in time. We sailed there twice last summer in our H456. Channels are not shallow as reported. Never had the least bit of problem. Currents in the cut are strong (always!). We have sailed in and out from both east and west. Be sure to call Parks Marina (the only marina that I know of) for reservations. The owner, Milton Parks, is an encyclopedia of knowledge about the crabbing and fishing industries up and down the bay. Well worth the visit just to spend several hours with Milton. Good luck.

 

[Bad Obsession]

White Knuckles

I will confess....Coming into the Potomac in that weather gave me white knuckles. I turned on the iron main sail and dropped all sail. I am not sure if that was the right thing to do but I couldn't have carried anymore than a reefed main anyways. My wife and I had to sit on rear corner of the cockpit where the engine was to keep the prop in the water. It was a wild ride (hope I don't hit that again). I always try to leave room for weather because I have had to lay over every time I have done a trip on the Bay. My wife took the whole thing rather well, I don't think that she knew any better because she is new to sailing. Anyways, she held up really well and it didn't scare her one bit (she has a lot of faith in me).Last year my average speed was extremely high. I was averaging over hull speed my first two days because I was with the current, surfing waves, and holding on for dear life! (I saw as high as 9 knots). Pretty good considering my hull speed is 5.7 knots. I hope that the weather treats me better this year.I do have a Garmin GPS Map 76. Very nice instrument. Don't have blue charts yet...but considering it.What is the cost of the book that everyone is reccomending? Do you think that it could be found on amazon.com?Thank you all for this information. I will definately check out that book as the Potomac and the Chesepeake are my home waters.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Most of the Time

when people turn on their engines the ride gets WORSE.Sailboats were meant to go to weather with the waves coming at the bow on an angle. The ride's smoother and easier on everything. When you motor, one tends to head right into the waves, which you described above.Reef down and you'll avoid a lot of white knuckle motoring.When we were coming north from the southern end of Clear Lake many years ago on our C22, it was really blowing. An "old salt" said: "Just use one sail, you'll make it just fine."We did and had a great ride. We used the reefed main which wasn't very good for going upwind.Learn your boat. Depending on your rig, you'll find one of the two sails gives you better upwind performance. In my experience (C22, C25 and C34) most Catalinas sail better, with just one sail, with just the jib, which is where their drive comes from.If you think your jib is too big, start with moving the jib fairlead further aft, which opens the top of the sail and lowers the center of whatever-ya-call-it further down on the sail, results in much less heeling.Stu

 

[Paul]

Cost

30 - 35 Bucks

 

[Drew]

Ches Guide

The guide can be found cheaper than $30 on Amazon, to be sure. It's a useful volume, but, generally does not include waypoints. It has descriptions of appealing places to visit, followed by a "sail up the inlet and bear left" set of directions. Frustrating, to me anyway.I'd spend an afternoon in the nearest marine bookstore and look through all the available Chesapeake guides and pick the one that answers the right questions. Good luck - I'll see you out there in my 240.Drew

 

[Don s/v Tellico]

here's the link

at Amazon. $34.50 there. Boater's World in this area sells it for @$27 I think. It's really a must have for cruising on the bay, more info than you could ever use. Not really designed to give gps waypoints, more of a travel guide with some navigational info.Get it, you will use it.