Rock Hall Trip

[John Dodge]

WE made our first over night trip to Rock Hall on Friday! Left the Magothy river under sail on a beam reach all the way to Love pt. What a great sail! then we changed our course for bouy # 1 just south of Rock Hall about 1/4 mile away from bouy # 1 winds picked up. White caps where forming. we were going 6 1/2 knots at 15-20 degree heel when my wife said John look behind you. The sky was black! I said "Oh @#&$ !" I started the engine and asked my wife to get our SOSpenders. Do you think were going to need them? was her reply. I said I don't want something to happen and say to myself I wish I would of had them on. I turned the wheel over to my wife and said head into the wind. My wife took over the helm with a passionate look on her face. That don't mess with me look. We have all seen it on our wives faces. I went forward to tend to the main sail and we motored in to Rock Hall Landing Marina safely and had a great time.

 

[Mark Burrows]

Dropping Sail

Why did you drop your sails and choose to motor if you were doing 6+ knots? Markdb

 

[S. Sauer]

Chesapeake Changes Quickly

You sound like you used good judgement under the circumstances. I know the area in front of Rock Hall very well and it's no place for 'showmanship', with a long shallow sand bar to the Bay side, the rock jettys at the entrance to Rock Hall Harbor to the east, and a tricky narrow entrance to Swan Creek due north. That black sky you experienced can become a Chesapeake Line Squall quickly and you could have have found yourself with no room to run off under sail. I've sometimes made this trip in the early evening, hopefully rounding the bar and turning north with some light left in the day to see crab pots. It's a beautiful area.

 

[John Dodge]

Better to be safe

I thought dropping sail was the right thing. My wife and I are new at this. I certainly don't want to ruin a good start. Be sides I observed two boats in front of us drop sail as they rounded bouy#1. I figured don't be foolish. as the storm was moving closer, God only knows what it was packed with. My plans were to drop sail soon anyway. I was just proud of the way my wife handled it.

 

[John K Kudera]

You did the right thing!

It is always advisable to reduse sail if you see an approaching storm, It is easier, and safer to put the sail back up than trying to get it down if you wait too long,