This past week was our first voyage! We traveled from Gregg Neck on the Sassafras down to Mill Creek on the Magothy River. We decided to take three days for the voyage to allow plenty of time. Starting out Sunday evening we reached our first anchorage at Ordinary Point on the Sassafras, six miles in a little over an hour. It was a calm evening and an easy anchorage. Both of us jumped into the water to wash off the sunscreen and sweat from the day.
The next day we woke up, read our scriptures, and checked on the engine. Everything seemed to be in good condition but the stuffing box continues to not drip as much as I’d like when underway. So I went ahead and loosened it a bit and we measured a drip every twenty-two seconds when the shaft was turning. Next we looked into hoisting the jib on the roller furler. After pulling the sail out we found that there were no jib sheets in the bag. We searched for a while and contemplated using the reef lines for the sheets but in the end decided to put the sail back in the bag and continue on with just the main and our engine.
Of course having taken the time to go over things in the morning we ended up fighting our way south again the wind and the tide. The going was rough and we were only making two and a half miles per hour. At about 1400 I looked back and realized we were no longer towing the dinghy. At this point we were about a half mile past Fairlee Creek. Sara grabbed the binoculars and would you believe she actually spotted it so we turned around and went back to pick it up! I was pretty frustrated with the dinghy and I figured that the painter attachment had snapped off. When we picked it up I found no obvious failure. Somehow the carabiner let go, I’m guessing that in the choppy water it managed to release on its own. So I simply tied it back to the boat.
Next we got a bit surprised by a storm that blew in. Visibility dropped to about fifty feet and the winds picked up to what we later learned was about fifty miles per hour! The temperature dropped and we started to be pelted by penny sized hail! At this point we were still heading north as a result of turning around to get the dinghy. Rather than turn around I decided to head up to Worton Creek to shelter there for the evening. The storm blew past and we anchored in the cove outside the creek. This anchorage was a bit choppier as it’s exposed to the bay but we were thankful that the storm was past. In all it was about twenty miles for the day in about six hours.
We woke early the next day to take advantage of the tide and calm morning. It really was calm, we didn’t even put up the main to help. We followed the ship channel south and then crossed over the bay at Swan Creek. Navigated to the Magothy and then followed it all the way up to Mill Creek where we docked at a friend’s home. The day was about twenty-five miles in about five hours. Pretty good time.
It was an exciting first voyage and we sure learned a lot! I can’t wait for the next one but for now we’re docked and I have work to do!
