Crowded Seas

At Sea, N36 43.95 W 75 45.15

(6/16/05) Once again I’m writing in the cockpit on watch at 2AM. The past 12 hours were hard. First the wind died. Then we were invaded by very pesky biting flies. Then I realized that we were stuck in a bad place to wait overnight to enter the Chesapeake.

We were too close to the shipping lanes to ignore e the ships, and there are lots of them here. We were too far offshore to anchor at a decent depth and too far to motor in before dark. I moved us 8 miles from the buoy marking the Chesapeake entrance, in an attempt to get away from the ships.

I was caught in indecision. First I decided to drift all night and stand watch. Then I thought about tidal currents and decided it would be best to anchor. The depth was 80 feet, and I had foresworn never to anchor offshore again after the experience in St. Augustine that broke the anchor roller.

Nevertheless, I dropped anchor, went below and went to sleep.

After about 3 hours sleep, the boat started rolling a lot in the waves. That meant that there had to be some wind. Paranoid about raising the anchor in big waves, I changed my plan. I woke Libby up and we raised the anchor, and set the sails. Now I feel better. I’m sailing toward the entrance buoy at the breakneck pace of 1 knot. I should get there around 6AM, just when it’s light. Then I can motor us into the bay, and through the bay tunnel-bridge entrance. The tide should be with me, it will be light and I hope to be able to avoid getting run over by any ships or warships.