Up the Bay

The Great Wicomico River
N 37 49.428 W 076 18.649

Oh boy is it nice to be on the Chesapeake again. I happen to be reading Michener's great novel Chesapeake right now, so it fits nicely. Michener describes the beauty and I look around and see what he talks about. Alas, the birds are no longer so many that they blacken the sky and the fish are not so many that one can reach in and pick them out, nor are oysters so plentiful that they grow in huge mounds. Notwithstanding the above, there's plenty of beauty and nature to satisfy this 21st century
man.

Yesterday Libby wanted to go the the bank and I wanted to shop for a new camera in Portsmouth. We googled both destinations and were disappointed to find nothing nearby. However, a suitable bank and a camera store were within a couple of blocks of the anchorage at Hampton, so we left Portsmouth and went to Hampton. On the way over a big aircraft carrier backed out of its slip and steamed away. That provided our entertainment. The weather was splendid.

When we got there, I went to the camera store. They didn't have anything suitable to sell me. His inventory was very sparse. With all the competition from the Internet, it must be nearly impossible to run a specialty store for things like cameras today. Anyhow, the proprietor did give me two tips. Olympus makes a water resistant and shockproof camera. Pentax makes one that is waterproof, and can be used for underwater photography. I got on Ebay and bid on Olympus cameras. I hope to win
one.

This morning we left bright and early at 0630. I'm ashamed to say that we had to wake up an old man on a neighboring boat to move because our anchor was directly under his boat. As we got out into the bay, it became apparent that we would have plenty of wind from the port quarter to go full speed. Indeed, we averaged 7.1 knots with a peak speed of 9.75 knots (over the ground) in the morning, sailing with a reefed jib and a reefed main. That's fast.

Our original plan was to sail to Deltaville, but soon we were making such good progress that we thought what we would go to Urbana instead. Then we revised it again to try for Smith Point and the mouth of the Potomac. Then again to try for Smith Creek partway up the river. But in the afternoon, the wind slackened some and the tide turned against us, so we had to settle for this place. We are just south of Smith Point and we dropped anchor around 1700. It was a great sailing day. Early tomorrow
we can enter the Potomac and start sailing upstream.

I contacted my old Clarkson professor, Dr. Hammam, today. He lives in Washington DC. Jerry Allen and I have remained close to Dr. Hammam since graduation 41 years ago. Anyhow, we're going to pay him a visit in Washington; hence the side trip. Besides, we've never been up the Potomac before and it sounds lovely.

The Coast Guard had a busy day today. We heard emergency calls for a boat sinking by the James River Bridge, and of a man in the water waving his arms near Cobb island, and of a sailboat capsized near Solomons Island. The best entertainment though came from a radio exchange. We heard a woman's voice on the VHF sounding very stressed, near panic. She said, "Fishing vessel fishing vessel. This is Mirant. PLEASE RESPOND." She repeated this several times getting no response. She never identified
which fishing vessel nor her location. There could have been thousands of fishing vessels hearing the call. Then she switched, "Sailboat sailboat this is Mirant, PLEASE RESPOND. Sailboat sailboat please respond. We are 5 miles off Cape Charles." At least this time she gave a location, sort of. Her voice conveyed more and more stress with each call. Then we heard another voice. "Mirant, this is the Coast Guard. Are you in any kind of distress?" There was a long pause. Then a man's voice,
completely calm and collected saying, "This is Mirant. No we are not in distress. We are in contact with Sea Tow and they will tow us in." It reminded me of the story of the vessel Satori in the Perfect Storm.