The weather forecast was calling for 15-20 knot winds and small craft warnings, but we decided that we were a bit bigger than a "small craft" and decided to go for it. We sailed downwind - see the wing on wing picture below - to the mouth of the river but realized when we got there that we'd have to sail directly into the wind to get up the St. Mary's, so we revised our plan.
We decided to make for the bay considering [a] we had a great tail wind and could get there quickly and [b] the wind direction at the time appeared to lend itself to a decent tack to the Yeocomico after we made it to the bay. Unfortunately, after making it to Point Lookout and well into the bay, the wind had shifted to a more westerly point and we had little hope of holding a course anywhere near our destination. Nonetheless, we sailed into those 15-20 knot winds and increasing seas back to the Virginia side about 8-10 miles down river from the Yeocomico. We tacked up wind for what seemed to be hours and finally decided to try motoring a straight course for the rest of the way. The seas had increased to about 3 foot swells and we were motoring straight into them, but we made the mouth of the river shortly after 5:00. That's when I noticed the temperature gauge pegged to the right! (I'd been religiously checking the gauges to make sure we weren't overheating or running out of fuel.) I immediately shut the engine off as Chuck noticed a puff of smoke from below, and we got the sails up and resumed tacking into the wind.
The consideration then became, "What are we going to do if we have no engine?" Chuck suggested that we might be better off making for Cole's Point where we could, if nothing else, drop anchor for the night and call the marina for a tow into the slip in the morning. That sounded better to me than trying to get into an unfamiliar marina or anchorage under sail alone, so we resumed a tack as close to the wind as we could make it and headed for home.
Our speed over the water was very nice into the brisk wind, but our speed toward home was considerably less so! To add insult to injury, as we made the Maryland shore about 6:30, the winds just died to nearly nothing, and we again had to consider finding a place to anchor for the night. Finally, our luck turned and the winds not only picked back up (not exactly 20 knots, but better than 0!) but they also shifted to about ESE which pushed us slowly but surely home!
With calmer sailing the crew broke out a beverage, made ourselves some "lunch" about 7:00, and settled in for the two hour trip home.
...into a beautiful sunset.
After about 13 hours of sailing, we tried the engine, found it to be working well enough to get us into the slip and snuck into Cole's Point under cover of darkness, exhausted but exhilarated!
~~~_/)~~~
On Saturday, having gained some confidence that the engine could handle at least short periods of activity, we sailed across the Potomac to a place called Tall Timbers that a friend from the marina, Kip, had told us about. As we sailed over, tacking about as efficiently as most novices do, we looked back to find Kip and his wife Linda tacking as efficiently as experienced sailors do and catching and passing us. I snapped this beautiful (he said modestly) picture of them as they passed.
We followed them through the channel, switching the engine on, and talked to them briefly as they headed into the marina there. As they left us, I noticed the temperature gauge rising again, so we used yesterday's logic and decided to head back to the safety of home port. Another nice sail across the river where we were able to again use the engine long enough to get in the slip. After a cheeseburger at the marina and packing up the boat, we were off for home. The experiences we gained on this trip were invaluable, and even though things didn't go exactly as we'd planned, we had a blast!
