This 104E cruise is unusual because, although it falls into our "lower" class structure, it
is done on our ocean boat, NAVIGATOR, and does not end where it
started. This cruise was even more unusual than normal because it started with a gale and ended with no wind at all.
The crew, Chris, Ed and John, met up with Captain Frank Mummert at Cobb's Marina, in Norfolk, VA. Frank had just finished a successful 108 cruise and was ready to return
NAVIGATOR to her home slip in Rock Hall, MD. We would be proceeding up the bay in five easy legs, traveling first to an anchorage in Deltaville, on the Rappahannock River, then to an anchorage on the Great Wicomico River, crossing the Virginia-Maryland state border, with a stop at a marina in Solomons Island on the Patuxent, then into the Annapolis mooring field and finally home.
The weather had other plans.
On our first full day, the crew did some basic training to familiarize themselves with
NAVIGATOR. After identifying all of the gear below decks, we spent some time topside, working through the processes for setting, reefing and dropping the mainsail. Because the weather predictions for the next day were for a small craft advisory, Frank made the decision to put the first and second reefs in the mainsail. As most of us know, the school policy is that it is easier to shake out a reef if it turns out you don't need it than to put in a reef if it turns out you do.
The crew spent the rest of the day working through the navigational paperwork, developing a navigation plan that would get us up to Solomon Yachting Center. By this time, the crew was ready for some dinner at the nearby Stony's restaurant and, after a satisfying meal, shutting down for bed.
During the night, Frank woke to the sounds of wind howling in the rigging. A quick check of the weather showed that the predicted Small Craft Advisory had whipped up into a full-blown Gale (sustained surface winds of 34 to 49 knots). It did not look good for an early departure.
Frank initially delayed the departure from 0700 to 0900, then to 1100. At noon, the weather had seemed to moderate - the forecast had indicated that the wind would subside - so we decided to try a departure. However, when we got into sight of the
Little Creek breakwater, the waves crashing up and over the downwind jetty indicated that today would not be our departure day. We returned to the slip and finished the navigation for the trip, first by changing the Nav plan to skip Deltaville and head directly for the Great Wicomico and then finishing the plan all the way to Lankford Bay Marina.
At 0630 the next morning, NAVIGATOR departed Norfolk and started her trip up the Bay. Because we were right at the summer solstice, we knew we had plenty of daylight and we were determined not to waste it. In fact, we were absolutely sure we had daylight - somewhere above the clouds. Down where we were the foggy conditions initially limited our visibility to a little over a mile, The crew kept a close lookout as we transited through the southern bay area, crossing three major ship channels, while Frank surreptitiously checked RADAR and AIS, just to be sure. The remains of the previous day's winds kept the boat moving at a lively clip, beam to close reaching through lumpy, confused seas. Not everyone's stomach approved of the wild ride, but no one complained.
Through the morning, the fog and mist continued to lift and as we passed up by Mobjack Bay, we were able to see well enough to do some two bearing fixes. The fixes indicated that we were getting a lift in speed from our incoming tide and being pushed over to the eastern shore. All of this caused us to reassess our courses going forward and we were able to pass the Rappahannock River, north of our first intended stop, at a little after noon. We continued to ride the flood and we finally were in sight of the Great Wicomico
by 1630. We doused the sails and carefully picked our way into the anchorage, where we found that two catamarans and a monohull had preceded us. We dropped our anchor and settled in for dinner and a warm, drippy evening.
In the morning, we found the wind had shifted from the north east toward the south. It had dropped slightly, but was still enough to move the boat at a sporty clip. We came out of the anchorage, following the other three boats that had shared the spot. We found ourselves right in the middle of the Omega Protein fishing fleet, which was trawling just outside the mouth of the river. This caused us to make our turn north, setting the sails, a little earlier than we would have normally, but we were able to avoid the dozen moving ships and were soon on our way.
With the wind behind us, we started out with a broad reach, but once we passed the Smith Point Light and entered the confluence of the Potomac River and the Bay, we found that our course put us dead downwind. Shifting to a wing-and-wing configuration, we spent a couple of hours carefully steering up our course, as modified by the wind. By
1100, our following wind had dropped down to less than ten knots, forcing us to go back to motor-sailing and finally to motoring. This condition lasted for about two and a half hours, before the wind returned and allowed us to continue sailing toward our destination. Again, our fixes indicated that the current was providing us with some speed, it was setting us to the east and we had to adjust to the west to stay out of the shipping lane.
This course correction was fortuitous, since just after this, the propeller fell off. This was the first of Frank's drills (loss of engine control). The crew quickly got the boat under control, shifting from motoring to sailing and getting us headed to rescue and repair. After performing the correct emergency actions, we discussed some of the possible causes and extended actions that could be associated with this problem. We were back on our way in less than half an hour and were soon in sight of Naval Air Station, Patuxent, the gateway into the Patuxent River area.
A few more hours found us tied up in the Solomons Yacht Center, with showers and a meal ashore at the CD Cafe. As the sun started to go down in the west, it was just starting to peek out from the clouds, presaging a better day tomorrow. Not a bad end to Friday.
The next day, we found the clouds were back, but the wind had deserted us. As we left the marina area, we passed some of the boats that had shared the Great Wicomico anchorage with us. We worked our way out into the Bay area again and headed north, passing the Cove Point ship loading facility still under ominous clouds. However, as we worked our way north, once again catching the rising tide, the skies above us began to clear, although to our
west we could clearly see rain clouds and storms running over the land.
Just before lunch, fire broke out below (another one of Frank's drills). While the drill didn't go as Frank planned it, the result was a much more interesting exercise. The fire was out quickly, but the crew's actions allowed us to have a very significant discussion about how crew reactions to a problem can change the captain's plans in order to deal with them. The discussion had the crew thinking very seriously about how their own crews would need to be trained to handle problems in the future.
By noon, we had blue skies, a warm sun - and still no wind. The true wind was coming from dead behind us at about 6 knots, leaving the wind on the boat at 0.0 knots. We continued to use
the engine to move us toward Annapolis and by 1400, the skies had cleared to the point that we could clearly see the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, 10 miles ahead.
About 1500, we turned to the west and headed into the Severn River, dodging crab pots and racing sailboats. Neither of these were moving very quickly so it was not difficult to avoid them. We ended up tied to mooring ball 37 in the main mooring field, being visited within ten minutes by the harbor patrol, who took our fee and told us that the mobile pump out boat would not be able to get to us that day. Frank was a little disappointed to lose the training opportunity, but the holding tank status was not dire, so we simply continued on.
Once again, in the morning, we were underway by 0630 and headed toward the Chester River. There was still no wind, even less than we had had the day before. We saw no sailboats at all, unusual for a Sunday morning, but the fishing charter boats were out in force.
We watched - and heard - the head boats heading out of the Chester and into the Bay. After passing under the Bay Bridge, we used the Baltimore and Sandy Points Lighthouses to perform a collection of fixes, working our way from the west coast to the east.
Shortly after entering the Chester River, the backstay parted (yes, another one of Frank's drills). We slowed the boat and rigged a spare halyard to support our mast while we considered out options for getting safely to shore. After deciding it was safe to proceed, we fixed our position and continued our trip.
As we approached the Langford Creek, we saw one of our little sister boats - ACADAME - sailing along with an Introductory class aboard. By this point, the wind had come back up to about seven knots, but had shifted all the way around to our bow. Given the limited distance remaining, we decided to forgo the idea of setting our sails for the last three miles and continued motoring up to the marina. Disappointing from a sailing point of view, but after all of the sailing we had accomplished, the crew was ready to get home.
After pumping out, we returned to NAVIGATOR's home slip and tied up, ending another successful cruise.
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Captain Frank Mummert
On board S/V NAVIGATOR
Rock Hall, Maryland
