Our trip to the Chesapeake

We had a crab feast to attend in Rock Hall Maryland on Oct. 4, 2003. We wanted to launch at Elks Neck State Park. The Feast was to be on Saturday night so we decided to launch on Friday morning, sail the day Friday, anchor somewhere, and continue to Rock Hall on Saturday. The trip wpuld be our first on the Chesapeake.

We launched from Elk Neck State Park, Rogues Harbor early Friday morning. It was quiet, they had 4 nice ramps and we had no trouble launching. A large power boat launched beside us. His trailer went back far enough to find the drop-off. It was not a problem for us.

We headed south, into the wind. It was a nice day and the water was fairly calm. We tacked back and forth careful to avoid the crab traps that seemed to be everywhere outside the channel. We sailed for about 3 hours and had only advanced about 3 miles so we decided we better motor or we would never make our destination. We wanted to make it at least to Whorton Creek for anchoring. The further south we motored, the rougher the water was. We ended up motoring for 3 hours and landed in Fairlee Creek. By the time we got there I was soaked to the skin from the spray of the rough water. Fairlee Creek was a real nice quiet anchorage. We got there in time to watch the sunset. It was very cold that night but we used a small propane heater when we needed to move around the cabin.

The next day was a real trial. We left Fairlee Creek at about 8 in the morning. The sky was dark and the cold wind was up. When we made our way out to the Bay, we could not believe how rough it was. What I didn’t know was that it was just the start. We headed south motoring, there was no way I could get the sails up and we were headed directly into the wind. The waves got larger, much larger. We were really getting slammed. I was afraid that the boat (or the crew) could not take the pounding it was getting. The bow would rise up and slam down on the next wave. These were not swells, but white capped, close spaced waves. I had all I could do to keep the boat in control. The motor prop seemed to spend half of it’s time out of the water. I was cold, soaking wet and getting fatigued. It took us three hours to get into Swan Creek and Haven Harbor Marina. I don’t know how I made it through those 3 hours. I’m sure if I had a car available to me I would have sold the boat to the highest bidder when I arrived.

At the crab feast that night I spoke to some other sailors, some of whom had been out there as well. One fellow said he had sailed the Chesapeake for 28 years and this was one of the worst he had seen. When he heard how long we had been sailing and that it was our first time on the Chesapeake his eyes widened. He leaned over to me and said “I would have (expletive deleted) my pants.” I’m sure I wasn’t far from it.

The Crab Feast was sponsored by the Windward Sailing Club. The feast itself was great. We had crab until we could eat no more.

Sunday, we left Haven Harbor Marina at about 8 in the morning. I was a bit apprehensive. When we got out of the harbor, the seas were a bit rough though nothing like the day before. I tried to get the mainsail up but just could not handle it with the deck pitching about so. I crawled up to the bow and got the jib raised anyway and sailed for a bit under jib alone. We were doing about 4 knots for a while with the jib. As we headed further north and things calmed, I added a reefed main and later shook out the reef.

I found that the boat sailed better and more comfortable with less sail. When I had too much sail up she really wanted to round up in gusts. A couple of times I had to reduce sail just to stay on course. There were times I could do 6 knots with just the jib.

It was still a pretty cool day. As you can see, I was bundled up in the cockpit.

We made it back to Rogues Harbor at about 4 PM. All in all a nice sail. I did find however why they warn you about Rogues Harbor. It is not protected from the wakes of power boaters out in the river. While we docked waiting to load onto the trailer we had waves that kept bouncing us against the pilings. I found that the rub rail on the Mac can take quite a bit of punishment.

Anyway, it was a real experience for us. We think now that we may trade up to a Mac26X. The added headroom would be handy cruising and the motor could get us out of trouble faster. When we were headed into the Harbor on that rough day I could see where we could broach on the following seas. With a little more power we could at least outrun the waves.