2010 Sailstice Cruise - June 19th

Been working very hard on the Boat and her sister for the past few weeks, and needed a break. I had to go it alone as Brigite was in Western VA at a weekend away.

I took the morning off, packed a steak, salad, cooked rice and a tomato, and headed East!

Did some work on the boat, with the help of Lee from Sea Dog, the 24 foot fishing boat beside us. The work was supposed to take about an hour, but ended up taking 3 - such seems to be the way working on boats, actual time = expected time * 3.

I wanted to test the rig tension and the #3 sail, and it seemed there was enough wind for that, out of the SSE forecast at 9kn, but actually more like 16 with gusts to 20kn, especially out in the East just past the protection of shore.

So off I went with the autopilot working perfectly, after my repairs to the broken gear. It was a reach out and another boat left just after me, and I believe it was Butch in Schock Full O Nutz, they caught me at the Bridge Tunnel (BT), and then reached off.

I wanted to go up to Cape Henry, and around the Tanker anchorage, as I have wanted to sail out there for a long time, and the wind direction was perfect. The Tankers are very cool, they are like resting giants, massive and reminders how powerful the ocean is. Why? Because these things are soo massive that they look like they are invincible, but still out on the oceans of the World they take beatings, and to me that demonstrates the power of the Oceans and is a reminder that they can never be underestimated.

Ok, so back to the sail, sailed up and around the tankers, to the furthest out ship then tacked back towards the beach up at Cape Henry. That area is a military base and Restricted (Out of Bounds), and there were boats doing training missions there, and I sailed right through it. I hoped they were not authorized to use live fire on intruders!!!

Then I sailed up towards Lynnhaven, as the sun started to set. I bore off to a run and towards the BT, put up the chute (busy work when single handed), lit the BBQ and enjoyed the sunset.

Got to 1st Island as darkness set in, dropped the chute while there was still some light, sailed close hauled the 4.5 nm towards Little Creek. Cooked my steaks on the way and enjoyed them as I sailed along.

Entered the Cut just after 10, and was on my way cycling home at 11pm. A 20 nm sail taking 4hrs.