Underway again....Finally

This morning, at 7am we pulled awayy from the dock and headed south again, aiming for Deltaville, Virginia. 

The rain and wind had stopped and the clouds were clearing

The view from the cockpit, heading into the sun

The wind was 12 knots from the South-SouthEast and since we were heading south we could motor sail som of the way (the wind later shifted dead on the nose). I had the Jib out for a while, but as the wind shifted it became inefficient so I rolled that in and took out the main and staysail. That work until we turned into the wind after passing Smiith point, at the lower end of the junction of the Potomac and the Bay. As we crossed the Potomac (its an amazingly wide river) we encourntered large waves whiich are probablly due to the current from the river going against the wind...that part of the trip was not terribly comfortatible as the boat bounced all over the place,, but it kept moving, which was much appreciated. 

I spent much of the trip huddled under the dodger, keeping out of the wind, acting as llookout for the autopilot that was doing all the work of steering the boat.

After we passed Smith point

The Smiith Point Lighhouse

It calmed down a bit and the rest of the trip was uneventful. The trip took about 8 hours.

We decided to anchor in Little Bay, a small inlet around the point from the Rappahanck river. It is very pretty and except for our three boats (the Flotilla) it was empty.

Some views from my boat. The two other boats are anchored just behind me, between me and a small beach. Clouds will block the sunset, but you can get a sense of the beauty of the place..what you can't appreciate is the quiet and calm of this protected anchorage.

One small note...when it got bouncy crossing the mouth of the Potomac I decided it was time to tether myself to the boat. I had put in two sets of Jack Lines (Idon't know why they are called that), one set on either side of the cockpit and another set at each side deck

Here you see the tether which is attached to my livevest hooked to the line near the floor of the cockpit.

This is the Jackline that runs up one side of the deck, which I woulld hook to if I left the cockpit to venture forward (usually to fix something...I didn't do that today)

I'm going to enjoy the evening for a while, and then fix dinner...I've been eating welll!