Sue and I finally departed on Sunday, following a surprise visit from our son and grandchildren on Sat. It turned out to our advantage as Sat winds were light and northerly and Sunday's forecast was southwesterlies and good SW and NW winds for the rest of the trip. We left Yorktown at 8am and sailed in 10-12kt SW winds across and out the Chesapeake with the tide crossing the bay bridge tunnel at about 1300, then turning north up the coast. We set the whisker pole and sailed NE up the coast wing-on-wing in 14-16kts of SW winds and building seas of 2-3ft. At 1700 we had our first thunderstorm roll through with winds to 30kts and light rain. We rolled in the gennie and put 2 reefs in the main in preparing for the storm. Other than a couple close lightning strikes and getting a little wet in our warm weather rain gear, it was no problem. Following the storm the wind kicked up and soon was 25kts gusting to 30, still from the SW. We still ran with the gennie poled out to windward with 2reefs in main and gennie. Making about 7-7.5kts. The ride was pretty wild sailing downwind in these conditions. The seas were up to 4-5ft with occasional higher trains. We were rolling 15-30deg either side of neutral or up 60deg at a time. All internals in the boat and the crew getting a good shaking up. Neither of us had taken any seasickness medicine as you never know which makes your feel worse, the medicine or the sea. The medicine bothers Sue more than me. Note to myself: take the medicine.
As night fell, things began to get interesting, as always. Around 2200 the new VHF DSC let out an ear piercing warning tone, automatically switching to the weather channel and announcing a severe thunderstorm warning: a squall line 30miles long, with nickle size hail and winds to 60kts! heading our way. I turned on the radar and could see the squall line coming over the bay and over the Eastern shore. It looked like most of it would pass in front of us. As we got closer I could see that most of it would pass in front, especially if we slowed down. We pulled in all sails and started motoring slowly on course, then I decided it would be an even better idea to turn 180deg and motor slowly away from the squall line. Nearly all the storms passed in front of us, until the last cell decided not to follow all the rest to the east but to head SE directly over our position. We were soon in a torrential downpour with lightning all around. I turned us back on course and we motored northerly as it was now shorter to exit this storm to the north. Two hours later we finally came out the northerly side, wet, cold, exhausted, miserable and definitely seasick. After the storm the forecast was for northwesterlies, but instead we still had very light SW winds and waves from all directions. We were a bobbing cork with no wind to stabilize the ride. Just what a seasick sailor hates. Sue and my appearance matched our dog Gennie who was making her first sea passage with us, and kept looking at us with her big lab eyes as if to say, "You guys have got to be crazy - you think this is fun?" We were now really wet, cold, tired and totally nauseas, three cold, wet puppies. I sent Sue below to get some sleep, adjusted the reefed sails as best I could (anticipating the strong NW winds forecasted) and we spent the next 4 hours rocking and rolling barely making 2-3kts to the north.
At 0500, the wind died completely and I started the motor waking Sue up. That was ok as it was her turn to come on watch and she could motor the boat northerly while I got some necessary sleep having not had any extended rest in 24hrs. We have the stbd settee set up with a lee cloth and it was the most luxurious bed I have ever gotten into. Pure heaven.
At 0800, I awoke feeling a different boat motion. The northwest winds had arrived. We set all 3 sails in 12kts of NW winds as sailed on course at 5-6kts. The sun was out, the cockpit was drying out and things were looking up - but we were still both a bit seasick. The sun really makes a difference though. At 1200, the wind died, so we cranked up the engine again. At 1400, the engine started losing rpms. I checked the Racor which was fine, but we were still dropping rpms. I changed the secondary filter on the engine, and problem solved. We were off and running again.
The forecast was for NW winds at 20. We had West winds at 4-6. At 1900, the NW winds finally arrived, quickly gusting to 20kts. We put two reefs in the main, 1 reef in genoa and zipped along on course. As darkness set in, the wind slowly eased to 12-14kts and our speed dropped to 3-4kts. We were severely undercanvased, and I kept thinking about letting some sail out, but reminded myself that I did not want to be reefing by myself in the middle of the night when the stronger forecasted winds arrived... so we carried on at 4kts. At 2200, the strong winds arrived going to 22-24 with gusts to 30. We were in good shape with 2 deep reefs in the main. I put out the staysail and put 3 reefs in the genny and we had a good balanced sailplan, sailing at about 6kts during the night. The winds stayed at 20+ all night long and we made good progress to the northeast, but the ride was rough as the waves built to 4-5ft. Our dog, Gennie, was not having a good time of it...scared on her first passage of the noise, the rocking, the banging, and besides, she had not gone to the bathroom in over 36hrs. She laid on the cockpit seat with her harness and tether on, just like her crewmates, and was ok as long as her companions were with her.
Tues morning brought bright sunshine again, winds down to 13-15 from the NW, and we zipped along on a beam reach with all 3 sails out fully deployed, making 6.5kts. The nausea was nearly gone, the sailing was perfect (other than 4-5ft bouncy conditions) and we were making good progress on course. These near perfect conditions lasted till noon, then the wind started backing around to the west (as correctly forecasted for the first time). By 1400, we were back to downwind sailing, so we redeployed the whisker pole. We sailed all afternoon and all night with light westerly winds off port quarter. The best news is Gennie finally let her bladder go this afternoon with our urging and is now resting peacefully with a smile on her face. She'll make a good seadog yet.
Yes, sailing has its scary and uncomfortable times, but its amazing how great it feels when the sun comes out and starts raising spirits. And when the beam reach kicks in with easy seas.... just great.
