A Bridge Far Enough

For out first cruising night on the hook we went about as far up the Magothy River as we could and ended up the only boat anchored up in a perfect little bay. For our second night we are on Back Creek Annapolis. Now I have no way of knowing for sure (being less than 2 days a cruiser) but this just might be as busy a sailboat place as any in the world. Getting anywhere near here meant dodging several packs of racing boat (something I didn't do very well) and more sailboats than I have ever seen in one place.. Once in Back Creek we crept along trying to figure out just where to park; picked a spot, dropped the hook, didn't like it, picked the hook back up, and picked a much better spot. (We did the same thing last night. Picking a spot to drop the hook takes some practice.) Now we sit watching a parade of boats pass fore and aft of us, motor around each other, stop, dance about each other, and back between piers. Welcome to boating central. And somehow, though the two places are about as different as two anchorages can be; we have been equally thrilled with each. 

Today's sail was as perfect as they get. Last night's bit of rain backed the wind around to the west. This morning, flying just the head sail, we rode a following wind nearly straight down the river while at nearly 6 knots. Deb was on the helm and did (if I do say so myself) and expert job of jybing us though the narrow cut back into the bay. From there we picked up a beam reach, decided the main would be superfluous in the nearly 20 knots of wind, and headed south.

Lake Carlyle is a bit more than 6 miles long from Boulder to the dam. I have been joking that my cruising life wouldn't really start until Kintala had carried us more than 6 miles away from the place we had been that morning. As it turns out the Chesapeake Bay Bridge is close enough to 6 miles away from the head of the Magothy river to count. Deb had, in her own mind, set the Bridge as a kind of border, a place where an old life ended and a new life started. So we were both all smiles as Kintala slipped under the twin spans.

We have sailed about 50 miles so far, and are now just over 10 miles south of where we were two days ago. With the wind forecast to be in our face again tomorrow we may just take a couple of days to catch up on a few projects (this is still Kintala after all) buy some parts, and bask in the fact that we are, in fact, “out here”. We're not very far “out here”, but we are a lot further then we were back in IL.