Cruising: Day 1!

(ed note: this was actually Tim's post but he put it in my computer because his was dead)

At 0953 this morning the last line was tossed. Kintala ghosted out from between the pilings and turned her bow toward the Chesapeake Bay. Six hours and 36 minutes later her anchor settled into the bottom far up the Magothy River. (39 5.600 N by 76 31.871 W if you care.) We were hard on the wind most of the day, beating south against a WSW wind that pushed 20 kts apparent. With a single reef in the main and the head sail rolled up some, Kintala flew; spending most of the day dancing with the Chesapeake at better than 8 kts. According to the GPS we covered exactly 3.3 miles as the crow flies. Not a misprint – it is 3.3 miles between Oak Harbor marina and where we sit.


But the fact is Kintala is not a crow. (Witch maybe, but not a crow.) To get here we sailed most of the way across the bay, angled back, tacked back out to clear the shallows, then coasted up the river with the wind behind us flying just the head sail, covering some 30 miles over the water.

Sailboat drivers should never get in a hurry.


We had planned on making it past the bridge today but, this being our first day out and with the wind in our face it was, quite literally, a bridge too far. That's okay though; where ever we are at the end of an given day is home.


If I was totally honest I could regale you with tales of how many mistakes one makes after spending close to three months on the hard. But I'm not going to be that honest today. We got going, we sailed in some fun weather, and we made the right decisions to work our way out of the minor glitches we had worked our way into. Now here we sit; a bit tired, content, and secure on the hook for the night. What we do tomorrow is yet to be determined.