Sail Nineteen - Dad & Jonathan, Three Days on the York River - May 11-13, 2002

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I planned to repeat a trip that I had enjoyed very much. I was really looking forward to showing Queens Creek to Dad. It is a beautiful creek with lots of Ospreys. I brought my video camera with me on this trip because I wanted to record the beautiful cry that the Ospreys make.

We got a late start because that morning I had to play master of ceremonies at Shane Cubbage's Eagle ceremony. We didn't leave the house until about 1 PM and didn't arrive at York River State park until about 2:15 PM and didn't cast off from the dock until about 4PM. Unfortunately we didn't have good weather. The winds were quite high and I elected to motor to Queens Creek because the tide was against us, high wind and getting a late start. We estimated that at times the sea were 5 feet. The York is notorious for being rough because the wind just runs the full length of the river and the waves just build and build. It was low tide when we left and we had to take the rudder back off. I've decided that I really not that fond of this boat ramp since it is not deep and is not protected from wind or seas. Considering the number of times I used this ramp, I've had too many interesting moments getting in and out of the dock.

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Here we are at the entrance to Queens Creek. It was nice to get into the calm water.

 

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We went past the area so that we wouldn't have any traffic from it disturbing us while we were at anchor.

 

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Saturday's track

On Sunday the winds changed to South Westerly, which was mostly across the river. Even though the winds were on average 10 knots and gusting to 18 knots, the river was much more comfortable because the waves couldn't build. With the same winds the seas were one to two feet versus the three to five feet on Saturday. We thought about cutting the trip short due to bad weather, but I didn't want to dock at the unprotected York River State Park boat ramp at low tide in high winds.
On Sunday, we decided to just fish and go down to the Coleman Bridge. The York is a strange river. At the bridge depths were running 70 feet almost up to the shore. Where the river is deep it is pretty deep - usually 50 to 60 feet which is quite a bit deeper than the James River's normal depth. But, out of the channel it shoals quite quickly and you really can't sail close to shore in most places. Also, you had to keep a pretty good eye on the chart because there were lots of shoal area that were marked one to three feet deep.

 

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Sunday's Track

 

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We had a double reef in the main and the jib was only partially deployed. Still there were quite a few times when the wind healed us over pretty good. This was just the right amount of sail. We average 6 mph the whole way on this sail.

 

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A pretty shot of my sails. Look how tight they are even though they are pretty much eased out all the way - definitely a brisk wind.

 

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Monday's Track
This was a nice trip. But, not enough sailing time. I got some very nice video of the Ospreys (one shot of an Osprey catching a fish) and their nests. However, I've decided that I'm not that fond of the characteristics of the York River. Even though the river and surrounding area is very pretty, I prefer the James River. I'm starting to plan a trip on the Rappahannock - which has a reputation as a wonderful cruising river. I'm definitely looking forward to it.

 
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