On this sail I wanted to do my first open bay sailing. I got a fairly late start and didn't get on the water until 9 AM. I wanted to position the boat for some pleasant sailing (that is, not beating against the current without making any progress). So I motored for three hours past the Hampton Roads Bay Bridge tunnel past Hampton towards the Poquoson River. I was hoping to make the river but decided here was a good place to stop and put up the sails. After getting the sails up of course the wind died. I took down my lapper jib and put up my 150% Genoa in anticipation of some light air sailing. The wind was a spotty 3 to 5 mph for about an hour. This was actually fun because there was a 2 masted ketch nearby that I was able to out sail the other boat. This is unusual for me, usually everyone just runs right by me - so this was fun for a change. I guess my boat does better pretty well in light air.
Then the wind started to pick up to a brisk 10-15 mph (the radio said 12 knots). At this point I was getting a brisk and exciting sail. I was doing 5 to 7 mph the whole way. This was very enjoyable but since I was by myself, I wasn't able to take my hands off the tiller or do other things, which seemed to make things pretty hectic. As soon as I would try to do something the boat would try to do something sneaky or some rogue swell would surprise me. The bow was frequently crashing into swells and sending out a nice spray. At this point I would have preferred my smaller jib but since I wasn't trying to point into the wind I decided to leave things alone. In fact or the route back I did quite a bit of wing and wing sailing. This was the fastest I've ever gone this way because I was doing 6 mph wing and wing! It was really nice because I was going with the tide and the swells were pushing me a long. At this point seas were between 1 and 2 feet.
On the way back when I rounded the Hampton roads bridge tunnel winds were brisk and I guess I hit some kind of a current around the bridge island; but my GPS said that I was doing 9.2 mph! Incredible, my max boat speed is around 7 mph through the water and I was on a broad reach so I don't think I was doing more than 5.5 mph through the water. So, the current must have been close to 4 mph. Very unusual since tides usually run a little less than 2 mph. That was exciting.
At this point clouds welled up and I could see lightning in the distance. The wind was shifting all around. I was planning on sailing the final leg back but it was 7 PM and raining and I still had 4 miles to go, so I decided to take the sails down and motor back. I was just off Craney Island when I started motoring back. I got the boat docked at about 8:30 pm just as it was starting to get dark. This was a very enjoyable and exciting ten hours on the water! And it showed me that open bay sailing was nothing to be afraid of as long as the weather is ok.
I had thought that the submarine piers were no longer being used. But today there were four submarines at the pier. Here are three of them.
Here is a piece of drift wood that I fished out of the water. It is now in my garden back home.
The channel was pretty deep near Fort Monroe.
Caviler Hotel in Hampton
Fort Monroe
Housing on Fort Monroe
Another house of Fort Monroe.
Fort Monroe fixed fortifications.
Thimble Shoals Light
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