Sailing Happens

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Geo: 38.0294, -76.5811

We motored out of Solomon Island harbor around 7:15 am, and we immediately able to hoist the sails. We sailed out of The Patuxent River and into the Chesapeake Bay. The winds were between 12-16, with gusts to 25 knots, and the seas were 2-3 feet. We were making great speed across the Bay (between 6.5 and 7.5 knots), and sailed over to Hooper Island Light on the Eastern Shore. But....there is always a but.....when we jibed in 20+ winds, the mainsail clew cringle (where the bottom of the sail attaches to the boom) ripped right off the mainsail.

After some intense flapping of the sail and verbal expletives, we were able to get the mainsail furled back into the mast. But we then had to motor the rest of the way to the Potomac.

We decided to return to Port Kinsale Marina. This is the marina where we kept our catamaran 11 years ago. It did not appear that they had done much maintenance since we left. There was no one answering the VHF radio or the phone, but we went ahead and docked anyway. As we walked down the dock, there was a guy working on a boat in the marina. He asked if we needed help. I realized as we talked that he was the guy the managed the boat service yard for the 10 years that we kept our boat here, Jeff. He remembered the name of our boat, Paradis, without prompting. Crazy.

So, we will stay here tonight and continue the journey (by motor) tomorrow.

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Photos

So sad
This is representative of the state of the marina unfortunately.