Day 5: November 20, 2008

Port: Solomon’s Island (38.33N/76.43W)

Weather: Today’s weather predicted a small craft advisory. Winds were up to 23 mph with gusts of 30 mph coming out of the west. The humidity was 51%. The high for today was 54 degrees F with a low of 33 degrees F. There were scattered clouds with some sun occasionally peaking through.

Today was the day! We had checked the weather while doing laundry and found that the weather was supposed to be great for today! As you can see above, the weather wasn’t quite what they had told us it would be yesterday. We were expecting sunny skies and light winds. We left dock at about 845, a little later than planned, but quietly motored out. We had thought of maybe honking the horn and flying full colors, but decided to head out quietly, waving to the dock hands as we passed. The air was chilly and a small breeze was picking up. The excitement was almost more than, at least I, could contain. We were finally leaving! We started out motoring, adding a couple of sails later for balance and a boost in speed. Taking turns at the helm, we cruised down the bay towards Solomon’s, running alongside a barge and tug for quite some time. We passed Right Nut and Foolish Pleasure, fishing boats based out of HHN, as they rocked in the increasing swells. Midday, the wind had picked up to the mid 20’s and the white caps increased in size. It started to get a little more exciting onboard. We got her up to 8.07 knots (my record) and then to 8.16 knots (Dad creamed my record)! Coming around Drum Point and into the Patuxent River, we took down our sails. With 30 mph gusts, it was extremely difficult to take down the foresail, which has no boom to rest the sail on and therefore free hangs and blows. As if that weren’t difficult already, we also had to keep the sail from blowing onto the heater exhaust pipe. We motored the rest of the way in towards Solomon’s. We rounded the small island and were able to grab a T-dock at Solomon’s Yachting Center, thankful to be done for the day. We docked around 1415 this afternoon. The trip was about 33 nautical miles and about 6 hours 15 minutes long. That weather was not what we had expected or what had been predicted, but overall we did very well! Thaleia is so sturdy and makes for a nice ride even in high winds.

For those who have not been, Solomon’s is a beautiful place. The homes that line the river are astounding and the Naval Base provides some exciting sights, as jets and helicopters zoom around. Immediately after docking, we jumped off the boat and started walking around the small town. It was just beautiful. We discovered that it is an old, historic oyster town. The JC Lore and Sons Oyster House sits on their main street, having shipped oysters, crab, and fish from as early as 1888. Eventually, we found a small dive and slipped in for a beer and some wonderful crab dip.

Overall, today was exciting and monumental! We high-fived at our accomplishment! We’ve done it. We’re going south!!!

Good weather and happy sailing!