Coming Home

We left Bermuda around noon on Thursday, May 29th under blue skies and fair winds.  Although the winds quickly started to come from the west (once again the general direction we wanted to head), we were able to sail close-hauled and make some good miles for the first day and a half. By dinner time on Saturday, May 31st, the southwesterly wind was increasing (17-20 knots) and the sea swell was increasing from 2 to 3 meters.  No big deal. 

But by midnight June 1st, the winds were up to 27 knots and we were seeing sheet lightening in the distance.  We had 3 reefs in our main and our genoa sails as we entered heavy squalls.  It was quite a bumpy ride.  Sometime around 5 in the morning we lost our instruments (no wind readings, no speed through the water and no depth soundings) and in daylight we discovered that another batten had torn out of its pocket on our main sail.  :(  We had another two days of sailing ahead of us and could only use our main sail from the third reefing point.

Once we'd passed out of the bad weather, we lost our wind and we only made 65 nautical miles in the next 24 hours.  The highlight that day was seeing an F-18 flying low by our starboard side. The pilot dipped his wing off our bow and then took off in a vertical climb and went out of sight.  It was cool.

By midnight Tuesday, June 3rd, we could see the loom of light from Norfolk and I knew we were almost in the Chesapeake Bay--my nautical home.  Once in the Chesapeake Bay, it took us another 18 hours to get to Annapolis.  And just to be consistent with the rest of the trip, we were not out of the dark yet. We had two night watches of dealing with the shipping traffic coming into and out of Norfolk, Virginia and Baltimore, Maryland.  That evening, just as we passed the mouth of the Potomac River, the US Coast Guard warned all ships of imminent severe weather and said to seek safe harbor.  Winds were forecasted for 60 knots and hail and severe lighting were predicted for our location.  Larry ordered all to be in foul weather gear, with life jackets and tethers on.  While we had scattered squalls, the worst predictions did not occur around us.  We later heard that there were isolated tornados in the region, but we were OK.  (The 60 knot winds, hail and thunderstorms  came the next day, though, once we were safe in the marina.)

So were motored into Annapolis at 6 AM on Wednesday, June 4.  We were tired and it had been a long journey.  The boat still needed cleaning and there many repairs to tend to, but it was really good to finally be home.