As Capt. Nat Said," Gentlemen Never Go To Weather!":

SHIP'S LOG:

With apologies to Capt. Nat, sometimes going to weather is unavoidable, like today for example. I made a cardinal mistake in boating, trying to run to a schedule. After all, the most inefficient way to get anywhere is by boat and the most inefficient boat is a sailboat. But I wanted to be in Yorktown on Sunday night to meet with friends and so I figured that going to Mobjack Bay was doable and then Yorktown would be a snap.

I motored out of Anti-poison Creek and Little Bay and up went the sails and and off I went on a reach. Wonderful! Cleared Little Bay and hardened up to close hauled and was flying again. Outstanding!! It was a grand sail. There were 2-3 foot waves, with an occasional 4 footer that if hit right, put water on the deck. Otherwise, ABISHAG just went through them with little muss of fuss and little loss of speed. Weighing 11 tons, she develops a lot of kinetic energy and it takes quite a bit to slow here down. It started off chilly ( we had a frost warning last night !) but it warmed through the day and got up into the low 70's. It was almost like a June day back home.The angle of the sun produced some incredible glare off the water and it was a good things someone invented polarized lenses for sunglasses. There were a number of sailboats headed south along the same general route and while we were all cruisers, there was a little informal racing that took place for awhile.

At WOLF TRAP Light, those going south continued to sail while those of us headed into Mobjack Bay for the evening took the wind on the nose and it meant down with sails and on with the motor. The angle was such that you could not even motor sail into Mobjack By. It was motor or continue south and since my standard rule is anchor down by 4pm, it was motoring time. Several miles up the Bay on the north side is the East River. Up it a couple of miles is a wonderful stretch of quiet water and it was there I dropped my hook. Before I had finished with all of my anchoring procedures, two more boats showed up to join me in anchoring in this lovely spot. I spent about 20 minutes fixing the main which had jammed on its furler which it does from time to time and then made supper. The couples from the other two boats got together and proceeded to get in the bag. For four(4) people, they sure made one hell of a lot of noise. Trust me, nobody is that funny. When they finally bid each other adieu, they exchanged "Websites," all I have is a blog! I supposed that I could have gone over and crashed the social gathering, but alas, my dinghy is still in need of repair and "don't float." I am hoping that I can get a large enough vinyl patch to so the trick in Yorktown.

Someone asked how the fuel gauge is working. Evidently too well. It seems to accurate read the fuel amount, unfortunately it can do nothing to prevent the amount of fuel in the boat from decreasing!

From Yorktown to Hampton Roads, and the start of the ICW is a day, two if I really drag it. There is no reason to rush but there is also no reason to delay either. I will get there when I get there. Very philosophical!