No-vernight
(originally Overnight to Solomons...)
June 12-16, 2014

Day 1: The planned overnight sail to Solomons was modified due to some heavy weather on Thursday night and the crews decided that it was more prudent to hold off. Instead, the fleet of Aquila, Schatzi, Silent Running and Tenacity gathered at the mouth of Middle River at 06:00 on Friday to start our sail south. The sail started off with light winds (6kt) from the SE. By 10:00, most of the crews had barely made the southern point of Hart-Miller and started their engines. The fleet agreed that, due to forecasted storms in the afternoon, the days destination would be Annapolis, where we took mooring balls.The predicted storm hit us at 15:00 along with tornado warnings. Following the storm the crews went ashore to enjoy the town and have dinner at Pussers.

Day 2: Saturday morning brought Strong winds from the North and the fleet decided to head for the Corsica River. With reefed sails the ride north to the mouth of the Chester was a sleigh ride which was sometimes challenging. After making the turn at Love Point, we had the wind and seas at our back. The sail from there was pleasant. We were able to sail to the mouth of the Corsica with few tacks. We made our way back to Emory Creek, where we dropped anchor and created two 2 boat rafts for the night.Tenacity hosted the afternoon get together.

Day 3: The wind forecast for Sunday was 8-10kt from the NW. Unfortunately, the river was like glass when the fleet hauled anchor. There was a brief hope that the wind on the bay was as predicted, but after a very short sail, we motored to Swan Creek for the day. The fleet dwindled to Schatzi and Silent Running today. The calm waters allowed for many sightings of Cow Nosed Rays. After anchoring and rafting in Swan Creek, swimming, kayaking and some fishing filled the afternoon, followed by a very pleasant evening and a great sunset.

Day 4: The morning at anchor was beautiful and calm. The forecast was calling for very light winds from the SW. Unfortunately, they were correct and there was not enough to fly a spinnaker, so we motored back to Middle River to end the cruise.

Thanks to everyone that participated and made it a very enjoyable long weekend. We will try to accomplish the original itinerary at some point in the future.

Bill & Linda Ubelacker
S/V Silent Running