A Day and a Night on the East River

Autumn is in the air and the NOAA forecast a cold front on its way to the Chesapeake. I picked up Annie at Winter Harbor and headed for Put In Creek on the nearby East River. It seemed prudent with no local knowledge to stay in an area with a plenty of protected north shore coves instead of the more vulnerable Rappahannock River. It had already picked up from the SW ahead of the front as I launched at the county ramp. It always makes for  slow put-in when singlehanded and the wind is blowing into the launch slip. Extra line here and there and a bit of head scratching.

We explored the ins and outs of the river and made way into the northern end of Mobjack Bay. Late in the afternoon we headed back north and stopped in at the small Compass Marina at the village of Mobjack. I tied up for a short time and nice folks gave me directions to an anchorage further back upriver. The front passed without an appreciable increase in wind but the temperature steadily dropped. At sundown I dropped anchor, snapped these pictures and readied for the night.

It rained in the night. I awoke and sailed in the morning gray. More rain, colder. The sails started to dry and I decided to hauled out. As I was within ten minutes of being packed, it poured. Everything soaked and cold.

Annie is back at Winter Harbor under wraps and I am drying out canvas in the basement in Richmond. It is great to be in 'the sailin' way' again.