Sail to Fishing Bay – Sailing at Last!

Many Fine Homes on a Bright, Sunny Day

The small craft advisory that was supposed to end last night was extended to 10 pm today! The forecast was for 15 to 20 kt winds with higher gusts and 2 to 3 foot, short, choppy seas. The saving grace was the direction of the winds, out of the northwest so with us heading south, it would be on our aft starboard quarter. We were tired of sitting around (temp was only 48!) so we headed out, small craft advisory or not. We had already learned that the winds in the anchorage had no relationship to the winds on the bay. Sure enough, as we headed out, the winds and waves started to build but they were manageable and we put up all the sails and turned off the motor for the first extended time since we left Poughkeepsie Yacht Club! It was so wonderful to sail for a change. We had winds gusting to 25 kts or so true, a wild ride.

Sunset at Fishing Bay

Once we turned the corner to head west into Fishing Bay, our anchorage for the night, things got a little rougher since winds and waves were on the nose. We were taking water over the dodger and bimini, not to mention over the bow. Things gradually quieted down as we neared the entrance and we were the first boat there but five others joined us later in the afternoon. The bay has a reputation for difficulty in setting an anchor but we had no problem. We saw three other boats making multiple attempts at getting their anchor to set.

Depending upon the weather, we may head directly for Hampton, VA tomorrow, a day earlier than our original plan, we’ll see. We’ll probably stay a few days to do laundry, get groceries and meet our technician to fix the A/C for heat output. After that, we’re four days out of Bill and Pat’s anchorage at Aurora, NC given good weather. Finally the ICW is coming!