‘WEATHER’ ON THE CHESAPEAKE
Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, Wednesday, 04 June 2008
I think we experienced more ‘weather’ in four days on Chesapeake Bay than we have in over six years of cruising down the Pacific Coast from British Columbia and Alaska to Ecuador and Panamá.
Kathleen’s younger brother, John, was bringing his 39-foot Pearson sailboat up the Intra Coastal Waterway from Florida. Aboard for the trip were his parents as well as his girlfriend, Katie. They arrived at the ‘Eastern Shore’ south of Salisbury, MD, last Monday. The plan was for Kathleen and me along with our three kids, Andrew, Antonia and William, to take their place aboard S/V Naima for the remaining four days up to Annapolis and Baltimore.
The night before leaving we had had a severe thunderstorm with heavy rain and more was promised for the day of departure. But, as we put out, the sky was simply sunny and hazy. Since there was so little wind we were forced to motor or motorsail. We had already selected a sheltered spot to head for in case storms came up.
Sure enough, by late afternoon, the skies all around us were looking very dark. Far away to the NW we saw black line squalls moving east accompanied by lots of thunder and lightening. We had the anchor down in ten feet of water by about 1800 (everything seems to be about ten feet deep in the Chesapeake except for the main ship channels, which appear to be in excess of thirty feet deep). We also took a playful swim off the swim deck astern to cool down from the heat and humidity of the afternoon, and had an evening meal.
About dark however, we were being surrounded by low, dark clouds. Soon, large drops of rain were spattering on the sunroof over the centre cockpit. Since it was already 2100 and we were all tired from a day in the sunshine, we turned in. We had hardly closed the hatches and fallen into bed when the boat was hit by an extra-strong gust of wind that heeled us over sharply at anchor. It came at us from the open end of the bay where we had thought to find shelter. After this first storm ambassador a mighty shaft of lightening streaked low across the boat followed by repeated and deafening cracks of thunder. Our hair seemed to be standing on end from the electrical charge. Everyone was silently wondering if the anchor was going to hold as the boat leaned to starboard.
For an hour we were alternately entertained and frightened by lightening, thunder and heavy rain. At one point the lightening was continuous for minutes at a time like a fluorescent bulb flickering. The waters of the little bay were whipped up into whitecaps though only a foot or so high. Eventually the wind declined in velocity. But the lightening and thunder continued.
We talked amongst ourselves about what to do if the boat was hit and sank. In this wind it would have been nearly impossible to get into the trailing dinghy and hope not to be capsized ourselves. I comforted myself by saying that, in eight or ten feet of water, we could probably still sit in the cockpit if the boat was sitting on the sandy bottom.
Once it was clear that the anchor was going to hold however, and after the first shock of wind and electricity had passed, we began to become more sanguine about our situation and the noise. Eventually we even fell asleep even with the remnants of the storm still showing off above us.
The next morning, the skies were blue again. We pulled up the anchor and started off again towards Baltimore.
Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, Wednesday, 04 June 2008
I think we experienced more ‘weather’ in four days on Chesapeake Bay than we have in over six years of cruising down the Pacific Coast from British Columbia and Alaska to Ecuador and Panamá.
Kathleen’s younger brother, John, was bringing his 39-foot Pearson sailboat up the Intra Coastal Waterway from Florida. Aboard for the trip were his parents as well as his girlfriend, Katie. They arrived at the ‘Eastern Shore’ south of Salisbury, MD, last Monday. The plan was for Kathleen and me along with our three kids, Andrew, Antonia and William, to take their place aboard S/V Naima for the remaining four days up to Annapolis and Baltimore.
The night before leaving we had had a severe thunderstorm with heavy rain and more was promised for the day of departure. But, as we put out, the sky was simply sunny and hazy. Since there was so little wind we were forced to motor or motorsail. We had already selected a sheltered spot to head for in case storms came up.
Sure enough, by late afternoon, the skies all around us were looking very dark. Far away to the NW we saw black line squalls moving east accompanied by lots of thunder and lightening. We had the anchor down in ten feet of water by about 1800 (everything seems to be about ten feet deep in the Chesapeake except for the main ship channels, which appear to be in excess of thirty feet deep). We also took a playful swim off the swim deck astern to cool down from the heat and humidity of the afternoon, and had an evening meal.
About dark however, we were being surrounded by low, dark clouds. Soon, large drops of rain were spattering on the sunroof over the centre cockpit. Since it was already 2100 and we were all tired from a day in the sunshine, we turned in. We had hardly closed the hatches and fallen into bed when the boat was hit by an extra-strong gust of wind that heeled us over sharply at anchor. It came at us from the open end of the bay where we had thought to find shelter. After this first storm ambassador a mighty shaft of lightening streaked low across the boat followed by repeated and deafening cracks of thunder. Our hair seemed to be standing on end from the electrical charge. Everyone was silently wondering if the anchor was going to hold as the boat leaned to starboard.
For an hour we were alternately entertained and frightened by lightening, thunder and heavy rain. At one point the lightening was continuous for minutes at a time like a fluorescent bulb flickering. The waters of the little bay were whipped up into whitecaps though only a foot or so high. Eventually the wind declined in velocity. But the lightening and thunder continued.
We talked amongst ourselves about what to do if the boat was hit and sank. In this wind it would have been nearly impossible to get into the trailing dinghy and hope not to be capsized ourselves. I comforted myself by saying that, in eight or ten feet of water, we could probably still sit in the cockpit if the boat was sitting on the sandy bottom.
Once it was clear that the anchor was going to hold however, and after the first shock of wind and electricity had passed, we began to become more sanguine about our situation and the noise. Eventually we even fell asleep even with the remnants of the storm still showing off above us.
The next morning, the skies were blue again. We pulled up the anchor and started off again towards Baltimore.
posted by rjb @ Monday, June 16, 2008
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