We're Not Outrunning Winter

Originally posted at www.svsweetescape.com

On Friday we arrived at St. Michaels with temperatures in the 80‘s and bright sunshine.  As reported in a previous post we anchored there despite some misgivings about the amount of exposure we had to the north and east.  The weather was supposed to turn so we added extra scope to our anchor rode.  

We put the dinghy in the water and went into town.  After the diesel clean up, and a few days earlier a large bird with a digestion problem blessing our new dinghy, we were badly in need of a laundromat. 

We’re not sure if it was because we had just left Annapolis or maybe we’re just hard to please, but we found St. Michaels, well - a little lacking.  We went to both of the town information centers twice and could never find anyone.  What we did find out was the only laundromat in town had closed for good.  We thought the town was crowded and we were not even at the height of the tourism season.  St. Michaels does have a very nice museum, restaurants, and shops.

So after a quick trip to the dinghy dock, we hunkered down on the boat waiting for the weather to pass.  They were predicting a cold front to come through and with it rain and high winds and temperatures at night into the low 40’s. More boats showed up and anchored around us and at one point we counted twelve boats in the anchorage.

The change in weather came as predicted, with the winds of course stronger than forecast.  We have learned that if they say gusts to 25 you should plan on gusts to 35.  It always seems to work out that way and so it was on Saturday night.  Needless to say sleep was a rare commodity as we posted an anchor watch overnight.  But really, with Sweet Escape hobby horsing on her anchor chain and the wind howling through the rigging, who could sleep anyway?   At one point in the middle of the night one of the boats behind us decided to move making a lot of noise with his windlass and coming very close to our boat in the process.  This immediately puts you on alert “Why is he moving at 3 AM?”  “Are we dragging?”  “Is someone else dragging?”  We knew we weren’t dragging - but having so many other boats around us makes us nervous.

On Sunday after sunrise the winds calmed down. It was a dreary, cloudy day and a great day to sleep late and too cold to go into town.  So during the gloomy day we listened to the equally gloomy Packer game, cooked some food and kept the boat as warm as we could as the temperature continued to drop.

Boats are always coming and going in the anchorage and just before sunset a few more were trying to anchor.  These included a gorgeous triple deck motor yacht that had to be at least 80 feet long.  Before going to bed we ran the generator to top off the house batteries and watched the weather on TV.

At about 1 AM it started all over again - unpredicted this time - with the wind and waves.  So we are half asleep again, but not as nervous as the night before because we are confident that our anchor is holding.

All of a sudden at about 4:00 AM we heard multiple boat horns going off. We jumped out of bed, turned on the VHF radio and heard a guy pleading for someone to get up.   It is very dark and windy outside but we can see the giant motor yacht dragging toward two sailboats as people on the boats are scrambling around, flashlights flashing, boat horns sounding.  Other boats are preparing to move lest the motor yacht drag down on them as well.   It did not seem like a moment too soon when the motor yacht finally came to life and moved out from the anchorage and dropped the hook a safe distance away.  At this point, we are wide awake and have declared St. Michael’s anchorage on our top 10 worst anchorage list.  We waited for sunrise and got the heck out of Dodge, the earliest we have ever gotten underway. 

One thing is for sure - we are not outrunning winter.   It was cold and windy in the cockpit, as cold as the day we first sea trialed Sweet Escape back in April.  We went south some 50 miles in these conditions to Solomons Maryland on the Patuxant River.

  

To read about our two day stay there - loyal readers must patiently await the next installment of the Journey of the Good Ship Sweet Escape.