Greetings from Deltaville. We left Norfolk, VA at 6AM this morning to at least get a jump up the Chesapeake. It was predicted to be 3-4' waves with 15-20k winds from the SE. There was no rain or thunderstorms on the horizon so we left with the navy ships leaving port after the Norfolk OPSAIL event.
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| Our navy escort out of Norfolk |
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| One of 8 ships in our escort!!! |
It took us 1.5 hours to get out of the river and head north into Chesapeake Bay. For the first few hours the waves were 3-4' following seas with winds sustained 15-17k. We were happy with no storms in sight and thought we would make 65nm to an anchorage.
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| 6 to 8ft following sea. |
By 10AM the winds picked up to 20-22k sustained, gusting to 25, and the waves increased to 4-6'. We were moving at 8-9mph so we were still happy at this point on autopilot. All of a sudden a really large wave hit us from behind making us roll violently to starboard. From that point on Peter decided to hand steer. The winds picked up and so did the seas. We have a 5' free board so we figure we were in 6-8' waves since they were well above the free board and the wind started gusting to 30k. So, Jane took out the charts and quickly figured a course to Deltaville. We arrived by 1:30 in the middle of a squall which reached 32+k and Peter docked brilliantly in 20k winds. Thank goodness we are way into shore and out of the wind. Below decks was a mess. We thought we had things stowed really well but now we know what else needs to be done!
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| Aftermath of our Chesapeake encounter with mother nature. |
Chris Parker's predictions mirror NOAA and it looks like we won't be able to move out of here until the weekend. The rates are good with our Boat US membership and it's quiet. Hopefully not too quiet! At least we are not in the middle of a swamp or forest at anchor. So here we sit for a bit!!
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