Little Bay behind Fleets Island VA

Leaving Stutts Creek, Glittra and Twin Cove still at anchor

With the Mathews Yacht Club dinner, over it was time to turn our attention to ‘Jamie’s Cruise in Company’, which was planned to run from Friday 25 to Sunday 27 October.  The weather forecast had very light winds which wasn’t looking great for sailing, and lots of rain forecast for the Sunday, so the previous evening Jamie had set the first anchorage as Little Bay just 10 miles directly north of us.  We hauled our anchor up in Stutts Creek at 0845hrs and started motoring towards the swing bridge which again we were timing to transit with minimal tidal flow but also with enough water in the shallow channel to comfortably get there.

We were treated to a low flypast by a
USMC CH53 on our way to the swing bridge

As we left Stutts Creek we passed Twin Cove.  One of the boats on Jamie’s cruise.  Why Jamie’s Cruise?  It’s a long-standing autumn weekend event for the crews of Dragon Run, Ithaka, Anna Lee and Kittywake, a final sailing fling before winter arrives and the boats need hauling out.  But now Kittywake has been replaced by Twin Cove and George and Frances had invited Bill and Lydia aboard to sample the delights of life on a motor yacht.  We had been asked to join the event, perhaps to make up the sailing numbers or perhaps to introduce a novel international flair to proceedings.  Either way, we were delighted to spend time with friends and it was clear that it would be a very civilised cruise in company: the plan was for us all meet up on Twin Cove each evening for drinks and dinner which we would take turns cooking.

Think Twice also on the move

We weren’t the only ones on the move; Swedish yachts Think Twice and Glittra followed us out so we slowed down a bit so that we could all go through the bridge in one opening.

The Gwynn Island Narrows swing bridge

The 3 yachts made it through the swing bridge at 0945 and then continued out into the bay.  At the entrance to the Piankatank River Think Twice and Glittra turned south towards Norfolk whilst we turned north towards Windmill Point.  Having to motor for a few hours to get to Little Bay was actually quite helpful for us.  We had added more grease to the Aquadrive CV joints and the passage would allow us to monitor the vibration.  All seemed fine for the first hour but as the joints warmed up we could faintly hear the tell-tale vibration again.  We decided to add some more grease to the joints when we anchored but also wrote an email to Aquadrive USA to clarify our options for ordering a new one.

Fish traps in the middle of the channel into Little Bay.  The fishermen probably don’t like it but all the fishtraps in this area had large flocks of seabirds roosting on them

Once we were past the shallows off Windmill Point we followed the coastline around Fleets Island to enter Little Bay from the north.  We had seen warnings of fish traps in several places in Chesapeake Bay, often in the shallows to the side of the main channel.  The approach to Little Bay was the first time that we had seen fish traps right in the middle of the channel and given that they are unlit, it was just as well that we hadn’t come across them in poor visibility or at night.

View across Little Bay from the sand spit

The anchorage Jamie had picked is a lovely spot tucked in behind a sandy spit of land sticking out from Fleets Island.  It’s apparently very popular in the summer and we can quite understand why.  There were already 2 yachts at anchor [Ed: not part of our group] and we were joined very shortly after our arrival by the rest of Jamie’s group, Doug and Alison on Ithaka, Jamie on Anna Lee and Twin Cove with George, Francis, Bill and Lydia on board.  There was also an unexpected arrival of Lionel and Elsie on Ruby Tuesday, which was pleasant surprise, and they joined us on Twin Cove for drinks later on.

More fish trap nets and stakes stretching out into the approach channel 

We packed the Aquadrive CV joints with a bit more grease and then launched our dinghy to go ashore for a walk.  Meanwhile George, Francis, Bill and Lydia shot off at high speed into Antipoison Creek in Twin Cove’s RiB; we knew not why.

George hard at work shucking and sampling the oysters

When we all assembled on Twin Cove for cocktails later, we discovered that their explore of Antipoison Creek had had an unexpected bonus.  They had chatted to some guys on a dock enjoying an oyster and beer party and ended up being gifted a large box of oysters.  George returned the favour with a bottle of whisky and then, once back aboard Twin Cove, set about washing and shucking the haul.  It was a lovely addition to our pre-dinner cocktails and there were so many oysters in the bucket that we had oysters with our pre-dinner drinks for each night of the cruise.

Back row left to right:  George, Doug, Elsie, Frances, Lionel and Jamie.
Front row left to right:  Nicky, Lydia, Alison and Bill

The oysters were delicious but there had been no need to buy them as between us we had entirely over-catered for this mini cruise in company.  Saturday’s evenings delights involved a mountain of pre-dinner nibbles [Ed: to accompany the oysters?  Or vice versa?] organised by Alison, Doug and Jamie followed by a fabulous pheasant casserole made by Lydia with the booty from one of Bill’s hunting trips.  As if that were not enough, there were Lydia’s chocolate brownies to finish with and, as a digestif, a selection of different whiskies and whiskeys.  It was a very full crew that returned to BV late in the evening wishing we had walked further and faster earlier in the day to ‘earn’ such a fat-boy, but delicious, meal.

Sunset over Little Bay

Little Bay behind Fleets Island, Virginia, USA

Mathews Yacht Club Stutts Creek VA USA

Fishing Bay at first light

Our 0830hrs departure from Fishing Bay, it would seem, was late by local standards; of the 29 yachts anchored the previous evening, many had thinned out well before we raised our anchor.

Looking across Fishing Bay towards the bridge entrance to Stutts Creek

But then we only had an 8½ mile passage planned to get us across the bay and into Stutts Creek.  The golden morning light and mirror like sea made for a glorious departure.

Gwynn Island Narrows

Three miles south of our overnight anchorage we picked up the channel markers and followed them around to the left to reveal the Gwynn Island Narrows swing bridge.

Our pilot book states that the swing bridge operates 24hrs a day and opens on demand, which seems to be an exceptional service but, sure enough, a quick radio call as we approached prompted the road traffic to be stopped and the bridge to swing into the open position for our transit.

We had planned our departure so that we would transiting the narrows close to high water to minimise any current flow.  There might have been a bit of current against us but nothing of significance, so the plan worked.

Once through the bridge we followed the channel around to the right…

The other entrance to Stutts Creek, from the main part of Chesapeake Bay, is too shallow for us in BV

…. and then passed the other entrance to Stutts Creek.  That entrance is from the main part of the Chesapeake Bay and looks like the logical approach.  However, a careful check on the soundings showed that it just wasn’t deep enough for us to get through with BV’s 2 metre draft.

Bill and Chris Burry visiting the anchorage in Miss Christine.  Neva and Glittera (with Jan-Olov hoisted up to the masthead) are anchored ahead and to the side of us

On our way up to the yacht club we found Neva at anchor, along with another yacht whose crew we had not yet met, Atsa.  We haven’t seen Ade and Sam (Neva) since we were in Jolly Harbour in Antigua in 2018 and so swung past to say hello.  After a quick chat we continued on towards the yacht club because we had been promised depths of 8ft off the club’s docks.  There might well have been good depths off the docks but on the way there we clipped the top of a mud bank and came to a squidging halt, so we reversed off and returned to the anchorage to join Neva and Atsa.  Almost as soon as we had dropped our anchor, Christina and Jan-Olov arrived on Glittera.  It was turning out to be a major reunion for us.  The yacht club dinner was being organised by the Deltaville and Mathews Port Officers, Bill and Chris Burry, and just before lunchtime they also visited us all in their runabout, Miss Christine.

Lunch at the Mathews Yacht Club

With so many boat crews to catch up with, it made sense to decamp to the yacht club for lunch.  That on its own was great fun but we still had the evening party to look forward to as well.

Twin Cove (Fleming 55 anchored to the right)

After a good lunch and lots of fun catching up with old friends and new, we returned to BV for what was left of the afternoon and found that we had been joined in the anchorage by George and Francis Sadler on MY Twin Cove.

The OCC Mathews Yacht Club dinner gathering

The evening event started with cocktails and then everyone was corralled onto the steps outside for a team photo before we lost the sunlight.

Once everyone was sat down, the commodore of Mathews Yacht Club welcomed us all and highlighted that this OCC dinner had been taking place at Mathews for many years and, he hoped, would continue for many years to come.  It certainly was a very hospitable venue and the food was excellent.

We shared our table with (L to R) Julie and Rick Palm, new member Ina from Papillon, Will and Martha Story (the previous Matthews and Deltaville Port Officers) and Kusuru , also from Papillon

We shared our table with a whole mix of characters, some of whom we had met before but it was also particularly nice to meet new members Ina and Kusuru on Papillon.  They are heading south too so hopefully we’ll see them again in sunnier climes.

Once we had eaten our fill, we were treated to an excellent after dinner presentation by Julie and Rick Palm and Russ and Laurie Owen.  Both couples have completed circumnavigations but around 20 years apart.  The presentation highlighted the similarities between their experiences despite the time difference between Julie and Rick’s circumnavigation in the 1990s and Russ and Laurie’s more recent adventure just a couple of years ago.  They all bubbled with enthusiasm and the message was clear: just get on with it!

After such a lovely evening it would have been nice to have a really lazy start in the morning but, as they say, “the tide waits for no man” and we needed to get back though the Gwynn Island swing bridge at about high water.

Aid and Sam on Neva sneaked away very early, closely followed by Lesley and Hartley on Atsa.  The morning light was, once again beautiful and Hartley very kindly passed on the spectacular photos that he took of Blue Velvet at anchor.

In comparison our 0845 departure was decadently lazy but we achieved the aim of a slack water passage through the narrows and also had plenty of water over the shallows too.

Mathews Yacht Club, Stutts Creek, Virginia, USA

Fishing Bay Deltaville VA USA

Dragon Run on Bill and Lydia’s dock, where we were moored the previous night

We met up with Bill & Lydia in the morning for an indulgent cooked breakfast and then left their dock at 1010hrs on 23 Oct.

Leaving the Corrotoman River

With a clear blue sky above us and the trees turning to autumn colours the orange morning light made it all look lovely.  It was warm again too; unusually warm which is probably why the trees were turning much later than is normal.  There wasn’t a great deal of wind, so it was a motor down the Rappahannock River to our next stop, Fishing Bay.  A passage of 12 nm as the crow flies but 20.4 nm by boat!

Fishing Bay – busier than we had ever seen it

SY Innamorata II

When we got there, just after lunchtime, we found that Fishing Bay was busier than we had ever seen it before.  Over the afternoon and evening the maximum number of anchored yachts we saw was 29, somewhat up on the usual 4 or 5 we have seen before.  The annual migration of yachts south tends to start at the end of October and the Salty Dawys rally was about to start assembling at Hampton so we guessed that many of the yachts were on their way there.

We were delighted to see that Steve and Carol were on the water again in their yacht, Innamorata II.  They had actually launched that morning and so were part way through the business of bending on sails and attending to all of the other jobs needed to get a sailing yacht ready to go to sea again after a few months on the hard.  We dinghied over and briefly caught up with the news from them on our way ashore to collect our mail.

We had hoped that my new camera had arrived back after its trip to the UK for a warranty repair but, sadly, that was not the case.  However, our small pile of parcels and letters did include a new credit card for me from the UK as well as some goodies from Amazon.  We had been talking to Chris and Bill Burry, along with several other yachting friends, about a computer-based chart and navigation system called Open CPN.  This is similar to the commercially available systems but has been written largely by long-term cruisers.  We’ve not used it before, but it offers a number of advantages over a ‘normal’ chart-plotter system so we felt that we should try it out and had ordered a Rasberry Pi (a small computer) from Amazon as a test bed.  It will take some time to get set up because it’s not a high priority for us but we think that it might offer some interesting features and options that will complement our existing navigation suite, as well as being an independent stand-alone back-up system in the event of a catastrophic failure.

No trip to Fishing Bay would be complete without a run to the fabulous Hurds hardware store.  So, whilst I did a mad cycle dash in that direction, Nicky cycled up to the supermarket to ensure that we also restocked the wine cellar and larder.

Between us we achieved quite a lot during our short stay in the anchorage, including saying hello to Mark and Lisa on Wild Iris who were just about getting ready to launch after a difficult and delayed time on the hard tackling some unexpected rudder issues.

Measuring the Aquadrive CV shaft so that we could order a replacement

We too had been dealt our share of unexpected maintenance chores because our shake-down cruise had highlighted that we did have an issue with the Aquadrive unit on BV’s drive shaft.  The instructions say that it is likely only ever to only need maintenance greasing if used on a high-hours commercial vessel.  We clearly have now achieve that level of use but despite repacking the CV units with grease [Ed: somewhat overdue!], we had still heard its disconcerting intermittent rattle when under power.  Adam Huyler at Mackboring, the Aquadrive supplier in the US, had been offering useful guidance and had also confirmed that when worn the units are unlikely to fail, “they just get noisy”.  However, it seemed time to measure up to get a new one manufactured for us.  At the same time we packed the CV joints with even more grease and hoped that they would keep going for the 3 weeks or so that it would take for the replacement put together for us.

Pit stop and mail collection almost completed we spent the evening chatting with Doug Selden on Ithaka, in the course of which we talked about heading across to the Mathews Yacht Club the next day for the OCC dinner that evening.  Doug pointed out that the tide runs quite fast through the narrows between Gwynne Island and the mainland and that, in turn, prompted us to check again on the tide times.  So we reset the alarm and planned an earlier start in the morning for our move down to Mathews Yacht Club.

Fishing Bay, Deltaville, Virginia, USA

Corrotoman River VA USA

After our night in Carter Creek we moved 7 miles further upstream into the Corrotoman River to Bill and Lydia Strickland’s dock.  This was very much a quick rendezvous with Bill & Lydia to set the scene for a small cruise in company we had been invited to join.  Emails flashed about between the participants to divide up responsibility for the catering, shortly followed by an afternoon food shopping expedition to ensure that we had the necessary ingredients on board.  Lydia also handed over a capacitor for our generator which she had kindly allowed to be shipped to their address.

Over dinner we discussed the imminent OCC dinner at Mathews Yacht Club, our next port of call, as well as the plans for the OCC AGM which will be held up in Annapolis in Apr 2020.  Bill and Lydia are organising the event which will be the first time that the OCC has held the AGM outside of the UK.  It was really interesting to hear how they were pulling all of the organisational threads together and hopefully our ideas on fun things to do up in Annapolis after the formalities of the meeting were of some help too.  As for ‘Jamie’s Cruise in Company’, the itinerary remained something of a mystery for us all but we were sure that the details would unfold as the boats assembled and the weather forecast became clearer.

Corrotoman River, Virginia, USA

Carter Creek VA USA

Leaving Jutland Creek

After all of the rain it was a bit of a grey day on Mon 21 Oct when we motored out of Jutland Creek.  Our pilot book describes Jutland Creek as “an excellent anchorage in a hard blow”, and we had certainly found that to be the case.

As we left Jutland we saw a local waterman forking up oysters in the traditional way.  Hard work but much better for preserving stocks than more industrial dragging techniques.

Flying our MPS – but not for long

We planned to sail 50miles down from the Potomac River to the Rappahannock River which is a nice distance to cover in a day.

It was markedly colder than it had been recently, so we had our first porridge breakfast of the season.  The forecast was for 10-15knot winds easing off during the day and, with 50 miles to cover and the wind already down at 12 knots, we elected to hoist the MPS.  That got BV bowling along nicely and we rapidly overtook the other yachts in the Potomac River which was most satisfying.

The MPS would have been perfect for sailing downwind when we exited the Potomac but before we got to the turning point the wind started to get up not diminish as forecast.  With the wind now almost on the beam it was also our hardest point of sail to get the MPS down.  Whilst we still had some sea room we bore away and dowsed the MPS in its snuffer before the wind rose any more than the 19-knot gusts that we had already experienced.  We completed the rest of the downwind passage more sedately with a poled out genoa instead.

Approaching the entrance to Carter Creek

Previously our trips up the Rappahannock River had ended up at Bill and Lydia’s house in the Corrotoman River and we had by-passed historic Carter Creek.  Named after the Carter family, the creek was once the heart of the family’s colonial empire.  In the mid 1600s they built a huge holding of over 300,000 acres and most of the tobacco produced on the estate was shipped out through the old plantation wharf in Carter Cove.  Robert Carter also had the historic Christ Church built close by in Weems, which we had visited in late November last year.

Anchored close to the Tides Inn

Little remains today to hint at the historic significance of the creek and, aside from a  small number of seafood businesses, it’s very much a residential and pleasure boat area.  In season The Tides Inn in is a popular haunt and we anchored close by its small marina.  Sadly, it was very much out of season and the only activity at the inn was when the deck lighting switched on automatically as the sun set.  However, it was another very sheltered anchorage and we were able to enjoy a pleasant evening on board followed by a very peaceful night.

Carter Creek, Virginia, USA

Jutland Creek MD USA

A beautiful dawn in Hudson Creek

The penalty for our fabulous evening on the Nellie Crockett was that we delayed our sail south and had an 8-hour motor on Saturday 19 October instead of a roaring sail the previous day.  We started hoisting our anchor at 0755hrs in Hudson Creek but the chain was so muddy that it took 20 minutes before we were actually ready to depart.

Resolute at anchor

Gratitude (foreground) on which Jonathan and Dorothy Goldweitz, our friends from the OCC, were sailing

Nellie Crockett (left), rafted with Pearl (centre) and Grey Goose (right)

But the early start to make the best of the tide meant that we were treated to a beautiful golden sunrise over the millpond-like anchorage.  [Ed: We also lost several heartbeats when someone on Nellie Crockett marked morning colours by firing off some sort of very loud blunderbuss!]  We said our farewells to the CCA boats and then set off south.

Leaving the CCA fleet behind us

The wind stayed well below 10 knots throughout and so when we finally switched off the engine we had clocked 8½ hours.  Our stopping point was Jutland Creek near Lookout Point on the north side of the Potomac, just in from the river’s entrance to the Bay.  We had specifically tucked ourselves up there because the weather forecast for the following 48 hours not good.  Tropical Storm Nestor was sweeping up from Florida, bringing with it wind and heavy rain and we wanted sit out all that nastiness on Sunday and then move-on on the Monday.

Pouring rain – very reminiscent of winter in the UK, just a bit warmer

So, whilst it blew and rained outside, we hunkered down below doing maintenance chores and writing emails. Part of our reason for this cruise in the Chesapeake Bay was to check that everything was working before we made a long passage south.  During the long hours of motoring to get to Jutland Creek, we had checked the engine and found that the seawater cooling pump was leaking a bit, which was irritating because we had replaced the shaft seals not that long ago.  But, with a steady drip spotted early on in that passage, I had expected to have to strip the pump down again for a further seal replacement job.  However, before doing that we ran the engine to see how bad the leak had become after 8½ hrs of motoring.  Instead of a steady drip, we saw no sign of a leak.  Perhaps the seals had settled down on the transit or perhaps the seals only leaked when the engine was hot or at higher power settings.  But with no leak confirmed we decided that we would not take apart the pump and instead would just monitor it for leaks over the next few passages.

Our Aquadrive CV shaft showing signs of its age 'when wiggled'

The other motoring issue we had whilst motoring was an intermittent slight vibration in the drive chain.  We had heard this in June and it was back again.  It doesn’t happen often but it does happen enough to tell us that something is wearing out.  After some careful listening and feeling we think that the vibration is from the Aquadrive CV (constant velocity) shaft showing its age.  So I spent some of the rainy and windy day internet searching and fired off some emails to Aquadrive USA to see if we can get a new one made up and shipped to us.  It’s probably not as easy as I had first thought because our 20 year old unit does not seem to exactly match the sizes of the modern ones; there’s conflicting information on 2 different websites!  We’ll see what they come back with next week.

Right: The hot water tank with pipes disconnected and the overpressure valve removed.  Left: cleaning up and descaling the valve (actually our spare that we cleaned up at the same time)

In taking apart the woodwork to get to the engine we also spotted that the hot water tank overpressure/temp valve had leaked.  Whilst this is designed to release excess pressure in the tank, it is also very susceptible to leaking at lower pressures when it gets scaled up.  So, instead of working on the engine pump, we removed the overpressure valve from the hot water tank descaled it and then refitted it; hopefully that will cure that leak.

Jutland Creek when the rain briefly stopped late in the afternoon

The rest of the day was spent doing admin.  Hardly very exciting but it at least brought us more up to date with our finances and the blog.  Nestor may well be the remnants of a tropical storm but it didn’t bring very tropical temperatures.  Later than normal, autumn has definitely arrived which is apparent from the cooler temperatures and the trees finally taking on their autumn colours.

Overnight [Ed: the former Tropical Storm] Nestor’s rain eased but the wind rose.  We had 30 metres of chain out again in 3-4 metres of water which, by the book, is excessive but felt very comfortable with no jarring on the chain snubber as BV danced about in 20-30 knots of wind funnelled at odd angles down the creek.  It had been a useful period to catch up on admin, maintenance and bog entiries but we needed to head south towards Deltaville; we had some mail to pick up and a party to attend!

Jutland Creek, Maryland, USA