Day 5 - The homeward bound

Well it is hard to believe but our last day was yet another day of perfect sailing weather. The forecast was calling for very gusty winds which are tough because it is hard to figure out how much sail to use but instead we got a nice steady 15 knots for most of the day. We left Baltimore early in the morning and cooked an elaborate breakfast of cereal and tea while underway. It was nice to know that we can use the stove while traveling.

The south wind let us sail down the Patapsco and out into the Bay but made it difficult to sail down under the Bay Bridge. Steve really wanted to transit Kent Narrows so we went across the Bay and through Kent Narrows. We went under the Route 50 bridge and through the draw bridge on the old rt 50. Timing is key here because you need to wait for the opening on the 1/2 hour and the currents can get strong if you are not on a slack tide. We hit the slack tide perfectly and Steve nailed the timing - we circled for maybe 5 or so minutes before it opened (I thought we were going to be late).


The run from Kent Island back to our home port in Deale, MD is 20 nautical miles but we flew down with strong winds. There was a lot of tanker traffic when we crossed the channel but it was still light out so we could weave in between them. There were also some tugs pulling barges on long cables. I got a chance to work on my radio skills and talked with the tug captains to arrange an amicable passage in front of them.



For most of the day, we had the Bay to ourselves.

We got back to Deale by 9:00 PM. What a great trip! The file GPS stats show 198 total nautical miles traveled with an average speed of 4.5 knots for a total of 44 hours of sailing over 5 days.