Wow

Two days ago my friend Tom and I hunkered down in a little creek in Reedville, Virginia and awaited a visit from Tropical Storm Michael. It was a lovely day with no outward sign of what was forecast to come. We enjoyed a visit to the Fishermans Museum there and both of us decided we really need to build a Chesapeake style boat. It is hard not to be seduced by the lovely working watercraft around here.

Back on the boat, we ran a second anchor out to the northwest, based on the forecast. We had selected a spot in the bend of the creek that offered great protection, and soft muddy shores that would offer a cushion should the anchors fail and we were to blow ashore. There were a couple of potential hazards in the form of a private dock, and 3 pilings set up as bird nesting platforms. We were the only boat anchored in the cove.

The rain began at 6:30 and quickly became torrential in nature. The wind had been forecast to be SE at 15 to 25 but as the daylight disappeared it came from due east in the 30 to 40 range. Thankfully there were no real waves. And then, as the guests increased in strength, we started to drag. Soon, we were aground, and my memory becomes a bit blurry at this point. Tom and I worked feverishly in the driving rain to deploy  a third anchor, and to winch the boat away from the shore with the aid of the engine. Eventually, we were successful and got refloated and holding well. After a brief respite we then got an anchor redeployed to the NW, which is where the forecasters said the next blast would come from. And come it did, a little before midnight. This was a whole new order of magnitude, and sounded like someone had turned a fire hose into the boat. On deck we had to really hang on and avert our faces from the force. I realized immediately there was no way to do much of an ything and we just kind of hoped for the best.  We did drag the anchor for a ways, and then, it held. A 20 pound Danforth Hi Tensile, by the way. Before it grabbed we had ended up between 2 of the bird nest pilings, and by sheer stupid luck not hitting either. For the rest of the night we tried to rest down below, checking our position regularly, and listening to the intense gusts blasting the boat. The power on shore had gone out and there were only a handful of lights visible due to generators. As dawn approached the wind died down to a pleasant 25 and around 7am we reanchored the boat in her original spot. The day found us too wiped out to do anything so we took it easy and recovered. 

Today we sailed down to Hampton where we are tied up at a nice solid dock with zero chance of inclement weather in the forecast. Looking forward to a peaceful nights sleep!

Pleasant anchorages to all!

Charlie