Day One: Monday
We were planning to sail to Cape Charles, Virginia on the lower Chesapeake Bay’s eastern shore, a trip of around 25 nautical miles. We had been monitoring the weather forecasts for the last couple of days and it seemed the stars were aligning for fair winds and seas on our first leg to Cape Charles (heading south on Monday) and switching directions to sail back North the next day. To our dismay the forecast changed and we awoke to small craft warnings, blowing 18 and gusting to 24. Being “weather wise and not otherwise” a change of plans seemed prudent. Respect for Mother Nature and flexibility is a good quality when heading to sea!
As luck would have it, Captain Scott had a plan B up his sleeve, taking advantage of changing conditions and the numerous cruising options from Broad Creek, Deltaville. We would now sail west up the Rappahannock River (with more reasonable wind and waves) to the good port of Urbanna, VA.
Since we had a shorter distance to sail we took our time over coffee and enjoyed a nice long walk around Stingray Point. We filled up with water and diesel fuel and set sail around 10:30a. Urbanna was around 14 NM north west and since the wind was out of the east southeast we were in for an all day run/broad reach, perfect conditions for Ula. The wind was still up, so being conservative we set off under jib alone and made good time, passing under the Route 3 bridge around noon.
Since we had plenty of wind and daylight we decided to tuck in and anchor for lunch off the world famous Tides Inn Resort on beautiful Carters Creek, north side of the Rappannock. Dave served up generous helpings of his special chicken salad with turmeric. After lunch, we put 2 reefs in the main and sailed the rest of the way with the main only, getting to the Bridge Marina in Urbanna around 4:15p.
A note on Ula’s rig and sail plan. The Freedom 32 is a Gary Mull design featuring a free standing carbon fiber mast set well forward providing excellent sailing qualities under her large roach fully battened mainsail alone. Her self tacking jib, will add an extra 2 knots of speed, is fitted with a camber spar that provides excellent sail shape, is self-vanging and facilitates fast reaching and wing on wing sailing. Ula is a real pleasure to sail and can stand up well in a blow and scoot along with her flexible sail options in light air.
The ‘do it all himself’ Bridge Marina owner Andy, caught our lines and regaled us with stories of the wild and funny things he’s seen in his time there at the marina. Urbanna is a sweet town with nice marinas and a natural harbor offering good holding and easy access to town and eateries. Urbanna (City of Anne) is known far and wide for it’s annual Oyster Festival the first weekend in November – maybe there is another visit to Urbanna this season!
While at the dock we had a visit from some power boaters heading to Cape Charles and Marc Carraway of the band Scuffeltown,(www.scuffletownmusic.com) a locally well known bunch of talented musicians. Marc had never been to Little Bay, just north/west of Windmill Point on VA’s northern neck and south of Fleet’s Bay, our next nights anchorage, so we decided to meet there and raft up for dinner the following evening. Rafting up for social times is a common practice among sailors. Marc owns and sails Gordon Lightfoot’s old Erickson 39’ “Sundown”. Oh the stories that boat could tell!
We grilled some burgers ashore in the Urbanna pavilion and rehashed our really fun first day.