October , We travel through rough weather, including rain, and wind up spending two nights at a great free dock at a great town. On Saturday, I woke up early as usual and did my morning routine long before the sun was up. As the sky brightened, I got to work, feeding my pups, taking them ashore to do their business, stowing the dinghy, and opening the engine lid to check the oil and seawater strainer. Jason was prepping Seki-A. I started the engine and we cast off the three lines.
I drifted away and stowed my fenders. Jason had some trouble with his anchor, likely caused by the boat turning on the anchor line overnight. He had to manually get it into the rollers that hold it in place. This is a pretty common problem with boats that spend a lot of time at anchor in tidal areas; the lines twist as the boat turns with the tide. When I first got my boat and went out with a captain for some anchoring lessons, we had similar problems. The solution was to go out into to some deep water, lower the anchor with as much rode as possible without touching the bottom, wait a few minutes for the anchor to spin on the rode, and then crank it back in.
When Jason started moving, I got in behind him. We retraced our route back down St Marys River. Jason estimates that the chop in the Potomac was 1 to 1. It was right on our bows, which was a lot better than taking it on our beams. I do, however, notice that my fuel economy is the same at 14 knots as it is at around 9 or 10 knots. So I throttled up to 14 knots and watched Jason fade off into the distance in front of me, throwing a wake that would have sunk my previous boat.
We kept in touch on the radio for a while and then by text messages. Do It Now bounced through at speed without crashing between peaks. Meanwhile, I was checking out options at Breton Bay. He said it was easy enough to dinghy over to the dock to take my pups for a walk.
The reviews were promising. They talked about new floating docks and enough depth for a boat like Seki-A — which has a 5-foot draft — to tie up. I texted back and forth to Jason, suggesting the Leonardtown Wharf instead of the nearby anchorage. He was doubtful at first but then agreed to give it a try. We bounced along up the Potomac. Jason had slowed down and entered Breton Bay. He warned me about fish traps just outside the bay entrance. And the wind. A gust hit me broadside so hard that I thought there was something wrong with my rudder.
