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Ten Knots under Dodger
or
She Doesn't Sail After Forty Eight Knots
by Stan Wujcik
Fall 2004

An average day on the Bay.

It was a well planned long weekend. Bill Buie, Karol Buie, Merys and I decided to take some time in October to sail to St Marys city in the Potomac river. When the weekend arrived, so did Ivan. The wives decided they really didn't want to be wet and cold for three days, so they wished us well and told Bill and I to have fun. Well Friday was and overcast day, but good wind and no rain.

We had a great sail down to the Little Choptank. We found a nice anchorage that was well protected from the south and south east. It was a pleasant night with only one other boat arriving a little later. Bill put a beef brisket on the grill, remember four of us were originally going, and we ate well that night. When we woke we had a relaxing breakfast and then hauled anchor. It was dead calm, not a ripple on the water in the cove. There didn't seem to be any activity on the other boat, so we just quietly motored out into the river. As we came around the bend the wind started to pick up.

The plan was to get underway early so that we could get into the Choptank early to watch the Naval Academy race finish and to join in the festivities that night. We only had to sail six miles due north to the mouth of the Choptank. Winds were predicted to be thirty five knots that evening. As we reached the bay the winds were blowing about twenty five knots right out of the north. I looked at Bill and said, glad we have an early start, I really don't want to be out here in this boat, Voyager, in thirty five knots of wind. Since the wind was coming out of the North and we wanted to go North we decided to just motor. Nice plan, but as usual the weather guys were a little off.

Before long it was blowing thirty knots. We decided to pull a little sail out, small bit of jib, and motor sail just off the wind. We were doing pretty good, doing eight knots as the wind kept increasing. Soon the GPS was telling us that we had to make about a 150 degree course change and tack. Knowing where we had to go, that didn't make sense, ask me someday what the problem was. We got a little confused knowing where we were and where we had to go, so we turned on the other GPS to compare. They didn't agree, which only made it more confusing. About that time the wind was blowing about thirty eight knots. We turned both GPS off and set a new waypoint. Now things looked good, both GPS agreed. About that time the bimini was ready to come apart. We wrestled that down and tied it around the backstays so that it wouldn't get blown apart. We were still motor sailing just off the wind. We noticed we were getting thrown about by the waves. It was amazing how big they got without us noticing it. Biggest waves I've seen in the bay.

Two hours later it was blowing forty eight knots and Voyager was motor sailing east to west with no northerly progress. At one time we looked at the GPS and we were sailing backwards, south, instead of our intended course. We hit the wall, Voyager just doesn't do well in forty eight knots of wind on the nose. We were thinking, if we had the girls with us, we probably would have stayed at anchor that morning. Bill said, that's the difference between men and women. Women would have known better and stayed an anchor, men had to hit their head against the wall to determine they should have stayed anchor.

To make things worse, the seas had increased in height and were lifting the stern out of the water and the prop was spinning free, next the boat would slide down the wave and bury the bow into the next wave and stop the boat dead. We were going nowhere fast. Once this action started we looked at each other and I think we both had the same thought, we need to turn south and go back to the little Choptank and drop the hook. Not wanting to damage the boat or ourselves, we turned around and headed back. To my surprise, we were only a half mile from the buoy that marked the mouth of the Little Choptank. Also, we were doing about ten knots under dodger. What a ride. We made the Little Choptank in no time at all and started in. As we got into the river the wind and waves reduced due to the land on our port. We passed where we anchored the night before and saw the other boat still an anchor in very choppy water. We found a Northern shore to duck behind, dropped the hook, opened the wine and put some shrimp in the oven for a late lunch. It was about 2 pm. Bill refreshed my memory of backgammon and we put in for an early night.

The next day we had another leisurely breakfast and had a nice sail to Oxford where we put into a slip for the night. Had a great dinner of crabs at one of the local restaurants and went back to the boat for some more wine and a good nights sleep. All in all, it was a pretty good weekend. Quite exhilarating. So, if your ever out in the Bay in Voyager and it starts to blow, remember, she doesn't sail after forty eight knots.

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