After a decent breakfast of Sausage Egg and Cheese sandwiches we hauled the muddy chain and anchor and slowly motor-sailed out of the Piankatank before the weather changed.

After missing a mark and almost running aground, the marks in the overcast light were blending into the shoreline, we made it out towards Stingray Point.

The wind picked up to about 20 knots and the rain started. There was little swell at first as we were under the lee of Stingray Point. We were hauling ass on a close reach hitting about 7 knots even running down a 40′ sloop ahead of us. The Sloop was heading south and slowly driving us onto the shoals to the south (apparently not remembering that the leeward boat has right of way) so we luffed briefly behind him and headed toward the point.

Once we got clear of the point the wind and waves picked up and we were hitting 6.5 knots into the wind with 2′-3′ swells. I donned a harness/jacket and made my way forward to take in a reef as we were dipping the rail pretty good and my rigging is pretty old…

I tied the reef in and it seemed to make no difference, so I dropped the main altogether. Once round the point we were either going to motor up the river or tack the whole way. After a quick discussion with the crew they decided that they wanted to tack the whole way.

It was a great day, and a great learning experience for them tacking up the river in the drizzle. The wind was blowing about 10-15 knots right at us so it was a fun trip!

After we reached the bridge the front passed and the weather turned sunny, windless and crystal clear, very surreal.

Due to the lack of wind we motored and fished the mouth of the Carrotoman for a while then motored in for the night.

The anchorage was beautiful and we alternated between playing music and watching the minnows leaving trails of phosphorous in the clear water.

Part 3 to follow…