Woke up to a golden, gorgeous day with
a 15 knot breeze out of the north. I attempted to sail off the
anchor, but the cove was so tiny, there just wasn't room to turn
downwind without going aground, so Kelly IV's Yanmar backed
her up enough to make room. Sailing out of the Wye River included a
fun dogleg, and was a quiet, dreamy run, reach, run and reach into
the Miles River. As we were sailing with the wind, there was no
sound save the soft gurgle of water flowing past Kelly IV's
hull. This was pristine sailing at its best, just beautiful!
As Kelly IV faced north into the
breeze, she heeled sharply, then quickly found her feet and cut
through the waves, flying along, throwing spray into the sparkling
sunlight. Our destination was Marshy Creek just east of Kent
Narrows, so the balance of the trip was a close-hauled sail, pinching
into the perfect breeze. Kelly IV bounded along, crashing
from one wave to the next, a rush of thrills with the wind singing in
the rig and the surf slapping down the hull.
There was plenty of breeze and all day
to sail so tacking out of the Miles River, across Eastern Bay and
into Prospect Bay was not only no bother, it was a tremendous day of
wonderful sailing.
Marshy Creek proved to be even more
shallow than indicated on the charts. This meant Kelly IV and
I just crept gingerly into the anchorage. The next morning we
followed our track back out, fearful of drifting even a few feet off
our track coming in. We never did touch the bottom, or the mud was
so soft we didn't notice it. Regardless, at low tide the depth
sounder kept blinking between 5 and 6 feet, so drawing 5 feet, we
were only inches off the bottom.
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| Marshy Creek Anchorage, looking south |
It proved to be an interesting
anchorage with Route 50's buzzing traffic, larger boats traversing
the Kent Narrows and nearby marinas to the north, while numerous
small boats and kayakers explored the marshes to the south. Although
I didn't venture ashore, it would have been a short dinghy ride into
one of the marinas where a guidebook showed a launch ramp. Even so,
given the shallow depths, I won't be bringing Kelly IV back
here.
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| Marshy Creek Anchorage, looking north |
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