Light Air for First Sail of the Season, April 19, 2014

To view the cruises of the 2014 season, just click the button at the bottom of each page for "Newer Post".

Tom and his wife, Becky, brought their son, Kevin, and his girlfriend, Kelly. So Kelly IV had the pleasure of sailing with her namesake!

Although it was a beautiful day, the wind barely ruffled the water as the five of us motored out of Back Creek. Tom and Becky are planning to get their own keelboat this summer and were eager to learn the ropes on a sailboat larger than the Sunfish they have experience with. Tom raised the mainsail, snugging it tight with a turn of the winch, while Becky steered into the fluky breeze. Then Becky and Tom together unfurled the genoa to its full size to capture every breath that moved on the water.

Becky and Tom

Tom steered Kelly IV under sail, calling for a tack now and then to advance our sail out of the Severn River and into the open bay. Becky took over for the last hour and a tack or two. Our top speed for the day was about 2.5 knots under full main and genny, then gradually diminished to nothing over the 3 and a half hours of our sail. A number of other sailboats were enjoying the day on the water, but only those motor-sailing were perceived to be moving.

Kevin and Kelly

Kevin and Kelly just enjoyed the gorgeous weather as Kelly IV slid across the smooth current with our voices being the only sound. Our movement was so benign that Kelly IV's hull didn't even gurgle through the water, rather she snuck through the fluid in stealth mode. Tom, Becky and I discussed boats and sailing with a mind towards small keel boats that had a draft at 2 feet or so. The crew took photos and selfies to document their day on the water, concluding with a special photo of Kelly aboard Kelly IV.

Kelly aboard "Kelly IV"

Extreme Low Tide in Annapolis, April 16, 2014

April 16, 2014 will be noteworthy to Annapolis sailors for years to come, and it was certainly not a high water mark.

Extreme low tide

Tides at Annapolis are always pretty minimal, fluctuating about a foot or so from high to low tide. Full moon tides go bigger but the range is still only about 18 inches. For the tidal range to stretch a full 3 feet 9 inches from high tide on the 15^th to low tide on the 16^th created a low tide event that even long time Annapolitans said they'd never seen before.

Normal water level the next day

When I left the boat on the morning of the 16^th, I commented on the low water as it seemed below normal. My dockmate then shocked me when he pointed out that we were experiencing High Tide! The water level in Back Creek was over a foot lower than a normal low tide and was now headed even lower as the normal tide action would drain even more water from the Chesapeake. By a quarter past 4pm, this lowest of the lows went to its minimum height, over 2 feet below the predicted low tide, a foot and 8 inches below chart datum and 3 feet 9 inches below the high tide only 30 hours earlier.

None of the sand or rocks seen here are ever visible,
even at low tide, normally. By S.A.Strickland

The cause of this extremely low water was the very strong and consistent northwest breeze that blew a full gale for two days, pushing the huge volume of water out of the Chesapeake. Although the breeze began to lessen on the afternoon of the 16^th, it wasn't enough to counter the falling tide as the water created its record low tide.