Anchored near Norfolk, VA

We started the morning with a lovely sail from the Wicomico River about 7:00 AM.  It was sunny and the wind was on the beam at about 15 to 20 knots so we were making good time.  By 2:00 the wind had gone forward a bit and picked up in strength and by 3:00 it was blowing in the 30's.  Then we needed to turn upwind to go into Hampton Roads, the approach to Norfolk, VA.  We took the double reefed main down (having rolled in the headsail much earlier) and motored the rest of the way.  We anchored in the first appropriate bay we came to and then the sun came out again!  As I write, the wind has picked up again, so the boat is bouncing around a bit, but everyone is dry and warm, so all is well.  - Sue

Sue sure can put the best spin on stuff, can't she?  Actually we did have a pretty nice sail, and motored less than 2 hours today.  I don't think there was any rain forecast today.  But maybe when the precipitation blows horizontally in the 25 knot winds they don't figure it will actually touch ground, so it must not be rain.  Yesterday's conditions make me understand why people buy trawlers (cruising powerboats, for the non sailors who might be reading this).  You can motor from inside a nice warm, dry wheelhouse.  And you don't care if the wind shifts just 10 more degrees so you can actually sail.  Of course the down side to powerboats is you never get to take advantage of that 12 knot breeze blowing from the side, and nice flat waters.  (I've read about those perfect sailing conditions.)

I forgot to mention, yesterday we saw our first pelican.  Today we saw some more, and several dolphins in our anchorage.  And if my geographic math is correct we're in our 8th state now.  We've actually sailed in the waters of some of them.