Nearly a year after my trip with the British Seagull 40 Plus I set out again with a four stroke 2hp Honda a friend gave me. It was another beautiful day… a slight chill in the air and not a cloud in the sky. I launched at the local boat ramp around 9am and started up the river. The goal was to find the right fork and explore further into the swamp since I didn’t have any specific time to be back home.

I didn’t take any pictures on the way up since it really felt like a continuation of the trip from last year. I saw the same guy fishing on his dock under the transmission lines, got stuck in the same place, and even ran out of gas 130 yards apart!

Here’s where I made a left and was able to continue two miles further up into the Dragon Swamp. Unfortunately it was right at low tide so the channel was narrow and downed trees were an issue.

Last year’s trip in yellow vs this year in green.

It’s hard to convey how beautiful it is back here. Everything was this vivid full green color with hints of fall colors in places. The river water was dark from leeching tannins of the 140 square mile swamp, yet clear enough that more than once I freaked out thinking I was about to hit a submerged tree yet it passed well under my centerboard. Sometimes it was hard to spot the next bend from the reflection of all the trees.

It got narrower…

and narrower…

And in a few places blocked entirely by guys fishing. One turn I took way too close to the inside trying to get around a pair of boats and I ran aground. They looked at me like I was nuts, but raising the centerboard and poling off with an oar had me free again in a few seconds.

Eventually I ran up on a fallen tree and could go no further. I bet at high tide I’d be able to get over it, so maybe next year. It looks like there’s 40-50 more miles of river that kayaks and canoes can navigate.

Look at all those cypress knees just waiting to rip your hull open!

On the way back down I swung over to check out the crane on the sunken barge. It’s a Northwest lattice boom crawler that I assume was used for dredging. Funny enough the radiator fan was still spinning in the breeze.

Launching just across the bridge at Gwynn’s Island with a full load of beach stuff and the stowed sailing rig.

We motored 2.5 miles out to the sandy southern tip of the island in about 45 minutes. I didn’t keep track of the watts consumed, but it was slow going against the wind, tide, and chop. A couple of times we’d hit a wake and almost come to a stop.

About 50 feet from shore the amps suddenly shot up and progress ground to a halt. Fortunately it’s quite shallow and I could jump out to pull us to shore. I was surprised by how loose the grass was to still foul things up. I later swapped to the stock propeller but didn’t get a chance to test its weed shedding ability.

After getting our umbrella set up I started getting the rig together. We were the second boat out to the point and the other couple seemed pretty interested in what I was doing. I’ve only ever seen one or two sail boats out here amongst the horde of power boaters.

I haven’t sailed since last summer’s trip to Kure Beach and it took a bit of time to get the lines on the snotter running right. It’s so easy to get halyards outside of the jib sheets or the reef lines inside the sail’s robands. I put in a preemptive reef since it was blowing a good 10-15 with some gusts.

Eventually I got everything set and took off. Once I got some sea room I hoisted the jib which took a few tries to get tensioned enough. If I wasn’t building a Long Steps I think I’d build a homemade roller furler for it.

I didn’t take any pictures from the boat since I just bought a new phone and didn’t have a case for it. After getting the jib set up I headed downwind along the shore and then tacked my way back upwind to the beach for a 7.4 mile trip in 1.5 hours. It was slow going since everything was against me… the wind, the tide, a short and steep chop, and a reefed sail. The best I could do was a 150º tacking angle. Despite sailing at 5-6 mph on each tack, I only made 1.3 mph toward my destination. I’ve heard it’s often faster to row upwind than it is to sail and I think this might be some good evidence!

After lunch and Henry’s nap a ton of boats showed up. I thought the wind might keep them away, but a friend said more than likely it just takes a while for them to sober up from Friday night and get going.

Henry had a great time sitting in the sternsheets wiggling the tiller as the boat hunted back and forth in the wind.

Finally it was time to pack up and head home. I decided we could sail back to the ramp since it was dead downwind. I dispensed with the jib so there’d be fewer lines in the way and less things to keep track of.

Headed out to the sandbar. We had coolers, beach chairs, two tents, toys, and who knows what else! Everything with a kid takes twice as long and twice as much stuff as you’d think.

Tucked up by the beach. Recently I melted 6.5 pounds of lead into the stock on my three piece fisherman anchor and capped the ends. It really sets firmly and the lead replaces the need for chain which at this scale wouldn’t weigh enough to do much of anything but chew up the finish on the boat.

I tied a stern line to the beach umbrella to pull the boat close to shore and Henry had a great time swinging the rudder back and forth.

Helping me steer on the way home. I told him all about how starboard and port came to be and how daymarks are red triangles or green squares. Not sure much of it stuck though.

I finally had a day to go on a long daysail, so I set out from a boat ramp on the Piankatank River and sailed around to the Rappahannock and up to a ramp on Carter’s Creek. I ended up going 33 miles in 7.75 hours with an average speed of 4.25 mph and a max of 7.4 mph. The Piankatank section was mostly upwind and things got a lot easier after I rounded the long skinny Stove Point at the mouth of the river.

After getting everything rigged at the ramp I motored over into the lee of Berkley Island to raise the sails. Then I set out on a light air upwind course towards the bridge.

Looking up the Piankatank. It’s been hazy from the wildfires in Canada lately, although fortunately it didn’t smell too smokey today.

Tacking upwind in light air against the incoming tide took forever, but I eventually got through the bridge and the sailing improved. I’ve heard it’s almost always faster to row if you’re going dead upwind and it took me 45 minutes to tack 2.8 miles on a 0.9 mile route as the crow flies.

After rounding the bend at Ginney Point I could just make out the Chesapeake Bay. Way off in the haze is Stove Point on the left and Gwynn’s Island on the right. Along the way I went from sailing downwind to upwind in the space of 50′. It was really cool how there was a flat calm section of water between the two opposing wind directions.

I wasn’t sure I’d be able to point high enough to get around Stove Point, but I just managed to sneak by. I saw a Hobie Cat and Sunfish on Fishing Bay, and a paddle boarder and windsurfer out on the bay side. From here on it was downwind the rest of the day.

Rounding Stingray Point. The waves were stacking up pretty well since I was heading through a shallow area. In 1608 Captain John Smith ran aground along here on a falling tide in their ~30′ shallop while exploring the Chesapeake Bay. Provisions were running low so the crew began fishing and Smith managed to nail a stingray to the bottom with his sword. While removing it he was stung on the wrist and nearly died. But, he recovered and had the ray for supper! The generall historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles

Starting across the mouth of the Rappahannock at 6-7 mph. It was so hazy I couldn’t see the 110′ bridge 8 miles away. Quite a few sailboats out here.

Looking back at Stingray Point and some of the waves were at least 2′ but it’s hard to capture that in a photo.

Heading towards Windmill Point where I’ve launched many times. The boat was rolling pretty good and it took some concentration on the tiller to not to broach, but it didn’t seem particularly out of control.

After turning at Windmill Point I started on a broad reach and decided I was overpowered as the wind had picked up. I hove to for 10 minutes to put a reef in and drifted 0.3 miles NE at 2 mph. I just about buried the rail when I jibed to get going again, but fortunately the side decks kept the majority of the water out.

Heading up the Rappahannock past Mosquito Point. Quite a few boats were out and there was a tugboat and barge in the mouth of the river coming behind me. They often drop barges near Cherry Point to the east of the bridge which is where this guy ended up going.

Halfway to the bridge the wind died down some so I hove to and shook out the reef. It took 6 minutes and I only drifted 80 yards due to the tide and wind opposing each other. It took a long time to figure out how to reef a spritsail efficiently, but I think I’ve got it pretty much as good as it’ll get.

I decided to cut over towards the 3rd span on the Middlesex side of the bridge and see if I could get a picture of my boat with the traffic cam. Along the way there’s this marker that is steadily deteriorating. As a kid sailing my Sunfish I’d come by here and it’d give me the heebie jeebies that this metal structure was just sticking up out of the water. It’s still a little unnerving.

No luck with the traffic cam… the app’s video feed got stuck and after it refreshed I was out of view. So I cut back across the river for Carter’s Creek. It’s a curving, narrow entrance and there’s always tons of boats blasting by throwing up big wakes.

Once out of the entrance I got the rig down and motored 3/4 mile to the ramp where my wife met me. The trolling motor I’ve been working on did well and it pushed me along at 3 mph against the wind. This is my kind of ramp, there’s a $5 honor box and none of this applying for a permit that takes two weeks to approve like the lake our friends live on in Maryland.

I recently installed a hitch to our Toyota Highlander so this was the first outing with the trailer! The hitch was a pretty simple installation, it took less than two hours and only required some minor cutting to a plastic fairing under the car. The electrical was just a simple plug that fit an existing socket under the trunk space.