Sometimes things work out.

Today's weather is NW winds 10-15 kt. We're headed south. This would be great sailing.

Except. We've got to cover 47.5 nautical miles. Unless we can sail at a steady 6 kt, we're looking at arriving after dark. Not a pleasant prospect. While the Piankatank is wide open and forgiving, we're not so confident in our ability to anchor in the dark.

So. We motored. With the favorable wind, and some favorable tide, we hit 8.2 knots briefly.

Here's Smith Point Lighthouse. You can see a tiny boat way up the Potomac.

We put the hook down at 16:56. 8h 21m elapsed time (engine on to anchor down) to cover about 58 nm (I forgot to capture the exact distance in my log.)

This is an exposed spot. Not good for heavy weather. We've used it many times. 37° 31.9916′N, 076° 19.0201′W.

The bilge pump counter was two.

Two.

Of these two times the pump ran, one was CA using the bilge/washdown system to clean the anchor chain.

The other seems to be residual damned (dammed) freshwater from the top of the fuel tank.

The engine's raw-water cooling system is clearly NOT leaking. The bilge pump did not run at night, either. The hull is not leaking.

That small change made the next morning glorious.

So far, only the dinghy is broken. Everything else is working perfectly.

Tomorrow, Friday the 15th, the forecast is for no wind.

Then, Saturday the 16th, the forecast is wind from the south. On the nose. Do we really need to bash into the wind all day? (Hint: nope.)

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