Sonora's Chesapeake Bay DMV Penninsula Circumnavigation

[VBsail]

Have fun. I am doing a similar loop leaving out of Norfolk in the morning, excited to have 4 weeks on the water. We are side tripping up the Potomac, not sure if we will go to DC yet or just up to Colonial Beach where we are meeting a sailing friend. Want to check out some small town stops we have not done yet like Leonardtown, Kilmarnock and stop at Smith Island this year since we have done tangier a few times.

[malbert73]

Agree on current assessment. Unless you can average 9-10 knots you can’t get the whole de bay trip on a fair tide when going south. I agree with fighting the current for a few hours out of C&D so you get it fair further down delaware bay. One could argue the opposite if breeze is forecast to kick up because breeze against current can be rough in de bay

[svsonora]

So the trip came and went, so did summer. Since I took a whole month off to do this, I've been working a lot to save up some money. Totally forgot to update you guys.

I did almost 60% of the trip with sail power alone.

Highlights - knockdown offshore southeast of Cape May
- Entire Deleware bay from Reedy north to Cape May done under sail power
- running a looong time wing on wing

Favorite stops, aside from my usual baltimore / norfolk city stops - Cape may was SO PRETTY. Meeting a friend at York (Sarah Creek) was super cool too.

Animals spotted - only a lone 5-6ft shark.

I learned so much! Most of all, how to spot squalls. Got much better at planning and plotting, running away from lightening, and just being able to enjoy the trip instead of being in a rush.

you can read more about it on my blog:
svsonora.wordpress.com

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5