Serenity Sail for Three Couples

Sometimes the sea speaks louder than words, and that was the case with a serenity sail for three couples. Four people were visitors on vacation and two were locals.

We saw the last of the osprey as they have taught their fledglings to fly. Next stop is South America. Soon the Coast Guard will come around to take their nests down from the channel day marks. We discussed how eagles and osprey don’t play well. One fellow said, “I hit a golf ball into a tree and an eagle flew out. So I like to tell people that I shot an eagle.”

We saw around ten dolphins at the entrance to Wormley Creek, which is undergoing dredging. It was unusual to see them in only ten feet of water, and we couldn’t get too close or risked running aground.

Serenity Sail for Three CouplesTwo Coast Guard boats went through maneuvers, but they seemed listless. A Navy patrol boat emerged from the Naval Weapons Station and sped down the York River and over the horizon. There wasn’t another sailboat sloop out there on this brilliant sunny day. The serenity was accompanied by solitude. We could hear the water lapping as the boat cut through the water.

The winds were fluky and stiffened without notice, heeling the boat to 15 degrees and providing veritable propulsion to 8 mph. Paul Maanum recalled his childhood. “Back in Minnesota, my buddy and I took a sailboat on a lake on a windy day. We shot down that lake in a hurry, but it took the rest of the day to get back.”

Serenity Sail for Three CouplesWe spent the rest of the day getting back to nature, soaking in seagulls and loons and puffy clouds over the river. We were all rather speechless.

Let’s Go Sail

Check rates and pick a day for a sailboat charter. See reviews on Trip Advisor from sailors like you. 

 

More from the Captain...

Good Riddance

As many as 20 derelict sailboats and motorboats on the Hards at York River Yacht Haven are in the process of being crushed and trucked away. A few wooden boats date to the 1940s. Once the hill is cleared and graded, more current boats will move here from down the

Full Story >
Danger Sails

Danger Sails

A couple from metro Richmond returned for another sail and brought friends with them. Donna Ludwig recalled the last time she and Buddy went sailing. “It was with my brother-in-law on his sailboat, slightly smaller than this, say 27 feet. It was a day like today and we had a

Full Story >

Arts Quarter Sails

Award-winning actor Glenn Close was the star of the dedication of the William & Mary Arts Quarter, a massive reconfiguration of Phi Beta Kappa Hall into a half dozen buildings interconnected. Before several hundred alumni and guests in the new PBK, Close expressed heartfelt gratitude for their support, tearing up

Full Story >