A Cold and Frozen Anchorage

In an anchorage, you look for enough water at low tide so you won't hit; good protection from waves; and protection from the wind. I found all three my first night out. With a chilly 22 degrees in the forecast, and still some work to do on the boat, I thought it to be a blessing. That is, until the next morning.

It was definitely a cold night night. I burned through an entire bottle of propane (1lb) with the heater. When I woke up, there was ice in the sink. 

I immediately checked the engine, but that big mass of iron holds it's heat well. It was cold and damp, but no frost . There's antifreeze in the heat exchanger anyway, it's the fresh water side I was most worried about. 

The had ice formed in the entire creek, except a small boundary of about 18 inches around the boat.The current temperature was 20 degrees.

Now, this is a fiberglass boat not steel or aluminum. So, breaking through the ice would be a very delicate process.

First, I waited two hours to allow the sun to start melting the ice. I didn't have much room to maneuver around in, but I turned the boat so it was pointing in the direction we had to go.

Then I inched forward and dropped an anchor just far enough to break the ice. In doing this, I was able to see how thick the ice was... not very thick at all. So, I started to inch forward and then let the boat coast to a stop. As it did this I watched how the ice was breaking and running along the hull. The bobstay fitting was actually breaking the ice. That is a heavy stainless steel part. Then, the ice would fold over so the hull was rubbing against the flat side, not the thin sliced edge. So, I kept this up until we were able to get to running water.

You can see here the path taken. I took this picture just was we broke into the flowing current.

The air was so still over night the water didn't move and froze. That wasn't the case for the rest of the day.

It warmed up quickly to 40 degree. The wind was strong, about 20 kts, gusting to 30 kts and quickly built 3-4 foot waves. It doesn't sound like much, but salt water has a greater mass due to the volume of salt. So, they were more like 6 foot waves on Lake Ontario... just enough to keep me busy all day. I was tacking back and forth across the bay all day. This extends the distance to the next anchorage, but I also need to get accustomed to single-handing this boat. When the sun had set, I was still two hours away from my next anchorage.

The NOAA 6 pm weather reported 4-6 foot waves and winds over 30 kts. This was turning into a light gale. I was happy to pull into the entrance to Ingram bay and the Wicomico River. another mile up stream was my anchorage. When I arrived, there was another boat quietly at rest, but this anchorage could easily hold another ten boats. I picked a nice spot, dropped the anchor, and went about getting dinner and getting some sleep.

I had a two hour delay this morning due to the ice, So, I plan to get an even earlier start tomorrow.