Jim Dillard has been sailing a Virgina or Maryland waterway every labor day weekend for who knows how long. He has tried 7 times to make a complete trip from the Dillard Cottage on the Poquoson river in southern Virginia to the Washington Sailing Marina in Alexandria in northern Virginia. It is a 171 mile trip and he has never been able to get it done in 3 days. This year he is setting aside 4 days and I'm excited to be going along also. There will be 5 of us on 2 Lightnings.
The Poquson dumps into the Cheasapeake just south of where the York river dumps in. We will sail out of the Poquson into the Cheasapeake, across Mobjack Bay, across the Rappanhanock, and to the Potomac. That's almost 80 miles. Then we will sail 93 miles up the Potomac to Alexandria.
To do 171 miles in 4 days means doing 40+ miles each day and if we can average 4 mph we are talking about sailing 10 hour days. Each Lightning will have a 2 or 3 hp motor available so that we are not becalmed for long periods or unable to get to safety if a storm is approaching.
We leave Poquoson Friday morning Sept 3rd and hope to arrive in Alexandria on Monday evening Sept. 6th.
Tomorrow, I'll go over eating and sleeping when cruising on a Lightning.
