A point on Bulls Bay – Raynor On The Coast

The kingfisher on a flyby rattled a call as I prepared Kingfisher for a sail out to Bulls Bay. With doubts about the weather and the all important wind, I would take the encounter as a positive sign, along with the breeze coming across the extensive marsh separating the mainland from the Bay. Completing the details pre launch, I reflected on new rig – upper and lower booms, and a replacement hat for an old one worn through and patched extensively. The booms added a soundness to Kingfisher.

I had tested out the sailing rig a few times during the summer, the first requiring a stop on a shell rake to rerig the outhaul. Twice I sailed out with the southwest sea breeze to the Northeast Point on Bull Island, using Anderson Creek and the channel across the southwest end of Bulls Bay on a long starboard tack course. Making those sails during the week, I found the point mainly deserted and gloriously beautiful.

On this morning, the northeast wind veering to the east prompted a different approach to Bulls Bay. At my launch at high tide, the shell rakes along the Intracoastal Waterway were submerged, and we had an easy access to the entrance to Venning Creek. Though we tacked against the wind from creekside to creekside, the high water and beginning of the outgoing tide created easier navigation than when the opposite tidal conditions occurred. When the creek swung more to the southeast, we were able to maintain a close-hauled port tack course all the way to the creek mouth. Even at a distance, the view out the creek mouth was obscured by a number of outboards. As we closed in, the boaters were casting lines for fish, and nets for shrimp. We passed through the mouth and the half dozen boats on our continued course out to the Bay.

We were now in open waters and feeling the Bay’s swell pushed up by the outgoing tide. The predicted light winds had moved into the moderate range, and our speed increased. I decided to continue the course across the Bay, with our destination the Northeast Point, visible off our bow. Bulls Bay confines boaters with a pervasive shallowness, a feature I could ignore with the luxury of this high tide. The usual view from this distance displayed the maritime forest across the island and the dune fields near the Point, but also an anomaly of bodies further out on the strand. People? Birds?

Halfway across the Bay to the island, I eased the sail off to slow down and allow some photography. Having left my camera at home, I relied on my iPhone to capture some of the vistas colored by a stunning cloud array.

However, to the southeast the sky darkened, a solid black cloud backing the island.

As I drew closer to the island, I steered to cut through the small swell as cleanly as possible. On the final approach, the wind and waves pushed Kingfisher rapidly toward the strand, and I took way off before pulling the daggerboard out and gently landing on a deserted beach. I could see the dark bodies out on the bitter point – stationary pelicans and other shorebirds, contrasting with white terns slicing the air with their flight and shrieking calls. The darkness in the background amplified this primeval scene.

Leaving the island the moderate east wind pushed us ahead on the course toward Anderson Creek. Running before the wind and ahead of the black clouds, there was relief in the steadiness of the breeze and the lack of thunder or lightning. An occasional boat passed on our way to the mouth of Anderson Creek and the passage through the creeks. The sky opened up with a splash of sunllght illuminating the green marsh, and spurred the passage home.