We launched the Lugger Monday at Tyler Beach, Rushmere, which is about 20 minutes up the road from us. There is a decent County owned ramp that goes into a basin, a few docks and once around the corner there is a short jetty to clear. After that there are only a few noisy ospreys on their channel marker nests to contend with.
Air temp and water temp was in the high 70s, with a low dewpoint and scattered clouds. Winds were 7-10 and there was a bit of chop on shallow Burwell Bay. We saw 2 boats pulling crab pots, and the only other boats we saw were the few ships up the bay that are part of the James River Reserve "Ghost Fleet". As for shakedown cruises everything went well and no crew were made to walk the plank. Skipper fed the crew potato, egg and sausage taquitos and coffee mugs were spotted.
Burwell Bay reminded us quite a bit of East Bay down in Florida, lots of pine trees along the coastline and a bit of chop due to the rising bottom in our curve of the river that forms the bay. The natural river channel used to flow along the curve of the western shore and there are remnants of Point of Shoals screw pile lighthouse nearby, but at one point a straight channel was dredged that is closer to the eastern shore of the river. So the good news is that we have all of the shoal area to ourselves, just the way we like it :)
There is also a decent beach to launch from at Tyler Beach, a mix of sand and river gravel. There are electrical lines overhead for light poles closer to the beach side of the parking lot, so take note if raising small boat masts in that area.
Marine Traffic Control Board updated.
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