Waiting in Wilmington, NC

Last night where we anchored was just off the Atlantic Ocean.  It was really nice to sit in the cockpit looking at the stars, and hear the waves breaking a little ways away.

Today was a relatively short day for a change.  We had a couple of bridges to wait for.  The first opens every 30 minutes.  By making the bridge a GPS waypoint you can see when you are going to arrive, and then adjust your speed so you don't have to wait in the channel.  Some of the channels are quite narrow, with current sometimes blowing you into the bridge, so it's nice if you don't have to wait too long.  We realized we were going to miss the first bridge so we motored as fast as we could to get there on time.  It turns out there was a medical emergency on the outer bank islands so we ended up waiting 40 minutes for an ambulance to get back over the bridge.  The second bridge only opens on the hour, so you really don't want to wait for it.  It's only about 5 miles from the first bridge and we realized we were going to be WAY too early!  We ended up at idle speed for over half an hour, but didn't have to actually stop and wait.

Karl Anderson's parents live in Wilmington - remember Karl, and my "new" shorts?  It turns out Karl's folks are just as nice as he is (maybe that's how he ended up that way, you think?)  At any rate, Karl's mom jumped in the car, picked us up at the boat and took us sightseeing in Wilmington.  The old central business district, and waterfront is really nice.  And across the river is the battleship North Carolina.  She then took us to the grocery store.  She also noticed the shorts I was wearing and offered to take me to a clothing store.  I didn't have the heart to tell her...

Right now we're waiting for another friend of ours to show up.  Matt Schaedler met us 15 years ago when we were racing our Frers 33.  Since then he's helped us out with lots and lots of home and boating projects - not too many people I know could get a 50 foot mast from our boat club, 35 miles to my shop so I could paint it.  Matt's going to spend some time with us - at least until he realizes he won't have cell phone coverage every day, and has to go home to see what's happening with his business.



One approach to dealing with tides.



Another approach... something you don't see on Lake Erie.

Battleship North Carolina.

Away from Morehead City

We're now approaching Wilmington, NC.  Only saw six other cruising boats today.  But you could sure tell it was a weekend with all the small bass-type fishing boats zipping up and down the waterway.  The waterway goes through the Camp Lejune Marine Base, which my good friend Google tells me is the largest Marine base on the east coast.  From their web site,

To help prepare warfighters for combat and humanitarian missions abroad, Camp Lejeune takes advantage of 156,000 acres, 11 miles of beach capable of supporting amphibious operations, 32 gun positions, 48 tactical landing zones, three state-of-the-art training facilities for Military Operations in Urban Terrain and 80 live fire ranges to include the Greater Sandy Run Training Area.

This morning was one of the coldest on our trip with a wake-up temp of 49.  I guess I can't complain too much since that's going to be the high back home.



Signs of a really good marina - not only is "Beer" bigger than "Diesel" - they tell you the beer price!



Fortunately you don't see this warning too often when boating.

I think some of you should jump on this offer.  Once the economy turns around who know what this will be worth?

Heading north.

Those of you sharp observers who check our SPOT position daily will have noticed that we have turned around, and have headed back north.  Not to worry, it's only a temporary change (I hope!).  It turns out when we went into Spooners Creek yesterday it was at high time.  We had about a foot to spare, so we weren't too concerned about getting back out this morning.  We had planned to leave around first light this morning with Hairball.  They left first so we asked them to radio back the depths they saw, as high tide was still 4 hours away.  They called back with 5 or 6 feet, depending on which hull depth sounder they looked at.  We decided to wait just a bit longer.  Shortly thereafter another keel boat left.  We called them on the radio to ask what their draft was.  They called back and said 5' 3" and that they were hard aground.  A half an hour later I heard them calling the local Tow Boat.  We decided to wait for high tide, around noon.  It turns out overnight the wind shifted offshore, which blew some of the water we needed away, making the tide just slightly lower.

The problem is the next possible stopping point is 35 miles, though there are reports that you might be asked to leave in the middle of the night.  The anchorage is by Camp Lejune, and if they are having exercises you can't transit the area, or you can't stop overnight.  The next stopping point is around 60 miles, so if you haven't left early in the morning you can't get there before dark.  We are now anchored right off the ICW, and since we have a GPS bread crumb trail 4 miles south we can leave at first light, or even a bit earlier.

To paraphrase Capt Ron...

Sometimes the tide works for you, sometimes it works against you.  This morning it worked against us.  We were trying to get to a dock so we could meet up later with another North Cape member - we'll call him "Bill" - now living in the area.  We had called the marina several times to see if they were open and to get the local conditions.  Getting no answer we decided to just go and check them out.  The wind was blowing us into the marina so I was going rather slow.  What I hadn't noticed was the tide - we don't have tides as such in the Great Lakes - which was also behind us and pushing the boat into the slip area.  About the time I started to turn the boat into the dock we were heading for I realized that the wind and tide were stronger than the turning momentum of the boat.  The nose of the boat was now past the center of the dock opening and not responding to the rudder!  I put the engine in reverse to slow the boat down and try to back out to open water.

A bit of explanation for non-boaters.  Unlike a car which goes straight back in reverse unless you turn the wheel, boats back sideways at first until you have enough speed to get water flowing over the rudder.  This is called "prop walk" and is caused by the direction the prop is spinning in reverse.  Some boats "walk" to the right, some boats "walk" to the left - it depends whether you have a right or left handed prop.  None of this will be on the quiz, it's just the way things work.  So, where was I...

Our boat "walks" to the left, which in this case was right where the dock posts were.  So we have the tide and wind pushing the boat past the dock opening I'm aiming for, the prop pushing the boat into the dock posts I'm trying to avoid, Sue trying to hold 16,000 pounds of boat off the posts...  In boating, as in other aspects of life, this is known as an "Oh, Sh*t!!!" moment. At this point, just as I'm realizing how totally screwed we are, somebody walking out the dock asks if we're friends of members or have a reservation.  It turns out we're not at a marina as the guide books suggested, but at a private club.  They do take transients, but only when they're open - which is NOT Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.  After our "host" made sure we knew the rules, he gave us some advice to help us get back to open water.

The other marina nearby had pretty much the same approach so we decided we really didn't need to get to a dock.  Amazingly, we didn't damage the boat, except for a little scratch in the finish of the wood rub rail.  Sometimes it's better to be lucky! 

Our friend had recommended another anchorage in the area where he had been several times with 2 or 3 other boats.  When we got there we were boat number 12, with numbers 13 and 14 arriving later.  The person working the fuel dock said the record was 18 boats!  All I can say is I hope they were small boats, and that they had out lots of fenders!

As we were putting the boat stuff away we noticed that the boat that came in after us had a cat on board, so naturally we had to investigate.  It turns out they have two "kittens" - only 6 or 8 months old.  They pretty much grew up on the boat, unlike our reluctant crew.  From the two humans on board Hairball we found out that there was a dinghy dock and lots of stores within walking distance.  So we gave Bill another call. 

Remember Bill?  In another life Bill sailed a Frers 36 on Lake Erie.  In another life we sailed a Frers 33 on Lake Erie.  About 3 years ago when we started to plan this trip Bill became a mentor of sorts, offering all sorts of advice on boat gear for extended cruising, navigation and charting advice, places to go, places to avoid... all sorts of useful and practical advice...  Since we didn't make connections with Bill in New Bern, he drove down and met us at our anchorage.  And ended up paying for our dinner to boot.  Thanks a lot, Bill - for everything. ( And Sue checked, it was Turnagain Bay!  But it looks like we were a mile from the restricted sign.)

Typical barge and tug in the ICW.  They look much bigger and closer coming at you!

Sunset, maybe sunrise.  Depends if you're looking east or west.

So, what direction do you think we're heading?

Wind forecast from Weather under ground:
Tuesday South 15 - 20
Wednesday South 15 - 20
Thursday Southwest 15 - 20

And yesterday when we got out on open water where we could sail, the wind was S to SW, 15 - 20, with higher gusts in the thunderstorm that rolled through.  We decided not to beat the rest of the way into Oriental because the anchorage didn't look all that well protected with southerly winds.  We found better protection in a low marsh area, so for the second time this trip we had mosquitoes.  They really liked getting out of the wind behind the dodger Sue made for this boat. 

This morning we sailed the 12 miles into Oriental.  (Eileen, you'll be happy to know we didn't have a double reefed main - we didn't even bother to put the main up, and still had 6 to 7 knots of boat speed!)  The anchorage isn't too well protected, but we've been holding well all day.  Today we attempted once again to track down the leak over Sue's bunk.  The hatch has leaked ever since we bought the boat, despite several attempts to fix it.  Kris and Skip know all about this leak - bringing the boat down Delaware Bay two years ago when we bought it.  I'll keep you all posted.

We took the dinghy ashore to explore - didn't take too long.  One of the shops that the cruising guide mentioned had the doors chained and padlocked.  There were UPS delivery notices from August.  Not too good a sign of the economy.

Back to the ICW tomorrow - hope it's not too windy in the morning.

Back to the ICW

A Post Script from Washington.  I don't know if I would have ever thought of Karl as the kind of person who would give you the shirt off his back (but then few people fall into that category).  Especially since we haven't seen each other for four or five years.  So imagine my surprise when Karl showed up at our boat today with a dozen pairs of shorts for me!  Only a few of you will understand the significance of this, and since I don't want to embarrass one of the 4 beings on the boat, that's all I'm saying.  But I will say that Karl has much better taste in clothing than I do so now I have some decent clothes to wear.  And since it was 80 degrees today Karl's gift came at a perfect time.  Even Sue was wearing shorts and a T-shirt today - not too bad for the last week of October.

Richard, Treva, Karl, Sue, Micaela, & Rylee.  We had to make sure that Micaela didn't cat nap Fluff when she left.

Sue, sailing, sunshine, and shorts!

Winding down our weekend in Washington

It turns out it was well worth the detour off the ICW.  Though I might as well disappoint you all right now - there were no pigs in the parade!  Just a person wearing a pig outfit, and we didn't even see that.

A typical pig cooker, with most of the pig.

One cylinder John Deere diesel powering an ice cream maker.

One of the more unusual vehicles on display.  Before BMW went after the yuppie segment of the car market. 

They have these fiberglass crabs all over town.  A business or organization has decorated and named them all.  This one was "Forestacean" by Weyerhauser.

Karl loaned us his truck so we could do some shopping.  By the time we got back around 10:00 Saturday morning the bar-b-q rigs were already being packed and leaving.  They must be heading to their next stop on the pig roast circuit.  We drove out and watched Rylee and Micaela playing soccer.  Then back to the boat to wander around looking at all the cars and people on display.  Then around 5:00 we drove out to Karl and Treva's wonderful house for grilled salmon and a movie - big screen no less, not our 9 inch boat TV.  And of course ice cream.  We plan to head back towards the ICW around noon.  We might only get as far as Bath again, though we already had a shower (real) this morning.

Perfect timing for Washington, NC

We've made connections with our friend from back in Michigan 20 years ago.  Karl had a dock at the same place we docked our first boats.  Since then Karl and his wife Treva moved to North Carolina.  They have two daughters and a business here in Washington.

It turns out Washington is having a  "Smoke on the Water" weekend.  Chili cookers and bar-b-quers are here for a chili cook off and a bar-b-q cook off.  Somebody told us that these cookers come from all over the country - from the chili and bar-b-q circuit (not that we'd ever heard of such a thing - I thought chili came out of a can!)  They have music in the street, a free movie, a dunk tank, and my favorite, a pig parade.  I'm curious to find out if the parading pigs end up on plates.  They start cooking the pigs tonight at 8:00 and cook them all night long.  Our boat is down wind, so should be interesting.  We ended up getting one of the last free docks, right next to the movie screen.  And the weather is perfectly gorgeous, so things have worked out pretty well.  And just think, if we hadn't sailed from New York City to Atlantic City the day we did we would have missed out on this weekend.

A rare view of Fluff (on right) with the boat underway.  Normally he would be burrowed totally in the sleeping bag. 

Another boat following us in the Alligator-Pungo Canal.  Basically a 20 mile, straight line canal.

Tomorrow I'll have a picture or two, hopefully of the pig parade.

Into North caroloina

Just a quick note - we have only fringe wireless coverage.  We haven't had Wi-Fi or phone signals the past two days, thus no updates.  (Or nothing interesting to report, or blogger's block - take your pick of excuses.)  Since we left Norfolk/Virginia Beach we have been in the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway). The first 2 days saw a steady stream of boats going south.  We're virtually the smallest boat we've seen so they are all passing us, especially the 50 foot and longer power boats!  They cruise by at 20 plus knots.  Actually most of them slow down but their wakes still toss us around like a bathtub toy.  Tonight we stopped in Bath, NC.  It's supposed to be quaint and historical.  Tomorrow we plan to head to Washington, NC to try to see some old sailing friends from another time and place.

To the ICW, and beyond...

To bring the two or three of you who are still following our adventure up to date, here's what's happened the last couple of days.  Saturday we moved the boat to Little Creek to be a little closer to Virginia Beach where my sister-in-law, nephew, and niece live.  It turned into another wild downwind adventure!  At one point, with just the full main we hit over 10 knots.  Fortunately Little Creek is easy to get into, and was well protected so we could get the sail down.  Getting tied up to the dock was another matter, but no damage done.

We spent the rest of the day taking showers, doing laundry (I think Sue is looking for the perfect laundromat) shopping, and relaxing.  Sunday Lynda, my S-I-L found us, and brought us a couple of packages (even on the boat Sue is still able to shop).  Then we met up with my nephew Trey, his wife Jenny, and their daughter Alexis, and all went out to eat.  (Here's an insider tip, stock up on pumpkins and pumpkin products.  Apparently there is some sort of shortage, and you can never have too many!)

Where the boat was docked the last two nights is right next to the naval amphibious base.  There were all kinds of landing craft right next to us, and I guess it's not uncommon to see Navy SEALs doing their exercises. 

This morning we motored through Norfolk and Portsmouth on our way to the start of the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway).  Lots and lots of naval ships (no navel oranges, they're all grey!)  Also lots of signs like "Keep Out" and "Use of force authorized"  Gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling seeing my tax dollars at work.

Now we've started the ICW.  I hope tonight isn't typical.  We just went through the one lock on the ICW and a couple of lift bridges.  There were ten other boats in the lock with us.  There are 23 power boats either tied up where we are or that kept going, and nine other sailboats here or that kept going.  It might be a crowded trip going south!

Note the privacy shield on the sonar dome.

One of the many schooners.

USS Wisconsin - what a war ship should look like.

Apparently when we were sailing down the Bay Friday there was a schooner race ending.  44 schooners left Baltimore and raced to Norfolk.  We didn't see a one of them.  This morning though, they were all heading back to Baltimore, or at least out of Norfolk.

I forgot to mention, and I hate to rub it in, it was 83 degrees and sunny today

Anchored near Norfolk, VA

We started the morning with a lovely sail from the Wicomico River about 7:00 AM.  It was sunny and the wind was on the beam at about 15 to 20 knots so we were making good time.  By 2:00 the wind had gone forward a bit and picked up in strength and by 3:00 it was blowing in the 30's.  Then we needed to turn upwind to go into Hampton Roads, the approach to Norfolk, VA.  We took the double reefed main down (having rolled in the headsail much earlier) and motored the rest of the way.  We anchored in the first appropriate bay we came to and then the sun came out again!  As I write, the wind has picked up again, so the boat is bouncing around a bit, but everyone is dry and warm, so all is well.  - Sue

Sue sure can put the best spin on stuff, can't she?  Actually we did have a pretty nice sail, and motored less than 2 hours today.  I don't think there was any rain forecast today.  But maybe when the precipitation blows horizontally in the 25 knot winds they don't figure it will actually touch ground, so it must not be rain.  Yesterday's conditions make me understand why people buy trawlers (cruising powerboats, for the non sailors who might be reading this).  You can motor from inside a nice warm, dry wheelhouse.  And you don't care if the wind shifts just 10 more degrees so you can actually sail.  Of course the down side to powerboats is you never get to take advantage of that 12 knot breeze blowing from the side, and nice flat waters.  (I've read about those perfect sailing conditions.)

I forgot to mention, yesterday we saw our first pelican.  Today we saw some more, and several dolphins in our anchorage.  And if my geographic math is correct we're in our 8th state now.  We've actually sailed in the waters of some of them. 

Now in Virginia, though we missed seeing the border!

Red sky at morning, sailor take warning... We left the Little Choptank River about 6:30 AM with a beautiful sunrise, except it was quite red.  By 8:30 we were finally out onto the Bay.  It took that long to get there because we had anchored so far up river.  At first it was nice sailing but soon it deteriorated.  The northeast breeze that was predicted turned out to be southeast, our direction of travel.  Sometimes it blew hard and sometimes hardly at all.  Mostly it rained, sometimes a little and sometimes a lot.  Between the rain and the clouds visability was so bad that we only saw a freighter that was probably a mile away for about 15 minutes, and we totally missed seeing the Potomac River as we crossed it.  Toward the end of the day the wind shifted to northwest and blew quite hard.  We anchored in the Great Wicomico River.  Most of our clothing was wet, despite wearing full foul weather gear, so now the interior of the boat has wet gear hanging from every available hook and handle.  The good news is that all that rain should have washed away most of the salt.

Seems like there should be a title for this entry, like it's right on the tip of my tongue...

Bad news:  Cambridge, MD doesn't sell diesel fuel on their waterfront. 
Good news:  Pep Up, about  a tenth of a mile inland from our boat did, and we had 2 empty containers. 
Bad news (from Sue): they didn't have a rest room. 
Good news:  They had ice cream sandwiches.

Good news:  I'm old enough to ride the bus for a buck in Cambridge. 
Bad news:  Sue isn't.  Good news:  The bus took us to Wal-Mart and Food Lion.
Bad news:  Apparently the bus doesn't stop at Food Lion to pick you up again. 
Good news:  As we were waiting (for close to an hour) for the bus, we started talking with another sailor.  He does refrigeration , among other things, and we had a question about how ours is working.  Bad news:  He told us pretty much his whole life story - buying and fixing up a Pacific Seacraft 27, living and working in Colorado on a goat farm, doing refrigeration work in Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Texas, being born in 1955 and starting work in 1961, getting whacked in the neck with a machete and almost dying while in the military in Panama...
Good news:  In between bio-bits he did mention a few useful tidbits about refrigeration.
Bad news:  It wasn't 80 degrees again today.
Good news:  It was bright and sunny, and we got in a bit of a sail, and an assist with some motor-sailing.
Final good news for all of you:  I'm almost done.  As we travel south from Annapolis we are seeing fewer cruising boats.  It looks like most of the boats we saw the last few days were going to and from the boat show, or traveling from Annapolis for the Columbus Day weekend.

You can't get here from there. (or) Capt. Ron was right.

This morning when we punched up the GPS information for where we were going it said about 24 miles.  42 miles later we arrived.  All the inlets and bays in the Chesapeake are like branches on a tree.  Instead of just walking around the tree, you need to climb all the way up, and then all the way back down - if that makes sense.  And if not...   Today the temps were in the 80s again.  We also had a pretty spectacular lightning display last night.  It lit up about half the sky around us, but no wind or rain for us.  Sometimes you get lucky.

We are in Cambridge, MD.  We came for the shopping, screw sightseeing.  Actually we spent the first two hours that we were here draining our diesel tank.  We've owned this boat for 2 years, sailing and cruising on the Great Lakes.  But as Capt. Ron tells us, "If it's going to happen, it's gonna happen on the ocean!"  When the boat was built the vent for the diesel tank was located in such a position that under certain conditions (sailing in 12 to 15 foot waves which break over the transom, or waves continually running down the side deck on port tack) the vent is/was under water, forcing water into the fuel tank.  We had noticed water in the fuel filter sight bowl on a couple of occasions.  When I drained it off it was salty so I knew it was ocean water and not from dirty fuel , as sometimes happens. Diesels don't like water in their fuel so I decided to modify the vent system, and to get all the remaining water out of the tank.  We drained the bulk of the fuel into empty cans which we have for later in the trip.  Then we sopped up the water in the bottom of the tank.  (Sue is planning to do laundry later in the trip and I figure her sweat shirts and towels should clean right up.)  Then we ran all the fuel through a water separating funnel to make sure it was clean, going back into the clean tank.

I understand Cambridge has a hardware store.  Tomorrow I get to go shopping for more boat project supplies.  And maybe ice cream.  I'll pass on a Dunkin' Donuts.

Yet another "must see" seen...

We got a nice early start this morning (well, 10:00 AM) and headed to St. Michaels, MD.  It is one of the more popular destinations on the Eastern Shore.  So popular in fact, that we had already visited it a few years ago.  Though the last time we came we didn't have a boat shower on the way.  It was over 80 degrees today, but no wind to speak of so we put more hours on the diesel. 

We hadn't really been thinking about it, but today is Columbus Day, and the end of a 3 day weekend.  The entire trip over we saw a steady stream of boats leaving, going back to Annapolis.  There were probably 30 boats going the other way.  There are probably still 15 boats anchored here, a few having come in today.





Waterfront property - this might be worth half a mil.

Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum at St Michaels, MD.

It's about time to leave.

This morning we finally found the grocery store that we spent almost 3 hours looking for yesterday.  We did see a lot of Back Creek by dinghy, just not the grocery store.  After our shopping we spent the afternoon sightseeing in Annapolis.  We had a nice tour of the state capitol building, which had the distinction of also being the capitol of the country for a short while.  Our guide didn't have too much good to say about politicians, making the comment (several times) that nothing much has changed in politics in the last couple of hundred years.  We also walked around the grounds of the Naval Academy.  We saw some nice little houses, on one way streets, with no parking.  One of them is for sale for around a half a mil.  Apparently it is so small, and with a corner type stairway, that you can't get a sofa upstairs.  And I thought our boat was small.  On our way back to the boat we found ice cream, so we had dessert first and then had a lite supper later this evening.



Apparently this is the size house you get for $500,000!




The Chapel at the Naval Academy.



This is how tall John Paul Jones was.  If Sue had on her power boat heels they would be the same height.

Chore day

We spent the day doing boat chores, and then getting the outboard on the dinghy.  Now we have a way to get ashore to sight see and do errands without being at a dock.  Of course our first errand took two hours and we never did find what we were looking for.

At anchor, in the middle of Back Creek.

Under the twin spans approaching Annapolis.

A work boat, probably pulling crab pots.

Annapolis Sailboat Show

For any of you following our trip who aren't sailors, there is a big in-the-water sailboat show every October.  Pretty much if it is sailing related it will be at the show - big boats, little boats, odd boats, pretty boats...hardware, clothing...you name it.  Skip and Kris drove down to attend as they often do, while  Harold and Eileen had never been.  The plan was for all of us to get to Annapolis in time to go to the show.  We accomplished that goal by virtue of some rather intense sails. 

At the boat show we spent more money than we expected to.  Talked to some company reps about questions we had, and ran into a couple of old acquaintances.  (Mark, we saw a really nice Hinkley 42!  It was 5 years old, but looked brand new.  It had a centerboard, and I think you would be quite happy with it.)  All in all we had a good time, and perfect weather for a change.  We had a last meal with our four travel mates of the last few weeks.  They are all heading back to Toledo tomorrow.  As we were eating they were all chanting "Go Green!"  This was in a sports bar so I'm not sure what they meant.  (Any ideas, Brenda?) Suddenly the boat seems a little larger, and a little quieter.  I'm sure it will take a few days to get back to travelling "alone" again.  If  the four of you read this, thanks again for helping us get the boat here.  I hope you enjoyed at least parts of the trip, and I hope I didn't annoy you too much.

The plan for tomorrow is to do a few boat chores, and then do a little exploring of Annapolis.  We might stick around Sunday, or maybe start moving south.  With no more schedules we plan to move at a more  leisurely pace.

Friday morning

We appear to have anchored near some sort of remote coastal outpost.  There are a few other boats within sight.  We also noticed a rather large tented compound with lots of flags and colorful banners.  We think it might be some sort of a fall trade gathering.  We plan to go ashore later today to investigate.  My hope is the natives are friendly.

Into the Chesapeake - Wednesday night

Yesterday we left Cape May at first light--actually it was a quarter to 7:00.  After threading our way around some shoals which Sue thought put us much too close to shore, we finally got to deep water in Delaware Bay where we could sail. We had a really nicer sail. Sunshine, and nice wind so we could beam read (a very good point of sail) at 6 to 7 knots.   But with most things in life there is always a flip side.  Our timing leaving Cape May was such that we were fighting the current.  The farther we went up the Bay the slower our speed over the bottom.  Near the top of the Bay we were going 2.5 nautical miles an hour over the ground, instead of the 7 knots the boat speed was showing.

We ended up getting to the top of the Bay around dark and decided to cross the C&D Canal at night to have a shorter day  into Annapolis, and to avoid a head wind if we did the canal in the morning.  Also, there are no really decent places to anchor or tie up if you believe the charts.  The first part of the canal is pretty straight and has "street" lights along either side so it's pretty easy to navigate in the dark.  The far end of the canal follows a river with more twists and turns, and no street lights.  So of course the pelting rain, and 16 knot head winds started just about then.  Also an oncoming tug pulling a barge.  No major problems, with everyone on deck watching for channel marks and boats moving.
We anchored off the channel around 11:30, and after a bit of a problem getting the boat to head into the 15 knot wind on her anchor, we had a good nights sleep.

This morning we are deciding what to do, and when to do it.  The course to Annapolis is 245 degrees.  I know this without looking at the chart, because the wind is coming from 244 degrees.  I thought I only had this psychic power when Kris and Skip were on the boat.  Now I apparently have it with Eileen and Harold on the boat.  Maybe I will never need a chart again.  Harold and Eileen also brought us an endless supply of rain.

Day 22 - but who's counting?

The forecast was for west winds at 15 to 20 knots so we decided to leave Atlantic City and try for Cape May.  It was rainy and lumpy and more on the nose than we expected so we were going upwind with 20 to 25 apparent for most of the day but had good speed.  Luckily it was primarily starboard tack, so we didn't need to tack much.  Since the wind was blowing off shore the waves weren't bad until we got about five miles offshore.  We tacked back inshore when that happened.  We took a lot of spray over the bow and now everything is salt covered.  The cats hunkered down and made it through ok, though Zimmie did try to crawl into the V-berth at one point.  We discouraged that, as that is the part of the boat with the worst motion.  We are now anchored with 12 or 15 other cruisers and will go up Delaware Bay tomorrow.  The anchorage is not large so everyone is anchored close to each other.  The sunset was quite beautiful with the sun peeking through under the cloud deck and we have some stars showing now, so hopefully tomorrow will be a sunnier, dryer day than the past two. 

I have to add an update to yesterday's entry about the 150 power boat we parked behind.  First, Harold was wrong about his estimate about how long it was (I should have known!).  It was only 125 feet!  I found a web link which you might find interesting:
     http://www.charterworld.com/index.html?sub=yacht-charter&charter=mynamoh-1483
Especially the weekly rental rate!





Early on Sunday's sail to Atlantic City, before they all realized they would rather be almost any place else.



One of the few boats we saw traveling today.

High time in the Big Town

I spent the entire day visiting every casino in Atlantic City.  It turns out none of them have quarter slots - my gambling limit.  You can actually find nickle and quarter slots, but they don't actually take nickles and quarters. You have to convert a five dollar bill into a "ticket" and then use that in the machines so it would cost me five bucks to loose my quarter.            

Actually the highlights of the day were boat pancakes for breakfast.  Thanks Sue.  We had to unlock the gimbal on the stove so the pancakes could cook flat - the boat was/is heeled 3 degrees at the dock due to the wind.  We all had nice warm showers. Then Eileen and Sue each did a load of laundry just to dry things out a bit.  Harold and Eileen treated us to tonight's dockage.  They paid before I knew it, so I would have felt bad taking them for another stimulating sail on the Atlantic.  Eileen tried to win enough money at the Trump Marina Casino to pay for dockage for another week or so, or until the wind quits blowing.  Harold checked out "Costume Monday" at a really high class restaurant frequented by owl watchers - Hooters.  Eileen and Harold also took us out to eat at the Trump Casino Cafe.  The food was surprisingly good, especially the ice cream covered chocolate brownie, though it was a bit small.

We are docked behind a modest little 150 foot power boat from the Marshall Islands.  The mast on our boat is almost 60 feet off the water.  The antennas and light masts on the power boat are only a few feet shorter!  The boat also has a chandlier!  And for any of you who thought we were crazy to sail downwind in yesterdays wind and waves, we met another boat that came upwind from Annapolis!  Granted, they are on a 55 foot Swan, but it's still upwind!!

Kind of hard to make out, but a 30 to 36 inch diameter light fixture on the 150 foot powerboat.

Zim and Fluff weren't too impressed with Atlantic City.

Not much happening in New York City, so we decided to go to Atlantic City, NJ.  Unfortunately, the weather man lied (again)!  We expected northeast 15-20 knot winds with gusts to 25 knots and 3-6 foot seas.  What we got was northeast 25 to 35 knots with gusts in the 40's and 10-12 foot seas.  Things got worse as the day progressed and it also started raining.  There are not many places to stop along the New Jersey shore and once started we had to keep going.  The easiest place to get in was Atlantic City, which has a wide open entrance.  However, they move the marks depending on the shoaling conditions, so they are not on the chart and they were difficult to find.  Anyway, we are now tied up to a dock and everyone is dry, warm, and fed.  It was one of those sails that makes one say, "Never again!"

That was Sue's version.         Here's "the rest of the story."    We had originally planned to go to Barnegat Inlet, which is about half way to Cape May, NJ.  Barnegat Inlet is another place which is uncharted due to local shoaling.  As we got closer we called the Coast Guard to check the local conditions.  The uncharted info is that the controlling depth (channel depth) is 3.2 feet!  Great, unless your boat draws 5' 6" and the waves are in excess of 6 or 8 feet.  Since no one was too interested in going back to New York City (almost a physical impossibility now)  we decided the next spot to shoot for was Atlantic City.  What sue neglected to mention was our boat speed - over 7 kts all day long with peak speeds in the 9 to 10 knot range.  And this with one or two reefs in the mainsail, and no headsail!  As we approached the inlet, looking for the uncharted marks, with basically one chance to get it right, the slowest we could make the boat go was 7.5 kts!  It was also almost dark, and raining.  Other than that it was just another typical Sunday day sail.

Pretty much the whole day I was listening for any strange noises, and feeling any strange or unusual  vibrations.  Every time I moved the wheel I was hoping that nothing had bound up or come loose in the steering.   It is also interesting that after you have been sailing in 30 to 35 knot winds, when the wind drops to 20 to 23 kts it seems almost  calm.

We just found out from friends back home that the Erie Canal, or at least part of it, is closed due to flooding.  Probably from all the rain that we had 3 and 4 days ago from the tropical depression that went up the east coast.

New York, New York

Another false start today - I hope this doesn't become a trend.  After an early morning pump out (I sure would like to know who keeps using the head?) as soon as we started motoring south I noticed that the  tachometer wasn't working.  Then I realized the fuel gauge and  water temp were also not working.  Not wanting to get to New York City and then realize that we had dead batteries and the diesel wouldn't start, we decided to go back to White's Marina where we could get help if we had a problem.  The diesel started right up, and all the gauges and instruments worked.  Either we have an intermittent loose wire, or possibly the key got bumped to the "Off" position.  (I'm kind of hoping that's what happened, but it would be the first time in the 2 years we've owned the boat.

We left White's for the second time around 9:30 - it would have been even later if Harold had gotten into the shower!  We had a delightful motor-sail down the Hudson.  Full sunshine, a following breeze, warming temps, good company...  We passed West Point around 11:00.  Temple was playing at the Point, and beat Army.  We continued on towards the Big Apple, passing under the George Washington Bridge, seeing Grant's Tomb, the Empire State Building, and finally around the Statue of Liberty.  We are anchored in the shadow of Lady Liberty, about as close as you can legally get.  We also passed the Hudson River resort at Ossining, NY.  From what I understand they have crafts (making license plates) and a nice vocal program (sing-sing!)  And for extra credit, what are the 5 boroughs of New York City?

Harold and Eileen, West Point in background.

Empire State Building.

Tonight we ended up about half way between Castleton and New York City.  We picked up one of 5 mooring balls at White's Hudson River Marina in New Hamburg, NY.  If we had moved the boat two days ago we would have had 6 to choose from.  Apparently yesterday when we had relatively benign conditions at Castleton, and were thinking we should have moved, conditions were slightly different here.  The marina owner said the winds here were 50 mph, with 6 foot waves.  A large boat (in the 35 foot range) pulled one of the mooring balls a couple of miles upstream!

We had rain most of the day, but also rode a favorable tide pretty much the whole day.  We were also able to motor-sail most of the day.  With the tide and the sail assist we showed speeds of 8 plus knots over the ground.  The most exciting thing that happened was when the "professionally" spliced towing line on the dinghy parted and we had to go back to retrieve it.  Sue spent the next half hour seizing the lines in place, which she should have done yesterday during the lay day!  (Sue wrote the last, not me!!)

Late in the day we saw the blue catamaran that had been tied up at NCYC and then TBM.  It's on a mooring just a couple miles upstream from where we are now.  We also saw the Vanderbilt mansion (that gal must have really sold a lot of jeans!) and CIA headquarters - in this case the Culinary Institute of America.  Wonder if they have any good recipes for lentil soup?

                                                   Zim wants to know what's to eat.

                                                         Waiting for table service.