Oct 3
Today we are getting ready to leave. We packed up everything except the cat this morning and headed for the boat. Once there, we dinghied out to the boat, hoisted the dinghy, and moved the boat to the dock. We loaded our stuff aboard, settled up with the yacht club, and went grocery shopping. We got back with the groceries and stowed everything. A little before 17:00, Bob & Kitty showed up with the cat in his new denim carrier. We bought the new smaller carrier in case we fly home next summer and bring him with us.
We all went to dinner at the Raccoon Saloon in Marlboro. We had an excellent dinner and then Bob & Kitty took us back to the boat. We are going to stay aboard at the dock tonight so we can get an early departure in the morning. We have along day planned and with the days shorter, we need all the daylight we can get.
GPS N 41-36.488 W 073-57.609 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 6315.
Oct 4
The day dawned very foggy. I was up at 06:15, expecting daylight, but it was still pretty dark due to the fog. I went ahead and made coffee and got the wench going. We quickly fell into the routine of sleeping until 08:00 or later while staying with Bob & Kitty, and that has to end, especially this time of year when the days are shorter and we need to make the most of the available travel time. By 06:45, there was some light, although visibility was less than half a mile. Just as we were ready to go, I spotted a southbound barge just off the marina. We cast off and fell in about a quarter mile behind him. My thoughts were that by following him, I didn't have to see far. Unfortunately, the barge was only doing a cautious three knots or so. That would not get us to NYC by dark. So, before we even got the six or seven miles to the Newburgh Beacon bridge, I hailed the barge and asked if it would be ok if I passed him. He said to bring it on. I passed him on his starboard side, between him and the shore. Again, I figured if there was anything big out there to hit, it would be in the middle of the river, not along the edge. I also was pretty sure nothing was out there, since I had not heard anybody on the radio. Commercial vessels announce their positions regularly on the radio, especially when the visibility is restricted. As we passed the barge, he turned towards us and came closer than I would have liked. I suspect he felt he was too close to the middle, but I was surprised how close he came to us. If we had suddenly lost power for some reason, he would not have been able to stop before running us over.
We were in the lead now, and it was pretty spooky. I had our radar on, didn't think anything was out there, could clearly see the bridge ahead (on the radar), and heard nobody on the radio, but still was a little uneasy. As we approached the bridge, we couldn't see it at all until we were less than a quarter mile from it. Thank goodness for radar and GPS.
If you recall from our trip north on the Hudson, I thought we might have tangled something in the prop. While we were in Marlboro, we had dropped the mooring and taken a little trip across the river and back, and I thought all was well. I had chalked up our reduced speed on the northbound leg as just fighting the current. Well, now I'm convinced there is something on the prop. We are not able to obtain the speed I think we should, with or without current, and over 2500 rpm, we now have a very noticeable vibration. The reduced speed means we will not be able to make NYC, get fuel and get on to Sandy Hook, our planned anchorage, before dark. So, the plan changed.
I made a call to Liberty Landing Marine Service. We stayed at Liberty Landing last year on our way north. They have a nice (expensive) marina, fuel dock, restaurants, and a full service yard. They said they might be able to fit us in tomorrow for a quick haul to see if there is something on the prop. Rather than go there today and spend over $100/night, we stopped at the 79th St. Boat Basin and got a $30 mooring for the night. Once secure on a mooring, I called the office to see if we could check in by phone rather than launch the dinghy just to go in and pay them. They don't usually do this, but said ok, and we got checked in.
The plan is to go the six miles to Liberty Landing early, and hang there until they can fit us in. We enjoyed a pleasant evening aboard, even when it rained for a while. Since it has been cool, and we have the plastic sides on the cockpit enclosure, we can stay out even in the rain.
GPS N 40-47.556 W 073-58.913 Nautical miles traveled today 53. Total miles 6368.
Oct 5
The forecast last night was for the rain to pass through overnight, which it did, and the wind to die down overnight, which it didn't. It was very windy all night, which meant we made lots of electricity, but, it also meant we were rocking and rolling in the open river. So, by 08:00, we were up and moving south to the nice protected channel that houses Liberty Landing. We got to the fuel dock about 09:30 and tied up to fuel. There was another boat taking on about five hundred gallons of fuel, so we had to wait a while. While waiting, I called the service guys (who are way at the other end of the marina). They said they could fit us in around 13:00. After fueling the fuel dock guy said we could move to the far end of the fuel dock to wait. As I maneuvered to the new place, suddenly I had no response from the shifter/throttle. There was a stiff breeze blowing, so we were quickly drifting towards other boats. A couple who just happened to be near us in their dinghy, pushed us a little and kept us from hitting one boat. Then as we drifted up alongside a very large (real expensive) powerboat, three people on that boat and Barb and I were able to fend us off them without hitting. Within a minute of me yelling to the dock guy that I had a problem, three other marina guys were there in two dinghies. One took a line and pulled us away as the other acted like a tugboat to steer us. We got secure at the dock with many thanks to all involved and no damage to any fiberglass.
The problem turned out to be the throttle cable broke. A mechanic came down from the yard, looked at it, agreed with my diagnosis, and then he manually worked the fuel lever on the engine as I drove us down to the service dock. The good news is that we got our haulout done and found a large hunk of net wrapped around the prop, which explains our lack of speed and vibration. They power washed the hull, cleaned a large chunk of barnacles off the bottom of the keel where we have scraped off the bottom paint in various groundings, and put us back in the water. The bad news is that they had to order a new throttle cable that will be here tomorrow, so we are parked here at the service dock.
As if that wasn't enough, the weather forecast has turned ugly. The seas off the Jersey coast are forecast to be over 15 feet Friday, Saturday, and start reducing Sunday. So, when we leave here tomorrow, we plan to go down to Atlantic Highlands and get a mooring for a couple of days and not head out until Monday.
GPS N 40-42.632 W 074-02.525 Nautical miles traveled today 6. Total miles 6374.
Oct 6
We had a nice quiet night at the service dock. The service dock is way at the end of the marina, about three quarters of a mile from the river, so there is no surge from the wakes in the river, and being surrounded by buildings, the wind is blocked. Mike the mechanic came to the boat around 10:00 with the new cable and started to take apart the old one. My logic in paying somebody to do this was that once I opened it up and it wasn't obvious to me how to disassemble the shifter/throttle control, I'd get somebody who knew. Well, it turned out to be as much a mystery to Mike as it was to me. We figured it out together. By 13:00, we were in working order, donated a boat unit ($$) to the yard, and were underway.
The weather today is pretty ugly. It's in the low 60's, some rain came through this morning, it's very overcast, and the wind is blowing about twenty-five knots from the east. Out in the river, it was pretty choppy, but not too bad. We made our way south through the big boat traffic without any problem. Once south of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, we were in exposed waters for about six miles until we got in the lee of Sandy Hook. The wind was still blowing between twenty and twenty-five knots and without the protection of any land the waves were five or six feet hitting us right in the side. We rolled way over to about a forty-five degree angle several times. Although it was not any fun, at least it was only an hour or so. And remarkably, the cat never got sick. Once inside the lee of Sandy Hook, the last few miles were still choppy but nowhere near as bad. We got inside the breakwater of Atlantic Highlands and hailed the launch for a mooring assignment. We picked up our mooring and settled in.
Since it was still blowing hard and cold, I called the launch on the VHF and asked him if we could just check in tomorrow. Since that meant he didn't have to bring the launch out to get us, he readily agreed. We had some hot soup for dinner and watched TV for the evening.
GPS N 40-25.110 W 074-01.888 Nautical miles traveled today 20. Total miles 6394.
Oct 7
The wind blew hard all night. Since it was cold and bouncy, we had no good reason to get up early, so we didn't get out of bed until 10:00. Even the cat didn't want to get up and he actually got under the covers next to me for a while. When we finally got up, Barb made a nice breakfast which also made a little heat in the boat.
We decided that somewhere warm and not bouncing around was a good idea, so about noon we hailed the launch and went to town. Turned out there was a car show on the main street, and checked out a couple dozen classic cars before going to catch a movie. The Departed opened this weekend, and a little local theater like the one in Atlantic Highlands is the perfect place to see a big movie on opening weekend. I bet there were lines at the big fancy mall theaters for it. The movie was ok. Very violent, and somewhat confusing at points trying to keep track of who's double crossing who.
After the movie, we walked a couple blocks further to get some Pepsi and rum. On the way back we stopped at a Mexican restaurant that we had been handed a coupon for during the car show. Since it was only 16:00, we were the only customers there. We ordered beer and they informed us they were a BYOB place. We conveniently had just come from the liquor store, so we ordered Coke and added our own rum. The food was ok for a Mexican place in the north.
By late afternoon, the clouds had pretty much dissipated, and the wind had dropped to only about ten knots. This drop in the wind was expected, but not until overnight. The earlier the better, to give the ocean more of a chance to calm down before we go offshore Monday.
GPS N 40-25.110 W 074-01.888 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 6394.
Oct 8
Today was a beautiful day. It was pretty calm in the mooring field, behind the breakwater. Lots of Canadian boats came in late in the afternoon. In the Bahamas last year at least a third of the boats were Canadian, and they are on their way again. We enjoyed watching the fuel dock dance all afternoon. There is only one fuel dock here, and it only can accommodate two boats at a time. For the better part of the afternoon, there were at least six boats hovering to be next at the dock. Remarkably, although we were only a couple hundred feet away, we did not hear any raised voices or gunshots.
We did make a shore run for a few groceries and ice. The grocery store is probably a mile walk from the marina, but we needed the exercise so we hoofed it.
We have been spoiled by being near a big city, and watched over-the-air TV again for the third night. This caused us to run the batteries pretty low, so we decided to run the motor an hour or so. Well, you can't hear the TV over the motor, so that was a bad idea. Also, we noticed that the batteries were not charging at the expected rate with the motor running. There may still be some voltage regulator problem. Also, we smelled something while running the motor that didn't smell right. It smelled like something was to hot, but we couldn't narrow it down.
GPS N 40-25.110 W 074-01.888 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 6394.
Oct 9
Today was a travel day. We were up before dawn, and underway by 06:45. The weather was predicted to be nice, with winds five knots from the north, switching to the south mid-day, and seas three to five feet. What we found when we got outside the Sandy Hook Bay protection was close. The wind was only about five knots, but it was already from the south. The seas were about five feet, but it was a gentle swell from the east, which we just rode up and over. So, it was a pleasant ride. Or at least it started that way. As the day wore on, the wind kept building. By the time we got to Barnegat Inlet, the wind was blowing about fifteen knots form the south, and there was a good chop from the south on top of the swell from the east. The last hour was uncomfortable, but by far not the worst thing we have done.
Once at Barnegat Inlet, we turned in the inlet to face a pretty good rage. We had the large easterly swell behind us, but the current was coming out the inlet at 3.5 knots, causing large standing waves. At full throttle, we were only able to make 3. knots, so it took a while to get in to the calmer water. Even once we were in where the swell wasn't causing the standing waves, we still were going very slow due to the opposing current. We finally got inside to the anchorage. We spent a night here on the way north so now we know where to go without running aground. It is a very confusing inlet if you haven't seen it before.
Once secure, we relaxed in the cockpit with adult beverages and later dinner. Before dark, a guy in a dinghy approached us. He could have been Alan Alda's homeless brother. Turned out he lives on a boat in the anchorage that we thought was abandoned. It is a little, old, sailboat with no mast. Turns out he lost his mast a year ago and has been stuck here since then. He has lived aboard for sixteen years. His dingy was homemade from canvas shaped like a little boat and then covered with fiberglass resin. It was so thin that you could see through it. He just recently got a new Honda 2hp outboard for it. I can't imagine how he rowed a dinghy in the currents in this area before he got the motor. His boat has no visible means of generating electricity, and he must dinghy water to it. He mentioned how hard it was to be stuck here in the winter. I can't imagine.
GPS N 39-45.604 W 074-06.994 Nautical miles traveled today 53. Total miles 6447.
Oct 10
We were up before dawn today for two reasons. One, we have a long day today so we need to start early. The more important reason though is that the current in the inlet will be almost slack at 06:30. That means a much nicer ride than coming in. I think if I make Barb do one more raging inlet, she may jump ship. So, we were up about 06:15, while it was still dark. By the time the coffee was made, and the few things stowed that needed to be, there was a hint of light in the sky. I hoisted the anchor and was quickly reminded of the yucky mud that we found here last time. I got the anchor stowed and came back to the cockpit trying not to touch anything, or even drip the slimy mud that was all over my hands on the deck. Barb drove while I went below to rinse my hands. We accidentally timed our departure perfectly to follow a commercial fishing boat out the inlet, so even if we couldn't see the markers (which we could by now) we would have been ok. We got out the inlet with a little current running with us, and no rage at the entrance.
We turned south and settled in for a pretty boring day. Remember, boring is a good thing in this business. We were about three miles offshore most of the way, allowing us to see the coastline. The winds were very light from the northeast, so the apparent wind was zero. We never bothered to unfurl the sail at all. There was not much boat traffic. Several large cabin cruisers and several large sportfish boats passed us. We passed a few sailboats who were actually trying to sail even in the light winds.
We got to the Cape May Inlet about 15:45. The tide was still running out the inlet against the ocean swell, but it was no where near as rough as Barnegat had been yesterday. We easily got in and the only big rocking came from the Cape May Whale Watcher who just plowed past us without any regard for the huge wake he was throwing. We made our way into the harbor and to Utsch's Marina, where we have stayed twice before.
Utsch's is a great place as evidenced by how they handle the transient rush in the spring and fall. When we called for a reservation a couple of days ago, they were already full in their normal transient slip area, but some boats have come out of the water already for the winter, so they use those slips for transients too. Even though we have only been there twice before, they recognized the boat name and knew we were returning customers. When we came in, we went to the diesel dock first. We only need about half a tank, but NJ fuel prices are amongst the lowest you'll find, so we wanted to top up. While we were there a sport fish came in next to us and got seven hundred gallons, and there was a large yacht there pumping when we got there and still pumping over an hour later, who took twenty-four hundred gallons. At $2.29/gal, that's a bunch.
We got in our slip and quickly went to work. We needed to rinse the salt crust off the boat from the last two days and mostly from the few miles from NYC to Atlantic Highlands a few days ago. I also rinsed the anchor chain as best I could to get all the Barnegat mud off it. The water running out the chain locker drain was black for fifteen minutes. I also filled an empty water tank since I had the hose out. I then quickly changed the engine oil. They will take my used oil here and dispose of it, but I need to have it to them before they close at 18:30. I also went up to talk to Mr. Utsch about the bridge clearance in the Cape May canal. I know we can get under it at low tide, but I need to be refreshed on the details. When I came back to the boat, Barb looked at me in a way that was odd. Turned out something else had broken, and she wasn't sure if I could take the news or not. The battery monitor - the very expensive top-of-the-line battery monitor - would not do anything. No matter what button you pushed, the display didn't change. This was not what I needed now.
I was very frustrated and didn't want to deal with something else now, so we went to take much needed hot showers. Utsch's showers are the best we have encountered in all of our travels so far. I told the lady when we checked in that the reason we keep coming back is the bathrooms and the bottle of wine in the welcome bag.
After cleaning up, we headed across the parking lot to the Lobster House where we have eaten each time we stopped here. Great food, and very reasonably priced. We met the owners of the yacht that took the twenty-four hundred gallons of fuel at the bar. We joked with them about how long it would take us to use that much fuel, even thought we do motor all the time. When we got seated, we were right next to a table of four whom we had also said hi to at the bar. They were from NYC, but one of the couples winters in St. Vincent. The wife, La Fleur, is a native of Bequia, an island we will visit this winter. It sounded like they will already have gone back to NYC by the time we get there, but it was very interesting to chat with them.
While at dinner, I had figured out a way to use my test meter to monitor battery voltage until we get to Norfolk where I can possibly get a new Link 2000. When we got back to the boat, I decided to check out the monitor instead of just writing it off. I went to the manufacturer's website and found a procedure to force a reset on the unit. Since it is always monitoring, there is no simple off/on switch. Unfortunately, to reset it, I had to take apart the main electrical panel and disconnect the unit. Then after reconnecting, I had to push a secret series of buttons to cause it's internal processor to reset. To my amazement, it came back to life. The real excitement came when I was reaching in behind the main panel to reconnect the monitor and I touched both forearms on live wires. I've been bitten by electricity before, although not in a long time, but doing it from arm to arm like that can be very dangerous, since the heart is in the path of the voltage. Fortunately, my heart didn't seem to notice, but my arms were sore the rest of the evening.
After putting the panel back together, I sat down and plotted the next day. We need to leave early to catch the low tide allowing us to get under the bridges.
GPS N 38-57.113 W 074-54.360 Nautical miles traveled today 66. Total miles 6513.
Oct 11
Again, we were up before dawn today. The deal here in Cape May, is that there is a canal which cuts across the tip of NJ, from Cape May to the Delaware Bay. It cuts twelve miles, or about two hours, off the trip compared to going around the tip. The problem with the canal is that it has two fixed highway bridges over it that are typical NJ height, which is fifty-five feet. Our mast is about fifty-seven and a half feet high, including the anchor light and radio antenna. The published fifty-five foot bridge clearance is theoretically the minimum clearance at high tide. The tidal range here is almost five feet, so at low tide there should be almost sixty feet under the bridge. Low tide was at 05:15, so by first light, the tide had already risen at least a foot. We joined a half dozen other sailboats with the same idea and were ready to go at first light. We left the slip at 06:45 and were the third sailboat to approach the bridge. The two ahead of us cleared it and we approached very slowly. As we passed under the VHF antenna just barely clicked the beams. We went the half mile or so to the second bridge and again approached very slowly. We didn't touch this one at all even though they are supposed to be exactly the same height. At any rate, we were relieved to be through. This saves us two hours off the trip.
The other benefit of leaving at this time in the tidal range is that we will have a favorable current as we go northwest in the Delaware Bay. What we didn't realize was just how perfect the timing was. We got out in the bay and put up the main for stability and a little speed boost even though the wind is not blowing very strongly. We did over eight knots all the way up the bay to the C&D canal which connects Delaware Bay to the Chesapeake, and hit a high of 9.8 knots at one point. I expected the current to change against us before we got to the canal, but it switched just as we got there. That meant now we got a favorable current through the canal to the Chesapeake also. I've never timed it perfect to get it both ways. We expected to stop for the night in Chesapeake City, which is near the western end of the canal, but we were there by 14:30 in the afternoon. So we kept going, and kept a favorable current another twenty miles to the Sassafras River off the northern Chesapeake. We went up the Sassafras about six miles to what we hope is a nice anchorage. We came up this river last year, but went all the way to Georgetown, MD to a marina for repairs. The total miles traveled today was eighty-two, in a little over ten hours. That's impressive for a sailboat. Now I have to adjust our next stops, since we are closer than we thought.
GPS N 39-21.808 W 075-58.851 Nautical miles traveled today 82. Total miles 6595.
Oct 12
The night was very calm, except for about ten minutes around 02:00 when the wind shifted and blew enough to spin the wind generator for about ten minutes. Then it got quiet again and we slept well. We had such a fast day yesterday that we thought we'd see just how far we could go today too. Since we made an extra thirty miles yesterday, I readjusted our stops between here and Norfolk. Depending on what we find for currents will determine how far we get. Today's weather will play a role too, since it's supposed to be quite windy and choppy today. We headed out at the crack of dawn with a light west wind and overcast skies. Once we got out of the Sassafras River and into the main channel of the Chesapeake, the wind had picked up to about ten knots. We were beating into a one to two foot chop, and didn't have much of a helpful current, so we were only making our standard six plus knots. Based on the early morning's performance, I started plotting where we would be in fifty miles or so. We don't want to go to Annapolis, because the annual power boat show is going on this weekend, so there probably aren't any available moorings or slips. A cold front is expected this evening, so we plotted a course for Deale, MD.
Deale has several marinas up a river, and one not far off the main bay route. I called Herrington Harbor South which is the one not too far out of the way. They had room for us, so we just enjoyed the ride south. As we passed Baltimore we saw many large schooners coming out into the bay for a race. There were also dozens of other sailboats out to watch the race. The further south we went, the smoother the water got and we picked up a favorable current. We got to Herrington South about 15:00. I called to see where they wanted us, and was told that they wanted us on the first t-head we would come to. The marina is a basin with a rock walled entrance channel. We came in close to the west wall of the channel so I could make a u-turn. Just after passing the t-head where the marina guy was standing, I swung the wheel hard to port and we started to turn. Unfortunately, I misjudged how much the stern would swing around close to the wall, and the rudder hit hard on an underwater rock. The boat straightened out and almost came to a stop. I then realized I could not turn the wheel. We hollered to the guy on the dock that we had no steering, and he immediately called for another guy to come out in their skiff to tow us back to the dock. This is becoming a bad habit. Fortunately, there was almost no wind in the basin, so we just sat where we were for a minute or two until the guy with the skiff got there. He turned us around and pushed us over to the dock where we got tied up. My first hope is that the steering cable popped off the top of the quadrant under the bed. As soon as we were tied up, I moved the bed to check that. Unfortunately, the cable is in place. I can make the wheel turn with a lot of effort, and there is a noise outside the boat as if the rudder is bent and jammed against the hull.
I spent the next couple of hours making calls to Herrington Harbor North, where they have a full service yard, the towing company to get the boat towed up there, and Catalina to find out the availability of a new rudder. We had a problem with the rudder already, that we were planning on addressing in FL before heading to the islands, so the total cost of this won't be entirely unexpected, but the timing will mess up our plans to get to NC for the Southbound Cruisers Rendezvous. We should be towed tomorrow and hopefully hauled out to see the damage so we can start the repair plan. It really sucks to be hauled twice in a week.
We took showers and had a very nice dinner at the marina restaurant. We started to research options for a rental car and hotel, assuming that we can't say on the boat while it's out of the water.
GPS N 38-43.647 W 076-32.524 Nautical miles traveled today 52. Total miles 6647.