Delaware & Chesapeake Pictures

Ilona at the helm on Delaware Bay

Lighthouse in Delaware Bay

Delaware City Marina

Delaware City

on the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal

Tom Cronmiller at the helm

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge, just north of Annapolis

view from our mooring ball in Annapolis

Ilona & Bob on Ihana, on Spa Creek, Annapolis

at the US Naval Academy Synagogue

Sanctuary at US Naval Academy

Sanctuary at US Naval Academy

Annapolis

We are at mooring ball #51 just off the church on Spa Creek in Annapolis, part of the City Docks.  We will be here through the US Boat Show on October 4-6.

Jim and Peggy Kimmet will be joining us, so we have crew to help us move the boat down the Chesapeake to Norfolk.  After that, we are in the IntraCoastal Waterway, all the way to Florida.  The hard part is over.

We will have visitors this week - Tom Cronmiller leaves us on Monday, John Freitag is coming over from DC on Tuesday, Jan Jarvinen on Wednesday night, Diana & Mike Nelson on (Thursday and?) Friday, Jim & Peggy on Thursday, and all sorts of other boaters we have met along the way.  And people thought we would be bored being stuck in Annapolis for a whole week ...

On Friday night, we attended services at the Jewish Chapel at the US Naval Academy.  By far the most beautiful Jewish synagogue we have ever seen.

Pictures coming.

Delaware Bay & River

We sailed and motor-sailed all day yesterday, all the way up from Cape May to Delaware City (right next to the entrance to the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal.)  As usual, we got beat up pretty badly - nothing the boat couldn't handle.  Sometimes we were flying (downwind) with reefed or full sails, motoring as needed to make it off the Bay before dark.  Between Cape May (NJ) and Lewes (DE), we were completely out of sight of land for an hour or two. Fun. Favorable winds, current not so much until the last hour or so.

If George Washington could cross the Delaware on Christmas, I guess we could do it on Erev Yom Kippur.

Today was a duff day - stayed in Delaware City, shopped, and I even got to replace a Joker valve on the marine head.  This is a lot of fun; you should try it sometime. And now, finally, we can buy all the Dogfish Head Ale we want.  And crabs, of course.

Tomorrow we plan to transit the C&D Canal, and maybe anchor in the Sassafras River - the second inlet on the east / Delmarva Peninsula / side of the Chesapeake Bay.  After that, we will probably head towards (or to) Annapolis, so Tom can escape and go back home sometime.  Might hole up in Rock Hall if we need a marina.

Don't know yet if we will hang around for the boat show. Depends a lot on what we find about moorings, anchorages and marinas within commuting distance (by dinghy or water taxi) of Annapolis.

ANYONE IN THE ANNAPOLIS AREA (or within driving distance) - local knowledge appreciated. Come see us.

The Crew of s/v-Ihana

Bob

Ilona

Tom

Atlantic City & Cape May, NJ

Atlantic City, NJ

Cape May, NJ

Cape May!

We made it to Cape May today, southeast tip of New Jersey.  Nice trip from Atlantic City.  Now, finally, we are off the New Jersey exposed coast.  Next we head up the Delaware for 50 miles, then into the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal into the Chesapeake Bay - probably on Tuesday.

There is a tide in the affairs of men which, if taken on the flood, leads on to more inland-ish waters ...

You might say that today was a Cape May Day (but I wouldn't).

Approaching Atlantic City at Sunset

New York City to Atlantic City

Ilona, Ihana, Statue of Liberty

Lower Manhattan, from s/v-Ihana leaving New York Harbor

view from Ihana while leaving New York Harbor

approaching the Verrazano Narrow Bridge

Sunset on Ihana, anchored at Sandy Hook, NJ

Tom, testing his new inflatable life jacket

approaching Atlantic City at sunset

llona & Bob on the beach at Atlantic City, NJ

Safe in Atlantic City

On Thursday morning, we left Liberty Landing on the Hudson and planned to do an overnight crossing of the whole east coast of New Jersey, arriving at Cape May the next morning.  But as we cleared the New York outer harbor, we encountered very strong winds and seas of 6 to 8 feet, onshore, with breaking waves.

We ran to Sandy Hook for shelter, and anchored overnight.  Several other boats joined us that afternoon – for the same reason.

On Friday morning, we left at dawn and traveled along the lee shore for 12 hours, 78 miles! (a new record for us) – with winds around 10 knots and seas around 3 to 4 feet.  Thank goodness we had Tom with us – we took the helm and traded every hour.

The big problem was that there was only one safe place to duck into along this whole stretch of coast (Manasquan Inlet), and that was only about 25 miles from Sandy Hook.

We arrived at Atlantic City just at sunset, and took a slip at the State Marina, which is connected to one of the biggest casinos in Atlantic City. We were beat all to hell. The boat held up fine; the wind instrument even worked again after a few hours. The crew – not so much.

We had a late dinner in the casino – the only places to eat right around the marina. The casino and its restaurants and bars played screaming "music" – figure that people won't be able to think so they will keep gambling.  It is a modern but uninhabitable place.  Expensive, too.  This place looks more like Vegas than Vegas does.  They turned off the band at the outdoor bar at 10 pm.

So, we are stuck in Atlantic City for a couple of days, at least, as the winds outside are now over 20 knots and the swells/waves are around 8 feet.  I really wanted to spend our layover at Cape May, but so it goes …

It looks now like we MAY be able to get out of here on Monday, with seas down to 4 feet or less and favorable winds (strong but from behind).  We have a 35-mile run from here to Cape May.

Then we have 50 miles up the Delaware Bay; hope to catch both a favorable tail wind and tail current (1.7 knots, for or against us).  This would take us to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal (shelter!), and into the Chesapeake Bay.

I was hoping that we could make it into Annapolis in time for the Seven Seas Cruising Club meetings late next week, and maybe for the Boat Show the first week of October, and even hooking up with the flotilla of boats headed down the Chesapeake and into the ICW. Now, I figure we will be lucky to get there this Fall! (I'm a pessimist/realist).

So, today, we will go [not "pass go"] to the downtown Atlantic City Boardwalk and play tourist.  But no gambling – we did enough gambling yesterday when we barely made it into this marina before dark (and it would have been really hard in the dark, what with shoals and unlit buoys).

Latest conditions forecast:

Today=Saturday=now:  winds 20 gusting to 27, seas big [6-8 feet, I suspect], waves breaking onshore at chest height, rip tide.  We stay put.

Sunday: winds 11-14 NW (starboard quarter, seas 2-4 feet). We may try it. 35 miles on the outside to Cape May.

Monday: winds 12 NW, seas 3 feet.  Run to Cape May on Monday, if we don't get there on Sunday.

Tuesday & Wednesday: winds SW (up Delaware Bay).  Current favorable (1.7 knots) in the afternoon.  If doable, we go for the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. 

BUT – the weather predictions around here are almost always wrong.

So, we might actually get off this [expletive-deleted] ocean within a week.  Much longer to do this than we expected.

The crew has proclaimed, unanimously, that we will never do this again. Boat stays in Florida, or comes home on a truck.

Are we having fun yet?

Voyage Plan for the New Jersey Coast

Our plan is to make the crossing from New York City to Cape May, New Jersey, beginning tomorrow morning, Thursday, September 20.  It looks like, if not ideal, the best conditions we are going to get at this time of year.

CREW: Tom Cronmiller is here (he is off exploring New York City today.) That gives us a crew of 3, making an overnight crossing much easier (or possible) than with only the two of us.

WIND: The winds are predicted to be 10-15 knots from the northeast tomorrow, dropping to 5-10 knots overnight.  That will be on our port quarter, so pretty ideal for sailing. The winds are supposed to veer to the east on Friday morning (overnight?), at 5-10 knots.  By late Friday the winds will (well, might) shift to the southwest, then south – this isn't good for us, going south, but we should be safely in port long before then.

WAVES: That's the good news.  They are expecting seas of 3 to 4 feet.  These will be ocean swells, much better than the chop and pitch we have been getting on the inland waters.  It might be a little rough …  Oh, well.

OCEAN:  We have to do the New Jersey coast out in the ocean because there is no Intracoastal Waterway here (too shallow, even for powerboats, and low bridges for sailboats.) From here to Cape May is 125 nautical miles. And there are only a few safe harbors available along that coast.

SCHEDULE: Leave Liberty Landing Marina in the morning at around 09:00, heading south past the Statue, through the Verrazano Narrows, and out around Sandy Hook into the Atlantic.  We will be fighting the current at that time, at least for the first few hours, but we have plenty of time, and will at least have the wind and current following us and in the same direction (read: calmer seas and less waves).

ESCAPE #1: We can bail out at Sandy Hook, NJ, if necessary.  That would be in the very early afternoon. If we need to stop.

ESCAPE #2: After that, the next safe (accessible) harbor would be Manasquan, NJ.  We predict reaching there by around 16:00-17:00, plenty of time for a daylight landfall, but only if necessary.

We expect to keep going, though, all night. 

ESCAPE #3: We will pass Atlantic City around 01:00 the next morning, and it is well lit and a safe entry IF we have to stop there.

Hopefully, though, we will continue on and should reach Cape May around daybreak – for a safe landfall and a well-earned (well-needed) rest at some marina. This is based on traveling at 4-5 knots against the current in New York Harbor, and 6 knots after we get into the ocean.  That's conservative, and we may want to burn off time so as not to get to Cape May before daybreak – so we might even get to do some sailing (and/or motorsailing).

COMMUNICATION:  Might have cell phone and Internet available, if we are close enough to shore and it is calm enough out there.  And VHF radio, of course.

A week in New York

We had a great week in New York City.  Toured Manhattan, Ben flew out and stayed with us for a few days, spent a wonderful Rosh Hashanah with cousins in New Jersey, dinner with cousin Eric in the East Village, went to Ellis Island, walked all the way from the Battery to Greenwich Village, ate good food, walked some more, visited the Frick Art Museum & Central Park, rode the subways, commuted from the marina by ferry, went to Katz's Deli in the Lower East Side (where Harry met Sally), ate some more, walked some more, and got the boat prepared for departure.

Lower Manhattan as seen from Liberty Landing, NJ

Sunset in Liberty Landing Marina

With Benjamin in NY-N J

Liberty Landing Marina

Where we are staying for a week -

Across from the tip of Manhattan

Tides and Currents

The Hudson River is the strangest place to experience – and to try to predict – and react to – tides and currents.  And winds.

Most important - we NEVER want to get stuck at high tide, or we will never get off.  Any other tide and, at worst, the tide will eventually lift the boat if we wait long enough.  We made sure we were in the deep, well-bu0yed channel before peak high tide.

We left Croton-on-Hudson this morning at dawn.  We were (according to the tables) just before high tide there, so we expected slack current (the theory, anyway).  Meanwhile, in New York City, the high tide was supposed to be EARLIER (logical, since it is closer to the ocean).  I expected some sort of linear progression, so we would get our high water and then tail current earlier.  Here's what we got:

First, slight upriver current (bad for us, but only ½ knot or so).  The wind was low – couple of knots – on our nose (of course).  So, we had the current and the wind coming from the same direction. Therefore fairly smooth seas. Beautiful.

We kept waiting for the tide to start ebbing (really, waiting for the current to give us a push, not slow us down), but it just didn't happen!

Until we got to the George Washington Bridge.  Now, suddenly, we got our 1 to 2 knot tail current, with winds of around 8 knots from whatever direction they decided to come from to mess up the river with waves.  But we were really flying – 6 knots through the water (under motor), slowed down with the headwind, but over 7 knots over-the-ground, thanks to the now-favorable tail current.

And, just to add to the fun, we got all sorts of heavy boat traffic – ferries, tugs, sailboats! – from midtown all the way down to lower Manhattan and into the Liberty Landing Marina.

Beautiful trip.  Auto did most of the steering, until he gave up at the G W Bridge and I took over the helm.

Punch line:  Bought a good Tide and Pilot Book, to plan our "Escape from New York".  We will have a couple of knots current as we traverse the lower N.Y. harbor, favorable if we time it right, but also have to factor in that we are going offshore around New Jersey and want to time landfalls for daylight hours.

Learning something every day. So it goes …

New York Pictures

Times Square, New York City

New Jersey Palisades - as seen from the Hudson River

George Washington Bridge

Lower Manhattan & New World Trade Center -
as seen from Liberty Landing Marina

Liberty Landing Marina, New Jersey

Lower Manhattan from Liberty Landing Marina

Tappan Zee Bridge 

Manhattan Skyline - as seen from the Hudson River

Ihana is in New York City

actually, at Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City, NJ.

We took the train into Manhattan on Monday & Tuesday, Croton-on-Hudson to Grand Central Station, then explored the city.

Today we moved the boat 30 miles down the Hudson River.  It was spectacular, especially below the George Washington Bridge. Great views of Manhattan.  Lots of boat traffic from Midtown, on down to the end of the island.

Now for a week of relatives, visiting, sightseeing, Rosh-HaShanah-ing.

We expect to head out down the Jersey Shore, maybe next Thursday - depends on weather, tides, currents, etc.

Pictures soon ...

and later that same day

What a difference a day makes, continued ...

view from Ihana at sunset

blue skies at night, sailor's have fright

red skies at night, sailor's delight

Half Moon Bay Marina

What a difference a day makes!

Our marina in Croton-on-Hudson, NY

Another video of our day on the Hudson

Taken yesterday - winds gusting to 33 knots; fetch all the way up the Hudson River from New York City (30 miles).  More fun on the boat ...

Bobby at the helm

Steering the boat during yesterday's adventure on the Hudson River --

Wild time on the Hudson River

Fun on the Hudson River - Haverstraw Bay off of Croton-on-Hudson. The weather quackologist said 10-15 knots, rain later in the PM. yeah, sure - wind over 20, gusts to 33!  And the whole fetch of the Hudson to boot - like up the Tappan Zee.

We heard a tornado warning about when the video was taken. Not much to do but try to make port. Fortunately (for us), the twister was south of us (it hit Queens.)  

on the Hudson, from Marlboro to Croton

We left Marlboro (across from Wappy Falls, just south of Poughkeepsie, where we lived in 1966-67) early, and made it into Croton-on-Hudson at noon. 

The storm was supposed to be in the afternoon. We left Marlboro (south of Poughkeepsie) early in the AM, figured to get into port in Croton by noon. We did. Wasn't bad until the last 1-1/2 hours, after we cleared Peekskill and turned south into the open Haverstraw Bay (and the Tappan Zee) - with semi-infinite fetch and wind now decides to get into the upper 20s.

another lighthouse on the Hudson

I-84 bridge, between Newburgh & Beacon NY

Looking south from near Newburgh - Bannerman's Castle
& Storm King Mountain

Bannerman's Castle

West Point (north end)

West Point

West Point

Looking north at West Point

Nice Boat