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.