Eric & Linda's Voyage

November 7, 2011 In the Gulf of Maine

We got off a little late, attempting to get all the details done.

I was apprehensive about leaving because of the storm we encountered in the Gulf of Maine last November.

The forecast is 10-15 sw with 1-2' seas. 40 degrees. That has been holding, but randomly there are 4-6' and it is a little rolly.

Cap says the sea is se and the wind sw. The sun in a blood red orange firey exit when down clowly with a long after glow.

As the gray of the east absorbed the last beautiful rays in the horizon, the ocean looked dark gray with electric blue colors riding

the surface.

Sunset-Sunrise, so much more meaningful to me, now that I night sail. My first overnight sail was in a storm in the gulf of maine

and was spent seriously praying for sunrise!! Tonight seems as tho it will be rolly but ok. No sleeping cause there is just too much

movement. Its one of those moves where your feet are planted firmly apart as you navigate and you lift one foot as you rock one

way then lift the other when it goes the other way.

I get a little dizzy down below when its rough like that so I just stay on deck with the cap when I'm off duty and rest on the cockpit cushion.

Write more later..

I didn't put the last part of our trip on the web in March, a few people have asked me to complete it, here it is.

Return to Maine from Florida March 2011

March 1 Fogged in in Charleston, waiting for it to burn off to head up the icw, no radar.

March 2 Fog burnt off and we are traveling the icw on a river north of charleston. It is beautiful river, winding, sandy thru grassy sand dune

and small trees-remote- no houses-no people-no depth to the water,

we were churning sand to get thru some areas. Later that day it reached around 70 degrees and we entered a another older river that had

turtles out sunning themselves on logs along the shore. I stopped counting at 70. Some where big!

From there for the next 5 days we traveled thru south carolina and north carolina, stopping in Beaufort sc and Beaufort nc. We ran aground

(cap not me..) just going out of Beaufort nc. We tried to get off for a while and called Sea Tow, but we got off and cancelled.

We continued up into the Pamlico and Arbermarle Sound. It was raining and cold and windy with dark clouds. We battled it all day and anchored on the edge of dark outside of Belhaven NC. Not a great spot but it was getting late. We listedned to the forecast which

said a tornado was going thru 2 counties. We weren't sure which one we were in, but the weather started to worsen as the sun went down. We tied everything down and got ready for a blow. Well let me simply say it is indescribable!! The boat got seriously thrashed around.

The boat was rising and falling about 6 feet while being thrashed side to side. All we could do was brace ourselves in the salon. The berth was impossible. Eric checked the lines a few times and claimed (we had 2 anchors out) the lines were stretched thin. It lasted 6 hours.

We anchored in Downtown Norfolk on March 8 and headed out on the 9th. It was a good day for sailing, we put up both the main sail and the jenny, and headed into Chesapeake Bay. For most of the day we were going pretty good 6.2-7 knots and were laid over pretty hard for quite a while.

Then it started getting stronger and kinda ugly so we reefed the main sail and took down the jenny. We tried to start the engine and no go! So cap went into the diagnostic mode and figured out that we had laid over so much there was air in the seacock. When we finally got it going and the boat back together,

the weather had deteriorated more and it was obvious we had to find a harbor to take refuge in. We found the coan river south of the potomac that has private markers into an anchorage area. It was not well marked and we had to use our 10,000 candle power spot light to navigate in. The next day we realized we

were in amongst alot of fish traps.. March 10 we made our way to Lusby, MD to visit friends, showers, tv and bed.

March 15 left Lusby. 6:15 pm outside of the bridge in Annapolis MD There are 14 huge cargo ships anchored right outside the Bridge. We figure the insurance co won't let them go into the D&C canal to get to Baltimore because of the debri from the flooding they had in NJ which fed into this river.

The water looked murky but we decided to go on. My watch was from midnight to whenever cap got up. I started seeing branches and limbs then as time when on they became trees and then and unidentifiable object that looked like a refrigerator. I yelled for the cap to get up and we anchored at about 3am

We got up at dawn and continued on. We met the elk river just before the canal and the water became a mine field, mostly trees, whole trees, submerged trees..and muddy looking water.

March 16 Hello From Reedy Point at the east side of the d & c canal. The wind is blowing so hard from the east, we don't want to take a beating so we are waiting for the wind to change. No traffic!

Leaving Reedy Point, we had a beautiful sail to Cape May. The wind and the tide were perfect we made 9.5 knots on the average!

March 17 Left Cape May, the sw winds are messing with us, we ended up in Clam Creek in Atlantic City, we sailed into the anchorage, we averaged 7.1 knots today.

Cocktail Hour St. Pattys Day! March 18 Waiting for the wind to change, left at 3:30 pm. March 19 3:30 am...Oh My God! It was a great sail up to the New York Harbor entrance. Then it was like the weather changed in a second and we were in serious wind and 6-7' seas. It was the night of that special moon that was the closest encounter in 80 years,

well it made for a beautiful and wild back drop as it sank into the horizon, bigger than any moon I had ever seen, like it was right there on the edge, so close...the white cap and spray which was significant was a beautiful orange color and the water was a blue gray. It was dark as we came into the harbor with sails down but not lashed well and had to get to an anchorage so we regroup.

I steered into the wind while Eric went up forward to lash down the sails on the deck.

The waves were a few feet higher than the boat and it was raising us up and dropping down abruptly. I watch Eric who was then on his hands and knees facing the cockpit tying something down, become airborne, land on deck as a wave washes over him. I knew that it went up his pant legs and into his boots. It was blowing and really cold. We then went over to Sandy Hook behind the breakwater and waited for the weather to change.

We laid low till sunday and timed it right for the ride down the east river. There was very little trafic, we got thru hells gates around 5pm it was 27 degrees, not a boat anywhere and we flew through at 11.4 knots, greater than the hull speed. Eric says he had little control over the boat so he was glad there was no traffic.. We kept going to Bridgeport Ct and stayed there for a day. They don't charge us to stay because they think we are crazy cold weather sailors!

It was snowing when we left and stopped at an anchorage on the west side of the cape cod canal. When the tide was right we went thru but the water and weather were bad so we tied up at the 'Harbor of Refuge' in Sandwich, Ma. Full price, no facilites and decks 2 inches of seagull crap.

It was bad the next morning but we left anyway. We followed the coast rather than out into the gulf of maine. The weather was worsening so we headed into Gloucester. We stayed there for 4 days in windy 17 degree weather. People would come to talk to us just to see who the hell would sail in then.

We left in ok weather, but when we got out around cape ann, we were hardly moving that morning. The morning sky was orange and again the white caps and spray were tipped with orange from the sun. The water was deep blue. We were taking heavy waves over the bough and it was too rough to do anything on deck, so when we saw the genoa sailbag go floating by, we had to keep going cause there was no turning back.

We anchored that nite in Cape Neddic and left at 3 am on a going tide. When we reached Sequin with our saild up a strong blow and knocked us over. We turned into it and took the sails down, Eric really wanted to sail in, but We were really just happy to be home again!

 

November 7, 2011 Across the Gulf of Maine

 

After dark it blew all of 15 knots and the seas were 4-5 feet. There was not much sleeping it was too rough so we stayed out on deck most of the night taking turns. We started at 220 degrees but went to 210 to stay out of the deep water, although the waters are deep off Cape Neddick and it was a better ride but it was enough to keep you awake.

At 2 am I laid down. At 3:30 am the Captain yells, 'Get up Linda, we got trouble'. I crawled out and saw the Cap hunched over the bilge hatch in the salon, as I quicckly layered up, I saw that the salon floor was quite wet. Earlier in the day, Cap had replaced the bilge pump with a spare manual because the automatic pump had failed. I was instructed to hold the wires to the spare battery

and pump out the bilge. (brown pos white neg..) Cap went problem solving and came back saying that the water was back feeding through the pump, we had too much weight in the stern and there is no valve to prevent it from happening. I kept pumping, he moved things around from the stern. I pumped it out, stopped, it took about 5 minutes for it to fill almost half way, so I kept pumping.

After a while, Cap joined me and watched and when we got it down, we stopped pumping, it back feed for a little bit then quit.

All this was happening while the boat is making a rolling rocking movement. Our cockpit is not enclosed, so the weather is a factor in it as well.

We didn't time our leaving for arriving at Cape Cod Canal to get the tide. We just took off when we were finally ready. So the next morning we just slowly made our way over. It was totally calm in the morning and the sky and water were the same ultra light blue with tinges of pink. Each reflecting leaving no line between. It was like being another world. The beautiful morning moved into a beautiful day

Blue to blue in the horizon with a faint line of demarcation between the two. When we tried to catch some wind we noticed a sound when we shut off the engine. We had traveled through some lobster pots during the night, probably rope in the wheel. Cap dove on the wheel around 3 and found a nut to be missing. He'd fix it in Bridgeport.

We anchored in Long Island Sound before dark, still calm and woke to a heavy fog. Around 9 we could leave, it burnt off nicely. Sailed most of the day and night and got into Bridgeport around 8am.

SW winds came up and we were there for 4 days. Dove on our boat 3x and replaced the castle nut. Dove on another boat for a little cash to clean barnacles off the prop.

Whenever I pump out the bilge I can hear the story Cap told me about bilges being full of water on the off shore lobster boat, the Lady Claire.

The bilge pump screen was in a compartment that they only used to store unused equipment that sometimes had seaweed hair on it. Well after sometime enough of the hair came off and plugged the screen.

By the time they noticed it they were 240 miles off shore and 3 of the water tight compartments were full. In waist deep water, Eric is handing 5 gallon buckets to Mike to bale out a compartment, the same for the other two men on the crew.

They cleaned the screen, baled and pumped her out. After that they put spare pumps on sticks to put in anywhere.

Cap then says, yeah if it were any other girl but you pumping out that bilge Linda, I would have already had to go to shore.

Well seeing the Salon floor wet, got me thinking and the next day I got Cap to install a hand bilge pump that he brought along and I looked at all the thru hull fittings.

Just to feel safe...I think we've checked it all now.

November 14 1 pm Left Bridgeport was a nice ride over to Outside the East River, we anchored around 8 pm. Headed into the East River about 9 am. No wind, no sea, no traffic except airplanes overhead. Got to outer NY Harbor around 3 pm, was really rolly SW with 6' seas, so we went into Sandy Hook.

November 17 Still in Sandy Hook, now-NW winds 15-20 with gusts to 30...

Tommarow its still NW but a little less wind so we're going for it.

March 5, 2011

Following a submarine out of Fernandina Florida
Sorry for taking so long to update our trip. The vacation absorbed us! We arrived in Long Boat Key on Ana Maria Island on December 12 and anchored next to Eric’s Friend, Joe Winston (36’ Pearson). It is a nice cove near Jewfish Island. There is a boat landing, a place to go shore and pull our inflatable onto shore which is next to the Mar Vista Restaurant and Moores Crab House in a small Historic Village. When we arrived we decided to go ashore and eat dinner and have a few cocktails. We left the Mar Vista stuffed and half drunk and feeling great. The wind was starting to pick up but feeling like we did, we thought all was well and climbed in the bunk. A few hours later we woke to the boat shaking and the mast quivering from the wind that had picked up from the East. Feeling the rum, we looked around and went back to sleep. But only for a little while because the wind was about to blow us off anchor and when we did get up around 2 am we were in a gale. Eric checked the inflatable and it was upside down with no motor on it! We lost the motor-it was on the bottom of the cove! Eric was fretting to say the least about the situation and having to dive and get it and then it probably would be no good anyway. I couldn’t sleep and he was raving so I went on the computer and worked on lining us up with a rental car. Eric laid back down. The wind was relentless and after a bad blow Eric jumped up and checked the inflatable again- it had righted itself and the motor was on it!! We went out and got it off and put on its perch on the stern rail. We felt lucky and relieved although convinced that the motor was spent from the salt water. Needless to say we called Ernie as soon as we could in the morning. He walked Eric through the process of cleaning the outboard and tried to get it going. Well Ernie and his magic and Eric’s diligence of closing the vent and running all the fuel out of it each use before he shuts it off paid off. By 11 am he had it going and we were feeling more than lucky! The weather was about 30 degrees and we were wondering if winter followed us down. We picked this area for Eric’s Ma who lives about a half hour away. For the next 6 weeks we spent going to visit his ma each day and back on the boat each nite. Eric’s friend Joe would row over each morning and have coffee with us. He introduced us to a few people down here. The first being ‘Rip’
aka John Van Fossen who ‘tawks laike theis’. He is a true storyteller. Then there was Woodsy aka Bob Woods, who looks like Jack Nickelson, who is also a great story teller.
One morning we watched a kid fishing on the dock battle with a pelican that was determined to steal his catch. Wings expanded, beak a snapping he tried to intimidate! It was really funny to watch. Another morning that included bloody mary’s, Eric was checking out the cove with binoculars and said Joe check this out. First he saw the sailboat, then the womans legs, then her bikini bottom, then no bikini top..It took a while to get those binoculars from those guys!!
Coming to the anchorage from Fort Myers we ran aground once, after anchoring we ran aground three times trying to get to a marina for a pump out!
Thank goodness it was only sand! On Mondays and Thursdays we would go play bingo with Erics mom, his Uncle Ben and Aunt Charolette. Uncle Ben is from a family of fish buyers from North East Harbor, Maine. Uncle Ben told us when he was a kid in the 30’s a circus would come to the harbor. They would recruit the kids to bring water to the elephants. One year the ponies from the circus broke out and ran off. Uncle Ben along with everyone else went on the hunt for them. He found one and tied it to a tree in the woods in hopes they would leave it behind. We got such a laugh out of that story that he told us more. He said there were Portugese fisherman in the Harbor that would drink when it was too windy to go out. He said that one day when one of them fell drunk asleep on the dock he and another kid nailed his shoes to the dock and stayed around to watch him fumbled when he woke from his slumber. What simple fun! Another friend of ours, Carl Christensen who is 93 showed us how to go shelling. During the full moon at low tide the live shells push up out of the exposed sand bars. It is a magical experience. Carl came down to Florida in 1926 with his immigrant parents (from Sweden and Norway) from New Jersey to find work after the Hurricane that hit Miami. His father got a job as a carpenter rebuilding the Coral Gables Hotel. He said there was a whole group of people doing that. They all lived in shacks that had no heat or water or insulation. They would build fires each nite and all sit around them until they about fell asleep and then go to the shack and try to keep warm and sleep. He said it was a cold winter and the waters around Miami all froze. Carl at 93 is still going strong with a bone crushing handshake. He spent the 1940’s and 50’s shelling in the Keys. He has an awesome collection of huge shells as well as small ones.
Rip, John Van Fossen, who is a man of many talents, is getting a plumbing business off the ground. He was offered a job for a month working in a dredging operation and could not do it and asked Eric to cover for him because he was too busy. Eric was interested in the process and took the job. He had to run a boat among other things. When he took the job we no longer had the rental car but they have a trolley that runs back and forth on the island from 6 am to 12pm every day. So each morning I would run Eric in on the inflatable and he would go catch the trolley to work. I was really happy to be able to run around in the inflatable myself. It was my first year running a outboard by myself. Well one morning it was storming and raining so I decided to read a good book and hang out in the boat all day. Well when it got time to go ashore to pick up Eric the inflatable was gone! I called Eric with the bad news. He checked all around on shore and with no luck, borrowed Joe’s dingy and rowed out. I got the knot tying speech several times that night. We reported it missing and made plans for a replacement. The next morning as Eric rowed into shore, I looked around with the binoculars and saw what I thought was the inflatable tied to another boat in the cove. I called Eric just as he was pulling the dingy on shore and asked him to check it out. Sure enough it was ours! Eric claims I’m the luckiest person on the planet.
The night before we left for Maine, we decided to go to Moores Crab House. We found out they have a crab claws as big as Eric’s fist!!!!!
No exaggeration! We didn’t eat them it was $99 but Eric claims we will next year!
We left on February 16 and followed the same trek back thru the Okachobee Lake Canal. On the way here we looked for alligators and saw none and thought maybe there were none. Well on the way back we saw 100 between Ortona Lock and Moore Haven Lock! And also saw some really big ones sunning themselves on the small islands that are on the west side of the lake. Eric was some happy we had no problems that required him to get into the water there! We could not get out into the Atlantic until Fernandina, fla because of the weather. It started nice but fog came in which was forecasted as patchy but was really wide spread and thick. It lasted all night, we started seeing things in it by the time daylight came around. It burnt off by noon and we had a nice sail into Charleston. Winds were picking up from the East and we had to go inside there. It has been blowing since then. Coming down we went outside at Cape Fear thru the Frying Pan Shoals and it was windy but ok. When we left Cape Fear coming back we stayed inside because the waves were 18’! It is March 4 and we plan on being in the ICW until Norfolk. While we were gone a new Grandson was born. His name is Alfaerous James! We’re calling him Al!
Looking forward to getting back home maybe by March 25.
With Best Regards,
Linda and Eric

November 29

Cape Fear, North Carolina
We decided to go outside there, good weather was predicted for 3 to 4 days and that would put us in St. Augustine FLA! Northwest, then North, then North East 10 – 15 with 1 to 2 foot seas was predicted by NOAA. We left early and motored out past the Frying Pan Shoals which looked lumpy from our view but we had good channel markings to guide us. There was a sandbar about 1 mile off shore with pelicans enjoying the morning sun on. We saw a shrimping boat head off to the south before the shoals and Eric wanted to follow him, but not knowing we didn’t. We now know the shrimper cut off the whole of the Frying Pan Shoals and next time we will too. We went out to about 60 fathoms and set sail. We sailed well with the working Jib and Main sail on 1 reef point all day. The wind blew about 15 to 20 all day. It cut out late in the day and would blow and then cut out but we maintained a good 6 knots. At night it stayed the same. A starry nite with the moon lighting the way. About 3 am it started to change direction and the boom kept flopping around. We tied it down but the wind wasn’t cooperating. Also about 3 am a bright light showed up and we thought it was a sailboat light, we were both getting tired and questioned each other as to what it was. I have a phone with a live star map on it and it was Mercury. It was a perfect large circle of light making its close encounter with Earth! At early sunrise the wind started to change and we listened to the forecast and found that the wind was shifting to the East and going to blow 20 – 25 with gusts to 30 for the next three days! We were 30 miles off shore and had fuel for only 2 days so we decided to head into Charleston SC. Well it didn’t take long for things to get crazy. It started blowing 28 with gusts to 35. We maintained our Westerly course to shore. After a huge blow that knocked us over and spun us around we took down the working jib and did not put up the storm jib because we needed to work on the mainsail. We had not yet put in the second reef points. So under near gale conditions Eric put in the second reef points and got it so it helped stabilize the boat. The boat handled it well. The waves seemed to break over the bow rather than the cockpit thankfully. The inflatable that we were towing was airborne and upside down most of the time. We had to cut the line and replace it at one point because it was so wound up. The waves were cresting as high as the night in the gulf of maine, but they came more frequently at about 7 feet. We sailed at about 7.2 knots westerly. After we got spun around the fuel tanks tied to the lazerette were tipped over and everything was everywhere. We got it under control. Off to the South a huge container ship was entering the same channel as us. In the distance they made a slight turn to the channel and it looked abstract as it layed over. We kept going on our wild ride. Soon a pilot boat heading for the container ship called us and asked how we were. We had heard 5 distress calls on the VHF from other sailboats in the area. One had smashed on the entry jettys and was taking on water. We told him we were ok, he said we looked very small in the distance and weather. They ended up passing us on the way in. Dolphins were swimming along side of us as if it were no big deal. The coast guard had to send a helicopter to rescue the folks in the sailboat on the jetty. It took us about 7 hours to get into shore and even inside Fort Sumner it was blowing hard. SeaTow got all kinds of calls on the VHF. We anchored in the harbor and put the boat back in order and decided to head down the intercoastal way. We motored until about 4 pm and set anchor because we were both tired. Eric doesn’t really sleep sound when I am on watch because I don’t have much experience. I was not afraid at all that trip and did well navigating during the storm. We continued down the Intercoastal Way the next 2 days. The wind has been incredibly strong. Last nite we anchored in the Moon River in Georgia and a tornado was predicted. The boat held anchor but on our plotter there was a black circle showing how often the boat had spun around during the nite. It was warm until about 4 am when a cold front came in. I wished I had got up and took a picture of Eric when he got up on his anchor watch and checked it in his boxers and slippers! Today it blew, wow it blew hard all day, we were back in 3 layers of clothing, the inflatable was airborne often and the air was cold. We didn’t see a soul until late in the day and there has been no cellphone connection all day. It is calm now, about eight at nite, the Captain is in bed and we plan on heading out before sun up because we want to make the Florida border tomorrow via intercoastal way.
Is it snowing yet?
Linda and Eric

Thursday, November 25, 2010 7:19 PM
Hello!
It has been pretty good going from Cape May NJ to Beaufort NC. When we left Cape May they were calling for 25 with gusts, but we really wanted to get going, we had been holed up in Cape May with the wind blowing 40 for 3 days and decided to go for it. It ended up being ok and we decided to sail all nite. We went thru the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal, it was a beautiful starry nite. But for me watching the huge black shadows approach; huge ships, dredging operations and tugs with barges was unsettling. I had the 2 am to Noon watch and I was praying for daylight. I can handled passing those ships during the day much better than at nite. We anchored in Annapolis on Veterans Day, they had the whole place lit up until midnight with a football game. We headed towards Solomons MD. The wind was blowing pretty good and we had a nice sail. We stayed in Solomons for a week with friends and tweaked a few things on the boat while there. We left early for Norfolk and anchored downtown just before dark. We saw 7 aircraft carriers there and 15 destroyers as well as 40 or more huge ships. We entered into the Intercoastal Waterway there and made the 12 bridges and the lock in the first day. We anchored outside of Coinjock, it was really beautiful. Full moon coming up on one side and sunset on the other. As we anchored the theme song for Deliverance kept playing in my mind, because we could hear wild pigs and unknown animals screeching in the distance. From there to Belhaven NC its was flat calm and really nice going. Outside of Belhaven we ran aground, our charts said there was water but there wasn’t. We were able to back off and get going again. We went into a Marina in Belhaven at about 8 am for fuel. We woke them up at the Marina, they told us sailing folk get up too early. We were told the fuel guy wouldn’t get up for a few hours, so we rented a golf cart and drove into town. They let the carts on the roads, so we were up for some fun. About half way into town we found a note in the cart that said, ‘careful no brakes’!
We headed for the ditch a few times, but had a lot of fun doing it. We talked with some Canadians at the Marina that were saying the same thing some Canadians were saying in Cape May. The coast guard has been harassing them. I guess its because they let Arabs come into there country for rest and relaxation and its not sitting well with the Feds. They are now required to call the coast guard everytime they head into a marina or go on land, at every port also. They are being boarded and fined for not doing so. They didn’t have much good to say about our ‘gov’. You’ve probably heard the song, Hooray, Hooray the first of May, outdoor sex begins today. Well getting into Beaufort was like that song, It was 65 and beautiful. After layering up to beat the cold it was a refreshing break to take off a few layers. During the day it is really nice but at nite for a few hours it blows pretty bad. We got dragged around on our anchor last nite, but were able to stablize it, but we didn’t sleep much. We are heading for Southport NC marina to spend the day. Erics bossy but everythings going well!

 

Across the Gulf of Maine-
November 1 9am forecast 10 –20 Gusty, letting go in the late afternoon 3-5’ seas diminishing to 2-3’. We left on the going tide. When we reached Sequin the wind began 20 mph steady, the seas were cresting in 4 – 8’ seas with the gusts to 25. It was really cold, the camera froze up or we would have more photos. We maintained 6 knots, the boat rocked steadily, waves broke over the bow and lazarette. We took turns navigating. I (Linda) had not been in these conditions and began to get motion sickness whenever I went below, so I stayed on deck hoping it would pass. Everything that was not lashed down was on the floor in the salon, we tied everything else down. We were heading 220 ssw to cape cod canal. It was really pretty rough and windy. Around 5 pm outside of Jeffreys Ledges (about 20 miles off shore) the ocean started cresting higher and the wind got colder as an ominous cloud bank moved in with the night sky behind it. A gale blew in. I was borderline nauseous, trying to maintain, seeing the front move in I asked Eric if we should head in, I was concerned about the weather and I would be no help in my condition. He looked at me like I had two heads and said it would take over 3 hours to get into Gloucester, we were going on. I couldn’t go down below so I stayed on deck, I took over while Eric got himself ready for the nite ride. The sky gave way to the gray black cold, the waves began cresting 6’ above the stern of the boat, most did not crash on us but over the lazarette or the bow. I couldn’t take it, I went below and burrowed into the V berth, all I could do was go with the serious thrashing we were taking. It sounded like a constant roar of wind and water. I started feeling better, I got up and took over for a while. The rocking motion was like a wild carnival ride, I just focused on the 220 degrees ssw, I kept wondering if the boat could take such a thrashing. After a few hours I began to understand the boat and it was ok, and me too after a few close moments with the good lord. We took turns all nite, each time one of us would say it seems to be letting up,we’d get a blast of wind and a wave would break over the hull in an abrupt pounding way. The wind was so loud, there was only it, the water and the goal of 220 ssw. The wind gusts slowed a bit but the storm did not let go until around 7:30 am just outside of the Cape Cod Canal. We caught the tide right and traveled 9.2 – 10 knots thru it. We set our sails and continued on. On Erics watch, hundreds of dolphins swam with the boat late afternoon.
During the nite on my watch the wind came up quick near Montaug and we had to take the sails down and motored until the am, set sails again and sailed into Bridgeport and stayed the nite. We left in the afternoon, I navigated all nite- the captain was into the rum! We made the entrance to New York around 1 am, so we waited for the tide around 7 am. We made it to Sandy Hook around 3pm, stayed the nite behind the breakwater and headed out around 7 am. It called for 10 –20 with 4 – 7 foot seas with wind from the NW, Eric said it would flatten out the waves. It was fine sailing until dark, a gale blew in, it was crazy and cold. We made it to Cape May around 3 am and waited for daylight to get in. We are planning on leaving in the Morning to head into Delaware Bay thru the canal, to Solomons where we will meet up with Peter and Susan Holt for a day. We hope to leave in the morning but it is blowing like a ;;;;;;;!me


Voyage of the Freya
This album has 1 photo and will be available on SkyDrive until 2/6/2011.