This article is trip south second installment
Saturday, we awoke to clear skies and calm winds. Then Skip and Guy arrived and we, the crew,
made final departure preparations (stow the boarding ladder, the deck chairs
and pull the power cord). We were off
the dock at 7:15 AM. Not bad.
But not perfect. When it came time to cast off, well actually
after we had untied all but the stern line, I discovered that I had not fired
up the engines. Guy’s fast action of not releasing the line when I declared a “problem”
turned my error into an inside joke rather than a potential accident. When I
arrive in Sarasota I’m going to get checked for dementia.
Side Story: Several days earlier I had moved the departure time
back to 6:00 AM, but Diana thought that was too uncivilized. Reluctantly I moved it ahead to 7:00 AM. Diana’s desire to change the time worked in
our favor hours later when we arrived at the Cape Cod Canal.
Anyhow, we were off with perfect weather as we effortlessly
cruised south along Cape Cod Bay to the Cape Cod Canal. Our passage through the
Canal took just short of an hour. Luckily, Diana’s time change reduced both the
time and velocity of the unfavorable current at the west end of the canal
resulting in a loss of only 1 knot. Then,
at mid canal, the current swung and we gained back 2 knots. Most importantly, we also had a favorable
current in Buzzards Bay so that by the time we reached Block Island at 7:52 PM
we were flying (OK slight exaggeration) at an average speed of 8.7 knots, .3
knots above our 1400 RPM optimal cruise speed (and that average is starting from
the dock).
A (close to) gourmet dinner was served at 5:30 PM as the sun was
setting. Salad of romaine lettuce, avocado, tomatoes, onions, walnuts, raisins
and pine nut with a balsamic vinaigrette; oven heated meatballs in marinara
sauce and oven baked potatoes with herbs de proveance and garlic. The wine was 2012 Mount Veeder Cabernet Savingnon,
my favorite. Desert was fresh raspberries
with whipped cream. Truly I was “Cruising Like a Gentleman” (which was the title of
Passagemaker’s October 2014 lead story on our 63 Outer Reef).
After dinner we “settled in” for a pleasant overnight cruise along
the south coast of Long Island.
Explanatory Note: “Settled in” involves taping off light sources
to preserve night vision and setting up the multifunction screens with
chartplotter, AIS, radar and night vision.
I have a Long Island cruising strategy. If the sea condition are rough, my programmed
route takes us close (within 2.5 miles) of the coast to take advantage of the
shallower water that tends to diminish wave height. If seas are favorable, I avoid the New York
Harbor shipping lanes by cutting southwest toward Atlantic City just east of
Shinnecock Inlet (South Hampton, NY).
Just after 1:00 AM we received a Coast Guard broadcast alerting us
to a dredging operation off Moriches Inlet extending 2.5 miles out into the
ocean on the surface. We marked the
location and determined that it was within a half mile of our intended
route. Offshore sea conditions on
satellite weather showed 3 foot head seas for the 95 nautical mile run direct
to the New Jersey shore. Since we had
been riding comfortably in 3 foot heads seas for hours we turned to a heading
of 241 degrees. This move also saves us
14 NM which saves one and a half hours of running time (or about 15 gallons of
fuel).
At 4:00 AM on Sunday, we recorded winds from the west southwest at
25-30 knots and head seas of 3 to 4 feet.
Still comfortable. A check of
satellite weather continued to show 3 foot seas for the next 24 hours.
Totally disregarding Sirius Satellite Weather’s existing and
predicted wave heights (just kidding) the wind and seas continued to
build. At 7:00 AM we recorded 25 to 30
knot winds with seas of 4 to 6 with and occasional 7. Not so comfortable.
Three hours later (10:39 AM) with head winds continuing at 25 to
30 knots we recorded 6 to 8 foot head seas with an occasional 10. Not good.
All books on the shelves in the VIP stateroom were dislodged when the
wood rails fell out of their slots. No
damage but what a mess. Also the forward hatch leaked but a twist of the screwdriver
solved that problem. The bigger problem
was 600 feet of anchor chain that was airborne in the chain lockers. Readers
will recall that the platforms in the lockers wound up on top of the chain when
we encountered 10 to 12s off Cape Hatteras last May when we were running ahead
of Tropical Storm Anna. I expected this would be the case this time and my
worst fears were confirmed when I reluctantly checked the lockers during
refueling in Morehead City. The port platform
was sitting on top of the chain (see photo).
Oh well, another three hours project straightening out the chain and
re-seating the platform in it rightful place.
Did I mention that our position at 7:18 AM was 30 NM southeast of New
York Harbor ?
Decision time. At 7:18 AM,
we were 60% of the way to the Jersey Shore and 30 NM from New York Harbor. Turing northwest to there would put the seas
on our beam. Turning back or due north toward
Long Island was a possible option as it would improve the ride but would delay
the trip. Holding the course was
reasonable as the seas would diminish as we got close to shore. We chose that option and within 3 hours the
sea conditions had improved to a tolerable 5 to 7. Four hours later (6:00 PM), seas were 3 to 4
and we were able to cook dinner. At that
point Sirius Satellite Weather got “serious” and started reporting the true
conditions.
Dinner Sunday evening included a salad, shells stuffed with ricotta and spinach, white wine and raspberries with whipped cream for desert. Very civilized.
Explanatory Note: My daughter, Lesley, graciously volunteered to cook gourmet meals that could be frozen and reheated (either with the microwave if seas were rough or oven heated if seas were calm). This replaced the Trader Joes frozen dinners that I had used in the past. What a difference!
At 9:00 PM on Sunday evening we were off Cape May New Jersey
riding comfortably on 2 to 3 foot head seas.
The head winds, head seas and big waves encountered on Sunday
Night and Monday morning reduced our average speed to 8.1 knots.
Next challenge Cape Hatteras.
Written by Les.
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