And you thought I was crazy

This guy just finished paddling the ICW from Florida to Baltimore in a kayak.

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The really funny thing is that he averaged 30 miles a day. That's about what I average too. I feel like such a slacker.

Larry & Joey

We bought lobsters and steamed them on the boat. I wanted to name my lobster Louie, but Amy said that Lou of Lou & Meg wouldn't appreciate it.

We had hoped to make it to Cuttyhunk today, but the weather was deteriorating, so we cut the trip short. Also, Amy got seasick as soon as we left the harbor this morning.

Cousins

Many thanks to Mary Ann and Fran for taking in a couple of salty sailors. (And to my Uncle Bob for hooking us up with the connection.) Mary Ann and I are distant relatives who probably never met before. We really appreciated their generosity. (And I appreciate how much better Amy smells after a hot shower.)

Dinner! What, no fish?


Thor the dog. Amy thinks he would look good on our boat. But I think he's a little large for our little catamaran.


Pic of us disembarking from the two person kayak we borrowed. Amy thinks I should get a larger kayak like theirs as a dingy.

Fish Face II

Caught a striped bass today. We call 'em rockfish where I'm from. It was the fifth rockfish hit we've had on the lure we troll. (I'm pretty sure they've all been rockfish. That's the most common fish that would take the bait in the waters we've been cruising.) I lost the other fish. I think I was reeling them in too hard and yanked the hooks out of them. This one I reeled in slowly after Amy put the boat in irons (or as she says "chains").

It's the biggest fish I've ever caught on my own and made a delicious dinner (lots of leftovers too). Amy and I each took a fillet and had a cook off, Top Chef style. She's going to post about the cooking and I'll link to her blog when it's posted.

The (we don't want any) Visitor's Dock

Our guidebook mentioned a "Visitor's Dock" in Norwalk. Amy blogs about how useless the dock is. The dock was empty when we arrived. Now we know why.

Later in the evening a pretty cool cloud formation appeared in the west. It finally arrived overhead, and was accompanied by lightning, high winds and rain. We dragged anchor, despite having set two anchors. (Yes, I did the reverse engine test to make sure they were set). Pictures on Amy's blog. Afterwards we were treated to a full rainbow. There was even a hint of a double rainbow for a couple minutes.

NYC

Yesterday's trip could be divided into three parts: crossing Raritan Bay, New York Harbor, and the East River. If I were to do it again, I'd probably break the legs into multiple days in order to time the tides better.

The current across Raritan Bay and into the Narrows was pretty strong pushing us out into the ocean. We had to motor. If we had timed the tides right, we probably could have sailed. With the price of gas these days, we'd have come out about even paying for a night at a marina.

Amy found NY Harbor disconcerting and asked me to take over steering. There were a lot of barges at anchor and ferries zipping about. I still think Norfolk, VA Harbor is worse. At least in NY you're in a protected harbor with lots of water to maneuver in. Norfolk isn't as protected, and you have to share a skinny channel with lots of big boats.

Entering the East River was a relief. The wind and waves were a lot calmer, and there was a lot less traffic. I fretted about entering the river earlier than the guidebook recommended, but we were fine. At first we were doing 4-5 mph, but by the time we hit Hell Gate the current had caught up to us and we topped out at 8.5 mph.

I was tempted to keep going past the Throgs Neck Bridge. It was a pretty evening with a nice wind and current pushing us along. But it had been a long day, so we anchored.

Hell Gate

The plan is to transit the East River through NYC tomorrow. Our cruising guide advises to be at the Battery (southern tip of Manhattan) two hours after low tide. We should then be able to catch the current to ride the 15 miles or so up the river to Throgs Neck and LI Sound (but hopefully not too much current).

So the plan is to be at the Battery at 3:30pm. That should put us at Hell Gate 4:30-5:00 and Throgs Neck 6pm or so.

Here's the data I got off the NOAA site (link is in the blog sidebar)

Mon 6/16

Battery Tides
low 1:35am high 7:35am low 1:31pm high 7:38pm

Hell Gate Tides/Current
slack 9:12am 3:32pm
max current 1209pm -4.3 6:32pm +3.3
low 5:20am high 1033am low 5:16pm high 10:46pm

Throgs Neck Tides/Current
Slack 2:11pm 9:12pm
max current 544pm +1.3

Look Ma, No Wheel

We were coming into Barnegat Inlet. The wind was with us and the tide against us, kicking up some short steep seas. Just then as I made a hard turn to starboard, avoiding a trawler coming straight at us, the wheel came off the helm.

Just kidding. We were waiting at a marina in Forked River the past two days for a new helm to arrive. The old helm broke a bunch of teeth off one of the gears, and the steering has been pretty sloppy recenty. Yesterday the new helm arrived and I installed it.

New Teleflex Big-T helm out of the box.

Wheel, bezel (mount), and old helm.

Hole where wheel and helm used to be.

New helm installed.

If you compare the first and last picture of the new helm, you'll see that I cut off a washer in order to insert the steering cable. The new helm isn't really meant to be opened. But other than that, installation went pretty smoothly. The most difficult part was seating the cable on the gears, and rebolting the helm cover.

Fish Face

Amy caught two Bluefish yesterday. On the dock later, she does her best fish impersonation.
Cleans a fish. (Thanks Dennis for the fish cleaning kit!)

And eats a fish.

Jib Up

The boat came with a bunch of foresails, including this blue striped one we raised the other day. I also have a spinnaker, but I left it at home. Glen, Fred and I tried raising it back when this trip started last November, but we couldn't figure it out. I decided that if I did figure out how to raise the spinnaker, it would be an invitation for trouble. No doubt I would have it up and get caught in too much wind.

Amy blogged about last night's dinner. I'm sure she or I will blog about tonight's dinner. We'll be cooking up two fish she caught today!

I'm Bored

These words had barely left Admiral Amy's mouth when there was a knock on our door. Or at least on what passes for a door on a boat. Maury and Sandi hailed us from their passing dingy. They're on a (much newer) Gemini Catamaran anchored by us. They treated us to a tour of their boat, and today both boats are headed to Atlantic City.

Pic is M&S's boat as they passed us on the way to Atlantic City (added after post was written).

Annapolis to Cape May

I had some trepidation about making this leg of the trip. It's composed of two large bodies of water, the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, with a skinny canal connecting them. Currents are fast and conditions can be treacherous, especially on the wide open Delaware.

Prior to leaving, I researched the trip online. Some of the information was confusing, so I thought I'd give our trip experience on a small slow boat.

The best piece of advice I can give is to hit the east end of the C&D canal at high tide. This will put you in position to ride the ebbing tide down the Delaware Bay. I'm also pretty sure that this is the right time and place to ride the ebbing tide through the canal and down the Chesapeake (although I haven't done that yet, so I can't say for sure).

Also on tides. The tide tables are tide PREDICTIONS! I consulted two tide tables which differed on predictions by as much as two hours. Use the tide tables as guides, but also observe the tides yourself and make your own predictions.

Most info I found suggested that the Delaware Bay does not have anchorages and that the trip down the bay needs to be made in a single leg. This is not true. There is an anchorage at Reedy Island, just south of the canal. We anchored in Cohansey River. It's wide and deep, with a fast current. It's surrounded by marshland. Not an ideal anchorage, but it will get you out of the Bay. Also, Back Creek is suggested by guidebooks as an anchorage. Both are half way down the bay.

Catch the tide in the morning if possible. If there are head winds, they will be lightest in the AM. Over the course of the day, the winds generally build and a head wind against the tide will create short steep waves making for a lumpy, uncomfortable ride. You'll also avoid any summertime thunderstorms.

Watch out for shipping traffic, crab pots and black flies (bring plenty of insect repellent).

Chesapeake City in the C&D Canal is a nice stop. There's a small public dock you can tie up to. There's only room for about three boats, but you can raft up, despite what the old bat on the "Ice Cream Boat" tied up to the dock says. The dockmaster told us we were fine rafted up to another boat. Docking is free. Electricity is $10. If there's no space at the dock, anchor in the basin and use the free dingy dock.

The ice cream at the small stand by the dock is good and cheap. Amy recommends the birthday cake flavor. There's nightly live music at the marina/restaurant. Thursday night they have a $5 special on frozen drinks. I'd avoid Chesapeake City on summer weekends, unless you are looking for a party and don't mind a crowded anchorage.

This guy's advice about transiting the Delaware Bay is good too. Pic is the Ferry docked in the Cape May Canal.

Sun Shower

I was in a crappy mood today. But watching Amy take a sun shower in the cockpit this evening put me in a better mood. Being clean seemed to put her in a good mood too. I was dubious as to the practicality of the sun shower, but it seems to work. Warm water with decent water pressure. And it didn't use too much water. There's still plenty left in the bag for another shower or two.

I took a bath in the Delaware Bay today. I feel plenty clean too. But my standards of cleanliness may be lower than Amy's.

Helmsman

The latest thing to break on the boat is the steering. Crossing the Chesapeake out of Baltimore, the steering seized up. We disassembled the steering box and found a couple teeth broken off a cog and stuck in the gears. The steering is now a little sloppy, and I'm not sure how long before more teeth break off the cog and the steering is totally kaput. I'm searching the internet for a replacement gear box.

Even with the degraded steering, Amy was an excellent helmsman this morning. And she didn't get seasick. In fact, after a couple hours driving she was giddy. A giddy Amy can be a handful, but I'll take it over a cranky Amy any day.

Stolen from Amy's blog:

I can’t even begin to describe the difference a day makes. We did veg out at our anchorage yesterday. There were terrible storms in the area, and lots of people are still without power in the nearby counties, but Scott found us a very protected spot. It just felt like a regular thunderstorm, and we watched the rain come down while we had dinner. (Salmon patties, recipe coming soon.)

Scott got up early this morning, and by the time I got out of bed at 6am, we were on our way up the Chesapeake Bay. He explained that we need to catch the tide at the right point, so we could move faster. The wind was in the wrong direction, so we motored with the current, but against the wind. This does make for a bumpy ride (and the sound of the boat smacking down on the water after a wave is a little distressing). I did discover one key to avoiding seasickness. If I’m at the helm, my eyes are glued to the horizon. I drove for about half of the morning, and I didn’t get a bit queasy.

A little before noon we made to the public dock in Chesapeake City, MD, where we even got to have lunch on land! (So much excitement for me today.) Tomorrow, we’ll get through the C&D canal, and anchor at the other side, in the Delaware Bay. It is nice to be making progress AND to be feeling good.

A Better Start

Stolen from Amy's blog:

Yesterday was our first day heading out of Baltimore. In the end, we made it about 30 miles to a creek on the other side of the Chesapeake bay, and we’re currently about 30 miles from the mouth of the C&D canal. (Recently, at my goodbye dinner in Western Mass, Matt asked about our route north - this is it: We’re going to cut through to the Delaware Bay, and then down around Cape May, and then up the Jersey coast to the East River, to the Long Island Sound.)

Yesterday’s trip could have been a better start for me. While the weather started out nice, the winds kicked up after noon. Scott was pretty excited because we got up to 8 mph, on sails alone. For a bit, I was a little caught up in the wonder of travel without motor, and thinking it was kinda cool. But the waves and the motion caught up with me. At least the motion sickness pills work as a sedative too.

We were most of the way across the bay at this point, so we kept going until we reached a small inlet, and were about to head into a creek to anchor, but the steering was stuck. So we dropped anchor for a while so Scott could figure out what was wrong. After a fix that will work “for now,” we were able to get into the creek to anchor. At the end of the day, I topped it all off by slipping on the stairs inside, and maybe breaking my toe. Swollen, hurts like hell, but nothing to be done about it. Those who know me will not be surprised: there were some tears.

We’ve stayed anchored here for about a day, in part because of thunderstorms, and in part, because I think Scott was afraid that if we had two days in a row like that, I may jump overboard and not come back.

Gunkholing

Definition - Cruising in shallow water and spending the nights in coves.

Left Baltimore yesterday morning. A small craft warning was issued from noon on. Possible anchorages along our path were White Rocks, Hart-Miller Island and Worton Creek. As we rounded H-M Island, the weather was holding and I decided to head up the bay and across to the Eastern Shore. Big mistake. The boat and I were fine, but the Admiral got seasick as the wind picked up and swells began to build.

It was a bad start to our cruise. I'm trying to make this trip as enjoyable as possible for the Admiral. But there is the tension of having to be in Martha's Vineyard by the end of the month. While this isn't a strenuous schedule, it does mean that we have to keep moving.

We're hanging out in Worton Creek today, gunkholing. We could make some miles today. The weather seems ok. But there are isolated thunderstorms rolling through, and I don't want to get caught in one of them.

Amy took her first sun shower this morning. She wouldn't let me post a picture of her showering in her bikini, so instead the pic is of me taking a bath in the creek.

Ready?

Girlfriend aboard, aka Little Blonde Distraction (LBD)

Storage space cleared for LBD, so she won't be so cranky.

Girlfriend's car parked at Grampa's house for the summer.

New anchor purchased.

New main halyard installed.

Boat power-washed. First shower boat and I have had in a number of months.

Leaky hatches removed, cleaned, recaulked and reinstalled.

Engine tuned and sounding better. No more misses or dying.

New fridge purchased for 3rd floor tenant.

Minor house maintenance completed.


I think we're ready.

Thanks to Glen and Maryanne and their clan for Memorial day crabs and birthday cookie. It's been ages since I've blown out candles on my bday.

Thanks to Grampa for storing LBD's car and giving us a ride back to Bmore.

Thanks to Mike at my old marina for hooking me up with electricity again.

Thanks to Sandy and Dennis for the new knives and fisherman tools (seen in the pic). Now I just need to catch something.


Winds are predicted calm and then southerly tomorrow. I was hoping for a short shakedown sail tomorrow. But if things go well, we may make some miles up the bay. I'll try to get the boatcam and gps online for the sail.