Sunday May 24, 2015
N
W
What a great day!
It’s very important to catch the tide and current down the
Delaware. The total current can run 3 knots for or against you, so it’s a “6
knot decision”, and for a 7 knot boat that seems important! The end result is
that we were up at 5:00AM and underway by 5:30AM. Deidre asks: “How come the
tide always seems to change so early in the morning?”
But both boats timed it right and we immediately picked up a
couple of knots from the current, and rode it almost the whole 47 miles to the
Cape May canal entrance. It was “Memorial Day Weekend” so we expected a bunch
of New Jersey style boat traffic. In fact they all turned out to be reasonably
cooperative and polite. As planned we cruised through Cape May and out into the
Atlantic - “in one end and out the other”.
The plan was to continue north up the Atlantic coast about
35 NM to Atlantic City and anchor for the night. Conditions on the Atlantic
were not great, but not bad – 15-20 kt wind from the south with well-spaced
swells on our stern and some chop, conditions well within Tide Hiker’s comfort
zone. Tide Hiker immediately picked up half a knot from the wind or the swells
or a current, and were progressing at 7.6 to 7.8 kts, great!
The weather was predicted to worsen tomorrow and stay that
way for a while. It was only another 80 NM to NY harbor so some time in the
afternoon we decided to stay in the Atlantic and travel overnight to NY. Once
we get to NY we will be in rivers and canals for a month or so and weather
would be less of an issue. So Don and I re-plotted our courses and sorted out
“who was to sleep and when”.
Deidre took the first 2 hour shift 8 to 10PM and I
slept. The moon was out until about 1 AM
so we had some visibility. Conditions stayed the same and we continued north
averaging about 7.7 kts. There was not much traffic around. Most of the time
the radar picked out markers and buoys to avoid. We chatted between boats on
Ch. 17.
The fun started when we arrived at the entrance to NY harbor
(Sandy Point) at 2 AM. We could see the Empire State building and the new
“Freedom Tower” lit up in the distance. But the moon had set, there were lots
of lights, the radar was “cluttered up” but otherwise it was pitch black. We
used the chart plotter to maneuver into the shipping channel, and Deidre stood
in the dark on the Portuguese Bridge, spotting channel lights and looking for
shipping.
We were monitoring the VHF radio for traffic. Also, as we
entered the channel we broadcast: “Securite, Securite – This is inbound motor
vessel Tide Hiker , entering the Sandy Hook Channel at Green 1, any concerned
traffic may contact us on Channel 16.” This is the appropriate protocol
at night.
Half way into the 5 mile long shipping channel Deidre calls
out “I think I see a ship coming towards us. A big ship!” I did not quite
believe her, all we could see was a couple of weak white steaming lights, what might
be a red running light, and a large dark “blank spot” in our view. Usually
large ships are lit up like Xmas trees, and at night she should be broadcasting
a Securite
warning call. But Deidre was right – in a few minutes a HUGE ship was
visible and close, and started blasting its horn – 3 shorts and a long (I have
to look that up in Chapmans). But we were well positioned, and now that we
could see the ship it was obvious it would pass.
Once we were in the harbor we turned south out of the
channel and headed to an anchorage. Inside the harbor the water was protected
and dead calm. The anchor was down and secured by 3 AM and we were asleep
shortly thereafter. What a great day – 165 NM in 22 hours.
Sandy Hook Bay
Memorial Day, Monday, May 25, 2015.
40 25.019 N
74 00 850 W
After a beautiful sleep we took Tide Hiker into the fuel
dock at the Atlantic Heights Marina. This place has the best fuel price in the
Hudson Valley. From now on the price of fuel will increase until it peaks in
the Canadian outback. We will top up again just before we leave the USA, maybe
in Oswego. We had travelled 389 NM since Top Rack, and took on 202 gallons here,
so it seems we averaged 1.925 NM per gallon – pretty good!
We have now anchored back in the bay for a day of rest.
Tomorrow we head up the Hudson.
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| View from our Sandy Hook Bay anchorage |
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