Port Washington to Atlantic City
September 5, 2013
We left Port Washington two days ago. The trip takes one under the Throng's Neck Bridge (the west end of Long Island Sound) and into the East River through New York City. We hit the tidal currents just right and it was a great ride. Unlike the first trip going the other way, we were in company of three other boats and that made more fun as we watched each other deal with the swirly currents. We sailed past the Battery past Lady Liberty and under the Verrazano Bridge into Raritan Bay. As we went under the bridge, the Coast Guard was randomly selecting boats to inspect. We were not one of them. A short distance later past Sandy Hook we dropped the anchor behind the breakwater of Atlantic Highlands. Thus ended our Long Island phase.
At 0530 yesterday, we brought up the anchor and started the long sail to Atlantic City, NJ. The shoreline is flat and featureless unlike the New England shore. It looks a great deal like the lower Texas coast. The flotilla crews spend a very long day first in very light winds then in 24-knot breezes from dead ahead. About the only good thing was that being directly on the nose, the boat had only a pitching motion. Had it been from any other direction, we would have had a very uncomfortable roll to boot.
I did drag out that spinnaker with all the road miles and hoisted it. It is a beauty but not made for the winds we had yesterday. It looked good but did not add to our speed. So, after two hours of tweaking the thing, I gave up and stowed it. That was a lot of work just to get some pictures. About the time, we got it down, the winds piped up and we were in for a long rough ride. For the next nine hours, we slogged at walking speed into the slop. By the time we made Atlantic City, all the crews were just looking for relief. The day ended after 84 nautical miles and almost thirteen hours. Hook down by the Coast Guard Station in Atlantic City, the crew of Why Knot dropped in the rack and got some relief.
Today is the day to make Cape May and look toward the cruise up the Delaware River. There is to be a strong cold front pass tonight which offers up a high temp tomorrow of only 68 degrees.
I should mention our stow away which came aboard yesterday a few hours out. It left the boat after we anchored and Scurv, ABSD and head of security started sniffing and found it. It actually is one of the cutest bats I have ever seen. It looked a lot like a mini-teddy bear with wings.