Cap Caroline
26 October 2015
Caroline was our first guest on the Uproar Voyage. Thanks, Caroline for sharing our adventure and trusting us with your life!
We picked her up in Waterford, NY, the last flight of locks on the Erie Canal. Uproar was not in good trim because our mast was still on deck and not looking much like the Uproar we know and love. We enjoyed Waterford and especially helping several boats lock through the final lock on the canal. We then entered the Hudson River for one more lock, and a stop at Castleton Boat Club to raise the mast again. She really got to see how the sausage is made.
The trip down the Hudson was delightful, very scenic and easy for Lisa and me. Caroline wanted to drive at every opportunity. She learned rules of the road, how to use the autopilot and a proper boat wave top “Blue Guitar,” Eric Clapton's boat which passed us port-to-port.
Next stop was Manhattan. Uproar swung at a mooring off the 79th street boat basin. We were just a few blocks from Strawberry Fields in Central ParC itk. Our five days there were just great. Caroline knows the City well and we did it all. She calculated our mileage from her Fit every day. We exceeded 10 miles some days. What a great way to see the Big Apple.
We bid farewell to NYC and sailed to Sandy Hook, NJ. Weather forecast was for increasing north winds so we took off for Atlantic City, NJ, 79 nm. It was a rough ride. The fact that water was coming over the floor boards didn't help any! That's another story. Atlantic City was.......Atlantic City. Any port in a storm! We sat for 3 days drying out the boat and enjoying the fine facilities.
We sailed next to Cape May in great weather, up the Delaware Bay to the Delaware/Chesapeake Canal. Chesapeake City was a picturesque place to anchor for the night. Next the Chesapeake Bay, another milestone of the voyage.
Strong north winds gave good sailing south to the Rhode River where we anchored for the Seven Seas Cruising Association Gam. A Gam is an old term for whalers gathering. The SSCA Gam was camaraderie for other cruisers and seminars by experts. Caroline enjoyed participating in the fun and learning. Oh, we were also anchored in a hurricane hole waiting for Joaquin to decide where he was going to go and die. It was blowing pretty hard for 3 days.
After three weeks on Uproar, it was hard to imagine that Caroline was going to fly back to Milwaukee. She is a willing and able crew. Caroline was determined to learn a lot and she did. One day she spent 3 hours tying a bowline! Caroline learned to drive Uproar. The title of respect for captains in the upper Chesapeake and NJ is “Cap.”
Thanks for joining us Cap Caroline. You are welcome back anytime. And please tell the others that we have figured out how not to flood the boat in rough weather. We don 't want to scare anyone away.