Monday 9/17 - I slept late and stayed at anchor. It was a miserable day: foggy, humid with frequent rain showers.

Tuesday 9/18 - Cloudy, occasional rain, mixed clouds and sun later, followed by thunderstorms and torrential rain when approaching Baltimore. I pulled into my slip at the Anchorage Marina at 1345.



Approaching Baltimore Harbor

Saturday 9/15 – I started the engine at 0635 and raised the main with one reef in. I motor-sailed around the Hook as the first course was directly into the wind. The strong current running through the channel made it a swift but bumpy ride into the open ocean. Dolphins welcomed me. Chris Parker’s forecast was the same as yesterday. It promised to become a great trip with a broad reach on the port tack all the way to Cape May. At 0820 I turned off the engine and unfurled the yankee and the staysail and settled in for the trip. Before I left the Hook I had installed the Hydrovane rudder and vane, and it steered most of the trip. The wind was a little more northerly than forecast and sometime during the day I put the yankee on the whiskerpole to port. With the swell coming in from the SE the ride was comfortable. I love the feeling of this long lazy ocean swell, with the boat slowly rising and falling, while making great speed through the water. Sunset was at 1915.



Sunset with Atlantic City in the distance

After sunset the wind diminished to 10/12 knots. I could have shaken out that reef, but I decided to leave it in. One gets more careful when one gets older! And there were no other sailboats around that would entice me to enter into a “cruising race”. Actually, it was an unusually quiet trip. On these south bound coastal trips you often see a cluster of sailboats all leaving at the same time, but not this time. Although it is nice to have a few boats around you, on the other hand, it is easier for me at night not having to worry about other boats in the vicinity. At 2330 I took in the whiskerpole and set the yankee to port.

Sunday 9/16 – I reached the mouth of the Delaware Bay at 0400. At night I don’t go through any of the unmarked inside passages. You need settled weather with decent visibility to see the deep water between the breakers on the shoals. So I took the longer outside route, just outside the buoys that mark the big ship channel. I furled the yankee and the staysail and motor-sailed against the ebb current into the Delaware Bay. At 0720 the wind had picked up again and I turned off the engine. With an ENE breeze of 12/15 knots we broad-reached up the Bay on the starboard tack. After breakfast I took out the reef and continued north under full sail. We were doing 7.5 to 8 knots through the water. But as we got further north the wind got lighter and lighter and at 1100 I turned the engine back on. At 1430 I entered the C&D canal. While taking down the main I noticed that the webbing of the top slide had almost chafed through. This had happened before in 2016. I anchored in the Bohemia River at 1730. Tired, but satisfied. 35 hours from Sandy Hook to the Bohemia.





Sailing up the Bay in the early morning

Friday 9/14 - I listened to Chris Parker again at 0730. His forecast for Saturday and Sunday was for winds 15/20 knots from the ENE, easing on Monday to 5 knots from the S, with a swell from the SE of 6ft at 14 seconds. Possible gale conditions on Tuesday. The perfect weather forecast for this trip. I left Port Washington at 1245, passed Hell Gate at 1445, went through the Buttermilk Channel at 1535 and The Narrows at 1615. I unfurled the staysail at 1625 and arrived at the anchorage near the Coast Guard station inside Sandy Hook at 1745. But after the anchor chain had run out for a bit it suddenly stopped and wouldn't go out any further. No matter what I did by pulling the chain in and shaking it up and down, it did not free itself. There was a blockage somewhere inside the chain locker. I went below, open the locker door at the foot of the forward berth and found the chain all entangled in itself. Somehow a huge knot had formed and it took me quite a while to untangle the mess. I guess the chain must have piled up when I last pulled anchor in Port Jefferson and later fallen over itself while underway, or when I let it out just now.

Wednesday 9/5 - Another hot and windless day. I motored to Port Washington on Manhasset Bay and picked up one of the yellow city moorings.

Thursday 9/6 - Hot again. I took the dinghy to the fuel dock and filled a couple of jugs with diesel and water. Next I went ashore and walked to the LIRR station to buy a ticket to NYC. I already had bought an Amtrak ticket to Philadelphia for my final appointment with the US Immigration Service on the 10th. On the way back I had lunch at Finn McCool's, stopped at Shield's hardware store and the Dolphin bookstore. Heavy thunderstorms in the evening.

Friday 9/7 - Hurricane Florence is in the forecast with a possibility of coming ashore here in the north-east in the next several days.

Saturday 9/8 - It seems that Florence will make landfall in the Carolinas or Virginia.



Manhasset Bay

Sunday 9/9 - Drizzle, cold and windy. I hailed the water taxi to take me ashore for my two-day trip to Philadelphia. The remnants of Florence will cause nasty weather for the next several days.

Monday 9/10 - I took the oath as a US citizen. It was about time after living 30+ years in this country! My first official deed as a US citizen was registering to vote. I took the train back to NYC and Port Washington in the afternoon. It was very windy, rainy and foggy when I got back on board.



After taking the oath



Filling out a voter registration form

Tuesday 9/11 - Calm and foggy, with occasional rain showers all day. In the afternoon I went ashore to Louie's for oysters, beer and happy hour fish tacos.

Wednesday 9/12 - Weather: same as yesterday. I did laundry and while the machines were running I had a good lunch at a very quiet Turkish restaurant "Bosporus".

Thursday 9/13 - I listened to Chris Parker, the weather guru, at 0730 and it seems that Saturday could be a good day to run south to the entrance of the Delaware Bay. The rest of the day was spent food shopping and two more runs in the dinghy to fill the diesel tank, two diesel jugs and the water tanks. For dinner I went to La P'tite Framboise, a French restaurant. It was almost empty when I walked in a quarter to six, but filled up rapidly after that. I had a good dinner, but expensive.
I checked the tides for tomorrow's trip to Sandy Hook. The currents are favorable at Throgs Neck at 1415 and at 1430 at Hell Gate.

Monday 9/3 Labor Day - The day started cloudy but later it became sunny and warm. No wind at first. The flood in eastern Long Island Sound would not start until 1212 so there was no reason to leave very early. I decided to leave at 0830 which meant I would have some of the ebb against me, but then the rest of the 55 nm trip to Port Jefferson I would have a favorable flood current. It was again motoring for the first several hours, also to keep a reasonable speed over the ground against the current. But at 1550 the wind finally picked up. I turned off the engine and proceeded under full sail. Off Port Jefferson I had to wait for two ferries to clear the harbor entrance before I could enter. I dropped the anchor in my usual spot off Old Field Beach.



Under sail on a calm LIS

Tuesday 9/4 – I climbed the mast steps to the first set of spreaders. The bottom of the spreaders are getting dirty with, I presume, city grime from keeping the boat in Philadelphia and Baltimore. I don’t have steps higher up, so I could not clean the top spreaders. It was a very hot day, with no wind.



Sunset in Port Jefferson

Sunday 9/2 - I left at 0815; motored with the main up until 1115. The wind was now 8 knots from the SSW. Perfect to hoist and unfurl the drifter. At 1415 the drifter came down and I started the engine. I dropped anchor inside Fishers Island West Bay at 1445.



Under sail with the drifter



A Scottish Zulu (?) in Fishers Island Sound

Saturday 9/1 - The start of Labor Day weekend. It was sunny with light winds from the east. I motored to the anchorage at Dutch Harbor.



Dutch Harbor anchorage

Friday 8/31 - (Bristol 2) Walking back from the museum I saw this beautifully restored 1930s or 40s Citroen. This was a car similar to the one the owner of the butcher shop around the corner from where I grew in Amsterdam in the 1950s had. It was rarely used and sat at the curb most of the time.





Citroen Traction Avant

On the dinghy ride back I circled around "Mahi Mahi", a Canadian flagged Cabo Rico 42 # 10, formerly called Katydid. This was the boat Fraser Smith had outside his office when I discussed ordering my new boat in November 2002. I spent an afternoon and part of the evening going through this boat in great detail to list of what I liked and what I want done differently on my boat.
For dinner I went to the Bristol Oyster Bar, which had great reviews on Yelp. It was quite crowded at the bar and catered more to the "pretty" people than old guys like me. They had a nice selection of oysters and the food was great.





Mahi Mahi, CR42 # 10

Friday 8/31 - I visited the Herreshoff Marine Museum, which had expanded and changed a lot since my last visit in 2002.







The America's Cup model room



The America's Cup model room





A model of Reliance



Detail of Reliance's rigging

Wednesday 8/29 – Hazy, hot and humid. I left Onset at 0900 under engine, motored down Buzzards Bay, through Woods Hole and anchored in Vineyard Haven at 1310. Went ashore for food shopping and paid a visit to West Marine.

Thursday 8/30 – The ebb in Vineyard Sound was running from 0240 until 0846. So I left at daybreak at 0545 for the trip to Narragansett Bay. The wind was SW 16/18 knots. Pretty much on the nose. It was quite choppy going around West Chop, with the wind against the strong ebb current. I motor-sailed until 1035 when I unfurled the yankee and the staysail and turned off the engine. Inside Narragansett Bay the wind got light with the wind and current from the same direction and I motor-sailed the rest of the way to the anchorage outside the mooring field off Bristol. I had been here once before, in 2002 on my previous Cabo Rico (38).

Monday 8/27 – I went ashore at 0730 and walked to Days Propane. The office had just opened but they had nobody yet on staff to fill my tank. They told me it would be done around noon. When I explained that I was leaving today and had to take the current through the canal they went out of their way to get my tank filled early. I took a brief trip to the supermarket down the street and on my way back found my tank filled. This is a great place with helpful staff and friendly service. Back on board I changed the alternator setting and reduced output by 10% to prevent it from overheating. It was going to be a warm, sunny and humid day. Further north, with lower air and water temperatures, the alternator stayed just below 100 degrees Celsius at maximum output, but now that it was getting warmer I did not want to run the risk of alternator damage.
I left at 0945. Inside the harbor I raised all sails and once around the hook turned off the engine. The wind was 10/12 knots from the WNW. After a while it got less to below 5 knots and at 1240 I turned the engine on. At 1438 I entered the east side of the canal and an hour later dropped anchor in Onset Bay.

Tuesday 8/28. I emptied out the cockpit lockers and removed the engine room blower. I tested it by connecting the leads to a 12V outlet. The blower ran fine. There were no signs of corrosion. When I checked the voltage at the wires inside the aft cockpit locker, they tested fine at 12.5V. I reconnected the blower and it ran fine. It’s still unsatisfactory that I did not find the cause of the problem. It could have been that the connection at one of the butt connectors had failed. I reinstalled the blower and changed the regulator settings back to full output. Later I took the dinghy to the fuel dock and filled up with diesel. Then it was to Quahog Republic for beer and oysters, and to Marc Anthony’s for pizza (and beer).



Marc Anthony’s Pizza restaurant

Sunday 8/26 - Spent the day at anchor. Took the dinghy ashore and walked around town. P'town is actually a quite nice little town, when you get off the main drag. Back on board I checked the current in the Cape Cod Canal tomorrow: It will run west from 1058 until 1650. Plenty of time to go ashore first and have a propane tank refilled before departure at 1000.



P'town Harbor



P'town scenery





Full moon in P'town harbor