A big day!
21 May 2007 | Cape May, Delaware
Jim Lea
Last night, to celebrate the Chesapeake Bay, we had Lump Crab Cakes. And with a fresh salad and cold white wine, it was delicious! We had bought the crab meat in Swan Creek, where we were surprised to find an excellent grocery store just 3/4 mile from the marina where we docked the dinghy. We hadn't expected to find one, so didn't have our little pull cart, so we were careful of what we bought with the walk back. But we needn't have been, as we were offered a drive by a sailor from one of the nearby marinas. We declined, with thanks, because we wanted the exercise, and its a good thing, as that's the last time we have been ashore. From there we went up to Sasafrass Creek last night, and just as we were ready to head ashore, it started raining, so we spent the evening aboard. Then this morning, we got an early start so we could catch the tide in the C&D canal. And we were on time. And we shot through with the current picking up as we went through. We averaged over 8 knots, and when we shot out into Delaware Bay, we were over 9! And we even had some tide running out of the Bay to help for a while. So with the tide, which didn't last too long, and a fresh west wind, we made such good time that we were off our anchorage for the night by just after noon. Sitting in a remote anchorage for the afternoon with a fresh following breeze going to waste seemed like a dumb thing to do, so we kept going, but now, against the incoming tide. But in spite of the tide, we were able to manage over 6 knots, and sailed down to a change of tide just a few hours later. In a river estuary, the time of high (and low) tide gets later as you go up the river. So although the tide turned at 11:30 am up at the canal, it had turned at 9:30 am at the mouth. That meant that we didn't spend the normal 6 hours fighting it, but just 3, so were in an outgoing tide by 2:30 pm. And as the tidal currents run 2-3 knots, it meant that we were running out the bay at 8.5 knots, for us an unheard-of speed without either a gale blowing or this sort of help. Because the lower end of Delaware bay is full of shifting sand banks, with the exception of the shipping channel, which would add about 15 miles (3 hours) to our route, there is a "back door" canal that leads from Cape May Harbor to the bay. But the problem is it has a 55' bridge over it. And our mast is 60', so we have to go around the cape. Last fall, we wandered through the shoals and made it through OK. But I was reluctant to try our luck again, so we headed through a "natural" channel that isn't as far as the shipping one, but further off than we went last fall. The problem(s) with it are that it is unmarked, and the sands are known to shift, so although we wandered a bit, we made it through and dropped anchor in Cape May at 7:30 pm, a run of 89.6 miles in exactly 13 hours! As we headed for the entrance to the channel, we were met by a ferry from Cape Henlopen (crossing Delaware Bay) that we had to avoid, and in doing so, had to sail well away from our course, and in these currents, it took some time to get back on course after the ferry passed. But we got back on course and carried on, and after a long day of beautiful sailing in 15-20 knots, sunny and warm, it is good to be here where we will begin our final leg home tomorrow (if the wind is willing). Tonight we will finish off the Shrimp Pernod, and also the best cheese we have ever had, from The Cheese Shop in Annapolis. Unbelievable!!! We will visit them in the fall.