Sick at Sea
14 October 2019
megan osler
SICK AT SEA
We’ve arrived in Cape May, New Jersey after a very long night out at sea. We left Great Kills, NY yesterday morning at 9:30 and pulled into our anchorage here at 8:30 am today. There is no river/canal system between New York City and Delaware Bay so the only option, heading south, is to hop offshore for a bit. We could have spent the night in Atlantic City but the weather forecast for winds and sea conditions were so benign, we decided to make an overnight trip of it. Our day was quite nice; hardly any swell and light easterly winds. We were only 5 miles off the coast. We all loaded up with Gravol just to play it safe. Sure enough, as night came on, the winds picked up from 5 knots to 20 knots. In the transition period we had a happy hour or two of cutting the engine and, under sail, cruised along at 8.5 knots. Then the winds swung around to be head on and we were rolling around every which way. We thought the cabin was ship shape until half our belongings began hopping off shelves, sliding off bunks, jingle jangling in drawers and cupboards. We made good use of Mark’s ‘barf bags’ from Air Transat. Poor Alistair filled about 3 of them. Mark probably got about 1.5 hrs of sleep, I got about 2.5 hrs. The kids felt too sick to stay in their beds so we had their sad little bodies to fumble over in the cockpit as we raised, reefed, dropped and re-raised sails.
We will spend today re-grouping and head through Delaware Bay tomorrow, aiming for Chesapeake City by early evening.
Our ONE day in NYC was jam-packed. The Highline and Central Park were the highlights! Lunch at O’Hare’s Pub was memorable, as it was one of very few buildings at ground zero to remain standing after 9/11. It was a hub for all firefighters to take refuge in during the recovery period. So today they have 5000 badges stapled on their walls, brought from from fire departments all around the world in honour of those who lost their lives and saved lives on that day and in the aftermath. Of course, we easily could have spent a week in the city. Maybe we’ll do a couple more days on our way back north.
Last Saturday Oct 12th marked a year since my Dad died. He was a super enthusiast for our sailing trip dreams and would have been tickled pink to follow these escapades of ours. He sailed his Laser for 30 years on Lake Simcoe and, as a family, we enjoyed so many great sailing trips on Georgian Bay with my Grandparents Niagara 35. Needless to say, he’s been ever present in my thoughts lately, especially as Thanksgiving is such a special family time and, now for us, will always be a cathartic time of year. I have so many incredible memories from dozens of fantastic trips our parents took us three kids on over the years. It’s really great to be on the parent side of things now, watching the wonder in our kids with each new discovery in our daily adventures. So many of my own childhood memories come flooding back. We were so lucky to have parents who were able and wanted to put such a high priority on family travel. This is the kind of stuff I’ve been reflecting on as I consider the essence that my Dad left behind.
Cheers to Hughie
*the photo just gives a sample of how the cockpit became a crash pad for our overnight trip. I am in AWE of those who cross the ATLANTIC in a sailboat!!!