What a difference 24 hours can make... Boy, mother nature was in charge last night as we passed the entrance to Chesepeake Bay and approached Ocean City, MD. We were alerted to severe thunderstorms by our weather router, then we heard the warnings on the VHF radio and began to see giant thunderheads developing even bigger as they approached the sea around 6pm. We shortened sail, battened all the hatches, got out the wet weather gear, stripped the deck of all extra equipment and got ready for the worst.

Turns out we made a lucky guess as to the location of the most severe lightning and slowed the boat down to hold our position in between 2 big thunderheads. Grant steered us between them and we didn't have to endure the 30-50 knot winds that were forecast. 6 hours after arriving, the worst was over and we were left with cloudy skies and damp conditions, but not much rain.

While off North Carolina we had water temperatures near 90 degrees, right now the sea temp is only 67 degrees!! We actually had to dig out sheets and blankets for the first time in many months last night. The idea of socks is no longer totally revolting, but I still plan to go sockless as long as possible.

This morning we sighted land for the first time in about 6 days. We crossed the entrance to Delaware Bay and then went past Cape May and Atlantic City NJ. We were so close to land that we had working cell phone signals and could even get on the internet.

We are now heading for a waypoint at the end of Long Island, and from there its a short 40 mile run to Newport. Possibility of fog and squalls later tonight, but it's sunny with a nice breeze at the moment, flying the spinnaker again. Looks like we'll arrive July 1 - either very early in the morning, or we might slow the boat down so as to arrive at daybreak.

We'll send another update tomorrow.

Scott & Jen & Amelia & Grant

Tuesday June 29
1735L
N39 24.1
W74 12.3
COG 060M
SOG 5.5 knots