Relatives Come to Sail
18 June 2011 | Delaware Bay
Dave/80's Sunny Light Breeze
On June 17, 2011, Elissa's brother (Tom) and his son (Jonathan) made the trip up from Virginia to sail with us. We met up at the marina on Friday evening and after introducing them to the boat, went to a local restaurant for some dinner. We stayed on the boat overnight, planning on sailing the next day. The weather called for winds of 10 Kts and seas of 1 - 2 feet.
On Saturday, after making breakfast and straightening up the boat, we set off for the Delaware Bay. The winds were lighter than predicted and we ended up motorsailing much of the day. There was a 4 Kt current which was generally running against us. Nevertheless, we were able to get several hours of actual sailing in, at times, getting Edelweiss up to 6 Kts on an 8 Kt breeze. All in all a fun day of sailing for everyone.
Here is a photo of the sunset over the Delaware River just south of the C&D Canal.
Edelweiss Comes Home
06 November 2010 | Delaware River
Dave/Cloudy Cool
On November 6, 2010, after double and triple checking everything, we set off to take Edelweiss from G. Winters Sailing Center in New Jersey to her new home in Delaware City, Delaware. Unfortunately, the tides were not on our side and the departure had to be delayed for a couple hours to avoid running out of water. Once underway, we quickly learned just how many bridges cross the Delaware River between Philadelphia and New Jersey. Fortunately only two required opening. Unfortunately, this added an hour and a half to the trip while we waited for the bridge tenders to pass us through.
As we passed south of Philadelphia, dusk descended upon us. We quickly discovered that in addition to being heavily overcast, there was no moon that evening. As we rounded Pea Patch Island (now around 9:00 PM) we also discovered, that the green light on the ATON which marks the entrance to a very narrow and shallow canal we had to enter, was out! After making a few passes, keeping to the deep water, we were able to locate the ATON and make it safely into the canal. We tied up at the transient dock and went home for a good night's sleep, with plans to return the next day to complete the arrangements for the winter.
Above is a photo of the Philadelphia skyline as we passed by.