Wednesday 9/12
We'll, buck in July we'd set an informal goal to be home today, and we made it... just not the way we expected. With help from Enterprise rental trucks, we towed Elf to my yard from Brant Beach New Jersey where we had stashed Elf on Saturday at probably the most hospitable yacht club you will ever find. It's not the triumphant return to our slip in Annapolis that we had envisioned, but we've been spared the misery that four days of mostly rain and fog would have inflicted. Plus, there's more rain in the forecast the next few days as well as the uncertainty of hurricane Florence coming up the coast over the weekend, bringing potential catastrophic flooding..
All in all, we're happy to be off the water with ready access to showers, refrigeration, and juice for our devices. But there's hope that we'll get to enjoy more long cruises in the future.
Sunday 9/9
This bag holds all my cold weather clothes: sweatshirt, thermal layer, smart wool, socks, etc. I never used any of those items during the trip. First day ashore, it's 57 degrees in Linthicum at 9am and it's time to break open the cold bag. I guess our decision to abort the sail home was will timed--this bitter wind out of the east would have made for a miserable day in the cockpit!
Saturday 9/8
We were making lemons out of lemonade. With the wind too strong to continue out in the ocean, we decided to motor sail south along the intracoastal waterway. We were making pretty good time under job alone with the wind aft of the beam, but the winding channel would certainly add many miles as compared to the straight line route in the ocean. Still, progress is progress.
At one point, I decided to throttle up the motor since the wind had dropped and the boat had slowed. An uprecedented plume of white smoke gushed from the motor and I could smell burning oil. This was clearly a reason to stop and figure out how to respond to this latest catastrophy.
Amazingly, we limped into a nearby nook inside the barrier island, and a gentleman from the next door yacht club saw our diapers and motioned us in to their dock.
Long story short, the members of the Brant Beach Yacht Club, and we talked with about a dozen, were uniformly hospitable, helpful, and knowledgeable. They helped us find a mechanic whose diagnosis was the we needed to replace the piston rings, and that people often choose to replace the motor rather than pay for the major overhaul. BBYC is kindly letting us stash the boat at a vacant slip for a couple days until we can pull her out onto the trailer and drive her home.
Sadly, our on-the-water adventure is over. But if there is a bright side, it's that Elf will be safely out of the water and in my yard if hurricane Florence pays a visit next week.
Friday 9/7
We had a successful broad reach from Sandy Hook to Barnegat Bay--roughly 52 nautical miles. This blows away our previous single-day record of about 36 miles. Our alarm got us out of bed at 4am to ensure we would arrive before sunset. We would not want to navigate an unfamiliar inlet in the dark.
It turned out to be a faster ride than we'd expected, fortunately. We were anchored by 15:30 and treated to a close-up display of kite boarding! It's nice to get in early, since it was another bumpy ride that demanded considerable attention during each turn at the helm.
Thursday 9/6
We've done everyone we can do. Pop top is up, Sunshade is deployed over the boom. Wind scoop is deployed over the forehatch. And the 12 volt fan is running. Still we are baking at 89 degrees in the cabin.
Next step, I'm considering a dip in the distinctly non pristine bay here behind Sandy Hook NJ. The brown, murky water is not appealing, but it's looking like the lesser of two evils. At least there appear to be no jellyfish.
Wednesday 9/5
The alarm wasn't too heinous when it went off at 5:15 this morning. We were off the morning at City Island half an hour later with a fair tide promised through NYC and out the Hudson.
Everything went well, and despite a lot of later summer haze, we had good morning light illuminating the sights. It was noticably busier with more ferries and a couple big ships, as compared to our first transit, which began after the morning rush hour.
Sunday 9/2
This is a popular tourist destination that I'd never visited before. It's the nearest thing to the Maine coast that you're likely to find in southern New England, with about a dozen small, rocky islands in a small archipelago. Most islands have a few houses and a couple have several houses crammed together ranging from tiny guest houses to large three story works of art.
It's definitely a spot rich with character, but it was pretty busy on a holiday weekend. Only a handful of sailboats spent the night, including Elf. We were unpleasantly surprised at how much the boat rocked when the tidal current held the boat parallel to the small winds-blown waves. Despite moving to a more sheltered spot after dark, it was a fitful night of sleep.
Recommendations: try to visit during a weekday and or outside of the peak summer tourists months, and either choose your anchorage carefully or set bow and stern anchors to suit the wave conditions. Other options include commercial sight seeing tires or guided kayak tours. It's definitely worth a visit if you're passing through.
Saturday 9/1
While we were in the neighborhood, it was important to stop at the Shanty in New London. Dad took us here innumerable times after our day sails growing up, and it was always a treat. Good memories, and the same classic foot-long dogs. Famous since 1972--and I remember that sign back from about about 1978.
Friday 8/31
It was a bumpy downhill ride from S. Dartmouth to the Harbor of Refuge at Point Judith. This huge harbor, behind 3 miles of breakwater, was built in the early 1900's by the Army Corps of Engineers for ships traveling between NY and Boston to ride out bad weather. It was a welcome calm after 32 miles of 15-25 kt winds, where we slept under the gaze of the lighthouse. Unfortunately there is enough small boat traffic in the early morning hours to set up some nasty side-to-side rolling that interrupted our sleep.
