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Monday, July 7, 2014

Day 3 – 4 (6/26, 27/2014)


Thursday morning was overcast and there was very little wind. We left ~ 5:00 AM and motored down the Delaware Bay and around Cape May. Finally….. the ocean!! ! We raised a reefed main, unfurled the jenny, shut down the engine and enjoyed a rousing sail north at about 8 knots, 3 miles off the coast of New Jersey.
                                                                             Atlantic City
 
 We sailed for hours until the winds died down late in the afternoon. We furled in the genny and continued to motor sail. Night fell with calm seas, no wind and thousands of stars overhead.   
                                                        
                                                               Sunset Over New Jersey
 
It was time for Lois’ and my watch at 12:30 AM and my turn at the helm. Debbie commented before giving me the helm that the stars had vanished. Looking north, the sky had turned black all the way to the water and the wind was picking up. We doused the main and braced ourselves for what we thought was a squall. I checked the Doppler weather radar on my IPad but it showed no rain at all. By now the wind was really blowing and the seas were getting very large. It felt like we were being tossed around like a cork. It seemed as though we would make a bit of headway and then the waves would push us further back than where we started. We had suited up before dark with our inflatables, strobes, whistles and tethers just in case.  For the first time, this felt like they were necessary!! This continued until sunrise when the black cloud began to break up.

The seas were still 10-15 feet with a brisk north wind. We continued north and found the channel to Sandy Hook, NJ. We anchored at ~7:30 Friday morning and, after picking up everything that was not nailed down off the sole, crashed!!

(167 nm / 25h7m)

It wasn’t until ~1:30 PM that anyone stirred. We spent the afternoon rehashing the events of the night and planning for the next leg of our adventure.

Since Dave & Lois were still members of the City Island Yacht Club, and they hadn’t been there in a while, we decided to make that our next stop. We checked the current tables and turned in early.
                                      
                                                         Verrazano Narrows Bridge Friday Night

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