Yet another special place in the Chesapeake

From Mill Creek on the Great Wicomico River to Jackson Creek on the Piankatank River. The trip was 27 miles long. It took 6hrs. even, and the average speed was 4.5 knts. This was a great trip because I was able to sail the whole way. The breeze was out of the north with some pretty good swells. The boat really needs some type of centerboard or keel attached to what's already there, which is a big hunk of cast-iron about two feet deep giving me a total of three feet of draft. It will be great for the Bahamas but it's a little squirrelly when's there's a lump on the quarter-- not enough lateral resistance. But that being said I turned the corner at Stingray Point and the breeze had to of been steady 18-20 on the nose and the boat did fine. I went to the southern fork on the creek and dropped the hook. I wish everyone from the northeast could get chance to sail the Chesapeake there are some very special places and Jackson creek is one them. 

Just a 26' boat with an 8hp motor

     I went to a museum about the canal in the morning( pic). Decided to move on and get into the Bay proper. The day is warm with some thunder showers predicted. Get to the head of the bay here I am --yea! 
     Raise the main, breeze seems to be coming up. In less than 5 minutes I'm doing everything I can to get it down. Wind's dead on the nose and getting stronger by the minute. I am heading for a buoy and the boat's doing 2 knots. The seas are building because of the fetch; now I have every wave with a whitecap and the buoys are not getting any closer. A wall of white comes down on me and a couple of other boats. It takes the bow, pushes me sideways, and in doing so flattens the boat. Thank goodness for a big rudder. It spins around, stands up and there's no way to turn the boat around into the wind even if I wanted to. I'm going back. Nothing else to do.
     Back in the anchorage there's nothing that I can think of that I should have done differently, it's just a 26' boat with an 8hp motor. They are predicting gusts to 30 knts after the front comes through. Saturday will be a good day for updating the blog, going for a walk.......

Faster than marsh grass

I woke early to calm, dark, foggy morning which seemed fitting for this place. The river was just starting to turn with the tide coming in and I knew I had to leave soon or it would be another day on the Cohansey. Cranked up the motor and headed down river. By the time I got to the mouth, the boat at almost full throttle was doing 1-1.5 knots.   The marsh grass could not be moving any slower.
     Breaking free of the river I headed to the channel to get out of all the crabtrap floats. Can't wrap anything around the shaft now can we? Visibility was 100 yds but the GPS kept coming through.
     By the hour the wind kept lifting and with the current helping and all sails set  I was at Reedy Island by10:30.  Wow the boat was doing between 6-7 knots. Why not go all the way to the canal?  Got to the start of the canal(pic) just as the tide turned in my favor. What a great day! Passing big ships and barges very cool. Pulled into Chesapeake City set the anchor and just sat and reflected how all sailing days should be just like that. Something tells me I'm going to pay for that last statement!

Excuse me, do you have boxed tofu?

I woke stuck my head out the hatch and no palm trees! Just the chocolate colored Cohansey ripping by at a calm 4 knots. Today will be a lay day waiting for the weather to pass. A trip to the store to buy supplies and maybe a Cheeseburger!(pics).
     I went in to the supermarket with the same list I would use in CT, boxed tofu? You sell to the people not the idea. This was farm country and in places like this you have a large migrant worker population. So everything in the store revolved around a Mexican or South American diet. It was very cool.

It doesn't look 40-feet deep!

Being anchored at the mouth of the Cohansey was not where I wanted to spend the time waiting out bad weather, so I decided to move the boat up the river to the town of Greenwich, which according to the book is a quaint little historic village. I was expecting something like Essex. Ha! 
     There were two broken down marinas, the current was amazing. I dropped the hook where recommended but it seemed I had to let out a lot of scope. It didn't feel right so I picked up and moved to the other side of the river. It was even deeper! What the heck-- this is a river that's not 50 yds wide, how deep could it be? 
     To make sure the hook was set I backed down.  I looked at the dinghy painter and said to myself I should pull that in. Nah. Two seconds later ...clunk and the engine stopped. Oh no! I looked back and there was the bow of the dinghy looking like it was trying to swim under the boat. Luckily the anchor was holding and there was only one other boat to witness this. I dove over with one of the great knives that Sue bought (Thank you!!!) and cut the line from the shaft. I needed a bath anyway.  
     When I went into the marina and bought diesel from the owner he mentioned bad weather was coming and would I like dock space? I declined.  Then he said "you know you're anchored in 40' of water and you're gonna need alot of scope if it blows the way they say it's gonna. It's a buck a foot, not much."  I said I'd let him know.
     I rowed out to the boat and barely made it with the current. So between that and the storm I thought two nights at 26.00 per night wasn't too bad to save another river disaster. Just for fun I measured the depth to see if was pulling my leg. He wasn't. It was 40' deep. And that's right next to the bank!  Being tied to that dock was a wonderful thing!

All was good.

Waking up in Cape May, pretty cool place but time to get into the mighty Delaware. Motoring through the canal was easy, very little current. At the west end there were three big ferries. Time to head north to the Cohansey. It took 9.75 hrs at an average speed of 3.9 knots. The trip was 39 miles long. It was a very long day!  But at the end, just as the sun was going down, I put the hook down amongst fellow cruisers and all was good.

Atlantic City to Cape May

Leaving from Atlantic City to Cape May was very exciting. The last leg of NJ(or so I thought). The trip was all motoring. Length was a record 44.2 mi. Time 9hr 26 min. Average speed 4 knots.  Not much to write about except getting into the inlet with the big sport fishing guys, they really don't care. Scary! Moved into the anchorage no room so went below the CG house and moored in 3' --seemed fine.

4 more posts

Check out the September archive to read two new entries:
More Lessons Learned (sept 18)
I didn't want that stupid old centerboard anyway (sept 19)
And now in October:
Glimmer Glass and Wildlife
....and don't miss today's amazing photo of Atlantic City. 
Susan

Maggie Rogers and Susan are shown here in Mystic, talking about the adventures of Jim and Wandering Star.

Atlantic City aka Las Vegas East

From backwaters to the big city.  Atlantic City picks up the pace. 
















And saideth leteth there be gambling...

Leaving Barnegat Light

The trip through Barnegat Bay all the way down to Atlantic city was very cool. I went inside and would highly recommend it. The path takes you through small creeks that at low tide give me with 3' draft--some worries but I'd do it again. The whole trip was about 35 miles and was filled with a lot of bird life. The fun part at the end was that you come out of a tiny creek, turn left, and bam! there's Atlantic City. Quite something!  The only problem was the whole way through Barnegat Bay none of the buoys were marked on the chart because they are constantly shifting. Red right returning... at least I think so.

(Update from Mystic)

I'm slowly catching up with the posts that Jim sends from his iPhone.  Tonight I added new posts for  September 14, 16, 17 and 25.  They are added on their original date, so the whole trip will be represented in proper order.   A few photos too!  Look for more this weekend, including our great sail from Stamford down the East River and over to Liberty Park, NJ.

Jim is currently in Barnegat Bay.

Susan

Glimmer Glass and wildlife

        Woke at 6am to get the small Glimmer Glass bridge out before dead low tide. The pic shows it really is the Tonka size version of the mystic bridge. Me in my big 26'ft boat barely fit thru even though this was a highly recommend anchorage in one of the guide books. The breeze had shifted into the north from the northwest so it blew along the coast and had built up a sizable swell. Making my way out of the inlet I was met by that swell and it was everything my little engine could do to keep me going forward.
     I have to say this now so with rock jetties on either side and a2-3 knot current pushing you along and a big swell(atleast for me) hitting you from the side you really have doubts if the boat's going to do it. All I could do was to stare at the buoy outside the harbor and steer. Stare and steer. Don't look to either side. Once I cleared the breakwaters I continued until I got to the outside buoy which was 3/4 of a mile out. I looked back a saw the swells crashing on the beach. If I never have to do that again, but I know I have a few more in store for this part of the trip.
     Turning right at the gong I started down the coast, engine going and genoa out.  I was doing between 6-7 knots! Man this boat is fast. The breeze had come up so I killed the engine raised the main and sail at not too less a speed.
     When I was a kid fishing with my dad we spent countless hours watching the surface of the water waiting for fish to come up. So I got to know what to look for and over to my left the water changed and the top of something had come and gone coming down from sandy hook I saw a lot of blues come up and jump completely clear of the water. But this seemed different. It was! There was a pod of dolphins and they turned toward the boat. Maybe ten, twenty black and not small but not flipper. They were saying hello and then poof they were gone. A good omen.
     Coming up on and going thru the Barnegat inlet could take a whole entry, suffice to say it was a lot tougher than going out puny Manasquan. Alan Banister would have loved it.   Guys were anchored right next-- and I mean right next-- to rocks with these big rollers crashing right there. I think I bent one of the bimini supports because I was holding on so tight and these guys are out fishing! If I never have to......
     I finally get into calm water and look around and it's beautiful. For the first time in three weeks I really feel I somewhere else. The sand is a light grey/ white with islands and no houses on them. I move into a small cove and there are mooring balls. What could be better?  I flopped down on the jib bag and didn't move for two hrs. I also forgot to tell about half way to Barneget a little sparrow flew under the dodger and stayed there for about 15 min we had a very nice conversation and then he flew off for the beach which was about a mile away.
     So Barneget Bay is N 39•45'  W074•07'. The water temp is and is really clean the weather is north and beautiful.  Now off to Atlantic city or about half way there

The legendary East River passage

An early morning start on October 1.  Goal: LI Sound to the East River and Liberty Park, NJ.  We covered 39 miles averaging 5.1 knots, with a maximum of 9.7 knots (with current-assist).  The trip took 7 hours, 45 minutes and was one of those memorable days when one is fully absorbed in the tasks at hand and the passing of time goes unnoticed.  Lots of traffic on the river and harbor--party fishing boats, tankers, tugs, barges, police and fire boats, one-design racing boats, tourist boats, ferries, container ships, schooners, sloops, kayaks, powerboats, and even a swimmer!

Jim at the helm out of Stamford

 

Susan at the helm in Long Island Sound

Execution Rock

Whitestone Bridge, accompanied by a tanker

East River looking toward Manhattan

No time for lunch (note pb&j sandwich in left hand) as the river traffic is getting busy

Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges

NYFD Boat--powerful!!

Add caption

Schooner, Ferry, City