Pressure Drop - Blogs http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php This is a discussion forum powered by vBulletin. To find out about vBulletin, go to http://www.vbulletin.com/ . en Fri, 18 May 2012 00:58:41 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/images/misc/rss.jpg Pressure Drop - Blogs http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php <![CDATA[Mother's day in New York's Upper Harbor]]> http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=100 Tue, 15 May 2012 03:11:11 GMT


The forecast Sunday was for 10 to 15 out of the South and sunny skies, temps into the 80’s and I had visions of setting off out of the marina and quickly hoisting the Spinnaker for a long run across the lower bay and into the Narrows, dousing the spinnaker once we reach the Dennis Conner Mega Yacht Marina where we will pick up our guests for the afternoon. Ah, dreams. We motored out into flat calm waters, motored all the way across the lower bay, some 12 miles, against the current in flat water and then made the narrows at current change and should have some push with us, which we did for about a mile. Then it continued against us all the way up the Hudson to the Marina. An hour late but we made it into New York Harbor on a beautiful sunny day.



Alex and Christina Kimball, liveaboard friends from Seattle, had flown into lower Manhattan to visit two of Christina’s children for mother’s day and wanted to meet us for a sail on the bay Sunday afternoon with their kids. We had expected them to show up with 2 kids, but the boyfriends came along too, so we had a total of 8 aboard. Fortunately, the marina lent us 4 lifejackets as we only had 4 aboard for our trip.



The day was amazing, the winds came up to about 6 knots and we put up the main and #4 while the crew lounged around on the foredeck in the sun enjoying views of the Statue of Liberty, lower Manhattan and the busy upper bay of New York. Boats were going every direction, the Staten Island Ferries, the numerous tourist boats doing their rounds at the Statue, club sailboats everywhere, cruise ships, freighters, water taxi’s, barges, you name it, it was out on the water on Sunday. A very busy harbor but totally safe and doable with just a little paying attention. Everyone had a blast and we were very thankful to have someone “force” us to spend a few hours just sailing around with no where to go or be. Besides being able to spend Mother’s Day with someone’s mother we also got to expose 2 newbies to sailing, a very productive day.



We bid our crew farewell at the Mega Yacht marina and motored back out around Miss Liberty while the sun set in the distance, to a small anchorage behind the statue on the New Jersey shore. Just near a boat ramp at the New Jersey Liberty State Park the anchorage is great, protected by a breakwater, shore access for walking and a huge modern golf course clubhouse at the head of the bay. Total score to spend a couple of nights taking in the majesty of the views and catching up on these blogs while we wait for our friend Emma to arrive sometime Monday night into Tuesday morning.



Emma is doing a double handed race, the Atlantic Cup, on class 40 boats, a 40’ serious racing machine. The race is from Charleston, South Carolina to a finish line near the North Cove Marina - Dennis Conner’s Mega Yacht Marina. We hope to be able to see her cross the line if she finishes at a respectable hour - but if it’s the middle of the night we’ll catch up with her sometime during the week after we move up to the 79th Street Boat Basin on Tuesday. We plan to spend a few days there and explore Central Park, visit with some old college friends of Jennifer’s and just see what we see. Should be a fun couple of days.


]]> Ballard Sailor http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=100 Manasquan Inlet to the Atlantic Highlands http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=99 Tue, 15 May 2012 03:09:30 GMT 

7am came quickly and showered and ready we pushed off, found the fuel dock and were quickly swept out into the ocean as the sun pushed up into the sky and the promised offshore breeze began building until we were reaching along the coast under main and 150% Genoa at a good 6 knots. Nice, I thought, 35 miles of reaching up the coast to lower New York Bay, round the hook and anchor out for the night. I couldn’t have planned it better! Well it wasn’t to be - an hour later the wind began to die down and soon we were ghosting along at 2 knots as the ocean glassed over, damn. On came the diesel and we began the 20 mile motor to finish the trip to Sandy Hook. At some point about 5 miles from the hook Jennifer went below and yelped out, “Oh Dear!” “Oh dear what?” I say. “There is water over the floorboards!” So she starts pumping out the bilge and is easily ahead of whatever is leaking in. Once she is done, we switch spots and I begin a slow search of the boat looking for that telltale track of water leading to the bilge from something. The motor, no. The Thru Hulls, no. The exhaust system, no. I could not find a source for it. It was definitely still filling up the bilge, but very slowly, maybe a pint an hour, it tasted salty so it was certainly coming into the boat from somewhere, but where? We decided since the leak was so slow we would continue on to our anchorage and do thorough emptying of the bilge and then look everywhere again.


The rest of the motor was uneventful, and the wind even eventually came up again. Yet we had just turned the corner around Sandy Hook and it was directly on our nose, no more sailing today. We checked out the anchorage near Horseshoe Cove but the wind angle left it very choppy, so we went on to the anchorage inside the Atlantic Highlands. A great anchorage just outside their mooring field and we anchored in a nice quiet spot between two boats we had seen down on the Chesapeake Bay, small world. Once anchored we emptied the bilge and began our thorough search. First each keel bolt, we found no seepage around any of them. Then I emptied out each of the lazarets and crawled into the back of the boat to look at the back end of the motor and the entire exhaust system, everything looked dry, even the shaft seal. So I got a rag out and wiped every bit of moisture I could find around the middle of the boat, started the motor and put it in reverse so it would rumble along shaking everything while pulling on the anchor line that would hold us in position. There it was! The strut that is bolted to the bottom of the boat that contains the cutlass bearing the propellor shaft runs through was leaking. I found it! I hope... So I tightened the nuts on the inside of the boat, made her rumble again and saw no seepage. I hope this was it. We watched the bilge for awhile and there was no noticeable increase in water level, so we decided it was time for a walk ashore to see the Atlantic Highlands.



The Marina and Yacht Club have numerous mooring balls throughout the basin that the YC services with a launch for a small fee but for those that anchor out there are dinghy docks all over the marina, complimentary. So into one of these we went and began searching out the shoreside facilities. They make block ice at the bait shop. They make it by using the empty 2 gallon bait buckets when they’re empty. Quick clean and fill with water and then they put them in their walk-in freezer. Nice to see a re-use like that, we’ll get some in the morning. The have public restrooms at the Marina and the town stretches away from the marina over 6 or 8 blocks of main street consisting of small restaurants, B&B’s and beer and grocery stores. A sleepy little town just a 45 minute ferry ride from Manhattan Island via the Seastreak ferries. A very nice anchorage and marina, I’m glad we stopped here. Tomorrow we head over to the Upper Bay and Manhattan for some sailing with the Kimballs. ]]> Ballard Sailor http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=99 <![CDATA[Lavallette to Manasquan Inlet & the Manasquan River Yacht Club]]> http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=98 Tue, 15 May 2012 03:08:50 GMT 

In order to get out of Barnegat Bay at the North end you have to transit what is known as the Point Pleasant Canal which joins the town of Bay Head to the Manasquan Inlet. The guide books write this canal up as very turbulent and the only safe time to transit the 2 mile stretch is at slack high water. The turbulence comes from the fact that Barnegat bay has its’ 0.5’ tidal range and Manasquan inlet has a 5’ tidal range. Basically a 2 mile downhill run at low tide. Well slack high water was listed as being after 4pm but since we couldn’t wait that long we headed out of the marina a bit early and figured we could anchor at the mouth and wait for slack if things looked bad. So off we went, back out the narrow partially buoyed channel to the ICW and turned North again for Bay Head. There is one section, near the entrance to the canal that the books mention as narrow - well they ain’t kiddin’ it’s narrow. We immediately ran aground and couldn’t find the channel for a good 20 minutes. Back and forth we went until we thought we saw some dark water and slowly worked through it with no more than 0.5’ under the keel, but finally we made it to the mouth of the Canal.



There were a few Grand Banks power boats anchored waiting for the slack water, but that was 2 hours away! We stuck our nose into the canal and figured it wasn’t moving any more than 2 knots and the canal was easily 150’ wide so no problem turning around if we needed to, why not try it out? So in we went, moving at a nice 3 knots over the bottom but the turbulence wasn’t bad, just current. As we approached the first of the two bridges we would have to open, I just throttled back ‘til we were sitting still in the 2 knot current and called for a bridge opening. Once open we throttled up and on we went, no big deal.



The second bridge was funny, as we approached, still doing only 3 knots over the bottom the bridge tender called on the VHF to ask if we were going to call for an opening? Laughing I said “sure, but we’re going so slow I didn’t think it was time yet.” He soon starting opening and through we went without waiting at all and then all of sudden the canal ended and we were in the inlet. Wow, that wasn’t as bad as it was told to us, nothing like Deception Pass or Seymore or Dodd’s Narrows. I think Agate Pass even has more current than that. Oh well, all the hype for nothing, but again - we realize the world is different here.



So now we have to start looking for the Manasquan Yacht Club which offered us a spot for $50/night. Which seems steep until you consider the fact that the local marinas charge no less than $3/ft and some up to $4.50/ft and there are no good anchorages in the inlet that we can find. The Yacht Club it is, but first we had to find the unmarked channel into the yacht club. We tried the left, the right, in along the breakwater, nothing. We kept almost running aground. Finally I tried a spot were I left the channel marker to starboard and angled my way in towards the opening in the breakwater, this was it! 7’ all the way in and then an easy tie-up at the dock. Phew.



Soon the fleet captain, his wife and daughter came down to greet us and give us any information we needed, where to get diesel in the morning, where the ice was, and where the grocery was. He then looked around and said, “we’re going out in our boat for a few hours, here are my car keys, just put em’ under the mat when you get back.” Nice, Jennifer hopped to it and drove off to the grocery for provisions while I walked the dog and relaxed in the sun with my book and a beer. Who got the better deal here, eh? But someone has to watch the dog right? Well anyway, on my walk around the club I discovered a few 10’ prams out in the back that looked like smaller replicas of the Port Madison Pram. Cool lookin’ little boats that looked just like my childhood boat back home, just a bit smaller. When Jennifer got back and we returned the keys I asked about the Pram’s. “Oh, those things? That’s a Manasquan River Pram, been around since the 30’s. We race them all winter, only in the winter and we get great fleets out all throughout the winter season.” Crazy, another great idea! You can have your new fangled US Sailing one design boats all summer, but us sticklers, we’re gonna race these old prams all winter. I like the idea, PMYC watch out.



After dinner we decided to take a short walk and then retire early as we needed to catch the last of the ebb out of the inlet at 7am. Up the street we went and then worked our way out the inlet until we found the first bar and then wandered towards the water to check out the marinas - we had MacIntosh with us and the bar didn’t look like the type he would be welcome in. Then right in front of us on a barge by the seawall was the world’s largest Horseshoe Crab! Ugly little things if you’ve never seen one, but this one was huge - what in the world do they use it for?



We asked a local and she said it was used as a wading pool, but we couldn’t figure out how unless they turned it over somehow, weird. But while we were photographing the sand crab we noticed another bar down the way with an outside balcony so walked that way. Soon we were engrossed in conversation with two New Jersey blokes with an expense account and while Mac slept at our feet and kept the local women busy bending over to pet him these guys kept us talking til’ the wee hours. So much for a good night’s sleep before our 7am departure! Fun night though. ]]> Ballard Sailor http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=98 <![CDATA[Barnegat Bay, Toms River & Lavallette]]> http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=97 Tue, 15 May 2012 03:00:30 GMT 

After our long walk at Island Beach State Park we found our way back to where Libra was anchored. With the winds already at 15 knots and the forecast for it to rise overnight, we decided it was prudent to pull our anchor and sail to the Northwest into Toms River for a more protected anchorage for the night. And thank goodness we did because soon the winds were pushing us along at 8 knots and the bay chop had us rolling around on our approach into Toms River. We found a good anchorage near a mooring field and boat ramp for shore access, and then settled in for the night. On the way into the bay we passed the wierdest thing on the southern shore near the point. It looked like an immense telephone pole farm throughout the marshes. We couldn’t see any wires strung between them, and no pattern to the poles, just a ton of old telephone poles. Very odd.



So it’s now Tuesday morning and the winds are blowing hard with a front expected to come through tonight and tomorrow bringing 2 to 3 inches of rain. Maybe it’s time to find a dock for a night or two... We called around and found only a few marinas that could take us. With the winds forecast to have some westerly component in it, the depth at the head of Toms River, where most of the marinas are, tends to drop a foot or two as the wind pushes the water East towards the mouth making a slip normally deep enough for us a muddy hole. We did find one yacht club that offered us moorage at $2/ft and since this was the same price as the marinas we felt supporting the yacht club and checking it out would be the best call - and we couldn’t have been happier about that choice!



We left our anchorage and motored the short distance to the Toms River Yacht Club and found our pier slip and worked our way into it with some daft fending off, dinghy work and random ropes ran at various angles to combat the side winds and chop. Finally in and secured, Jennifer visited the yacht club to get the details and found the past commodore Bill Warner in the office with the most welcoming office staff we had met yet. Turns out the reciprocal privileges here come with the first night free and the 2nd night $2/ft - bonus! Bill then gave Jennifer the lowdown on the town, where the store was, where the West Marine was, where the local cheap beer and burger place was and then even went so far as to drive Jennifer to the West Marine and back to get fuel for our stove! Very thoughtful.

When she returned, she explained to me what Bill had told her about the Telephone pole farm. It turns out it was an old Ship to Shore radio station with antennae strung between the poles to enhance reception. For those of you that may not be old enough to remember what a Ship to Shore radio call was, let me explain. Years ago they’re what was known as a Marine Operator. A sailor would pick up his VHF radio and turn it to the proper frequency and ask the Marine operator to make a phone call for him or her so they could talk with someone at the other end. Very handy when offshore and making a late arrival and with the busy offshore east coast delivery lanes I’m guessing this was a very busy ship to shore radio network. Mystery solved!

As it wasn’t raining yet, windy and cloudy, but no rain, we decided to put on our foulie jackets and do the long walk to the bar to meet up with Bill, his son Bill, and his son-in-law Willie for a burger and beer. A wonderful and dry walk through the residential section of Toms River brought us to dinner and eventually karaoke entertainment before we walked back to the yacht club, just barely ahead of the rain. And then it rained, rained all night, rained all morning and didn’t let up until late Wednesday afternoon. Once again, this wasn’t a nice PNW rain that foulie gear easily keeps out, this was torrential, easily 3 inches in 18 hours - absolutely soaking you after a short walk to the head at the clubhouse. By evening we were drying out and come Thursday morning we said goodbye to the Toms River Yacht Club and moved up waterway and out East to the town of Lavallette on the barrier island and the very welcoming Lavallette Yacht Club.



A windy, sunny day with strong puffs out of the West pushed us fast into the locally marked channel to the town of Lavallette. Somewhat nerve racking as the winds tried to push us out of the very narrow and shallow channel but with some focused navigating and slow maneuvers we managed to make it into the Yacht Club marina, find a dock spot and were happily welcomed by club members Marty and Del.



We were immediately given a tour of the clubhouse and an enjoyable history of the club, its’ facility and grounds and its’ fleets of sailboats. It was obvious these two truly enjoyed their club with their enthusiasm showing strong in their descriptions. So welcoming were these two that we presented our first Sloop Tavern Yacht Club burgee to them after walking around their clubhouse and seeing Seattle Yacht Club, St. Francis Yacht Club, Portland Yacht Club and the Royal Cape Yacht Club hanging amongst the many East Coast clubs. We figured they must need a Sloop Tavern Burgee and with much pomp and circumstance we presented them with a burgee that they immediately found a spot for and proudly hung with the throngs of Yacht club burgees lining their bar walls.



Del and Marty went on with their description of the area’s racing association to tell us about a man by the name of Kellogg that is single handily supporting the local sailing scene by reinvigorating the older fleets and supporting the Race Committees in some very ingenious ways. Now, in our tax system charitable donations help out on our yearly payment to the man, the more you have the more you can donate and reduce your payment. Well Mr. Kellogg is putting donations into sailing. First, he reinvigorated the old A-cat fleet. This is a 30 foot open catboat with a 50’ mast, 36 foot boom and a centerboard. A shallow water speedster with some very classic lines, sharp narrow entry, wide flat transom. This thing looks like it would smoke in flat water. Enjoying his success here, he went on to create some enthusiasm in an old One Design class known as a Duckboat. These little things look like a small A scow or Glen L 10, they look like a lot of fun. He got things going again by telling all the yacht clubs that anyone that picked up an old one of these and fixed it up to race shape and started sailing it would have $1000 donated to his or her yacht club. Soon there were no old boats to fix up and new boats began being built. The original builder wore himself out and sold his jigs to a new builder whose at it still today. This simple technique of charitable donations, something Mr. Kellogg would be doing no matter what avenue he chose, has created a fleet of well over 30 duckboats come race day, Brilliant! He has gone on to buy mark boats for all the yacht clubs in the Barnegat Bay Racing Association amongst I’m sure a ton of support I know nothing about. How do we get one of these Kellogg's in the Pacific Northwest? Great ideas.



After this enthusiastic welcome, we headed off to town to walk a bit and see what we could see. We found the Ocean side boardwalk and strolled the 2 miles south to its’ end and then worked our way back through town where we found what surely must be the worlds largest clam, if nothing else the worlds best paint job on a clam...



Then continued on until Jennifer spied an open ice cream store and just had to stop for a cone even though I told her it would ruin her dinner - she said “So.” Well with ice cream cones in hand we finished our walk back to the now empty club to watch the sunset before turning in for the night, tomorrow we leave the Banegat Bay and prepare for the short trip up to New York.

]]> Ballard Sailor http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=97 The New Jersey ICW - Atlantic City to Island Beach State Park http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=96 Tue, 15 May 2012 02:55:54 GMT 

The New Jersey Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) begins for us this morning, and fortunately coincides with the opening day of striper season, and it’s Saturday, so the entire southern New Jersey recreational fishing fleet will be out. At least it won’t be boring! So the NJ ICW is known as a shallow, shifting and shoaling stretch of inland waterway that needs dredging and can be crowded and uncomfortable. The guide books generally describe it poorly and recommend cruisers just make the long delivery from Cape May to New York or Cape Cod before returning to the coast. Yet for us, as it’s still early in the season and we have a small boat we saw the NJ ICW as a chance to explore the shallow marshes, waste some time as things warmed up in the Northern climes and generally enjoy cruising rather than passage making.



So with this goal we snuck out of our private anchorage before the tide went out too far and made it into the inlet channel for Atlantic City without incident. We then turned West and made our way into the inland waterway where we found the absolutely largest crowd of recreational fishermen we had ever seen. It was amazing to think that there was enough fish in these waters to keep them all coming back out. But there must be, otherwise they wouldn’t be here in such huge numbers. Most were out of the channel and/or drift fishing so it was easy to weave our way through them, even to the point that it became the “fun” of the day as the grey overcast never left us and marsh land stretched off into the distance. We easily passed the areas the guide book said were shallow, never finding anything shoal or shifting so we settled down into the now deep water of the channel leading out to Little Egg Inlet.



No sooner had we relaxed in the 10 feet of deep water around us then Bam, the bow went down, right in the middle of the channel! Seems a red channel day marker had caused a shoal to develop off its’ post out into the channel as the tidal current dragged sandy water around it. A somewhat nervous moment as the tide was only halfway out, the current was running strong and there were plenty of power boat waves about. 10 minutes of focused wiggling of the boat finally got us free and around the shoal. But the current got stronger and stronger and it took some serious focus to find the channel as the current pushed us sideways. We managed, found our way past the rough open inlet and back into the ICW and into the town of Beach Haven and the Beach Haven Yacht Club Marina.



We were one of two boats at the dock, obviously really early season here, but we had a nice walk around the town, found a grocery store just 4 blocks away and took some welcomed showers and relaxed while Jennifer did the laundry. This was a marina, not a yacht club as we know it. But they did have a unique situation with a number of condos along the breakwater. I’m guessing moorage customers own or have use of the condos as part of the Yacht Club/Marina membership. A fun little town at the Southern end of the Long Beach Island, Beach Haven had a bit of everything. Tourist traps, working areas, recreational fishing marinas and street end parks. A nice blend of every aspect of coastal living.



Sunday morning we headed North up the ICW - well afternoon really as we were only planning a short day to one of a few possible anchorages we found on the chart. So by the early hour of noon we were on our way. This section of the ICW makes a huge arc to the West and takes us under the span of the Route 72 bridge in Manahawkin Bay and then back East to the barrier Islands at a town called Harvey Cedars - a very unique name. At Harvey Cedars we found an uncharted locally marked channel into what looked like a very deep and protected anchorage. A small bay if there was a lot of traffic but this early in the season we didn’t expect anyone coming in and out of the bay. Once past the shallow channel entry we anchored in 12 feet of water just off a huge waterfront park. No docks to dinghy into but plenty of beach access, what a huge find! We’re learning that the guide books are not too descriptive about anchorages and possibilities of shore access as they are more focused on the marinas that spend the money to advertise in their books. But with a little searching, exploring and risking a little bump on the sandy bottom we can find some great anchorages along the ICW, Harvey Cedars being one of them.



This was a very narrow section of the barrier island with only one block on the inland side and two blocks on the outer side before you reached the Ocean. There were no stores and businesses we could find within a few miles walk but the park was outstanding with huge open grass fields to play with MacIntosh in, benches to sit and enjoy the sunset on, and open restrooms, a luxury when you’re sailing on a small boat. We had an absolutely flat and still night anchored in this small cove and woke happy and refreshed in the morning. Something that doesn’t happen in all anchorages.



Harvey Cedars is very close to the Southern end of the Barnegat Bay - the largest body of water on the NJ ICW. So large that the dredged channel ends and you can actually freely sail across the bay! Such a novel idea! Another oddity of the bay is that it is so large and its’ few inlets so small in comparison that it has only a .5’ tidal range, that’s 1/2 of a foot when just across the barrier island it has a 5 to 6 foot tidal range, crazy! So with the winds out of the South East we set our main and 150 genoa and were able to sail the last few miles out of the channel into Barnegat Bay, past Barnegat Inlet and “Old Barney”, the lighthouse at the inlet. Once past the inlet we worked East again and sailed into an area known as Tice’s Shoal that is mentioned as an anchorage for the Island Beach State Park. We threaded our way in with the help of the GPS and threw the lunch hook over (well, we only have one hook...) in 5’ of water.



This baffled me beyond belief, we are on salt water and can anchor in 5’ of water without needing to check the tide chart and without our boat being aground when we get back. Even if it was absolute high tide when we anchored and the tide went all the way out we’d still have half a foot of water under the keel, wild. So we dinghied ashore to a conveniently located boardwalk that leads the mariner inland and over the dunes to the huge beaches at the Island Beach State Park.



This a beach for surf fisherman. No this doesn’t mean that people fish while surfing, it means that people can drive their 4x’s out on the beach and find that perfect spot to pull their truck up to the edge of the surf, sit on the hood and cast their lines out into the surf to be sucked out in the undertow and hopefully gobbled up by some surf fish and retrieved. It’s a huge activity in this area and rod holders can be seen mounted to the front of trucks and air pumps are found next to the park restrooms for filling tires back up after deflating them to get grip on the sand. We walked for miles down the beach on the sunny beautiful day with MacIntosh running after seabirds and diving into the waves whenever he wanted to. We went so far that we ended up with a long hot walk back in the afternoon heat but upon returning we found our dinghy where we left it and Libra still floating at anchor!


]]> Ballard Sailor http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=96 The Unseen 40 miles to Atlantic City http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=94 Sun, 06 May 2012 15:26:48 GMT May 3rd, Thursday morning, our day to transit the Atlantic Ocean. 40 miles up the coast to Atlantic city. This trip entails transiting two inlets... May 3rd, Thursday morning, our day to transit the Atlantic Ocean. 40 miles up the coast to Atlantic city. This trip entails transiting two inlets from the ocean, Cape May’s jetty protected entrance and Atlantic City’s dredged and well marked inlet. Both nothing like the breaker covered entrances along the NorthWestern coast but still something to plan on and not take lightly. Our planned departure was to leave Cape May at slack water so there was no current to stack up the southerly swell, then turn left and run the 30’ line up to Cape May which is a bit over a mile offshore. Not too far that you can’t see shore so we had a view but far enough to avoid breakers and shoals. Best laid plans....



The bay was socked in with fog, not a thick pea soup, you could see about 1/4 mile so we could find the channel markers but it was fog. Forecast to lift by 8am right? We headed on out and figured we’d just see how it went. The Cape May inlet was fine, a little swell but nothing breaking and as we rounded the deep water buoy, marking the end of the channel, and found our compass course up the coast we settled in to wait for the fog to lift as we motored up the coast in still air. Wait we did, 25 miles up the coast at Ocean City we where still socked in with fog, it hadn’t lifted by 12pm - forecasters.... But we did finally find another stowaway on board, drying his wings from the fog while clinging to our topping lift.



We had a nervous moment here as sirens began blaring from the beach, the swell began building and our depth began showing in the 20’s instead of the 30’s. I’m guessing the siren was unrelated, probably the volunteer fire department, but it added to our confusion in the thick fog. We turned directly offshore until we found deeper water again, but it was a nervous 30 minutes not knowing if a shoal had moved or if we were too close even though our GPS had us well offshore. I’m guessing it was the warmer water rushing out of the inlet at Ocean City that confused our depth sounder into thinking it was shallower and the current probably pushed the waves up. But in the fog your mind wanders and what if’s become real when you can’t see what’s ahead. Certain disaster avoided we settled into the fog once again to search out the deep water mark at Atlantic City and work our way in, hoping the fog will have lifted by then!



No luck! We found the deep water mark, no problem, right where it was supposed to be, but the fog was still with us. And of course those noises in the fog that make you jumpy. Something was happening on the shore, near the casinos that sounded like cannon fire. Big booms would bellow out from our port side as if a fleet of schooners were firing upon us in the foggy light. Very odd, but we stuck to our course with Jennifer on the bow looking for the dredged channel marks and signs of breakers while I steered the boat to her commands.



The waves built as we got shallower, but with the now incoming current they were not breaking but rolling under us harmlessly. We found mark after mark and were able to stay in the channel when out of the fog came the image of a huge ship to starboard! A moment of panic followed by the realization that it was a huge dredge apparatus that was anchored next to the channel and not moving, phew. Finally we found the edge of the breakers to port marking the outer end of the jetty and all of a sudden we were thrown into the world of light as the fog stopped just inside the entrance, we saw the light! - and the inlet, thankfully.



The guides talk about expensive moorage in the casino basin and a current and wave riddled anchorage near the channel but I had spotted what looked like a good anchorage on the NE side of the channel through a very narrow entrance into a nice large bay. With the incoming tide raging alone it was easy for Jennifer to stand on the bow and watch for the deep water as passed just feet from the shoreline into this great bay with no name on the chart.



We never saw depth less than 7 feet on the way in and this was a low tide - it really should be charted better as this is a very protected deep anchorage for the Atlantic City or Absecon Inlet. We anchored in 14’ of water and headed ashore to a nice long sandy warm beach blocking the entrance to the bay. We walked around the corner and looked back out at the entrance to Absecon Inlet and wouldn’t you know it, NO FOG! Only an hour had passed since we came through and now we could see all the way out to the deep water buoy - it looked just too easy when you could see it! We walked in the sun, Mac swam and ran as we walked passed the beach fishermen in the warm soft sand knowing our boat was anchored in a very protected smooth water bay. It couldn’t have been a better ending to our first Atlantic Ocean passage where we never saw more than 1/4 mile around us.


]]> Ballard Sailor http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=94 <![CDATA[Transiting the Delaware Bay & Cape May]]> http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=93 Sun, 06 May 2012 15:23:07 GMT May 1st - and while protestors ransacked our home city of Seattle we donned our foul weather gear and headed out into the Delaware River to see what... May 1st - and while protestors ransacked our home city of Seattle we donned our foul weather gear and headed out into the Delaware River to see what the day was to bring. I had checked the buoy reports and most had winds at 10 to 12 knots at 210 degrees, which would put it on our Starboard side, not straight in front of us. It was also forecast to shift to the West as the day went on but along with this shift was the possibility of Thunder Showers. In this part of the world that not only means rain and lightning but gusts of winds much stronger than the forecast. With the current with us and the wind angle looking good we began to hope that making it all the way to Cape May would be the delivery today. With the Cohansey River off to port about 20 miles downriver we still had a bailout point.



As we passed the Ship John Shoal light the current really began to build and along with it came the chop - 3 foot steep river waves to bounce through but we were doing almost 9 knots over the bottom. In our little boat that motors at 5.5 knots having another 3.5 with you is HUGE! We stayed near the shipping channel throughout the voyage as this is where the outgoing current will be the strongest. The cruising guides tell you to take off across the flats to avoid the worst of the chop, but we felt the chop wasn’t prohibitive and the current sure was helping us along! We saw a couple of inbound and outbound freighters along the way but they were few and far between so we had no trouble with them.



As we approached the Miah Maul Shoal light what looked like a thunderhead began developing behind us, directly where the wind was coming from. At this point we are over halfway to Cape May and have given up our duck out at the Cohansey River. Fortunately for us, after about an hour of developing and looking menacing the thunderhead moved by behind us with nothing but small puffs of wind which helped us along as we had been motor sailing for the last 20 miles or so. That means we had the mainsail up catching some wind helping out the diesel motor that was still chugging along, giving us an extra little push from the wind.







Things settled down after the thunderhead passed us by and the sun came out giving us a great view of the mouth of the Delaware bay, the Fourteen Foot Bank Light and the Brandywine Shoal Light. Unfortunately for us though, it was at this point that the current began to switch on us and winds began to die down - at least the sun was out! We motored by the Brandywine Shoal Light at 4.5 knots, slowing working East in the 3 to 4’ ocean swell until we finally had enough sea room to cross the Brandywine shoal and turn our bow towards the Cape May Canal.



The calm waters of the canal were a relief after the confused chop of the Delaware Bay. We didn’t have a bad go of it, the Chop wasn’t dangerous or unbearable, but it was nice to be in settled waters again. The Cape May Canal is a 3 mile long “short cut” into Cape May harbor from the Delaware Bay side, cutting off something like 6 miles from going out and around the point and into the ocean side Cape May Inlet.



First going past the Cape May/Lewes Ferry, the Canal winds its’ way through marsh and residential homes and drops you into the harbor North of the old town and marinas. We wandered into the cove and found some diesel and ice before motoring back out to anchor off the Corinthian Yacht Club of Cape May. No one was home, the docks were not in yet but we had a nice walk on the beach before turning in for the night on anchor.



May 2nd dawned windy and cold with the current holding us broadside to the waves making for a bouncy awakening. Conditions didn’t look good for the 40 mile ocean passage from Cape May to Atlantic City so we looked for and found a nice old boatyard that allowed transients, Roseman’s Boat Yard, Circa 1867. No amenities but a very protected place to tie up, walk the town from and provision at the local grocery. Jennifer’s Nan lives nearby to Cape May so she went visiting while I caught up on some work that needed finishing.





A quiet night at the boat yard was followed by a beautiful day walking around Cape May, exploring the boardwalk and viewing the old victorian homes. Definitely a modern tourist trap today, but if you took some time and glanced at some old photographs you could begin to imagine the secluded, marshy little town it was over a 100 years ago. One more night at Roseman’s before we head out in the morning with winds forecast to be behind us and fog, but the fog is forecast to lift by 8am and with the sun out and wind behind us it should be a beautiful delivery to Atlantic City. ]]> Ballard Sailor http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=93 Philadelphia then out the Delaware to the Salem River http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=92 Sat, 05 May 2012 21:47:36 GMT 

Wednesday, April 25th, dawned quiet and cold as woke early to motor out the C&D Canal to the Delaware River. Most leave the canal and turn to starboard for the 50nm trek out the Delaware Bay to Cape May, we took the course less traveled and turned to port, heading up river towards Philadelphia to see Jennifer’s home town from the water and spend some time with nieces and nephews in Philly. We planned to stop in Essington on the downriver side of Philly and had even worked out a reciprocal mooring with Corinthian Yacht Club for the night.



But as we came through, our conversation stopped as the planes from the Philly airport launched into the skies and we debated the wisdom of this stopover. Seeing the current still running at 2.5 knots we pushed the throttle down again, waved goodbye to Essington and continued on through downtown Philadelphia to a marina we found on the New Jersey side in Dredge Harbor - Clarks Landing - a short drive from Jennifer’s brother’s house and a $25/day rate...our kinda place.



5 nights we spent in Dredge Harbor, we visited friends of Jennifer’s in Riverton, we spent time with Jerame and his family, we went to Ava and Sophie’s gymnastics recital and then took the girls back to the boat with us Saturday for a night at the marina. At 4 and 6 years old it was quite the experience for them. We did find reciprocal moorage at the Delaware River Yacht Club but felt that with family coming over that the Marina was the best place to be. The first two reciprocals we had found on the trip and we were unable to use them!



Sunday the tides were right for a short sail on the Delaware and when Jennifer’s nephew Zac showed up in the morning we headed out for a sunny light air sail with the relatives. A great first experience for the girls and we made it back in before the tide went out too far, barring us from returning. With 6 inches to spare we made it over the small bar and tied up after exposing more young ones to the joys of sailing.



Kids returned to their parents, we organized ourselves and the boat for the morning departure. Our plan is to head out around 7am to set ourselves up for catching the most of the outgoing tide. We’ll be going against the wave on this trip downriver so what is normally 7 hours of current will be only 5 for us but with about 40 to 50 miles to go before we find somewhere to overnight we need to start before the current and then will probably fight a little at the end of the day.





Monday dawned clear with light winds as we slowly motored out of the harbor and turned our bow downriver towards the morning Philadelphia skyline. It’s fun to sit there on your boat drinking a cup of coffee, enjoying the view while watching morning traffic stack up on the freeway next to you. Two different worlds, right next to each other. Soon after Philly we acquired a stowaway that hung out on the bow for a few miles before flying off to the West.



As we worked through downtown the current began building with us and soon we were ripping along at 7 knots over the bottom as once again passed Essington and we couldn’t talk while the planes flew over. The winds swung and built to being on the nose by the time we reached the Christiana River near Wilmington, Delaware and we began pounding into 2 to 3 foot chop. Adjusting our course to work across the waves we kept our speed to just over 5 knots but still had miles to put on before Delaware City or the Salem River - our two choices for the night.



Eventually we turned the corner where the Delaware starts working East and as we passed Fort Delaware, close to shore to find some back eddy against the incoming tide, Jennifer got on the phone and found us a nice boatyard marina in the Salem River on the New Jersey side of the river. We came in tentatively, worried about depth until we saw a 400’ container ship tied up in the river - I think we’ll be OK on our little 27 foot boat. Berber Marina was right behind the container ship and we tied up looking at her transom. A perfect breakwater for the incoming tidal current - which is surprisingly strong here. Settled in, tied up and organized we took off for some exploring of the town of Salem and their 500 year old Oak tree.



This town was quiet, it looks to be a county seat and in the way of county or state seats it was a quiet, low income, dead business town. What is it about county seats or state capitals that promotes empty store fronts, low income housing and that “this town is dead” feel? Never the less there was some cool old buildings to visit. We never found the 500 year old oak tree, saw a big one in the cemetery but couldn’t figure out if this was the one. Back at the boat we settled in to dinner and decided that tomorrow we would head on down the river and see how far we could get. Maybe stop on the Cohansey river, or maybe make it all the way to Cape May some 50 miles to the East. Now Delaware bay isn’t known for being a comfortable cruise. It’s actually billed as a body of water “to get through” not sail upon. So we figured if the winds were as forecast, SouthWesterly becoming West, we could make it. But if it went South Easterly, straight up the bay at us, we’d have to find a place to stop to make it a two day trip. Well see what Tuesday brings... ]]> Ballard Sailor http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=92 Goodbye to the Chesapeake Bay http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=90 Thu, 03 May 2012 14:37:42 GMT Well I’ve waited too long to update the blog and I’ll have to take you and myself back a ways to pick up where I left off - Worton Creek. We arrived... Well I’ve waited too long to update the blog and I’ll have to take you and myself back a ways to pick up where I left off - Worton Creek. We arrived late at Worton Creek and had just enough time to find a place to anchor and walk the dog before the dark moonless night set in. The anchorage was shallow, we’d have 6 inches under the keel in the morning, but very protected and quiet. In the morning we were still in the same spot and, excitedly bobbing around in that oh so good floating position. A great start to the day!



We spent the day, a nice warm sunny day, doing boat projects, showering at the welcoming Wharf at Handy’s Point where we ran into Pepper once again. We had spoken with Pepper a month earlier about a Pearson he had for sale - he was down in Florida on vacation but was most helpful in letting us see the boat and was a very friendly boat broker. We didn’t buy the boat he had listed but we did come back and visit his marina. As far as marinas go, the Wharf at Handy’s Point is the most like a PNW marina we have found. Showers and Heads, docks and ice, no tennis courts and pools just a sailing marina where we could put ashore, walk the dog, chat with the owner and shower and get ice for a reasonable fee. Well worth a visit if you’re ever in the area.



So the boat projects - I just went back to the log and saw what we did that day. It reads: Sat at anchor in Worton’s Creek. Did projects - cleaned and polished hull, painted hailing port on transom, rebedded shroud bases, new hanger lines for fairlead blocks, moved cleats for winches, tightened pushpit mounts and ran a new downhaul line for the boom. All done before we showered, made some cocktails and toured the back part of the bay in our dinghy as the sun set over the trees. Busy fun filled day. While at the marina we met a couple from Seattle, Stuart & Angela, that were in the process of taking their boat apart to have it shipped back across the country after spending two winters cruising in the islands south of Florida and Bahamas on a Pearson 36. Small world.



The next morning we sadly said goodbye to the quiet welcoming Worton’s Creek and continued North to the Sassafras River and some potential stopovers. We motored the entire way (about 4 hours) in glassy conditions and once around the point and into the Sassafras River (that’s just fun to say isn’t it?) our first option was to starboard, the old resort town of Betterton. But their docks looked very unprotected and with the forecast I decided to move on.



Next was just inside the narrow part of the river, off to starboard was Turner’s Creek which promised a shallow anchorage a county park to come ashore at and a large DNR park a short walk away to explore. We anchored in 5’ of water and I read my book while Jennifer finished her hailing port and name repainting project before we took a short walk around the county park. Just next to the park on DNR land was a tree farm with trees grafted from famous people’s front yards - a cool idea and a fun project to do but it had been years since it was maintained and many of the signs had fallen apart and trees had died off. Just up the road the DNR offices were set up in a an old plantation house called the “Folly.” Normally not open ‘til May, the park guide walked up as we got there an offered a short tour of the inside of the old house. A fun experience with a nice and welcoming park host.



Saturday, April 21st dawned sunny and warm with a good wind blowing out of the South. The anchor was holding well, as it should in 5’ of water with 75’ of line out, so we headed ashore to walk the mile up the road to the DNR park and explored for the day. Warm quickly became hot, hot quickly became hotter and as we realized the DNR park was more farmland than park we turned around tired and beat but got a good 5+ mile walk, some well needed exercise for our relaxing bodies. As night set in, a huge thunderstorm set up to our South and winds raged all night, calm enough of a bay to sleep but windy enough to take notice when we tossed and turned and woke to the winds.



Sunday morning we learned that a good low pressure system was working through and we felt it a great moment to spend a couple of nights at dock. Phone in hand, Jennifer inquired on moorage rates in the city of Georgetown at the head of the Sassafras River while I motored Libra East, up the river channel. Full foulies as the ran began coming down, stronger and stronger as we worked up the river until it was at full downpour by the time we arrived at our destination, the SkipJack Cove Yachting Resort. This was the first “Resort Marina” we had found that actually had off season rates. Most still want their full price of $2.00/ft even though their lots are full of hauled boats, their pools are empty and their restaurants aren’t open yet because there isn’t any business. Fortunately we found one for $1.00/ft and hunkered down to 24 hours of rain, and it rained. We found every leak we needed to fix and spent a warm, but very moist night at the dock as the winds howled and the rain continued to pour down.

Monday we spent at the docks again as the low hadn’t moved on through just yet. The rains had thankfully abated but the winds where still blowing hard. We spent the day walking to the town of Galena 3 miles down the road, bought some groceries and explored. Nice old little crossroads town but with one oddity. Every business in town had a sign in the window that said “No Public Bathrooms!” What could possibly be the cause of this in this small little town? Now we had just walked 3 miles from the marina and wanted to use the head, but where? Go over to the town hall we were told - but of course no one was there. What happens in this town every year that they covet their bathrooms? Odd. Anyway, back to the marina to do some laundry, continue to try and dry out the boat and take some showers before moving on the next morning.



Tuesday morning, April 24th, we motored out of the river - about an hour motor, and then found a nice strong Southerly blowing up the Chesapeake so we set our sails, poled out the 150 and turned North to start surfing down some good river-like swells towards the C&D Canal and the night’s destination at Chesapeake City. Eventually we flipped on the GPS to see how fast we where going and were surprised to see 8, 8.5, 9.5 knots jumping on the screen as we surfed down the waves.



Quickly we were up into the Elk River and soon we would need to drop our sails and motor as your not allowed to sail in the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal. As we approached the entrance to the Canal we dropped our genoa and motor sailed with the main along at a good 7 knots when around the corner came a good sized freighter heading the other way on the canal. Plenty of room to get around as we waved to the crew on the deck of the freighter and then just in front of us was the anchorage basin at Chesapeake City. Record time with the wind and current, we were tied up for lunch!



What a cool little old city with its’ canal heritage, old houses and quaint little harbor with a free DNR/City dock for us to tie up at. As we pulled up people poured out of the two power boats to help us tie up, both boats were on their way North to the Erie Canal and had been sitting there for 3 days as the Low passed through, waiting for the perfect day to transit the dreaded Delaware Bay. Hands shaken and stories told about everyone’s adventures we walked off into town to explore the little village and visit the Canal Museum.



Very cool little town with quiet streets, old buildings and great little restaurants for our evening meal. We wore Mac out and locked him in his boat to visit the Hole in the Wall tavern for dinner and a beer. It got its’ name from a hole it used to have in its’ wall that they served booze out of to people they deemed uncivilized during our unsavory past. The hole has since been filled in but the name stuck as piece of history, no matter how sad a history it was. ]]> Ballard Sailor http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=90 The Cruise North Begins! http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=89 Thu, 19 Apr 2012 01:47:08 GMT In the beginnings of our Northerly cruise I had time to reflect on the differences we’ve seen between the Chesapeake and our beloved Pacific... In the beginnings of our Northerly cruise I had time to reflect on the differences we’ve seen between the Chesapeake and our beloved Pacific Northwest. First and the most obvious is that it’s god damned shallow here. I believe the average depth of the bay is 22’ but most of what you are sailing in is under 10’ and anchoring spots are under 6’. The channels wander all over the place and if your not paying attention it’s easy to run aground, run into a duck blind, run into a fish pen, or get a crab line stuck on your prop. Second, the winds are flukier than the Fern Ridge Reservoir. One minute your sailing along at 65 degrees, then all of sudden your over at 95, and few minutes later back at 65. The Foreguessers are just as bad here as they are in the PNW, a relief that is, but the Coast Guard hasn’t kept up their task of making sure the navigational aids around the country are the same. Sure red is on the right here, green on the left. They have lights, numbers, cans and nuns. But they’re missing an entire sensory input - the marks in the Chesapeake don’t stink! Kind of a relief actually, but without the sea lions the navigational aids here are so much cleaner.



A big thing we are noticing, though, is a severe lack of marine parks. Between the Patuxent and Rock Hall, an area of the Chesapeake spanning south of Annapolis to North of Baltimore, we have found exactly 0 marine parks to anchor off of, tie up to their buoy or tie up at their dock. There is something very special about the PNW, those Marine parks - buy your yearly pass and support them, they are a huge benefit! The bays and their marinas here are focused around the “for profit” dockage. $1.50/ft to $2.00/ft is the normal rate. You want to use your Yacht Club reciprocal, sure you’re welcome at our club, $1.50 a foot! A different world. We’ve found that the waterfront bars and restaurants are the best deal going, either free mooring balls or $1.00/ft to tie up with no amenities. It’s a different world here. There are exceptions, as we are finding, but for the most part anchoring with dinghy access is non-existent, or comes with a price between $10 and $20 per day. We’re learning...



So we left the wonderful and amazing Holiday Hill Marina Monday morning April 16. A sad farewell as we truly enjoyed the marina, its’ liveaboards and camp feel of the place. We couldn’t have planned a better place to buy, fix, and provision a boat for cruising. Anyway, we motored out to the bay, about 45 minutes, hoisted sail and worked to weather in a soft Southerly to get around Bloody Point and into the East Bay and our final destination of St. Michaels. Winds were out of the South at 5 to 6 knots and with the 150 up we moved along at a nice and steady 4.5kt. The sun was out as the day was heating up to its’ forecast 88 degrees and once around Bloody Point we cracked off to head North up the channel before our next turn into St. Michaels.



The winds piped up as were heading North and soon we where reaching off at 7 knots, the old girl was flying along with all our stuff aboard. Down around the point and heading up into the wind again we quickly discovered the 150 was overmatched and we switched her out for the little short hoist #4. A good choice as the winds continued to build and we were soon sailing into 25 knots with the rail in the water. A few tacks and it was over as the entrance channel was a bit to tricky for us to sail upwind into and find the marks at the same time so we dropped sail and motored the final miles into the anchorage.





What an anchorage it was! Just off the local Maritime Museum and its’ Skipjacks, 0 deadrise bay boats and fishing shanties, it was a step into the past. The winds were still up but now we felt the day’s temps - 88 degrees is a bit hot for us PNW’ers. We took a break below to cool off before heading ashore to explore this little old town. A must see place with house after house built hundreds of years ago. You’d be walking along looking at an old house, and then the next one was older and on down the road. It became apparent that the new houses where built in the 70’s, the 1770’s! We walked by one house that was built in 1667, imagine that - middle of nowhere on the Eastern Shore and they built a house in 1667 - that is a long time ago for the old US of A.






We spent a quiet night on the hook and then headed out once again into a headwind - we’re cruising right? Shouldn’t we be sailing downwind? True gentlemen don’t sail to weather do they? Well we did, again with the 150 and her rail down pushing Northward at an astounding 5.2 knots towards Kent Island and the Kent Island Narrows. We timed it perfectly for the max flood current and flew through the narrow Bascule bridge opening and on through the cut, somehow managing not to run aground in the shoaling and changing north channel and made it into the Chester River by about 2 pm. “Wow that was cool, so where are we going?” We actually didn’t have a plan for the day and well, we thought getting through the narrows sounded cool enough that we didn’t think about the night’s anchorage.



After much hemming and hawing, give and takes, we decided to keep working Northward and put into the next available harbor which was Rock Hall, Maryland. Sails up again we began working Northward into what seemed a solid breeze but no more than 10 minutes later totally crapped out, glass all across the bay. Down they came and the motor kicked on for the last 2 hours into Rock Hall and the Swan Creek, an anchorage just to its’ North. We motored through Swan Creek looking for shore access and found none so called the local marina to find out about dinghy dockage. $20 a day, hmmm we gotta be able to do better than that, let’s check the inner harbor. Thunk, down went the bow. Damn, in our thinking and looking around we neglected the depth sounder and were now solidly aground. 5 minutes of swinging the boat around and rocking her back and forth got us off and now a bit more attentive to the numbers on that little round screen.



We made some more phone calls and everywhere was $2.00/ft, but we kept motoring in to the harbor and looked around. No anchorages but we did just pass a pier side restaurant. Waterman’s proved to be the place $1/ft, no amenities or power, but we didn’t need any! Shore side access for the dog and a way to get into town to buy some paint for the hailing port on the transom. We’ve got the registration on the bow for Washington but a hailing port of Galesville, MD and we’ve been wanting to change it to Bainbridge Island, WA. We had a great night at the bar dock and took a nice long walk into town for paint and provisions Wednesday morning. A cute little town that is basically open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but fortunately for us the grocery and hardware store are open all week.



Off the dock by noon Wednesday, at low tide of course, I took things slowly out of the harbor and into the outer channel expecting to bump at the entrance to the breakwater. Nope we made it through so I grabbed the binoculars to look for the next mark and Bam, down the bow went. Guess I should have paid attention longer! Off quickly and back in the channel we made it to the fuel dock, filled up, donned our foul weather gear for the drizzly grey weather and headed off North to Worton Creek and a promised secluded anchorage with beach access and welcoming backwoods marinas. Wednesday was the first day of the trip that we had to break out our boots and foulies, it’s been warm and dry for a month! But our skin needed the rest from the sun and it was great to get some of the salt and grime rinsed off the deck. An uneventful trip into the shallow and quiet Worton Creek. We anchored in 5.2‘ of water on our depth sounder, we run aground at 3.1 and there is a 1.5‘ tidal swing tonight - 6” should be enough under us right? ]]> Ballard Sailor http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=89 End of the Shakedown and Final Provisioning. http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=88 Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:37:23 GMT 

It looks like a crab only smaller - my first blue crab at Skippers in Deale, Maryland. Tasty little critters but it takes a long time to get to the goodness after you sweep off all the old bay seasoning thrown on top. We sailed out of the Little Choptank on a nice NorthWesterly with the 170% up. The forecast was for winds reaching 20 but right now we were sailing along to weather at 3 to 4 knots with our big genoa up. By the time we got out of the bay the wind crapped out completely and we fired up the Iron Genoa for the 3 hour motor over to Deale. And wouldn’t you know it, just as we came into the long entrance channel the wind kicked up to 20, just our luck.



We pulled into a great little marina called Rockhold Creek Marina - the only place we could find without a pool, restaurant and dockside deliveries so we figured the price would be more to our liking, and it was at $1 a foot. Still a great little Marina with the ever important showers for the body and electricity for the batteries. We took a short walk around and then headed off to Skippers in the dinghy for $2 Blue Crabs, my first Blue Crabs ever. We got 6, and were glad we didn’t get more. It’s not that they’re not good as they are very sweet tasty little creatures. It’s just that they are a lot of work, you end up drinking more beer than eating crab - we ordered a side of chicken wings just to get a bit more for dinner. A great experience but I think I’ll wait ‘til the end of summer when they are bigger to try them again.



We spent the next day at the dock, well pier as they don’t have many floating docks around the Chesapeake, working on catching up with writing and taking an afternoon walk all around town to look at the old fishing village. With small rain squalls and puffy breezes it was a good day to hang in the marina and enjoy some shore time.



The next morning we headed North back to our starting point at Holiday Hill Marina in a really nice NorthWesterly, 15 to 20 knots. With the 130 up, Libra just trucked along to weather and ate up the 17nm like nobody’s business. Which worked out great because it left the afternoon to provision the boat and get the final parts we needed before we head off to Philly on Friday for a family wedding and return Saturday with our delivery driver - it’s time to give up the Van for the summer. No more shoreside support vehicle.



The drive North was hell on traffic, what should have taken 2.5 hours took almost 4 and Jennifer and I just made it to the wedding in time to change in the parking lot and run in and sit down just minutes before it started. I’m sure it was a sight seeing the shaking van in front of the Rectory just minutes before a wedding.... We had a great night meeting family and friends I had never met and retired late at Jerame’s house to be woken up early by his 2 smiling daughters as they jumped in bed with us wiggling around as we slowly woke up to the day.



Finally heading back South in the afternoon with Jennifer’s father Curt, we showed him the boat and sent him off with our van, this is it, time to be on the water permanently! And as if planned ahead of time it was another group dinner night at the marina where Marlene makes everyone dinner, fish and pork with salads, another birthday and a full cooler of beer to keep us up late again meeting more new people, sending us off right.



Sunday dawned early for us as we had a few projects before Jennifer’s brother Brad and his son Jaxson showed up to see the boat and go for an afternoon sail. The weather was picture perfect for the daysail, winds out of the NorthEast at 6 knots and temps into the 80’s. We sailed out of the West River into the Chesapeake around the Thomas Point Shoal Screwpile Lighthouse and back. I believe this is the last Screwpile lighthouse on the bay. Cool structures with oh so much history in this shallow estuary.



Back at the dock and saying farewell to Brad and Jaxson, we dove into the final projects to get ready to really leave on Monday morning. Install cup holders, measure and mark the anchor rode, fix some lines and general organization - we were as ready as we’ll be, time to go in the morning! ]]> Ballard Sailor http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=88 Time for a Shakedown! http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=87 Wed, 11 Apr 2012 01:44:25 GMT Thursday was our day, time to go for shakedown cruise, where are we going? Hadn’t quite figured that out yet... We left the dock by noon on Thursday and headed out into the Chesapeake bay to test out some sails before retiring for night in Galesville, just South of White Marsh Creek (where Holiday Hill Marina is) over on the West River. We toured the bay looking for a good anchorage and ran across another C&C 27 at anchor near a pier-side bar, Thursday’s, with plenty of empty dock space.


Well, it’s Thursday, shouldn’t we? In we went, but first some shakedown cruise maintenance. The previous day I had sent Jennifer up the mast to install the wind speed indicator and subsequently spent the night tossing and turning not able to sleep because of the incessant noise the scoundrel thing created all night. That thing’s gotta go, so up the mast she went again to take the infernal thing off so we could sleep that night. Off it went and down she came - time for some celebratory beers and oysters at Thursday’s on Thursday in Galesville, Maryland.



We woke early Friday morning, well we spent most of the night awake due to the system that came through late Thursday night, but it was time to go. The wind was up over 20 out of the North, we had a full fuel tank, and we decided to head off South to Solomons Island at the mouth of the Patuxent River some 40 miles South. We had a great sail out of the bay with the rail in the water, turned the corner and poled out the jib ripping downwind off the small bay swell. Expecting an early arrival in Solomons we settled into the wallowing surf and enjoyed the beautiful sunny and windy day. Not for long though as the winds backed more to the east and died down till we were making only 4 knots through the water. Break out the spinnaker! Up it went and we spent the next 20 miles running along under the old radial top - we wondered when was the last time this boat had a spin up? We pulled into Solomons and found a great anchorage spot in Back Creek as the sun was setting - 40+ miles in 8 hours, not bad for the old girl with all our gear on board.



Saturday morning we set out to tour the Island, well to figure out how exactly it is an island because it sure doesn’t look like one on the chart. Our first stop was in a local boat yard were we ran into another C&C 27 owner getting his boat ready for the summer. She was 2 years newer and had a nice new rudder but an Atomic 4 the owner was rebuilding. Glad we had a diesel, off we went in search of the public dock and this infamous Island. Passing the Tiki Bar we where reminded of stories we heard about this bar’s opening, April 20th. They close the island down, no body on or off by car, and party down along main street - The Bar’s Open! Coinciding with Rock Fish season I’m guessing this is a big fisherman’s party - one we heard people come all the way from Germany to be a part of. Finally, down the road we found the Public dock, no moorage but at least a pump out and then just on down the road was the “cut” in the narrows that made this thing an island. If you weren’t looking down you would of missed it as you walked along looking at the scenery. The bridge is no more than 10’ long and looks just like the rest of the road. All of a sudden we were “Off Island!”



We found the local Chandlery and got some needed parts and headed on back to the boat to commence on the many small repairs we discovered on our sail South. Saturday turned into Sunday on the anchorage but the work got done and by Monday morning we headed North on our long trek back to Holliday Hill Marina, as we need to drive back to Philly on Friday for a family wedding. We sat Sunday night and totaled up all the bills for the Libra - everything, purchase, parts, pieces, launch, moorage, title and tabs - she’s cost us $6900. Hopefully a price we can get most of it out of her at the end of our adventure but a cost that is under our limit of $10,000 and we are out sailing!



Our plan Monday was to head to the Little Choptank and find a marina or anchorage for the night. The winds where out of the West/Northwest 15 to 25 with gusts forecast to 35. A windy day but on an angle that’s a tight reach, with the #4 set (that’s our small jib) and the mainsail ready to reef we headed North on the windy but sunny day. Halfway up we got hit by a big wave forcing that quick duck under the dodger before the wave crashes down on the cockpit. We learned a few things here: First, the Dodger worked perfectly, keeping us from getting immediately soaked. Second, the Dodger has this interesting feature, it sucks you in to avoid the crashing wave from above and then douses you with the water running down the cabin top under the front edge of the Dodger, nice. Third, the anchor holder doesn’t work too well and we learned the banging crashing sound down below was actually the anchor pounding into the hull on the leeward side after the big wave hit. The anchor quickly retrieved, without any major damage, we sat in the cockpit and learned the Ensign, the American Flag on our transom, decided to take leave of us while we fumbled around under the dodger and on the foredeck securing the anchor. A funny series of events, hopefully the worst on the day.



As we arrived at the mouth of the Little Choptank we discovered a possibility for its’ naming. The bottom shoals up to under 15 feet and the waves build to over 4 feet, not frightening but a fun wild ride into the mouth of the shallow bay with waves crashing into the transom and our dinghy scooting by us on a good surfable wave. Things quickly mellowed down as we got into the Little Choptank and we decided to explore up into the Hudson River, a little side channel, for an anchorage. Way up in the Hudson we found a nice protected 6’ deep spot for the night, the tidal range is about 1.5 feet here so no worries about running aground on a 4.5’ draft boat, and we got here just in time too. Offshore a squall was developing and pulling with it some strong puffs. Easily over 30 knots and forecast to be hitting 40 knots we swung at anchor happy with our fortune at finding such a quiet spot for this windy evening. Libra did well today with water down her deck most of the way. Everything still seems to be attached and tomorrow we plan to head on over to Herring bay, 20nm with winds on the nose at 15 to 20 - we’ll see what Tuesday brings! Hopefully a nice sail and $2 crabs and beers at Skippers in Deale, Maryland.


]]> Ballard Sailor http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=87 <![CDATA[What we've been up to.....]]> http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=86 Wed, 11 Apr 2012 01:35:22 GMT


Weeks have gone by and no updates - we’ve been just too busy. Yep, busy not working, not taking care of kids, not taking care of our house - busy shopping for boats, a very tiring yet enjoyable pastime for us over 40 crowd. In our last installment we had put in an offer on an Islander 28 and were waiting for the test sail. We waited and waited, Wednesday turned into Friday which turned into Sunday - the owner just couldn’t get a mechanic over to get the Atomic 4 de-winterized. There just wasn’t the sense of urgency we needed and it was a long frustrating week waiting for the sea trial.



Fortunately we had Jennifer’s parents’ place in Philly to ourselves and got to spend some great hours with Jerame’s wonderful kids - Sophia, Ava & Zac. But once the weekend came around and the owner of the Islander let us know the mechanic had been there on Saturday we headed out Sunday morning ready for a test sail and possible haul. As it turned out, the owner had a different idea of selling a boat. His plan was for the local yard guy to tow the boat through the mud to the channel and then haul it out for us to look at, then test sail. Yep, tow it through the mud to the channel... A bit backwards for us but we felt we’d work with it and try and get some sea time in on the way to the hoist.



While waiting for the tow through the mud I dug around in the now emptied bilge and found the keel bolts. They seemed to be coated with something, maybe a blog of sealant to protect them? I dug further and began having flakes of bolts and nuts coming off in my hands. Corrosion, and thick flaky corrosion. I worked a few bolts down to solid metal with my hands and noticed significant differences in the bolt sizes. RED FLAG! Call off the tow - we waited a week but this was enough to frighten me away from an otherwise great looking boat. If we weren't just trying to upgrade systems and go sailing this may be a great boat, but we didn’t have time nor money to be pulling the keel and replacing the bolts. A hard decision, but a necessary one. Back to square one, do we move ahead on the Hunter 30 we looked at? Maybe one of the Hunter 27’s? Talk, decide, ho, hum - but wait, Melanie’s flying into Philly this afternoon, it’s time for a distraction!



Off her redeye flight, we took Melanie downtown to the Moshulu and then on to South street for a walk through town followed by dinner and beer with Jennifer’s parents before we finally let Mel have some sleep. We then headed South on Monday to re-look at a Hunter 27 we liked and then take a look at a 27 footer in Baltimore - but they just didn’t wet our whistle - so off to happy hour in Baltimore to wet our whistles... Over beers we found two more boats on Craig’s List to see and sent off some emails hoping for a return call. We didn’t have to wait long till the owner of a C&C 27 called us back. The boat’s down south of Annapolis, the other way from Philly, but we’ve got all the time in the world right?



45 minutes later we were standing in front of a great looking 1972 pride of the C&C factory, a 27’er named Libra. She had some scrapes and bruises, she needed upgrading and repairs, but the hull looked good, she had a 1985 Universal diesel that looked great and a price that kept us looking - $3900. Carl said “My house is on the way out of town, want to stop by and look at the sails?” Off to Carl’s we went. Old dacron sails but no rot, stitching looked great, cushions had been redone, it was just too hard to believe - a good boat! Will you take $3500? Done deal - with his confidence, helpful attitude and general good will I had no reason to doubt the motor would work well and at this price if it needed a little something no big deal. So we bought it without a test sail - it’s a C&C right?



We made it back to Philly after midnight, tired, excited, nervous, excited, but mostly tired. Tuesday morning Mel was on her way to work in Delaware and we spent the morning packing up the Van and finally took off South to our new boat, Libra, at the Holiday Hill Marina in Commodore Mayo, Maryland. We took our time, shopped for things we knew we needed and finally arrived at the boat near sunset - with just enough time to build a ladder (she’s on the hard you know) and meet the old owner Carl to get some things we had missed the night before. This was it, get to work, we’ve got a boat to get ready to sail! Can you believe it? Well over 30 boats, 1200+ miles boat searching and we finally found our boat. It’s a great feeling to be moving on to stage two of our summer adventure - get the boat ready to go sailing.



We worked worked worked, shopped, worked, shopped and slept. In two days we had a new AC system (that’s alternating current not air conditioning), a battery charger, a new thru hull for the head, new bottom paint and zincs and the boat in the water floating with a working diesel motor. Yeah, the motor worked perfectly! Once in the water we really got to work, the water system needed cleaning, new hoses, pumps and faucets. The counter in the Galley needed replacing and everything got cleaned, really cleaned from the bow to the stern. Now Libra, we found, came with this amazing morning alarm. Just behind the forepeak is the head, and in the head is one of those solar vent fans. It kicks on when there is enough sunlight to power the fan motor. Well it just so happens that sometime after 8am each morning there is sun on the deck and that little fan fires up - waking us with its’ work - a great feature.



We kept working all week, new this, new that, fix this, wire that, but each day the boat came together and each day we met new liveaboards at the marina with their advice on where to get a burger and beer for 8 bucks, where to go cruising and who to know in the marina. On Sunday, Marlene, one of the liveaboards, put out laminated flyers at the head of each dock that said simply “Let’s Cook-Out Tonight.” We learned this to mean Marlene would be making dinner at the Boat Yard Cabin and everyone is invited. It’s not a potluck - she is making everything. Fish, salads, rice and a red velvet cake for desert! Charts were handed our way and we met some great new friends and liveaboards at the marina. Crazy little marina Holliday Hill, it’s had many lives - one of which was a Girl Scout camp with log cabins all throughout the ravine. All but one have burned down over the years and the last one the owner has simplified for less fire risk and set up for the liveaboards to use. Can you imagine that? Your own log cabin with power, shower, living room, kitchen and loft bunk? Nice! A summer camp with a boat yard/marina feel or is it a marina & boat yard with a summer camp feel? It’s hard to say....


]]> Ballard Sailor http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=86 Weekend 1 done - the jig http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=85 Fri, 30 Mar 2012 02:29:33 GMT Click image for larger version Name: el toro jig.jpg Views: 21 Size: 23.9 KB ID: 1023

Here's a photo of the jig. You really don't need one for stitch and glue, but I could not figure out how to dimension the panels from the plans. So I made a jig and I'll just do stitch and glue over it. One idea occurs - perhaps I can use masking tape instead of stitches (since I have a jig to hold it on) so that I don't need to drill a bazillion holes in the boat. Should save time too. ]]> Wet Spreaders http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=85 Fiddlers and Zoo Animals http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=84 Thu, 22 Mar 2012 17:46:35 GMT 

St. Patty’s day and some time with Jennifer’s family - no boats this weekend. We arrived at Jerame’s by Noon on Saturday and quickly grabbed his two labs, Zeus and Ginger, along with his oldest son Zac and hit the local park for a long walk in the sun. With treelined paths, hills and a river this was a dog’s paradise. We swam all three dogs hard in the river, stick after stick MacIntosh, Zeus and Ginger chased and swam to their hearts content until finally they slowed down a bit and we continued our walk. Not done yet, Zac took off on a run with the dogs, through the woods, up the hills and finally climbing a rock that only Ginger, the oldest, would join him at the top of.



We followed the walk with dinner at a local diner and then headed off to Zac’s high school to watch him in his school play, Fiddler on the Roof, in which Zac plays the part of Motel, the town tailor. These kids had a blast on stage with some great costumes and confident acting. Zac looked so comfortable up on stage that we quickly forgot he was our nephew Zac. We were absorbed into the trials of Motel in his quest for the hand of the one he loves in a time when matchmakers chose your betrothed, not yourself. We left Zac with his mother after the show and headed on back to Jennifer’s parents for a nice quiet evening, well as quiet as it can be in the Irish part of Philly on St. Patty’s Day!



Sunday morning we got going early and headed off with Jerame to pick up his girls, Ava & Sophie, from his in-laws with plans to spend the afternoon at the Zoo. When was the last time you went to the Zoo? Remember being enthralled by the monkeys and apes? Getting the heebee jeebee’s in the reptile house? We did it all over again through the eyes of a 6 and 4 year old.



The girls love the zoo and, with their family pass, get to come and go every chance they get. They took us on a tour of the facility showing us the tiger cubs that had been born there, the giraffe baby also born there, the monkeys and apes, the snakes and alligators. You name it these girls were excited about it.



They even have a pass holders’ only building with a bunch of exhibits to explore, climb on, slide on or crawl inside of. We spent hours walking around, playing and exploring at the zoo followed by hours of getting to know the girls at Jerame’s for dinner later that evening. They kept us moving, worked out all those kinks from all the hours of sitting in the van - fun, inquisitive girls!


]]> Ballard Sailor http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/blog.php?b=84