When Larry called and asked if I wanted to help deliver Raincloud, the J133, up to Darien, Ct. All I could think of was...how can I say no to this one! Sounds like a great trip!
This story will read like a log book from the trip...oh WAIT..it IS my log of the trip...helps to have a laptop aboard.
2030hrs. June 1, 2005 we cleared the port and were on our way. Larry, Tom, Tony and I.
We waved to Mom and Dad on their balcony and once we hit the stream, we were sailing at a lovely 12kts over the bottom. We had some rain storms during the night but at least the sailing was good.
1300hrs. June 4, 2005, off cape Canaveral. Tried to call home but first no answer then no signal so no luck.
Rain finally stopped for now so windows open
below and cooling a little…time to get a nap ;)
Larry and I have been dubbed "the geek squad" by Tony as we used my USB thumb drive to swap charts back and forth into each other's laptops. We now know we are missing the area from Georgia up to Norfolk so will have to stop at West Marine in Charleston for paper charts. Also larry's 400w inverter quit so it's good I brought my little one for laptop use! Also the pigtail that would allow us to plug in 2 items at once in the 12v keeps blowing fuses so we have to take turns charging things like laptops and camera batteries. Otherwise, all systems aboard are fine.
1935hrs Sat, June 4, 2005.
Had a decent nap and woke to get some great whale pix!
I took video clips as they played all around us but the files are too big to use here.
Wind died a few hours ago and we've been motor sailing on just the main but at least that keeps the batteries charged and the auto pilot happy. Glad we're out in the Stream getting a good 4kt kick, as there is only about 4kts wind and we're motoring at about 6kts but making 10 over ground..nice!
The temp is comfortable and seas flat. Tony
and Tom now sleeping for the last 2.5 hrs and Larry reading a
book relaxing. We added the last can of Diesel and the tank reads
half and still 181 miles to go to Charleston so I hope we get
some wind soon! We left Lauderdale too late and all the fuel docks
were already closed so we were unable to fill up but brought two
7 gal cans. Hope we make it!
Went down for a nap at 0600 with an intended 4 hrs off but at 0755 we had a call from the deck that we blew a water hose. Lucky it actually turned out to be a fan belt and we had a spare which larry changed as soon as the engine room was cool enough to get to it. Back under way by 0900 and hopefully fixed the problem that caused the new fan belt to shred. Tom thinks it may have been rubbing a hose clamp so that clamp was turned around and it all looks good now as we continue on with 72 nm to Charleston.
1123hrs and more of the same..motorsailing
the main in no wind and mirror seas. 61.4 nm to go and feels like
we'll never get there. SOG now only 6.6 as we have run out of
Gulfstream. It feels slow after the 11's and 12's we were doing…hell,
it IS slow! Some wind would be nice!
1200hrs Sunday, June 05, 2005
And then at noon, as if the lunch bell rang..the dolphins came
to play…and play they did..all around the boat…for about
20 mins or more!!! What a treat…did my best to get video
clips and hopefully have a few good ones
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1530-1700hrs Sunday, June 05, 2005
A bit of Rum would be good but that will have to wait.
0700 Monday, June 06, 2005
Up and shower and off to provision and get spare belts and fuses for 12v. pigtails..etc. Gotta keep the geek squad happy!
Next to impossible to get a taxi in Mt Pleasant where we were at the lovely new Hilton's Charleston Harbor Marina so the provisioning took at least 2 hrs extra. Finally done and fueled and off the dock at 1300 hrs.
1400hrs. sunny and hot with about 8kts true wind sailing a broad reach and making 7.8 SOG.
1900hrs Monday, June 06, 2005
Motor sailing now and listening to Annie Lenox
in the cockpit on laptop.
We see a sailboat about a half mile ahead and wonder if it's the
one we heard reported overdue by the coastguard en route from
palm beach to Bermuda. Just heard the Pan Pan from the coasties
that the overdue sailboat "Its About Time" has been
found and all aboard are safe. Good news ;)
We've changed the watch system to an individual rotation so 2 are still always on deck but we each have more sleep time. I'm on standby from 1800-2000 and watch from 2000-2200 so using my standby time to write.
The seas are flat and apparent wind is about 8kts and motor sailing with main and jib at about 6 kts. SOG is about 8kts and we're working our way offshore a bit to catch some stream.
2000hrs Monday, June 06, 2005
My watch and all is well. Boat speed 5.6 in light wind and SOG
is 7.4. looks like we found some of the magic carpet!!!
Dinner was Chung King tonight with a little doctoring by Larry. Not bad.
Stevie Ray Vaugn on the c/d now and still sailing along nicely. Getting about 2kts of stream so we're making 8.6 SOG in 8kts true wind just ahead of the beam. 40 mins left on my watch and I think I'll have a rum before it ends so I'll be able to get some sleep.
2200hrs…I'm off duty…finish the rum and head to bed. More later.
0200 Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Back on standby now. Wind is dead... engine is on…,sea is
flat and nothing new to report.
0550 Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Ok… that was about as uneventful a watch as I've ever stood.
Nothing happened… no changes… only one very distant
light seen. Time to enter the notes on the hand log, have some
breaky and take a nap!
0731 Tuesday, June 07, 2005 and still awake. The dolphins came to play and I got sidetracked shooting vid clips and pix.
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1045 Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Still no wind. We're all getting tired of listening to the motor
and are looking for squalls but the sky is clear. Biggest excitement
so far today was deciding to change from pink Crocks to blue!!
I've been given official permission to "stand down"
instead of "stand by" for this watch so I'm off till
noon.
1300hrs Tuesday, June 07, 2005
My watch and still no wind. Motoring on a glassy calm sea. I can't
believe we forgot to pick up any fishing gear…we passed some
great weed lines and I'm sure dinner was under there. Oh well…
I guess this time the fish win.
Discussions of going in at Manasquan inlet for a night. Timing
will tell I guess.
1600hrs Tuesday, June 07, 2005
FINALLY some wind! Engine off, kite up! Clipping along nicely
now getting 8 SOG. Thought there would be more stream here but
no such luck. At my urging and insistence, we finally headed more
offshore and now we've finally got some kick. Making 9.5 over
ground now with only 6.3 boat speed. Not really sure why I had
such a hard time convincing Larry we needed to get out here. Sometimes
things don't make any sense to me
Nearly 1800 hrs now and it's my standby watch so now I'm on for the next 4 hrs. Hope this all holds, as the autopilot is doing a great job driving with the gennaker up. We're currently about 45nm SW of the tip of Cape Lookout, North Carolina.
2200hrs and another quiet watch..nothing to report.. wind died again at dark and we took the kite down and are motoring but at least now we're getting 8.2kts over ground at idle speed. I guess now that its my turn to sleep they'll bump the engine back up to 2200 rpm. Fun.
Night cap for me then off to try to sleep a few hours.
0439 Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Came back on standby at 0200 and took the watch at 0400. Signs of a breeze so I've unfurled the jib and was able to back the RPMs on the engine down and still get 8.6 to 9.3 SOG.
Sitting on deck typing as we pass by Cape Hatteras at about 25miles off shore. Seeing the hint of daylight and now must plug this in for charging.
0600 Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Off watch now. Unfurled the jib and motor sailing along now getting
9.3 SOG and 5.4boat speed. Nice ride.
1030 Wednesday, June 08, 2005
On standby again and just for a little entertainment, the CG started
to announce live missile practice in the area!!! Quick…get
our American flag flying so they know we're friendlies! Seriously,
they are giving warnings and positions and times and we seem to
be about 75 miles away so I hope their aim is at least good enough
not to miss by that much!
Today was shower and hairwash day for all hands. Sure feels good to be clean again.
Once again, the sea is flat and we have to motor. Also had some fog for awhile but it seems to have lifted. We did get to sail for a few hours during my last watch and the one after so the boat was nice and quiet for me to get some sleep. I feel good ;).
1430 and we're still alive. No sign of any warlike activities. During my watch I came up with the idea to rig a boom tent. Since the main is loose-footed, we just used the mainsail cover and strung it across the cockpit. Took the side windows out of the dodger for more airflow underneath and all is well. Much more comfortable temperature than yesterday… the air is drier too…nice relief!
Due to timing and tides, it looks like our original plan to go into Manasquan for a night have had to change and we will just continue straight on to NY harbor.
We found some sort of stray floating buoy and curiosity made us circle around and grab it. Nothing but some rope attached to it so we cut that and Tony is thinking of things to keep it for…so it's still aboard.
We're currently 45 miles off the coast of Bodie Sound in NC and cruising at 7kts SOG and 12º COG.
1700 Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Out of boredom, I turned my phone on and was amazed to get a call
to home! At 36.16.562N by 74.30.893W which is about 65 nm at a
bearing of 138ºm from the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay,
I got a cell call in! Gotta love technology.
Dad gave me his friend Murray's number in NY. 212-262-1161
1830 Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Another dolphin visit….great timing…water was crystal
clear so I got some great stills as well as more video clips.
These were a different kind and I'll have to do some research
to find out what they are when I get home. Also had a visit from
a giant sunfish. At first site, it looks like a shark because
of the fin, but when you get closer, it's very UN sharklike!
2200 Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Just got off watch and the fog has rolled in like pea soup. We're
doing security calls every half hour and whistle every 2 mins.
Talked to another sailboat too. A delivery crew taking a Hunter
45 from Miami to Ct. so we have company a few miles ahead. They
too are doing security calls so we are keeping track of each other.
I'm off to sleep.
0535 Thursday, June 09, 2005
25 mins left of my watch. Just talked to the skipper of the other
boat, Cloud 9. He's about 45 miles NE of us and already went through
2 alternator belts. I let him know that we have 2 spares and possibly
same engines. He said he has 2 spares left so I hope he makes
it ok.
1030 Thursday, June 09, 2005
Woke up a half hour ago to find the boys had set the gennaker
and we're sailing along making 6.2kts SOG. Looking at the log,
I see they also added 12 gal of fuel from the spare cans we brought
so are now at half a tank again. Fog is still thick. 26 miles
at a bearing of 296ºm is Ocean City, Md. Checked cell phone
but no service.
1415 Thursday, June 09, 2005
Off watch again and we had a bit of excitement when a shrimp boat
appeared on our bow out of the fog. Lucky Tony and I were both
on deck and watching, as he was too close for comfort. Tony grabbed
the wheel and put OTTO on standby and steered up about 25 degrees
as I trimmed the kite till we were clear of his stern. We had
just done a security call about 2 min. before we saw him and you
can be sure he had us on his radar, yet he never said a word!
SCARY! Just more proof that a careful watch is always important.
Larry is now thinking we should make a quick stop in Cape May for fuel and water, as we have switched over to the bladder tank for water and already put our spare fuel supply in the tank. So we're now aimed at the inlet at Cape May and will decide later if we go in or not. We're 17 nm abeam of the Indian river inlet but still no cell service.
1515hrs Thursday, June 09, 2005
Fog finally lifted…easier to relax now…we can SEE! Working
up a grocery list and waiting for cell service to call Joe C with
the list, as we are headed in to Cape May for fuel and water.
Still sailing along nicely under gennaker and main and auto pilot.
0500 Friday, June 10, 2005
We went in to cape may and Joe came to the marina with our supplies
and we fueled and watered the boat and went out for dinner at
the Lobster House. Great food! A quick tour over to see Sam and
see Joe's house and then back to the boat and out to sea.
I guess it was about 2200hrs when we cleared the jetty. Sailed an hour or so in beautiful reaching conditions when the fog rolled back in…YUK! We were sailing too fast for the conditions so we rolled up the jib and finally even had to reef the main to slow down. Made radio contact with a tug ("Escort") and he had us on radar and was keeping a close eye out for traffic for us. Our own guardian angel…what a warm fuzzy feeling!
0905 Friday, June 10, 2005
Larry just woke me up to let me know we're about to go past Pt.
Pleasant. We're about ½ mile offshore of Bay Head now.
0922 and we are now at the sea buoy for Manasquan
inlet and I never got to see the boardwalk.
1122 we're off of Long Branch.
1230 Friday, June 10, 2005
entered the Sandy Hook Channel
1400 hrs.. passed under Verrazano Narrows bridge. Took lots of pix.
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1530 hrs. cruising around NY harbor under power
looking at the sights and taking pix. Site of the WTC, Lady Liberty,
etc.
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Currently on the Hudson River. Passed over the Holland tunnel and Hoboken is on our port beam.
1555hrs Friday, June 10, 2005
Passed Murray's apt. and he called and waved. He was very excited
that we found him.
GW bridge is dead ahed.
1735
avoided a nasty t-storm and now headed towards Lady Liberty and
then headed to the east river.
1924hrs Friday, June 10, 2005
still headed up the East river…nearly at Riker's Island and
a prison ship. The lads threatened to drop me off there….go
figure!
2104hrs and still motoring along. Looks like we still have 17 miles to go. I guess we won't make it ashore tonight….have to grab a mooring and stay aboard.
2309 and still motoring.
2339 ARRIVED!
Made it and actually found the mooring ball we needed… #30.
Managed to hook it with a boat brush since we have no boat hook.
We're officially DONE.
Night Cap time and off to sleep.
Up at 0700, cleaned up the boat and ashore
to
The yacht club (NYC)
Free wireless here so checking in to chat room and checking flights and weather…etc.
1625hrs Saturday, June 11, 2005
On the Jet Blue flight now…caught an earlier one on standby.
A bit bumpy but who cares! Rum and coke and blue corn chips and
Swiss Family Robinson or something on tv at my seat..life is good!
Lucky enough to have an empty middle seat next to me
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Home safe and sound...and all in all... a great trip!