Jersey Shore (or Sailing Sucks; Part 2)

We left Stamford around 9 yesterday morning and headed for the Big Apple. The weather was great and we had almost 4 knots of current taking us down the East River through New York City. Here are a few shots of the sights including the UN building where since it’s inception in 1941 various delegations regularly walk out on each other in the name of world peace. Hope they sort that out soon.

This shot of the Brooklyn Bridge is for my friend/rep Sue who used to walk across it to work almost every day before she moved to Newport. (Hi Sue!!)

Here’s a shot of Lady Liberty too – for all those who worked and fought for liberty for the rest of us… and for those of us with relatives who saw her when they made their first stop on American soil at Ellis Island.

We were so busy looking at the Statue of Liberty that we didn’t notice the GIGANTIC barge coming our way until he blew his horn and scared the bejesus out of us. Oops. Guess we should pay more attention from here on out.

Passing Sandy Hook around 3:00, we started the long slog down the Jersey Shore. Once again the wind was directly in our face so we had to motor the entire way. The waves were comfortable at first – long even rollers – but increased in height and decreased in length making the ride pretty darn uncomfortable. Saralane performed beautifully and we have increasing confidence in her every day. Skip, mercifully hearty, did all but about 3 hours of the watches. I met up with my old friend sea-sickness, and was down and out for most of the trip. Here’s the slightly-less-than-full moon – taken before the conditions worsened. 

I saw Atlantic City in the wee hours of the morning, but missed seeing the Oxford in Ventnor where my dad has a place. (Sorry Pop! Skip saw it though.) I think of the times I stood on the beach in front of the Oxford and looked at the sailboats out there passing by…. ha! I’ll never complain about Jersey Turnpike traffic again. I don’t recall the turnpike ever taking 18 hours from end to end.

Our good friend Jan who’s done this trip and so much more over the years, reminded us by email that it does get better; it will get warmer, it will get easier. (She also said, and I have to quote this directly “Remember---NEVER say 'it can't get any worse', and NEVER ask  'what else can go wrong?' Thanks Jan!! We love you too.)

We also found out how much/little fuel our fuel tank holds…. just a little less than it took to get around the breakwater into Cape May. The engine died with the breakwater in sight and we had to turn around to a better angle to the wind, pull out the jib for a little stability in the big waves and put our emergency 5 gallons of fuel into the tank. We got most of it into the tank… the rest we mopped up off the cockpit floor later. Oy.

[Just to let some of you know (ahem... parents) we're fine out here. Safety is our first consideration and always will be. We have and wear harnesses at night or when going up on deck. And besides, if Skip goes overboard, I'll kill him.]


PS - Mb, I tried to set this so you can comment now. See if it works!