10/11/2010

Our dock for the evening

Monday morning and thanks to all of the powers that be, another good day for cruising. No rain, no wind and relatively warm. I think I mentioned previously that one of the advantages with a trawler is that you can drive from inside, the lower helm station, or if the weather is nice, the upper helm station or flybridge. Most of our piloting has been on the lower helm and thank goodness we had it as I think it would have been even more tiring to be outside the whole time.

We were close, but knew today was going to be a long day so we got as early a start as possible. About 0600 we are up and out into the Atlantic Ocean. We've got to get to West End today, at least that is our goal and if our boat continues to perform as she has done so far, we should make it, I just don't know by when.



Leaving Atlantic City behind.

I was a little concerned as we don't have radar, don't have a radar deflector, and fortunately Harvey is familiar with these water so I breath a little easier knowing that even in the dark (our running lights do work, they were checked by the yard where the boat was purchased and it isn't until later I found out some of the items I paid for were not done, but more on that later) we should be safe enough to get home. Chadd comes through again but more on that later.

So down the Atlantic off the Jersey Coast. Past Great Egg Harbor Inlet, past the Ocean City Amusement Piers, past Avalon & Stone Harbor my old haunts during my childhood at my grandparents place in Stone Harbor, past the amusement Piers at Wildwood where we, Jane & I had taken the kids all those years of renting in Avalon for our week at the shore.


Atlantic Ocean with Cape May in our sights

At Cape May we went in the Cape May Inlet and while the sea wasn't bad being in the channel was like a pond, no waves or rollers just calm flat water.

I thought that this would be a nice break until we hit the water in the Delaware Bay.

We had gone about 42 miles from Atlantic City to the opening of the Cape May Inlet.

I don't want you the reader to get the idea that I didn't enjoy the trip we were taking in our boat but it wasn't what I would call a pleasure trip. It isn't how we will generally cruise our boat, but it was great to see our boat do this monumental trip without a hiccup.

We passed under the Garden State Pkwy bridge over the Cape May Canal. The canal is designed to handle large traffic, although on Sunday it was just about all recreational boaters. The canal comes out into the Delaware Bay right where the Cape May-Lewes Ferry's dock and to my surprise, the bay was like a pond also.

Approaching the Route 9/Garden State Parkway Cape May Bridge

A turn to the North and up the bay we went.

We would swap off and on with who piloted our boat. I didn't find out until later and I'm sure it wasn't because of this day but after being home for a day or so my forearm started to hurt. I had had a Meniscus operation prior to leaving and after I got home I was back to rehab for that operation. My knees were killing me because of the motion of our boat but I couldn't understand why my forearm hurt. I was to find out that I had what tennis players get, a tennis elbow of sorts. The constant movement of the wheel had taken it's toll.

In the beginning of our boat delivery Harvey had said he was used to using autopilot on most of the boats he delivers. An autopilot is on our 5 year list. Fortunately most of our cruising will not be similar to the delivery.

Breaking out into the bay brought our trip for this day to 48 miles so far. Now our sights were on the Delaware River and the West End Boat Club in Essington, PA.
 

 

As I said previously, I had joined the West End Boat Club (WEBC) several years before in anticipation of owning a boat. My thought was that it was close to home which would make working on the boat a short trip to get there. I also looked forward to using the facilities for entertainment, meals and maybe a place to drop into occasionally. Initially I found the club smokey (I don't smoke and neither does anyone in my immediate family) and we found that trying to eat at the club involved a gulp of someones cigarette smoke along with the meal. Thank goodness that the state of PA got the b**ls to pass a law and the club, passed a rule of no smoking in the club house just prior to that.

Now with the addition of our boat, I'm spending more time at the club and will get back involved in it's operation again.

The trip up the bay was also uneventful, and as we passed the C&D Canal I thought that in the future we would probably be using that a bit to back and forth from WEBC to the Chesapeake.

We then went by Fort Delaware. I'd been by that on several occasions while on a Coast Guard Auxiliary SAR (Search & Rescue) patrol but this time I thought that I'd take the opportunity to stop in and visit sometime on our way to the C&D. Then under the 295 Bridge and past the Christiana River where the SAR boat is kept. At that point we'd added another 67 miles on to the trip. Today would be the longest day yet and I'm sure that the water conditions helped in that regard.

If I remember correctly, dusk was starting and it would be starting to get dark shortly. At this point, certainly nothing to be concerned about.

As we approached the Commodore Barry Bridge it was dark and there was a far number of big boats moving about and there was also dredging going on. The tug and barges were not properly marked so a VHF call to the tug told us which side to pass on. Of course as we were getting past a large ship was coming down river toward us so it was a quick move to the Jersey side of the river to give that boat plenty of room.


As we approached Little Tinicum Island, Chadd came to the rescue again with a Google Map of what we were looking at from the river level. WEBC is well lit but approaching for the first time is a little daunting as there is a slightly 'closed' U shaped pier system where you need to maneuver thru the opening at the top of the U and then since I had made a call telling the dockmaster I was coming, he changed my location to the inside of the closed top of the U which would require backing into the slip.

Harvey handled it with the aplomb that he had handled all the docking so far.

Jane was there waiting for us, it was about 2000 and we were home.

It was truly a relief to be tied to the dock and have that trip behind us. Considering all that could have gone wrong and didn't, the trip was a huge success. We had travelled an additional 82 miles since we came out into the Delaware Bay which gave us a total of about 130 miles from Atlantic City and not a problem with our boat.

At this point we made sure all was closed up, tied off and secure and headed home.

I can't thank Harvey enough and as to Chadd, he continues to make me proud, as do all my children. But in this regard, it would, could have been a much different trip without him along.

Now we regroup, decide what to do for the winter and prepare for the spring launch.

10/10/2010

It's Sunday but no day of rest for us.

Here we are in the daylight as we are getting ready to head to Atlantic City

We still had to get water under the keel so about 0800 we were heading down the Hudson River to the Atlantic Ocean.

After we left the marina, we passed by Ellis Island & the Statue of Liberty. It is interesting but hard to imagine what those on different boats in a different time were thinking as they approached these 2 monuments. For me there was no mystery or trepidation about the island or where I was going that day but to those entering out great land for the first time the emotions had to be running high.

Under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and you're in the Atlantic.

Fortunately the cruising was fairly uneventful which is just what we wanted. Seas weren't too bad so it was just keeping our boat on course.

Past Sandy Hook and down the NJ Coast. Atlantic City was our goal for the day.

As we went by Mantoloking I saw some friends of ours, Jane & I and the family (my daughter often has baby-sat for them) home on the beach. Interestingly, they own the beach. Probably one of the few homes on the beach in NJ where the owners also own the beach.

Past Barnegat Light, Little Egg Inlet to Atlantic City.

We kept about a mile off the shore so the sights of the Jersey Shore were evident and interesting.

It was a little rough on our trip south but nothing like our first day in Long Island Sound but the wipers still got a little workout.

At Atlantic City we went in Absecon Inlet to the Bay side of AC. We had again used Chadd's BB to make arrangements for a slip and we stayed at Trumps Marina.

About 104 miles under the keel.

We decided to eat at Trumps and it turned out to be a good choice.

At all of the other marina's we stopped in there was an 'upscale' restaurant which of course didn't have anything to do with the meal. 'Upscale' I've become to understand means up the cost scale. At Trumps, they had a Hooters Restaurant. Pricing was normal Hooters and the meal was normal Hooters and the girls were normal Hooters. There was a baseball game playing so we had a leisurely meal, watched the game and then repaired to our boat for another peaceful nights sleep.


The next morning after my morning ablutions