Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Cape May to Atlantic City

Out to sea we go...the Cape May, NJ, Inlet
Remember...we now have no plan and no schedule, so we thought we would take a rest day in Cape May, NJ.....WRONG...the winds were too good to stay in port! With 20 knots of west winds, we decided to head out the Cape May Inlet and set sail for Atlantic City, NJ. So, being lazy cruisers and not racers, we simply rolled out our 135% jib and sailed at hull speed with this alone. Our hull speed is 7.2 knots, so if we see that speed through the water, then we have no need for more sail. Winds were 20-25 knots with some solid long gusts of 33 knots for a great beam reach up the coast.

Fun at the New Jersey Shore
The fun aspect to sailing close to shore is that you can watch the wonderful towns of the Jersey Shore go by, like Wildwood Crest, Wildwood, Avalon, Ocean City, and then Atlantic City. Our families & friends have always taken summer vacations to the shore and many times we would see sailboats off the coast. Now, we are providing that fun scene for today's young families.

At Rum Point, you cross a sandbar with homemade red marks!
We eventually had to bring out the main sail when the winds died down to 15 knots. That seems to be minimum needed for ocean sailing for us, we like 15-20 knots. We sailed right into the Absecon Inlet and then started the motor and dropped the sails. Luckily, the tide was high and we traversed the Rum Point sand bar following two tourist boats into the greatest little cove in this area. In 2007, we spent a week on anchor here as we wrapped up our first Drexel University term, writing research papers. Today...no work, just fun, what a treat.

Looks like we will challenge the direct run to Block Island from here at 0500hrs. That will get us over the sandbar at high tide. Next stop,  ....BLOCK and if not...we will end up at Sandy Hook or Coney Island, NY. Who knows....

Over our bow, the BORGATA Casino in a red sunset

1 comment:

GregK said...

Ah the Jersey Shore...

Many days were spent there cutting school.

It's always a fun cruise sailing just off the beach... So much to see on shore.

Now instead of looking at the picture you are part of the picture.