Monday, July 11, 2011

Departure 2011 CD & Del Bay

Departure 2011, Rock Hall, MD for MAINE
WE DID IT....we departed the docks for leg one of our 12  months onboard! The hardest part of any voyage is LEAVING THE DOCKS and we are glad to be underway. This is the 8th summer we have sailed from Rock Hall, MD, to New England and our third sail to MAINE....the #1 most beautiful place in the world. As "they" say, DON'T DIE BEFORE YOU GET TO MAINE!
B. E., Blue Eyes, Claire....Jeff n Sharon's great daughter




We motored to Chesapeake City, where we enjoyed dinner with good friends John & Nancy IP40 Larking About and Jeff & Sharon IP35 Lucille. We also had a special visit from Claire, Jeff and Sharon's daughter who I nicknamed "B.E." for Blue Eyes as she has the most beautiful blue eyes of anyone I have ever met. Claire has helped us stow provisions for these trips since she was 7 yrs old. Now, it is off to college for her. We were so happy to see her!
After a fun dinner at the Tap Room, we enjoyed Dark 'n Stormies on Island Spirit.

Monday, Radeen and I headed out of the cove at 0530hrs to run the CD canal with the best current speeds, thanks to Jeff and iPad Navionics lessons. We enjoyed a beautiful sail past Salem Nuclear Plant and down the Delaware Bay till 2 pm. Unfortunately, the Bay showed its ugly face with 20-25 knot winds on the bow. We made several tacks, sailing close hauled with a reef only to find ourselves no closer to Cape May because of the tide setting us back up the bay. With 8 miles to go, we decided to furl the jib and motor sail the last 8 miles bashing into now 25-30 knots of true SOUTH winds. This completes our 9th run down the Delaware Bay! Here are some photos of the first two days...

The Conrail Railroad Bridge which had a long train southbound, so we waited for a lift.

Sunrise over the Route 1/13 bridge which we have driven to and from the boat for many years!

This one is for JEFF, our nuclear physicist...THANK YOU for keeping us safe!

Off watch, relaxing under sail in calm beam winds.

Radeen with the iPAD and NAVIONICs for navigation...too cool.

After 13 hours, a much longer than usual passage, we are anchored off the USCG in Cape May, NJ.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Awwww B.E. is the same age as Krista :) Thanks for sharing going to San D for Kristas tournament Thur. taking Tae w us. There's suppose to be heat advisors so be careful. Love you both RL

Jeff said...

A great way to send you guys off to Maine. Have a great run - wish I could tag along this year, but there seems to be a lot going on in the commercial nuclear business right now. See you in Cape May on the flip side.
Jeff and Sharon and "BE"