Deep River CT to Annapolis MD via the C&D Canal -- September 18-21 on Pandora

Last time I sailed Bob's Pandora, another of the Saga 43s, was in 2011, from Norwalk CT to Mystic CT. (See "Local Peripateticms", posted July 3, 2011). That was our boatless summer while ILENE was on the hard in Grenada. This time, it was the start of Bob's trip south where we may meet up with them in Florida, and so the trip was a rehearsal for our making the same passage, early in October, aboard ILENE.

For this trip we were joined by Jim, who has more ocean experience than both of us, and is a very personable guy. Bob's idea was that his wife Brenda, should join him part way to Florida. This put Lene of the same mind: Why can't we do that too? Luckily, Jim has agreed to accompany me for this first leg of ILENE's cruise, next month, so Lene and the kitties will drive down and join me in Annapolis. Jim recently sold his Saber 38 foot and thinks he wants to buy a Saga; wanted to find out how these boats feel in the ocean. He got half of that experience on Pandora -- the motion she has when the wind is aft the beam. Yes, with excellent weather forecasting by Chris Parker, and a willingness to change our departure date twice, we had a perfect weather window, with following winds and seas except for light winds the last seven hours, the second short leg, from the anchorage in Chesapeake City, MD to Annapolis, where Pandora now rests in Jim's slip. ILENE was also offered the use that "free" slip upon our arrival except that the condo has a very strictly enforced rule against pets, including guest's pets and including cats. So we have made reservations at Bert Jabin's Marina, across Back Bay from Jim's place. This is where ILENE was when we bought her, back in November 2005. If we get so lucky with a weather window on ILENE's passage as we were this time, I will simply turn the boat around for a few minutes, so Jim can get the feel of a Saga beating to windward.

We left the dock at about 4 pm on Thursday. I had the helm down the Connecticut River into Long Island Sound passing old favorites that we did not visit this summer: Hamberg Cove, Essex and North Cove of Old Saybrook. We headed  a bit to port to pass through The Race and around Montauk Point, making the rounding at about 11:30 pm. My nighttime off-watch preference was honored -- from 8 to midnight, when I am at my most tired condition. So I awoke after we had rounded and had reefed the main. From Montauk to the buoy off Cape May, NJ, which we rounded at about 11:30 the next night, it was 198 nautical miles. The furthest we got off shore was a point about 35 miles south of Long Island, the same distance east of the Jersey shore and about 45 miles SE of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.
 
The scariest part for me was as we were rounding Cape May:  I had just risen from my good sleep and my lack of familiarity with Bob's newer chartplotter, with many more functions, meant I really did not know where we were. Bob stayed with me until we got up to the clearly marked shipping channel up Delaware Bay and I hugged it, just outside its north side, all the way up the Bay, giving the big freighters coming the other way the entire width of the channel.

Thursday night it was quite cold but no so bad that a long sleeve shirt, fleece and foul weather gear were insufficient to be comfortable.  The second night was not so cold.  We all wore life vests with harnesses and were tethered to the boat's strongpoints whenever in the cockpit. Bob figured that we averaged 7.1 knots which is quite impressive. Much of this time, during daylight hours, the winds were strong and we furled the small jib and ran under only the reefed main, at speeds of up to eight knots.
The wind built up the seas, which raced and overtook us from behind. The bigger ones were over my head standing in the cockpit, until they caught us and lifted us up out of their way while whooshing under us. A couple of them entered the cockpit from the rear, over the swim platform, which is only about 16 inches above the water, putting a few gallons on deck, which drained out immediately over the same open stern that admitted them. When my sneakers got wet during the first such wave, I switched to a dry pair of socks and my sea boots so it was no problem.

Here is  sunrise over the west coast of New Jersey, Saturday morning as we were sailing up Delaware Bay with the tide.

Bob's boat is meticulous and fully equipped. He is a self confessed obsessive perfectionist when it comes to his boat and it shows. When we stopped to refuel, Pandora got a washing. The dew was mopped up the next morning. Here is Pandora's new Rocna anchor, rolling on new rollers attached to the shiny new apparatus. It hangs lower but further aft than ILENE's starboard bow anchor.

Jim with a bit of the rum punch.

It held very well in the mud of Chesapeake City.  We stayed there from about noon on Saturday until our 07:00 departure on Sunday morning. We toured the tiny quaint old town, partook of some free food and wine at a wine and food festival, ate ice cream, tried to visit the museum (but it is closed on weekends), took naps, enjoyed some rum punch and had dinner ashore.

Bob with same.

One always learns from sailing with others on their boats. I also learned and have downloaded to our I-pad, a much better weather app called "Pocket GRIB".





We were very well fed throughout, (Thanks Bob!) including delicious boat baked dropped biscuits and honey with our morning coffee.

The only thing that could have been better for me was visibility.  Bob likes to keep the dodger front closed, and connected to the bimini with side flaps down when sailing. Despite excellent new clear plastic, this impeded visibility due to my older eyes. It required me to poke my head out the sides to check for approaching vessels. Also with the RIB inflatable dinghy inverted, mounted under the boom, partially deflated and lashed down securely there, while safety was improved (no chance for one of those big waves to fill the dinghy with a ton of water hanging off the back of the boat), forward visibility was further impeded.

The captain/owners decision is always right, but my personal voyage would have been even more enjoyable with better visibility.

I know that Ilene will want one of these customized non skid floor mats. It is not a rectangle but wider at the foot than at the top, to match the area covered. The only potential problem with this is that the cats will like it too -- as a scratching pad! Now back to myriad activities to get ILENE ready for her cruise.