Boating Adventures

New Jersey can only get better.

It’s Saturday afternoon, and I’m aground in what I guess is called Barnegat Harbor, right here.

It’s no big deal. I routinely hit bottom, and have been stuck a few times. In this case I went into the mud at almost dead low tide. Range here is a little over 3 feet today, so I’ll be floating in a couple of hours. Have the anchor dropped from the bow.

I may stay here tonight, but more likely I’ll head across to Forked River.

I got ashore earlier for a stretch and lunch. Tied up to a public dock – the first one I’ve seen in three days. 78th St in Harvey Cedars.

Last night I anchored here. It was a bit exposed last night, but not bad. Rode out 20+ knot S wind and lots of rain last night. I got underway about 1030 after the rain stopped. Fog limited visibility to about 1/4 mile but it was gone by the time I came in here.

Yesterday I came through Atlantic City. I spent the night before in Ventnor City, here. Good spot, with marsh on one side.

I’ve taken lots of pictures. Interesting area. I’m going to post them here in order, south to north. There are a lot, but I had reasons for taking each. Maybe I’ll annotate later.

I’m anchored here on a wide section of the ICW. No traffic.

Today was smooth sailing. Cooler and overcast. I started out about 9:30 in order to hit the tides. Flew down the Delaware Bay and came into the Cape May Canal around 4:30, then north for a couple of hours on the ICW.

Saw a few ships and pleasure boats, but stayed out of the main channel. Mostly just me.

I had a 10-15 knot headwind and a 1-2 knot tailwind. Hit some choppy patches and took spray for a little while

Not a bad day.

Nothing particularly appealing about this segment. Most people choose to go ‘outside’ up the coast from here to NYC. But since it’s supposed to blow hard from the SE for the next 4 days I’m going to noodle me way north inside. Looks like Monday should be OK for the open water segment into New York Harbour.

Here are some shots on the ICW.

I’ve always wanted to go through here. Not sure why, except that it’s got lots of historical and commercial significance. Baltimore and Philadelphia were big ports and cities before NYC took over in the 19th century.

I’m tied up for the night in Chesapeake City. Cute spot, and the price is right.

I had planned to anchor in the basin, but tied up and had a nice meal ashore.

Annapolis was OK. The harbour is not well protected and was pretty rough at times. This boat rolls pretty easily at rest, probably my least favorite thing about it. But yesterday the wind boomed in from the west as forecast and things settled there.

I left there today around noon after fuelling up and getting a few groceries. Had a beautiful trip up here with a tail current all the way. Just dumb luck. The current is strong and I am planning tomorrow’s travel to take advantage of it.

Very quiet around here. Apparently it’s still winter season. I was in shorts and bare feet and a fleecy. My kind of weather. Glad to stay ahead of the crowds.

There’s a lot of wind forecast for the weekend, starting late Thursday. But tomorrow looks fine for a run down Delaware Bay to Cape May NJ. It’s about 75 miles.

I’ve been watching the weather, as I’m back out in relatively open water for the first time in months. Had a nice window yesterday with rainy and foggy weather but no wind, and did a straight line up the bay from Norfolk to Annapolis, about 125 miles. There’s a front coming through tonight and tomorrow, so I’m going to stay here until Tuesday morning.

I left Norfolk around 9 am, and tied up to a mooring in Annapolis harbour around 3 am. Heavy rain in the morning ended mid day but then there was fog for most of the rest of the trip. Calm the whole way. I was dodging ship and barge traffic a bit, but am comfortable with my radar and other navigation instruments.

Not much to see, but there were a couple of hours when I could not find the horizon. It seemed like the water and fog were the same colour.

Off to explore. I’ve been here before, but not recently and never by boat.

I’m anchored here, tucked in out of a moderate S – SE wind. I had about 6″ of water under the keel at low tide.

Today I came up through the Dismal Swamp from just north of Elizabeth City. The last couple of days have been very relaxed and fun. Weather has been near perfect. Here are some pictures from today. I was traveling with three sailboats, and we were the only vessels to go through the canal today.

I’ve been hearing birds, and there are a few bugs. Saw a spider on board for the second time since I left the Great Lakes.

Last night was lovely. tied up for the night at an old overgrown industrial dock. Just below the first lock on the Dismal Swamp Canal. Here.

I had come into the free municipal dock at Elizabeth City on Wednesday afternoon and stayed there for about 24 hours. Nice stop. Changed the oil, washed down the boat and had a couple of meals ashore, filled my water tanks. Met the boats I was to travel with there on Thursday, then moved up the river for the night and met them at the lock this morning.

The wind is supposed to die off somewhat by morning, so I’m going to get up early and head up the Chesapeake Bay. I haven’t spent any time in the Chesapeake or Delaware. Not sure how much I’ll stop or explore, it will depend on weather and mood. I’m feeling confident that I can get up to the Hudson River Valley in the next three weeks, where I’ll leave the boat.

I’m going to try to tell the story of how we came to buy TL. It’s going to take a while, and will take several posts.

Generally speaking my sailboat racing needs have been met quite nicely in dinghies in recent years. We have a Snipe and a Laser, and both are kept in competitive form. There is great club racing on Guelph Lake and at Water Rats, and lots of weekend regattas in driving distance.

I’ve thought lots over the years since we moved to SW Ontario about use cases for a larger sailboat, but could never come up with one. I have a few favourite boats from the 1980s, and even when they started getting cheap I wasn’t really tempted. Samantha and I both were never tempted by a cottage, and a boat sitting in a marina is worse. Not my thing. And the ongoing costs are high.

I don’t really sail for fun and relaxation. I like to race, and if I’m not racing I want high performance sailing. And I want to do things really cheap, and I don’t have a big crew. Tough set of requirements.

I should say that I did some serious racing with a young crew on a 34′ ULDB in the 80s. Inshore and offshore. Lots of thrills, lots of victories. See if you can spot me!

When I left Chicago and the boating business in 1993 it was an interesting time. The Melges 24 was just coming out. There was a growing fleet of F27 trimarans there. It was the early days of the sport boat. I *loved* the new Farr 395. And then I became a banker and raised three kids and had fun in Little London and kinda stopped paying attention.

My friend Christian has a modern sport boat, a VX One. He’s invited me to do a regatta later this summer and I’m pumped. Watch the video linked above. When he saw pics of TL he said they look the same 🙂

Anyway, mostly I’ve just given some background of what my thinking was until last fall.

That’s a good place to stop. More later.

Three days since I last posted. I’ll try to catch up. Not much to report, haven’t been off the boat. Weather has been warm but unsettled yesterday and today.

Sunday night I stopped here just off the channel. Pics from Sunday

Monday I went through Moorhead City and headed away from the coast though a cut canal, then down the Neuse River and across Pamlico River and into the Pungo River. I anchored here last night.

It was raining last night and I wasn’t in a rush to get going today. Came up the canal to the Alligator River and am anchored here.

Tomorrow I go over to Elizabeth City and then through the Dismal Swamp Canal to get into the Chesapeake at Norfolk.

Am anchored here. Nice quiet spot. Enjoying Randy Bachman and Saturday Night Blues on CBC.

I stayed put yesterday. Heavy rain lasted until late afternoon. So I had another very good dinner ashore and stayed another night. I like that place, the Inlet View Bar and Grill.

Not much remarkable about today. Mostly cut channel. Wrightsville Beach was pretty built up and active.

I shared the top pic on Facebook earlier and someone asked about the top burgee.

There’s a story behind that.

I posted in October about my AGLA burgee at the bottom. The middle one is the Guelph Community Boating Club where I am a member and sail a Laser and Snipe when I’m in town. Not much these days:-). And the top one is a recently acquired Trawler Forum burgee.

Right around the time I ordered my AGLA burgee I started a conversation about a TF burgee. After a real community effort they went into production in January and the first run sold out fast. I’m proud to fly it and grateful for the community for making it happen.

On a related note, I’m aware of the possible ugliness of my radar mast. It was an improvised solution. On my new sailboat I’m having a radar mast added by someone with more sensibility than me :-). But I was a big fan of the original more modest mast because it gave a proper place to fly flags, and I was reluctant to give that up. I think I’ll always have a mast with spreaders for that reason.

In general I don’t care much about flags. But on this boat I’m traveling far from home, and as I mused about earlier sometimes it’s nice to show identity through flags.

I rented a car this week and drove home for a quick visit, then went to uncover the sailboat. See the new boat post if you haven’t already. I added lots of pictures today. Had a good look at the sails and gear and got to see the topsides and deck in detail. The builder is doing a few mods – an underdeck autopilot tiller and radar mast – and getting the trailer ready.

From St Thomas where the boat is it was on Sarnia for an interesting and informative visit with the folks at the sail loft, then an equally interesting and informative meeting of the Great Lakes Singlehanded Society.

It was a lot of driving – about 2,200 miles in 3 days – but I don’t mind that. Had a plain 2019 Corolla, averaged 38 mpg. Very comfortable seat and all the fancy electronic stuff, CVT. Pretty impressive car overall.

Now I’m stocked with groceries. Will return the car in the morning and get underway. I think it’s about 400 miles to Norfolk from here. I’m looking forward to this segment.