Leaving Sandy Hook Again for the First Time

After long delays waiting for the weather to offer the prospect for an enjoyable overnight passage down the New Jersey coast, we finally cast off from the Atlantic Highlands Municipal Marina on Wednesday, November 28. We left around 11:00 am so that we could arrive at Cape May Inlet the next morning. Our new friends, Mike and Joy of S/V Fiona Rois, left shortly after us. Mike and Joy are originally from Cincinnati. He retired several years ago as a Marketing Professor at a large University located just north of Ohio in a state whose name dare not be mentioned. Joy was a special education librarian. They spent the last 4 years preparing for this cruise (compared to our 2 weeks). They sail a beautiful 45' Cape Dory ketch.

A strong on-shore breeze made for a challenging but with Mike's assistance, a successful departure. The wind was 15-20 knots out of the northeast, perfect for our sail south. As so often happens, however, the wind gods punish the luckless sailor for the audacity to try and harness this elusive force. As soon as we rounded the 'hook' of Sandy Hook the wind died. Actually, the wind died almost immediately after I got all the sails up and trimmed! It takes us about 1/2 hour to get things right and 45 minutes to take everything down for what turned out to be for no purpose. Frustrating. On the bright side, no wind meant smooth seas and we enjoyed a tranquil motor down the coast. The water was pond smooth. This was only the second night passage for Pat and she said, "This is really fun!" The sunset was gorgeous and we settled in for a cold but what looked like an easy passage to Cape May. Of course, things soon changed.

Just before midnight, the wind clocked around to the south and began creeping up and up, reaching 20 to 25 knots with gusts up to thirty right on our nose. The water is pretty shallow along this part of the coast and rather than the regular rise and fall of ocean waves we had choppy, confused seas. This made for an extremely uncomfortable ride. Nevertheless, we were committed. The prospect of entering Atlantic City, the only safe harbor, in the dark with this wind was extremely daunting. Fiona Rois had been following us and for much of the night, I could see her running lights. Sometime after 2:00 am, I looked back and couldn't see her anymore. Monitoring the radio, we began to hear desperate calls on assistance, boat overturned, flares, people in the water (the usual) followed by the calm, measured response of the Coast Guard. We didn't hear any calls from Fiona Rois, but often you can only hear one side of a conversation. Still, Fiona is a well found boat and Mike and Joy experienced sailors. I wasn't really worried. We were having a bouncy but not a dangerous ride. Pat had been thrown to the cockpit floor only once and her head injury didn't seem serious. I thought maybe Fiona Rois had decided to pull into Atlantic City or had passed us somehow.

In the morning, we spotted her with all sails up ("full and by" as they say) passing about 1 mile to our east! Sailing! I was amazed and greatly impressed! A 25 knot headwind and they're sailing! I thought, "Wow, these guys are true sailors." I wondered for just a moment if I should suggest we try sailing and be true sailors like Mike and Joy. That thought was dispelled after one look at Pat's grim face. I didn't ask her if she was still having fun, but the fact that she hadn't thrown up yet was a good sign.

Twenty-four hours after leaving Sandy Hook, we entered Cape May Inlet. As soon as we entered the channel the wind seemed to die and we motored in bright sunshine to the South Jersey Marina, tying up next to Fiona Rois. Mike and Joy greeted us on the dock. Pat told Joy that she was feeling a little seasick. Joy responded, "I was starting to get seasick, but terror took over and I can handle only one thing at a time!" It seems that shortly before we lost track of them, their exhaust riser failed. The exhaust riser cools the engine with seawater. When they fail, the engine overheats. Mike heard alarms going off down below and descended into a smoke filled cabin. The engine continued to run but very slowly. They had to put up their sails not because were purists, but because they couldn't make any headway under power! Still, this was a prodigious piece of sailing and I was duly impressed.

After securing our boat, we all set off together for lunch. Mike and Joy plan to take the Intercoastal Waterway to the Keys and then over to the Bahamas, so I am sure we'll see alot of each other.