Todd and Emily's Sailing Trip
Where We Are Now...

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On this page, we'll be adding our commentaries of the places we visit as well as pictures to tell and show you where we are.
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Aug. 6- Wed. -Today we left Aly and Jeff's house in Arlington, VA (great friends who were also very patient hosts, since our one week stay turned into three!)  We left and headed to the marina, with a car so packed that we could barely see out the windows.  We planned on leaving today or tomorrow, but it ended up being even later.  When we arrived for the next three days, we did quite a few jobs:  put up a solar panel, put up a radar reflector, inflated the dinghy and got it ready to go, filled our gasoline and kerosine tanks, filled our water, found a place to pack everything inside the boat and strapped it all down, and charged our batteries. After staying on the boat for a few days and doing these preparations, we thought we were about ready to get on our way.  Tomorrow (Sat.) would be the day. 


The solar panel that Todd put on the stern of the boat

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This is our autopilot, which we use as much as we can

Aug. 9- Sat. VHF marine weather broadcasts, announcing severe thunderstorm warnings because of a persistent low pressure system, that basically didn't look like it was going away anytime soon.  Even though we know that we'll have to encounter bad weather from time to time during this trip, we decided to play it safe and wait this out a little longer.  We spent the day rowing around on the dinghy, eating at the marina's Windows on the Bay restaurant, calling friends and family, and hoping that we could maybe leave tomorrow.

Aug. 10 - Sun. - The weather was clearing this morning so we decided to leave today.  We were very happy to get going!  Sunday night, we stopped to anchor in a river on the Chesapeake Bay. 
 
Aug. 11 - Mon. - Continued up the Chesapeake Bay today and stopped at night to anchor in another river closer to the C & D Canal.

Aug. 13 - Wed. - We left the Cohansey River in the morning (the flies followed us for a few hours into the Bay.)  It was a calm day on the Delaware Bay, so it was nice to not have the choppy conditions from yesterday, but it was actually so calm that we didn't have enough wind to sail.  So we kept the motor on and used that the whole day.  From about 8am to 1pm, the weather was great.  We set the autopilot and sat back to just relax, keep watch, and periodically check our navigation.  But, at about 1:30, our first real experience with fog began.  It was thick when it started, but it kept getting thicker.  Visibility went from perfect to being only able to see about 100 feet.  We got out the fog horn, and took turns sounding it once per minute, sitting on the bow, watching and listening to try to make sure we didn't hit anything, while the other person checked navigation.  We were nearing the entrance to the Cape May Canal.  Hours later (around 4,) we saw on the charts that we were approaching the beacons that mark the entrance to the canal.  Also, we could hear the bell on the beacon ringing, getting closer to us every minute, but we still couldn't see it.  Then, we heard other boats right in front of us and behind us trying to enter this narrow channel at the same time.  On the VHF we heard about two boats that had run aground at the entrance of the canal.  As we got closer and managed to aim the boat correctly into the canal, we got inside and out of the bay, and thankfully, the fog had lifted.  We were so thankful to be able to see.  But, in a very narrow space, we were approaching the two boats aground being towed (both had radar, which we don't,) our depth sounder was not working and we were also worried about running aground here, ferry boats looking like they were ready to back out in front of us, other boats around us, and then there we were in the middle of it all, very stressed.  But we made it through, happily, and we were ready to anchor in a spot near the town of Cape May.  We anchored and went to bed early after another long day.  We've learned that you can never tell what adventures will happen to you during each day on the boat.  It's sometimes pretty stressful and really tests us, but I think it really makes us appreciate being anchored and having a good night's sleep, and we always feel proud of what we've experienced and made it through that day, yet again.

Aug. 14 - Thurs. - Today we woke up and decided to go into town.  We rowed the dinghy about 1 mile into the marina area, where we saw houses lining the water, built on stilts, and fishing boats everywhere.  We asked to lock our dinghy at one marina (for a fee of $15) and the owner there let us keep it there overnight.  Our plan for today was find the hotel that Todd's mom, Liz, and Steve were going to get us as a gift (we were very excited for a shower and to sleep one night on land.)  It turned out that they tried calling hotels around the area for 2 hours but all rooms were booked.  Well, we were pretty set on the idea now of the hotel room so we decided to walk around town and see if we might have any luck in person.  We walked and walked and walked, and it was very hot, we had sun rashes that were getting worse with every hour, and we were ready to finally give up.  Going back to the boat now, after being even more sweaty and tired, didn't sound at all appealing.  So, we stopped to cool off and get a milkshake at a local ice cream shop, and decided to make one last attempt for the hotel room by calling around.  It worked!  We found a place - The Alexander House- and it was wonderful.  If anyone reading this goes to Cape May, it's a great place to stay.  It's an old, elegant victorian-style house, with excellent breakfasts, and a great feeling of coziness.  This was definitely a luxury that we won't be doing often, but we appreciated it so much! 

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Our view as we rowed the dinghy into Cape May

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Yes, I did take a picture of our breakfast...we didn't know how much you could appreciate good food!

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Walking around the town of Cape May after a nice shower and dinner out

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A street in Cape May

Aug. 15 - Fri. - After feeling great from a wonderful breakfast and another shower, we made a stop at the local bait and tackle shop, Jim's.  Since we've only caught three fish (all only a bit bigger than goldfish!--see our "Hobbies" section for picture) we wanted to get some expert local advice and some live bait to try our luck fishing in the Cape May Harbor.  We thought we might have a good chance here because of all of the fishing boats around.  So, we walked away from Jim's with a pack of frozen shiner for fishing in the harbor (little fish just bigger than minnows) and some frozen squid strips for when we get into the ocean.  We rowed back to the boat after a quick stop at Wawa to get some provisions.  Today we wanted to spend the day just relaxing on the boat and leave tomorrow.  We rigged up our fishing lines with the shiners and waited.  Soon after, we felt a tug on the line, but we pulled up a sting ray.  Not what we wanted (we were fishing for flounder.)  All day, we were catching sting rays, and we must have caught over 20 by the time we decided to quit.  We even called Jim's from the boat to ask if we were doing something wrong (it's very obvious to most that we are new at this sport) and they said we must just be in the wrong spot or something.  Fishing seems to us now like the kind of thing were nobody really knows the secret to what they're doing, they just give things a try.  So I think we fit right in with that strategy.  Anyway, even though we didn't catch any flounder, it was a start to just catch anything on the lines.  I even caught (and released) a baby sand bar shark!--see "Hobbies" section for pictures  That night, we did our laundry.  Our technique was to get salt water in a bucket with detergent, then wash, then pour more salt water over the "clean" pile to rinse it, and then hang it.  Well, it didn't work very well because salt water makes the clothes feel sticky and not clean.  Plus, we had some rainy days so the clothes took about 3-4 days to dry, and they ended up smelling moldy when they actually did dry.  We've learned that we'll rinse with fresh water next time. 

Aug. 16 - Sat. - In the morning, we waited for our laundry to dry and got ready for our first long Atlantic Ocean voyage.  The trip looked like about 24-36 hours from Cape May to New York City.  We would try doing it all at once so we could just get there.  In NY, we had friends to stay with and other people we wanted to look up, so we were excited to get there.  The weather sounded ok but not great - they were calling for 10 foot maximum waves.  Not something to look forward to, but also not something that we couldn't handle. Plus, it's better to get used to some bigger waves when we're closer to shore.  In the end, the waves didn't turn out to be that big at all.  Of course we were happy about that.

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Todd in the cabin

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Navigating by comparing GPS readings with charts

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Sailing

Aug. 17 - Sun. - Around 1 this afternoon, we dropped anchor in Sandy Hook, NJ.  A bad place to anchor because it was unprotected (from weather) and right off a beach, which made for lots of choppy waves rolling into the beach and a ton of boats going by creating big wakes to add to the waves.  But, our plan was to sleep here for 4-5 hours only, just to get some sleep before entering such a busy area, and also because the currents would change in our favor if we waited for the tides to change, so we thought we'd be fine here for a bit (we sailed all night last night and only slept for about an hour at a time.)  Last night, the weather wasn't that great either - we ran into a lot of small thunderstorms, which just makes for a long night.  It was great this morning when the sun finally came out.  So, we slept for a few hours and woke up to a really dark sky and the VHF sending emergency broadcasts for severe thunderstorms.  They were right - the storm started and our boat started riding up on huge waves and crashing down in between.  Kind of scary because we were worried our anchor might not hold with such intense winds and the motion of the boat was pretty dramatic.  Well, we were happy that we were anchored and not traveling into New York at least, so we decided to stay for the night and go to New York tomorrow.

Aug. 18 - Mon. - Today we went from Sandy Hook, NJ to Coney Island.  We tied up to a mooring (nobody else was anchored in this anchorage area) and rowed the dinghy in to shore to ask if it was ok to be tied up there.  First, the owner said we were fine and he'd look out for the boat.  He said if it was a problem, he'd move it and then we could pay him $20/night to stay.  So, we tied the dinghy to their dock and on our walk to the subway station, we heard a woman (his wife) yelling to us from her opened door, asking us 'what we thought we were doing, walking across her property?'  After telling her that her husband had already said we were fine, she ordered us into her house to show her IDs and to pay $25/night up front to stay on the mooring.  This encounter with her made me a lot less excited to be spending the next three days with personalities like that.  But, it turned out that, thankfully, we didn't meet anyone else quite like her there.  So, we made our way to the Washington Heights area, in upper Manhattan, to stay with Todd's friends, Bonnie and Devon.  We had a nice few days, also meeting up with two of my friends who live in the city, Suzy and Jeff, and also Todd's Aunt Sue and Uncle Gucci.  After a few days of showers and enough rest (and after we'd had our fill of the faster-paced and less peaceful NYC life,) we were ready to get back on the Kentucky Woman again.  We decided to sleep on the boat that night, though, and we turned on the engine to leave the harbor the next day. 

Aug. 22 - Fri. - We left around 11:30 to go with the favorable current around Manhattan, up the East River, and into Long Island Sound.  A nice but very hot day - we motored the whole way (there were lots of boats and not much room or wind to sail.)  At times, because of the current, we were going 8 mph!  That's about double what we normally go.  At 5pm, as we reached the Long Island Sound, we anchored.  We were getting closer to Cape Cod, where we would stay with Quimby and Mark Mahoney (my cousin's wife's parents) and we were excited to get there, but we wanted to take it easy and rest before another long day of traveling. 

Aug. 23 - Sat. - We had anchored in Port Jefferson last night, and waking up there was really nice.  What a great night's sleep we had in the harbor - the water was calm and the temperature was a lot cooler (yesterday had been unbearably hot with so much humidity.)  So, we left around 9am and had a great day sailing with excellent winds (we averaged about 7 mph today!)  One aggravating problem is a fly infestation that we can't get rid of.  We have live flies everywhere and dead ones littered around from swatting them with our fly swatter.  We've used that, Raid, and Off, and can't exterminate these things.  It's been going on since we were in the Delaware Bay.  We're adding fly paper and fly spray to our list of supplies needed.  Tonight we're anchoring again in Long Island Sound (Niantic Bay) and hope to make it to the Cape tomorrow if we have good winds and put in a long day. 

Aug. 24 - Sun. - We started out this morning from Niantic Bay and sailed all the way to Buzzards Bay, Cape Cod to visit Quimby and Mark.  We were looking forward to getting there and had a really nice day of weather and fast sailing because of the winds and currents that worked so well for us.  That night, we came into Buzzards Bay pretty late, around 12:30.  Nothing was lit up in the Bay, so we got out the spotlight to compare the land features and unlit buoys we could see to the images that were shown on out charts and GPS map.  I held the spotlight and yelled to Todd to tell him what was ahead of us, while he steered us in the right direction while looking at the GPS.  We had talked to Mark recently on the cell phone and he gave us a description of the mooring of theirs that we could tie up to, but he said we could tie up to any empty one for the night and then move the boat the next day if we would rather do that.  The first one we got close to, we stopped at, thankful to be there after a long day.

Aug. 25 - Mon. - In the morning, Quimby and Mark were planning to leave for a Red Sox game, so they offered to come and get us at the dock and take us home so we could relax around the house all day, do our laundry, etc.  We rowed in and tied up to the dinghy dock, and Quimby was right there to meet us.  The stay at their house felt great.  We took showers immediately, took a nap, and then later walked around the town of Pocasset.  In the evening when they came home, they cooked us a nice meal and we talked about our travels and their boating experiences.  Mark is a carpenter by trade and as a hobby, has built several sailboats.  It was interesting to see the beautiful handmade boat that they had - one night, Quimby picked up delicious lobster sandwiches and we dined on the deck of their boat.  After a nice couple of days, we planned on leaving on Wednesday.

Aug. 27 - Wed. - We left Cape Cod by going through the Cape Cod Canal, and stopped in Scituate, MA that night.  We loved this town.  It's small, only a 25 min. drive to Boston, and as you come into the marina, you see the main attractions in town (restaraunts, bars, marinas) that look out onto the harbor.  Inside the harbor, anchoring was prohibited, so we picked up a mooring for $30 (included rides to and from land and showers.)  It was a treat not to have to untie the dinghy and row in, so we decided to take advantage of the service and go out for dinner at an Irish pub overlooking the bay.

Aug. 28 - Thurs. - We left Scituate early, and traveled to Boston.  We arrived in late afternoon, and immediately took a nap when we were secured with our anchor in the ground in Old Harbor.  Our anchorage area was right off the coast of South Boston (Southie, as people there call it.)  Todd's high school friends, Jon and Andrew, were due home from work around six, so we rowed to shore and carried the dinghy to their apartment.  It was really heavy and sort of a long walk.  It was our first time taking it with us instead of tying it somewhere, but we felt safer having a back yard to store it in during our visit.  I'm sure we looked strange, walking with our backpacks and a small boat down the streets of Boston.  Thursday and Friday nights we went out with friends of theirs.  Jon gave us his room to stay in, which was so comfortable.  When they were at work on Friday, we got to use their Internet and watch TV- something we hadn't done for a while.  We also walked around Southie and went to restaurants. 

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Sunset at anchor in Boston's Old Harbor, just off the coast of South Boston

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Aug. 31 - Sat. - Today we went back to the boat in the afternoon and got ready to leave for New Hampshire tomorrow around 6am.  We're very excited to be getting closer to our homes!

Sept. 1 - Sun. - We got in last night and anchored in a Special Anchorage Area right near where we were planning to keep the boat for the next few weeks.  The tide was going out and the current would be pushing against us if we had tried to come to our spot last night, so we thought it would be better to wait until the morning.  This morning, we waited for the tide to start coming in, and we began motoring to our mooring.  A friend of my parents knew of a mooring that wasn't being used, and graciously said we could use it for as long as we wanted.  So, we found it without a problem, rowed into the docks in our dinghy filled with tons of bags and supplies we wanted to bring home.  My parents were waiting on the docks for us, and after loading up the car, we had lunch together and walked around the town of Portsmouth.  It was great to finally make it home!  The plan is to stay until the end of September, until hurricane season is over and we are safe to head to the Caribbean.  We'll spend time in NH, VT, and maybe take a drive up to Maine.

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A lobster boat in Portsmouth Harbor area (Piscataqua River)

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Todd hiking on "Devil's Gulch" trail

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Liz, Todd, Steve on a hike near Ritter Bush Pond, VT

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Emily by the pond

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A cabin in the woods on Ritter Bush Pond, VT

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Emily and brother, Douglas, hiking in NH on Farnham Hill Reserve Trails

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Mom and Douglas on our hike

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We built a wooden dinghy while we were home (named Sarah B.) More pictures of her in "Hobbies"

Oct. 11 - Sat. - We got up early and left at 8am.  Instead of heading straight to Bermuda as planned, we would go to Cape Cod (Provincetown) and wait there for good weather, because of the hurricanes that were still out in what was to be our travel path.  It was a full day of sailing, and actually, we used the motor all day with some motorsailing towards the end, since we didn't have much wind.  Halfway through the day, we were both feeling ill, and Todd was getting sick over the side, and we contemplated stopping in Cape Ann (about halfway to Ptown.)  But, after hearing rain being forecasted for the next day, we decided to push on with the help of Dramamine.  We finally arrived that night around midnight, and anchored in the safety of Provincetown Harbor, nestled just under the hand of Cape Cod's arm. 

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The Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown

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Provincetown Harbor

Oct. 12 - Sun. - Today I had a fever all day and couldn't get out of bed.  That was ok because it was raining out and we weree really tired from Saturday's trip down.  Tomorrow we would venture in. 

Oct. 13 - Mon. - In the morning, we rowed into shore and locked Sarah B. up along a public dockage area.  We probably didn't even need to bother locking it, though, since everywhere along the beach we saw kayaks, rowboats, dinghies, anchors, etc, just left unsecured on the sand.  Maybe our former life in DC made us more wary of theft than the residents of Provincetown.  Today we walked up and down Commercial St. all day, a narrow street lined with shops, restaurants, theaters, and guesthouses.  We waited around in town to watch the Red Sox game around 8.  After staying at my house for over a month, most of my family follows the Red Sox religiously, so consequently, Todd and I got into watching the playoffs this year, too.  It started getting dark just after 6, and we still had 2 hours before the game, so Todd decided to row out to the boat to turn on the anchor light while we waited.  As I waited on the shore, I saw the anchor light go on, but then I waited longer, and he didn't come back . Of course I started to worry that something was wrong out there and we had no way to get in touch with each other.  About 10 more minutes passed, and he came rowing back to shore, his hair soaking wet.  While he was on the boat with the dinghy tied up, the rope had been too thick for the cleat and had come undone, and the dinghy had started to float away.  Todd jumped in after it.  He said the hardest part was getting himself back into the boat with no ladder and clothes that were cold and heavy from the weight of the water. 

Oct. 14 - Tues. - This morning, I tried fishing with lures (no luck, again.)  We left for the beach again, planning to check the weather, go to the grocery store, and buy an antenna for our boat radio so we could listen to tonight's game and also to hear local forecasts from places we'll be in the future.  The weather didn't look good - we saw Hurricane #19 (since named Nicholas,) gale force winds for tonight and tomorrow, Tropical Storm Mindy, and other bad weather and winds going the wrong way (for our journey to Bermuda.)  We know we'll be here at least through the weekend.  So, we stopped at City Video and got some DVDs to watch on the laptop we have on the boat. "Kundun" was one we got - we liked it a lot.  What a nice treat to have a movie on the boat.  That night, the gale force winds that were predicted hit the harbor - hard.  Winds were said to be 30-40 knots, gusting to 55 knots!  We hardly slept at all.  Both of us were pretty scared that our anchor wouldn't hold and we start getting blown into shore (Todd made adjustments constantly through the night to make sure that it did hold, successfully.)  We also were worried that we could get hit inside the cabin with something that was flying off a shelf with the huge waves that were tossing the boat around, or that the dinghy, oars, water tanks, or gas tanks would come untied and get blown away.  We were so nervous because we had never seen such high winds, and although we were happy that we were not out trying to sail in those conditions, being anchored could be almost as dangerous because of the high winds, choppy waves, and because we were anchored very close to the shore.

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Former Baptist minister, Elliot ("Ellie") is a local Ptown icon.

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Sarah B. waits on the beach for us to tie her up to the local dock.

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If you look closely between our heads, you can see where the Kentucky Woman is anchored.

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Lounging on the beach (in 50-degree weather)

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Todd, in his foul-weather pants

Oct. 17 - Fri. - The weather is calm around here for now, but a low pressure system is expected here this weekend.  We're still going to the Provincetown Public Library every day, checking the weather, hoping the forecast will soon tell us that we can go.  Tonight, we're playing some cribbage and then we'll look at charts to decide to either stay here and wait for good weather, or start heading south. 

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Todd checking the boat before we leave for the next part of the trip

Oct. 20 - Mon. - We left at 5:30am for the Cape Cod area. We stopped in a well-protected harbor after a few hours to get securely anchored, because gale force winds were expected tomorrow.   

Oct. 21 - Tues. - A very windy day today, but we were in a fine spot, glad that we waited and planned to leave tomorrow.  We spotted a guy kayaking out to his sailboat and waved to him out the window.  It looked like he was doing some cruising as well.  Later, he kayaked over to us, bringing a box of Ritz crackers with him that he was apparently getting rid of, but maybe just as a gesture of kindness for fellow cruisers, and we talked for a bit.  He was doing the trip alone, which seems to us like a hard thing to imagine doing. He said he may be in Norfolk, our next planned stop, so maybe we'd see him down there.  Noah's Ark was the name of his boat - we may just run into each other one of these days.  People tell us that we'll get to know other cruisers well because others will be doing the same circuit as us, and may have similar time schedules.  We're excited to start meeting others who are doing this, too.

Oct. 22 - Wed. - We left around 8am and started sailing away from shore.  The radio announced a "Small Craft Advisory" but we thought we'd be fine.  We were sick of the cold weather, and Massachussetts was possibly going to get snow tonight.  Snow!!?  We had to get south quickly, we thought, a decision that, in retrospect, we look at as foolish, unsafe, and impatient, considering what we went through just to get to weather 20-30 degrees warmer...not worth the hasty departure....  Things didn't start getting bad until we hit the open ocean, away from the calm waters of our anchorage area close to shore.  We devised a sleeping schedule, where we'd each sleep 5 hours at night, then each have a 3-hr and 4-hr break during the day.  But by night, neither of us could sleep and didn't want to leave the other person alone.  After dark, everything always seems worse.  And it was getting worse, too.  Winds were consistently around 20-30 knots with gusts to 35 knots.  Waves got bigger by the hour, and as we headed farther offshore, the waves seemed more ocean-like (less choppy, but much taller and wider.)  Usually, we have the autopilot going, so that as we are in charge of the boat, duties normally consist of watching for shops or other obstacles, navigation, and monitoring overall safety of the boat while the other person sleeps.  But, our autopilot was not takeing well to the size of the waves we were encountering, and it kept steering us off course.  The waves were 7-12 feet with occasional larger ones, probably up to 16 feet or so.  So, we had to hand steer the whole time.  This would normally be tiring on a calm day after a few hours.  And, for this trip, with waves that caused the tiller to jerk so violently that it was hard to pull it towards you with an arm's strength, and then just as hard to push it away from you with the muscles of your legs, we endured this hand-steering challenge for 3 full days and 3 full nights.  A workout like no other!  So, about our plan of sleeping on a schedule, we were so physically exhausted after a few hours, we would have to stop and sleep sooner.  Our pattern that night turned to 2 hours at the helm, 2 hours sleeping, on until the next night when we could no longer handle that amount of time, and had to go down to 1 hour shifts.  We had a preventer rigged, which prevents accidental jibes, but it soon became tangled with the high winds and the boat was rocking so much that it would be too dangerous for anyone to go to the bow to try to fix it, even with our lifejackets and and being clipped onto the boat with a harness at all times.  We were running downwind, so accidental jibes were a danger, and eventually, they did happen a few times on Thursday night, entangling the main sail into the upper spreaders, causing one to break off and damaging the shrouds.  We only noticed this damage the next day because at that time, it was dark, and we were so focused on staying on the boat, staying awake after days of only few hour naps, and extreme exhaustion, being able to steer with our severe lack of physical strength remaining, decreasing confidence, and increasing fears.  During the night shifts, we sometimes got rained on, it hailed a few times, got down to 30 degree weather, and we were thoroughly soaked even with our rainsuits on.  Todd has a nicer foul weather suit, which I'm now considering upgrading to, since he had drier clothes than I did. Most of the wetness came from the spray of each crashing wave that would send the boat slamming down onto the water while water gushed over the bow, sides, or stern of the boat.  We expected to arrive at some point on Friday, but since we had not been able to motor with such big waves, and winds were blowing in waves that woudn't allow much easy westward movement, our progress took us far enough south, but we ended up about 100 miles offshore, when we wanted to be aiming directly at Cape May, NJ.  WE had a lot of distance still to cover before arriving there.  We had decided to stop in Cape May instead of continuing to Norfolk, VA in the midst of our chaotic trip, being too physically and metally exhausted to keep going. 

Oct. 24 - Fri. - The winds finally died down today after the skies had cleared as the sun rose this morning.  Seeing the clouds diminish and the sky turn to blue was amazing, although we still had the whole day and night before we had a chance of arriving.  The waves were still around 4-6 feet with occasional larger ones, and by evening, we were able to use the outboard to steer directly west to Cape May.  We arrived at our anchorage at 5:30am Saturday. 

Oct. 25 - Sat. - The whole boat was soaked and had some sort of moldy smell, and we needed good sleeep, so as soon as the sun came up, we packed a bag and rowed the dinghy to shore, in search of a place to sleep and shower.  The small and very basic Motor Lodge that we came to was like a palace to us, the ultimate in luxuries, with a hot shower, dry bed, and heater that we used to dry our clothes.  All day, we napped, watched TV, and then ordered pizza delivery, before falling again very early again for the night.  It's amazing how much you can appreciate things like dryness and warmth after you've been through a few days like we went through.   

Oct. 26 - Sun. - Liz and Steve wanted to treat us to the Bed and Breakfast, Alexanders, tonight, that we loved so much the last time we were here.  We were very happy to spend another night on land tonight.  We went out to the boto blue was amazing, although we still had the whole day and night before we had a chance of arriving.  The waves were still around 4-6 feet with occasional larger ones, and by evening, we were able to use the outboard to steer directly west to Cape May.  We arrived at our anchorage at 5:30am Saturday. 

Oct. 25 - Sat. - The whole boat was soaked and had some sort of moldy smell, and we needed good sleeep, so as soon as the sun came up, we packed a bag and rowed the dinghy to shore, in search of a place to sleep and shower.  The small and very basic Motor Lodge that we came to was like a palace to us, the ultimate in luxuries, with a hot shower, dry bed, and heater that we used to dry our clothes.  All day, we napped, watched TV, and then ordered pizza delivery, before falling again very early again for the night.  It's amazing how much you can appreciate things like dryness and warmth after you've been through a few days like we went through.   

Oct. 26 - Sun. - Liz and Steve wanted to treat us to the Bed and Breakfast, Alexanders, tonight, that we loved so much the last time we were here.  We were very happy to spend another night on land tonight.  We went out to the boat today and picked up a huge bag of laundry that we took to a laundromat.  Then, we went out to lunch and later checked into our B&B.  It was a great place, just like we remembered, with other incredible French breakfast brought to our room in the morning. 

Oct. 27 - Mon. - Today after breakfast, Todd made many calls to sailboat repair people to try to see about getting the damaged rigging on the boat repaired.  We need to get this done and hope it won't take too long, because we're now very anxious to get on with our trip south, and hope it won't cost a fortune either.  Our updated plan is to take the Intercoastal Waterway down and land in the Bahamas first, then island-hop along the Caribbean.  Tonight, we're going back out to the boat.  The rain is supposed to stop tomorrow.  We're excited to dry things out on the boat, get it repaired, and get on our way after this wonderful and much needed rest in Cape May. 

To continue reading about our trip, click on the link below:

Intercoastal Waterway

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