Approaching Winter

Silence has been down-rigged for the winter. Antifreeze has been run
through her systems, and her sails have been flaked and stowed. Now we
begin the wait for spring.

Schooner Race Day

We cancelled our planned outing to see the Schooner Race today. It's
raining, 48 degrees, and blowing 20 knots at Thomas Point. It's a good
day to go to the office and stay dry and warm...

More Pictures

For still more pictures, check out Frank's website:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chesbay1ah/collections/

Home Sweet Home

We arrived in Annapolis and came through on the 2:00 bridge opening. It feels great to be home. We are going to get the boat squared away, have a drink, and then go home to take a really long shower.

Cocktail hour

Suzan and I will be having cocktails at the dock this afternoon, around 5:00. We still have some vodka, but we have drunk all of the rum. Anyone reading this is welcome to join us. We will post a more precise time when we gat close...

Homeward Bound

This morning we are motoring south, headed to Annapolis. We have light winds and flat seas.

When you go away for this long it's like having a second life. For a month we have made a life onboard Silence. We are looking forward to getting back to our first life, but we will miss this one. You only get to live one life at a time, unfortunately.

Today's Thundestorm

As we approached the top of the Delaware Bay, where the channel narrows, we saw the black storm clouds of an approaching thunderstorm. We quickly struck sail, and prepared for the storm. We have been sailing in company with S/V Kathryn, and we watched them strike sail
as well. Coming up the channel was a large freighter.

The storm came on strong from the beginning, with 20 knots of breeze, and driving rain. We were positioned outside the channel where the freighter loitered.. on our starboard side we were hemmed in by the shore. The winds climbed quickly through the 20s, then through the 30s, and the boat becamed difficult to manage. Visibility was almost zero and none of the other boats in the area were visible. The winds continued to increase, hitting 48 knots, and the bow was being blown off, towards the rocks waiting onshore. We throttled up to point the bow up into the wind, but we had to be careful not to enter the channel where the invisible freighter was waiting. All the while we hoped that the freighter wouldn't drift down on us in the extreme wind. We were able to stay on station, but just barely.

The winds stayed in the high 30s for half an hour, which is a long time when you are blind and just trying to hang on, and you don't know where the other boats are.

Eventually, the winds tapered off, and the rain stopped. Silence was OK, but we couldn't see S/V Kathyn anywhere. We motored ahead slowly, watching astern with binoculars for any sign of them beyond the bend of the river. We eventually spotted them underway in the distance.

We turned into the C and D Canal, with no wind and flat waters, a welcome sight. Now we are anchored in the Bohemia River, happy to be almost home.

Safe and Sound

We just arrived in the Bohemia River, near the top of the Chesapeake.
We had a wild thundestorm this afternoon, but Silence and crew
weathered it well. More later...

Delaware Bay

We are currently sailing along on a broad reach, up the Delaware Bay.
The winds are 15-20, so we have reefed the main. We expect more wind,
and some rain, but for now the conditions are pleasant, and we are
making good time. Our boatspeed is around 7 knots.

Weather from Cape May

We have nice weather here this morning, but we expect rain and more
wind this afternoon. We will be getting out shortly and will get as
far up the Delaware as we can before the weather hits. There is no
place to stop before the canal, so we will just have to live with
getting wet.

Thunderstorm

It's just after 3:00 A.M and we had a thundestorm pass over us. Winds
in the low 20s, then some brief heavy rain. Lots of lightning. The
boat did fine riding to its anchor. John's boat is anchored nearby.

Cape May

We arrived in Cape May about a half hour ago. We ae anchoring for the
night, next to the Coast Guard station.
We had an easy day of motoring, sailing, and then motoring again. We
saw hundreds od dolphins feeding just north of Cape May.

Sailing

We have a weather window, so we headed out from Atlantic City at 11:30
this morning. The wind is about 10 knots and there is some swell left
over from yesterday. We an into John, from Sarles Marina, on his Swan
in Atlantic City. He is heading down to Cape May also today. He was
out yesterday and he said it was a rough ride.

We are currently sailing SW at about 7 knots, on starboad tack. Let's
hope the weather holds up.

A Break?

We may have a beak in the weather today. The winds are light in the
habor this morning, but it's still blowing 10-15 outside. The built up
waves will be our main concern.

Holed up in Atlantic City

The petrels and the gulls are hunkered down on the dock a few slips
away. The wind in the marina is gusting to 25 knots, and we are
praising our decision to stay put. Did I mention that there is a
severe thunderstorm watch in effect this evening? Crap, crap, and more
crap! Looking at the forecast leads me to the unhappy conclusion that
we may not be able to leave here before Saturday.

Today we took a walk down the boardwalk, and walked though the Tump
Taj Mahal. The boardwalk is a seedy remembrance of years gone by, a
faded pleasure best from a distance. The casinos here are only
reminiscent of Las Vegas and we are not gamblers (though as sailors I
suppose we do enjoy games of chance).

We can't complain too much, we are safe and dry, and we find ourselves
with some quality time to read and sip wine. We will get home
eventually.

Atlantic City, Baby

This is my third time visiting Atlantic City. Each time that I I have
been here I have been a refugee from bad weather. By the looks of the
forecast, we may be spending a couple of days here. Yesterday we made
good progress down the coast, despite three factors against us: the
swell, the wind, and a 1.5 knot current. After sundown, the winds
picked up to 20 knots and the seas began to build. Atlantic City was
just 10 miles away at that point, so we made the easy call to come in
out of the weather.

There is a cold front approaching so we expect more bad weather in the
next couple of days. It looks like it will be Saturday or Sunday
before we see Annapolis. We look forward to being home again, but the
Atlantic is going to control the timing of our homecoming.

Today we will see what Atlantic City has going for it. Suzan just said
that tonight is Country Night at the dock bar. Maybe we should leave
today afterall.

Atlantic City

We just arrived in Atlantic City. The weather went bad, so we decided
to tuck in for the night. All is well with the crew and boat. More
tomorrow...

Little Egg

We are about 10 miles north of Little Egg Inlet, running 2.5 miles off
the beach. We should spot Atlantic City by 10:00 PM. We are stll
motoring into about 13 knots of breeze and moderate swell.

Motoring South

The winds are light from the south, so we are motoring right into
them. We have a small swell, perhaps 3 feet. We are making about 6
knots through the water, however we have a 1 knot current against us.
At this speed we will make Cape May in 18 hours. We are about 2 miles
off the beach, so our cell phones are working for now.

Leaving Sandy Hook

The weather looks good for our run to Cape May, so we are underway at
7:00 AM. We will post again when we arrive in Cape May.