Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Cohansey River, New Jersey (Wednesday, May 28, 2008). At anchor in Havre de Grace yesterday evening, small Lightning sail boats raced in the harbor as we ate dinner. Three lovely Spinnakers flew past in full glory on two different heats. Nice dinner time entertainment if you can get it. Two hour deluge started at 9:00 last night in Havre de Grace. The kind of thunderstorm, lightning and driving rain that makes you wish you had a concrete foundation under you. Held fast in the Susquehanna with 150 feet of chain rode. It was Lake Placid at 11:00; but at 2:00 a.m. the wind whipped up again into the high 20s and the howling coupled with the raging river current meant we were up often to confirm we hadn’t moved. Charter Guest Audrey (CGA from hereon) slept in the screened cockpit with Capt Tony until the rain had fully soaked her feet. Slippery underfoot, she reluctantly went to bed to avoid actual sleep until the winds kicked in and rocked her back into la-la land. We now believe she WAS dropped on her head as a baby!

Started out at 8:00 for an uneventful but pretty transit of the C&D Canal. Clear and bright all day with variable and shifting winds. Passing Turkey Point Lighthouse with good wind but motoring by necessity to cross to the channel, a few more photos and review of the Lighthouse log. We counted Osprey nests on the markers (Osprey perches to Syl) – babies in most of them, one or two downy heads popping up to call for food or greet returning parents. We were passed by a McHale’s Navy-esque boat in the C&D and were safely shepherded through most of it under the piloting of CGA while Capt attended to office duties and XO (Executive Officer) prepared lunch. Although CGA claims she has a long history of safely transporting hundreds of children and adults through all kinds of weather and on all roads, she suspects bridges move with current, and engineers really aren’t all that accurate in determining vertical heights. She was relieved from duty when lunch arrived and Capt confirmed rum rations had not been depleted. Came upon the Conrail Lift Bridge as it was coming down and on hailing the Bridge Operator he lifted it a bit, claiming it was at 80 feet. I immediately wrote in a time-dated log entry that I had asked for 65, he confirmed he had 80 and then instructed me to proceed. Just wanted the insurance evidence to be clear if we all drowned. We didn’t.

While underway, herons, egrets, terns and osprey graced overhead and immediately on shore along side us. Beautiful traveling day. We tried like heck to sail once in the Delaware Bay, but the wind dropped to near nothing, and ETA to Cohansey went from 6:30 to midnight in less than 2 nautical miles. Capt made executive decision to drop sails and restart the motor…sadly, we lost the previously gained 2 nm in that maneuver, but ETA was vastly improved. Cohansey River by 5:30 after a mere hour of sailing down the Delaware Bay before the wind died completely. The Cohansey seems flooded and deeper than we have seen it. Anchored after the third bend in 35 feet. Already turned around with the tide by 7:00. Wind now is whipping, water will begin to ebb down to the mudflats, and CGA will begin instruction on Golf (Capt wants all shoes removed before resuming sailing – we don’t think he was really listening).