Life Aboard Kind of Magic

Report #5 : September 6 – September 26- NYC to Cape May to Annapolis

Shore leave Bing and Danny Style.

Manhattan is Up, the Battery Down. We put on our whitest and least wrinkled whites, put on the deodorant and cleanest socks. Our very first dinghy trip in we managed to hole one tube on a nail BUT no problem, 2 out of 3 tubes works and it was all good, we’d be back for slack tide (not low tide, slack tide happens 4 times a day, high and low tide 2 times a day each and slack is the weakest point of the ebb or flood current) to get the engine up and the dinghy up for repairs the next day. So we went out and walked around for a few hours, stopped at Garraty’s where the motto is “Drink and Shut Up” (resounds in just so many ways!) and back to the Basin. We ran into Gill & Diana (Serenada) and George and Kim (CS’TA Time) both from Hawkestone Yacht Club (our home Club on Lake Simcoe) and we chatted a bit but slack tide waits for no one and we had a wounded dinghy to attend to. Gill and Diana waited to make sure we were floating and could get back to the big boat – nice of them. That was all we saw of the 2 pairs, both obviously busy readying themselves and their boats for the next big leg, except for some waves by in the dinghy the next day and they disappeared a couple of days later, on the path.

The following day we attended to the dinghy, stranded aboard as the patches need a full 24 hours to dry before blowing up the tube. The day was spend relaxing and reading although we waved at Gill & Diana (Serenada was on a ball right in front of us, well right behind us, no right in front of us – that tide keeps changing us back and forth, it’s hard to keep up!) Dinghy patched we were back in business the following day. We walked and walked and walked that day up to 100^th and all the way down to the Battery.

We got free pizza that day – a Sunday - from Pizza Pizza at Times Square where NFL Sunday was broadcasting. We must have missed the Bud trailer, sure could have used some extra cold beer too! However, we bar jumped all the way through NOHO, SOHO, Tribeca, Greenich Village, past the Bull to the Battery so don’t worry we kept hydrated! Temps were in the low 90s (that’s the low 30s but in American) and it was sunny all day long for the whole week. Edi relented and we subwayed it back to the 79^th St Boat Basin.

One of our jobs for NYC was to open an account at the TD which has a US division associated so it’s easy to transfer monies, transferred in US $ from our US bank account at TD Canada Trust and got ATM cards for the new account. TD North America (as opposed to TD Canada Trust) refunds the interact fee charged by other bank ANYWHERE (unlimited times a month) and don’t charge a service charge themselves provided a minimum balance of $2500 is maintained. Note to self, sell TD shares – don’t see how they can make a profit doing this!! Oh, and the TD North America account now also shows up on our online TD Canada Trust profile. Edi did good researching this all out.

One day we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. That collection rates with any worldwide (we have been to many in Europe and think this collection is great.) One museum combines art and what we consider museum collections (Egyptian, medieval etc.) often separated into museums and art galleries. Artifacts first floor mostly and art works 2^nd floor - mostly. The Impressionist Collection ranks first tier with anything in Paris and the Museum has an extensive collection of van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Degas (including the sculpture of the Dancer which we had been keenly anticipating), Toulouse-Latrec, Matisse and the rest of the gang. Entry is $25 suggested – that means go ahead and pay less if that isn’t in your budget. It is easily a whole day’s tour and we made the mistake of starting late in the morning. It was fashion week and all the open spaces were being set up for banquet dinners for the fashion industry but we were allowed to stay right until the advertised closing time of 5:30pm (open later on Thursdays and Fridays.) We missed the Museum of Natural History but will make that a priority for next time. We went to ground zero and thought the reflecting pools in the footprints of the two towers with the names of those lost were a good memorial. We were last here in 1993 and visited a friend from Vancouver working for a couple of years in the South Tower and thought of his colleagues. On September the nights of September 10 and 11 there were two spotlights shining straight up. We forewent the Empire State Building having done that 20 years ago but still were thrilled to see it again and relived some of that last trip.

We walked and walked through Central Park, the various districts and again down to the Battery for the Staten Island Ferry (free!!!) We got our strategy set for NYC Harbour the following day. Back to 79^th Street by subway and did a final provisioning with fruits, veggies, meats etc. We spent one afternoon topping the diesel from the jerry cans, and made two trips to the marina with our 5 gal water jerry cans. Then that was it, our week was up.

Friday morning we slipped off the mooring ball lines and we were headed south once more. Boy, the traffic just picked up and up, a dozen ferries back and forth and around from the Manhattan side to the New Jersey side of the Hudson, from upper Manhattan to Lower Manhattan, from Hudson to East River. The Cruise terminal is just south of the Basin and there was a Carnival ship heading out. Rounding the bottom of Manhattan there is another terminal with the tour boats for Ellis Island and Liberty Island (the one with the BIG lady)

and a little further is the Staten Island Ferry dock (every 20 minutes) and there are helicopters flying everywhere. Oh, let’s not forget about the tug boats with barges everywhere, the ocean 600’ freighters some at anchor and some you just THOUGHT were at anchor! We decided to hug Manhattan by the Battery, wait for the Staten Island ferry to pass and run by Governor’s Island and slip into the smaller channel between in and Brooklyn’s dockyards.

Brooklyn's Dock Yards

From there we hugged Brooklyn and approaching the Verrazano Bridge we sliced through to the Staten Island side of the outer Harbor (it just looks wrong but we’ll bank that “u” since we’re in the US…) The three security boats that screamed past us doing 60 miles an hour thankfully were not interest in us and were long gone by the time we pointed the camera in their direction.

We made for Great Kills Harbor but found it was only mooring balls at $45 a night. We passed and moved onto Sandy Hook where we arrived late in the day. It started blowing like stink late in the day and blew all night. We were a bit exposed past the breakwall – last in - but the anchor did its job and we slept as best we could. We were near friends again, Cloud 9 and Sea Angel in sight and several others that we could see including the Canadian boats. The next morning the fleet was readying and leaving for the jump to Cape May, some boats including Serenada and CS’TA Time having been there a week apparently. We were about the last to leave along with Cloud 9.

We upped the main with a reef in and left the genny furled. We motored out into the wind out past the crab pots carefully winding our path through, then rounded through Sandy Hook channel seemingly within arms-reach of the men fishing on shore – we kept looking at our depth reading in disbelieve that we truly were in 50 feet of water! Most of the fleet turned tight to shore and stayed about ¼ mile offshore.

We and several others went out some 6-7 miles offshore and once there I changed over the black water plumbing and took care of that job. Then we shook out the reef in the main in about 15-18 knots of steady winds and started adjusting the boom, main and genny for a perfect beam reach to Cape May. A beam reach is where the wind is blowing right at the side of the boat (if the bow is 12 oclock, the stern is 6 O’clock, a beam reach is right at 3 – or on the other side 9 – O’clock.) A beam reach is the holy grail of sailing, something we all look for, anticipate, savour and usually it never gets you where you want to go. Where you want to go seems to be just about where the wind is coming from. BUT NOT TODAY!! Today was our day and we seized it!!

We sailed a 15 hour beam reach in winds ranging from 15-20 knots with gusts to 22 knots. We made 6.5 knots to 7.3 knots and topped out at 7.6 when Edi loudly cleared her throat and we let the boom out a bit more and put some of the extra wind on our rear quarter (a sailboat can take more wind further behind from 4-5 O’clock and less wind from 1-2 O’clock.) We were heeled about 10 degrees up to 15 degrees and I know from the ahems not to push it. We appreciated the big night light the powers that be laid on for us and all of the massive display of stars. The moon set about 2:00 am and then it got dark. That made it easy to see the other boats out there that somehow we managed to get in front of despite a whole ocean out there. However, our closest miss was over half a NM (that is a kilometer) and two of three talked to us, one fishing vessel actually adjusted HIS course – we just wanted to know his heading! – and only one - Jersey Girl - stubbornly refused to answer or even maintain a consistent heading. No problem, we just turned 30 degrees away and ran off until he was well past us and scattering the next sailboat in front of us – Dana. We spoke with Dana and another boat – Quicksilver – verifying the AIS signatures were indeed on and off and that it was not our own equipment malfunctioning, just the satellites. That was good knowledge not to rely too much on big ships always showing up. Also nice to know we had friendlies watching us just like we were watching them. Well past sin city (Atlantic City brightly lit up) the wind whipped up past 25 knots and we turned into the wind and reefed the genny about half and settled back to our beam reach. Then, just as suddenly as the gust came up, the wind dropped to 10 knots and down further as the horizon behind us to the east got a little less dark.

The sunrise was absolutely spectacular, made all the sweeter after our accomplishment of that glorious sail. A mile or so from Cape May we wheeled and dosed all the sails and coiled the lines, readying Kind of Magic for Cape May. The fishing boats were flooding out as we turned in and following Ann on Crazy Lady into the Harbor. We were at the tail end but several other boats were still coming in, although we put on about 10 more miles than most and left an hour after most. We did well and have all the more confidence in Magic and our ability to tend to her and she to us.

20 hours, 135 NM – offshore, Atlantic Ocean NMs those ones. Yippee-ki-yay indeed.

We have been in Cape May now for 3 days.

We met up with old friends and have met new ones. Brian and his friend Chris on Afleca – a 37’ Beneteau – were anchored in front of us and we talked but they had to push on to Annapolis the next day. We’d meet up again later. Cape May is beautiful with a small very protected harbour.

The US Coast Guard has a training installation and all the cruisers – almost all sail with just one or two trawlers – are at anchor in front of the Coast Guard station. The recruits are at it all day long and even well into the evening and there are drills, runs, chanting, etc then they disappear off to class rooms, dorms, etc. The Coast Guard has 2 huge ships, two medium ships and a host of smaller ships and boats here. We hear them on the VHF doing interdictions and boarding freighters etc but they don’t seem interested in us at all.

We had drinks with Cloud 9 (Rose and Dave), Sea Angel (Ann and Bryan) and Crazy Lady (Ann, really nice and not crazy at all.) We passed Ann just as she was coming into Waterford and we were leaving. Nice to catch up, you separate, come together, and trip into one another later. Easy friendships being made by everyone along the way and, we suspect, lasting friendships being forged. We have met with Pierre and Natalie on Lance L’eau (42’ Fontaine Pajot catamaran) from Montreal. Wonderful couple who gave us a tour of their boat and are on their way to Grenada. We saw them in Hop-O-Nose with their friends on Nauticus who we have also talked to. They are buddy-boating and Nauticus is going part of the way with them. We rounded out the Quebecois entourage in the harbour meeting Francois and Michel on Grand-Pas a Beneteau also enroute to Grenada (they and Pierre and Natalie intend to haul out there for next hurricane season.) We look forward to time with this wonderful group and I must mention that they are tolerating my attempts to dust off my French. Pierre especially has realized that his English is vastly superior to my French but he has been very kind in not being offended by some of what has come out of my mouth!

Yesterday we found another dinghy dock and quietly disposed of our garbage and pulled out our collapsible cart and laundry and did the wash at a Laundromat having libations at the C View tavern during the spin cycle (Cape May’s oldest tavern for the history buffs – and we are history buffs and the libations were strictly a necessary price of entry!) Leaving we passed Jon and Marguerite on Quicksilver, a 36’ Ericson. Marguerite was the voice in the dark behind us a bit on the overnight passage and they were as pleased as we to meet and trade notes. They are enroute South from Fairhaven, near Oswego and have their son aboard. On the way back to Kind of Magic we met Ladd & Denise, an experienced couple on Blue, a serious liveaboard cruiser. Ladd has invited us aboard anytime and has offered to educate us on the Delaware stretch and the strategies for dealing with the tide. His first tip – there’s a full moon coming. I don’t think he means to look out for werewolves. I had better include tide table research with my studies.

We took a dinghy ride around the north side of the harbor and stopped at the Harbor View Marina for happy hour. Gail introduced us to the half-price appetizers (we call it a cruiser’s big dinner out.) Draft beers $2, $4 plates of fried clam strips, $4 steamers (15-20 clams in garlic and tomatoes) and much more. But, curiously, Happy Hour 3-6pm is only on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. Apparently Tuesday and Wednesday are not-so-happy days around here? Then we dinghied out and around to where the BIG fishing boats are – these look like the boats in “Perfect Storm” and they have the massive nets and flood lights.

Jersey Girl was one of them and we think we definitely made the right decision to run away from her a few nights ago.

Pierre waved at us one afternoon and invited us over and he and his wife Natalie gave us a tour of their 42’ Fontaine Pajot catamaran Lance L’eau. Their wonderful vessel is matched by the owners. Pierre and Natalie are wonderful. Pierre’s reluctance to use his English gave way after my fumbling attempts to use my French – I think he realized I just wouldn’t give up butchering his language! We laughed at each other’s attempts and results and promised to have parties when the Leafs and the Habs go at it. I think I may have to wear the rouge, blanc et bleu unless the Leafs put together a team this year!

Pierre came over one day and asked if we would like to do a dinghy trip with them up the channel to “Wildwoods.” We had no idea what that was but were in like Flint. We put our dinghy in position and followed Natalie and Pierre. With them were Manon and Alain, also from the Montreal area. Manon and Alain are the owners of “Nautilus” – a 33’ Hunter - and they are really great.

We spent the day with them at Wildwoods which is a New Jersey seaside town. It is apparently well known in Quebec but I confess to never having heard of it. It is spectacular. There is a pristine Atlantic beach maybe at least 5 miles long and 1000’ wide. There are roller coasters, carnival rides, shooting galleries, gift shops, restaurants etc. all along a long raised board walk. Think an oversized Coney Island with a fantastic clean Atlantic beach.

That night we spoke with Anne on Crazy Lady and again with the Quebec cousins and discussed the weather window. We decided to leave early in the morning and brought up the dingy. By 8 am we were through the Cape May canal, under the two bridges and into the Delaware Bay.

We rode north on a flood tide and 7 hours later made the Cohansey River after 33.4 NM. We passed CSTA Time and Seranda and anchored on a bend with beautiful grassy banks surrounding us on a huge, deep meandering river. The weather was great, the moon bright and the birds beautiful. The next morning was early and by 7 am we were on up the Delaware riding a flood tide all the way up to the C & D Canal.

Bay Traffic we passed AFTER to that green buoy to get over to the C & D Canal

We got there half an hour early for the flood tide up the C & D to Chesapeake City and so wheeled slowly and Edi got us lunch.

We rode that flood tide right into the Chesapeake and put up sails to the Sassafras River finding a secluded anchorage at the Woodland Creek just in sight of Georgetown’s marinas. We settled in, dropped the dinghy and went for a ride stopping at a marina for happy hour and meeting Brian from Mar-A-Lago for the first time.

The next day we decided to run for Annapolis and made it into Back Creek – in Eastport established 1665 and it is NOT Annapolis don’t you know – and dropped the hook and then the dinghy. We made quick for Davis’ Pub right off the dinghy dock and ate crab sandwiches and downed draft beers. Life is soooo hard.

Back Creek is small and the channel very small, the boats at anchor many, and the holding not great. OK excuses made, we dragged and checking our pride, we have taken a mooring ball up one creek in Spa Creek. $450 for a month of sound sleeping. And hot showers – we get to use the facilities too. Pump outs from the Harbourmaster’s “honey wagon” at $5 – really they come to your boat and take all your S**T for $5. They make it just so darned hard to obey the rules! Public dinghy docks at EVERY street that touches the water. This is becoming another black hole from which we will need Scotty to get every last bit from the engines to escape. Oh, that’s not even getting into Pusser’s bar at the Ramada (ran into Brian from Afleca again there!!), the Naval Academy, the European town feel and look of this place and the sheer beauty of the streets, homes, waterlife and… the BOAT SHOW coming from October 10-14. This place is GREAT!!! We will investigate this anomaly further.