On our way

We left Thursday about 4:30 and motored-sailed overnight. Friday the wind came up a little and we were able to handle the jib and main in 10 knots of breeze mostly hobby horsing. We kept the starboard engine on to keep the speed up and got to Cape May about 6 PM. & anchored almost in the channel for the night with lots of large fishing boats coming and going. Sat morning we moved away from the channel only to have the wind shift and pick up with gusts to 30. We ended up pretty close to another boat, even with 2 anchors out. Since we needed to get fuel and let off George Merz we went into a marina and decided to stay for the night.
Florrie has been doing a sterling job of keeping the crew well fed. Pancakes, toast and Salmon omelets for breakfasts, sanwiches for lunch, Salmon one night and a meetball stew the next. It is all good.
Lew
Hi All,
Well..."it’s all good" depends on your perspective. I HATE hobby horsing for 26 hours, even on this much more stable boat! Anytime I went below my stomach wanted to stay upside! (Unless I was lying down.) So the reality is, I just plain don’t like off-shore sailing. Give me a calmer Bay anytime.
BUT, that admitted, I am delighted to be in Cape May! It is basically a marsh with channels cut through it. There is a big commercial fishing fleet here and the Coast Guard is aware of everything that comes and goes. It’s funny to hear them radio to some passing boat to put it’s running lights on. Lew & George did a sterling job of keeping this boat going. They both loved all the nautical stuff. I even did a 4 AM - 8 AM watch, all by myself, while they slept. (That is a huge first for me.) Sunrise was truly spectacular, just a smear of hot pink above the long dark arc of the earth. All of a sudden the center of the pink turned orange, then creamsicle orange and a glowing ball burst over the horizon.
This morning as we saw George off to the taxi to get busses back to Staten Island, we watched egrets or small cranes in the marshes by the marina. It is all sky, marshes and boats here. Osprey circle the docks. Seagulls are everywhere, of course. It finally feels like we’re on vacation.
I’m starting a couple of new paintings for the show in Nov. and have to get to it while we’re steady on the dock. Tomorrow, going up the Delaware Bay is going to be difficult for any art.
So that’s it for my two cents. Today it IS all good.
Love to All,
Florrie