Our first duo passage

Tuesday, Sept 17 - Wednesday, Sept 18 -- Since the stopping points within a day's sail looked too shallow or too risky to get into, we decided to go from Sandy Hook to Cape May via an overnight passage.  We had a relaxing morning, delaying our departure due to a small craft advisory forecasting wind gusts to 25-30 knots and 4-6 foot waves.  In preparation, in addition to putting the dinghy on the foredeck (previous post), we planned our course -- generally how far offshore we would go (3-5 miles), then our bearing, distance, and marks for each segment; got out our offshore PFDs and tethers (straps that we clip one end onto our PFD and the other end to a pad-eye on the boat); put out our jacklines (webbing straps along the deck that we would clip our tethers onto if we needed to go on deck at night); and planned our watches, as follows:

2-5 pm Dorothy
5-8 pm Fred
8-11 pm Dorothy
11 pm - 2 am Fred
2-5 am Dorothy
5-8 am Fred
8-11 am Dorothy
11 am - 2 pm Fred

 Jack lines (yellow webbing)

Since we had to wait for the weather to calm down a bit anyway (little did we know just how much it was calming down), we had breakfast in style:

Fried eggs in toast and mangos!

Fried egg in toast Anneke-style

Finally, we pulled up our anchor and headed out at 2:00 pm.  There was quite a chop around Sandy Hook, and the marked channel went astonishingly close to the beach.  In the photo below, we were in 60' of water, and very close to the beach.  The water was like a washing machine.

 Sandy Hook, NJ

We had abundant wind going around Sandy Hook, but it was straight on the nose, so we motored that part.  When we turned south, however, the wind completely died!  When we listened to the weather radio, we learned that the small craft advisory had been extended!  We were mystified as to where that 15-20 knot wind with gusts to 25 knots was, but we were committed at this point, so we motored on. 

Afternoon turned to evening, and we had a beautiful sunset and moon rise.  A kind of calm comes over the water as the sun sets -- you can almost feel it in this photo:

 Moon rise off Manasquan Inlet

Of course, that calm feeling may partly be because there was no wind, so it WAS calm!  We motored on.  And on.  And on!

After midnight, Fred saw the neon of Atlantic City.  As Dorothy's 2 am watch began, it appeared there was enough wind to sail, so we rolled out the main and Fred rigged a preventer before going to bed.  In an hour or so, the wind dropped to under 5 knots, just not enough to carry the sail.  The motion of the waves caused the main to flog (repeatedly lose its air, then slam), so we had to get the preventer off and bring the sail in.  Since this is an on-deck job, Dorothy had to wake Fred up (sorry, Fred!).  About an hour later the wind freshened from the north, a steady 10 knot wind, so Dorothy pulled the main back out and was able to cut the engine.  This time it lasted.  Finally -- that beautiful, calm, silent gliding through the water that makes an overnight passage almost magical.  The reflection on the water of the almost-full moon added to the ambiance as well:

 moonlit passage

Several folks we discussed routes with had suggested we stop in Atlantic City, but we decided to pass, as it does not really appeal to us.  Still, you can't miss it -- it was visible for hours and hours, from about midnight until near dawn.  

 Atlantic City, 3:20 a.m.

 Looking back at Atlantic City, 5:05 Am

Since Fred stayed up past the end of his watch to help with sails, and had to get up in the middle of his 3-hour rest, Dorothy extended her watch to 7 am (thereby getting to see the dawn!).  Then Fred took over again.  We arrived at Cape May about mid-day.  Fred went exploring and Dorothy went to bed!  But our Cape May adventures will be described further in our next post!!