Hi All. Well, we are still here; in the Rhode River, MD where we have been since last Friday. We had a blast at the SSCA (group we belong to...) meeting. Met lots of people who are heading sounth down the ICW (InterCoastal Waterway) at the same time.
I have to keep this short as the WIFI antenna has been hoisted up the mast about 30 feet to get reception; AND a thunder storm is bearing down on us. We stayed here another day due to a forecast of heavy winds and rough conditions on the Bay. So, we decided to play it safe. Hope to leave tomorrow and head over to St. Michael's which is across (on east side) of the Bay. Everyone raves about this quaint town. We also have to get over to St. Mike's to reprovision. We are quickly running out of food; especially fresh produce. The crew can't live on beer alone.....we ran out of limes a couple of days ago. I'll let Trudie fill you in on why we don't have more limes........
Should be able to update everyone on our positon via ham radio at http://www.shiptrak.org/ and then type in my call lettes: N1ELQ
Trudie says "hi" to all.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
"Unconnected"
Hi all!
I think we have all have become "connectivity" junkies.
We have become totally dependent on the convenience and
reliability of our cell phones and internet
connections. We are just discovering what happens
when we are no longer able to connect. I feel like
the junkie in need of a fix !
We are at anchor in the Rhode River approximately
10 miles south of Annapolis,MD. We are attending
a meeting with a group of people with the commom
interest of sailing their boats worldwide, literally.
Many have circumnavigated the globe...and we
think we are doing well sailing from Connecticut to
Maryland !! All of the long distance cruisers have been
very supportive of our first steps.
As I began to say we have NO Internet capability and very limited
very limited cell service, thus no
recent updates. I am composing this post on
my "crackberry". As soon as we get connected
we will up date you on our "adventure" down the
bay. Will post when we are able; but
most of all we are warm, dry and safely at
anchor doing what we both enjoy. Cheers !
I think we have all have become "connectivity" junkies.
We have become totally dependent on the convenience and
reliability of our cell phones and internet
connections. We are just discovering what happens
when we are no longer able to connect. I feel like
the junkie in need of a fix !
We are at anchor in the Rhode River approximately
10 miles south of Annapolis,MD. We are attending
a meeting with a group of people with the commom
interest of sailing their boats worldwide, literally.
Many have circumnavigated the globe...and we
think we are doing well sailing from Connecticut to
Maryland !! All of the long distance cruisers have been
very supportive of our first steps.
As I began to say we have NO Internet capability and very limited
very limited cell service, thus no
recent updates. I am composing this post on
my "crackberry". As soon as we get connected
we will up date you on our "adventure" down the
bay. Will post when we are able; but
most of all we are warm, dry and safely at
anchor doing what we both enjoy. Cheers !
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Greetings from Trudie
Hi everyone.
You have been hearing from David, so I thought you might want to hear a woman's point of view !! During my first day at sea, looking in all directions I rarely saw another boat, and realized if anyone wants to "get away from it all" they should definitely go to sea. Saturday was my first nighttime watch. It was actually quite enjoyable, and very peaceful. Huge barges were anchored at sea 50 miles from the coast. It was difficult to judge their distance from our boat and also if they were moving or anchored. Everything looks so much different at sea in the dark, and there was no moon to light the way. But the black sky had millions of stars that made for the largest planetarium show I have ever seen !! The Carnival Cruise Lines broke the night's ambiance by leaving NY Harbor with noise and the brightest lights imaginable. They looked like huge slot machines going into the night. On Sunday, we had a very pleasant day on the water. There was no wind and we could not sail, but it was warm and sunny. We needed a quiet day for some mini naps to catch up on our lack of sleep the night before. We saw millions of blue jelly fish float by in the water, and we saw Atlantic City, which looked like a bunch of huge monoliths jutting out of the water. We approached Cape May just as the sun was setting, and it was so beautiful. We couldn't wait to get into the harbor and get anchored so we could finally relax. Monday morning we motored into the marina where we were able to catch up on cleaning the boat, and doing laundry. There is a saying in the cruising community that the definition of cruising is repairing your boat in exotic places. Well, I have something to add: it is also cleaning and doing laundry in exotic places. I am thinking of writing a guidebook entitled " A Cruiser's Guide to The Best Laundromats on the East Coast". I think it will be a bestseller !!
We have had 3 Goldstar Days on this trip so far. A Goldstar Day means that we have not spent any money during that 24 hour period. But I think that we made up for those days while in Cape May. We had to reprovision the boat for the next full week, and, of course, had to replenish our beer supply. We had one beer left !!
Tomorrow morning we will head out early for our next adventure. We are heading up the Delaware River through the C + D canal to the Annappolis area, and it will take us two days, stopping along the way to anchor at night.
We don't know when or where our next internet connection will be, but hope to be in touch again soon.
You have been hearing from David, so I thought you might want to hear a woman's point of view !! During my first day at sea, looking in all directions I rarely saw another boat, and realized if anyone wants to "get away from it all" they should definitely go to sea. Saturday was my first nighttime watch. It was actually quite enjoyable, and very peaceful. Huge barges were anchored at sea 50 miles from the coast. It was difficult to judge their distance from our boat and also if they were moving or anchored. Everything looks so much different at sea in the dark, and there was no moon to light the way. But the black sky had millions of stars that made for the largest planetarium show I have ever seen !! The Carnival Cruise Lines broke the night's ambiance by leaving NY Harbor with noise and the brightest lights imaginable. They looked like huge slot machines going into the night. On Sunday, we had a very pleasant day on the water. There was no wind and we could not sail, but it was warm and sunny. We needed a quiet day for some mini naps to catch up on our lack of sleep the night before. We saw millions of blue jelly fish float by in the water, and we saw Atlantic City, which looked like a bunch of huge monoliths jutting out of the water. We approached Cape May just as the sun was setting, and it was so beautiful. We couldn't wait to get into the harbor and get anchored so we could finally relax. Monday morning we motored into the marina where we were able to catch up on cleaning the boat, and doing laundry. There is a saying in the cruising community that the definition of cruising is repairing your boat in exotic places. Well, I have something to add: it is also cleaning and doing laundry in exotic places. I am thinking of writing a guidebook entitled " A Cruiser's Guide to The Best Laundromats on the East Coast". I think it will be a bestseller !!
We have had 3 Goldstar Days on this trip so far. A Goldstar Day means that we have not spent any money during that 24 hour period. But I think that we made up for those days while in Cape May. We had to reprovision the boat for the next full week, and, of course, had to replenish our beer supply. We had one beer left !!
Tomorrow morning we will head out early for our next adventure. We are heading up the Delaware River through the C + D canal to the Annappolis area, and it will take us two days, stopping along the way to anchor at night.
We don't know when or where our next internet connection will be, but hope to be in touch again soon.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Hello from Cape May !!
We arrived at Cape May last night just as the sun was setting. It was a very dramatic sunset specially ordered for our arrival ! Trudie got a terrific picture of it and we will post it as soon as I figure out how to do it. We anchored just off the channel (Coast Guard said we were IN the channel....) last nite with the few remaining rays of daylight. We enjoyed a "cold one" while relaxing in the cockpit toasting our safe arrival.
This was Trudie's first overnight offshore sail on Persephone. She stood a 5 hour watch (1am to 6 am) on Saturday night so I could get some sleep. In one word, she was TERRIFIC. She was able to handle the boat, navigate and wind through several huge tankers and freighters going into and out of NY Harbor. Now that she has her first watch under her belt, she is ready for a transatlantic crossing!
We hauled the anchor late morning and pulled into a marina in Cape May. Trudie has been doing laundry and I cleaned up the boat. We haven't strayed far from Persephone. Gonna close this post, and start exploring the town. Next post will be from Trudie....I hope. Feel a thirst coming on !!
+
This was Trudie's first overnight offshore sail on Persephone. She stood a 5 hour watch (1am to 6 am) on Saturday night so I could get some sleep. In one word, she was TERRIFIC. She was able to handle the boat, navigate and wind through several huge tankers and freighters going into and out of NY Harbor. Now that she has her first watch under her belt, she is ready for a transatlantic crossing!
We hauled the anchor late morning and pulled into a marina in Cape May. Trudie has been doing laundry and I cleaned up the boat. We haven't strayed far from Persephone. Gonna close this post, and start exploring the town. Next post will be from Trudie....I hope. Feel a thirst coming on !!
+
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Today's the day
It looks like we have a perfect weather window to start our trek south. We were able to "borrow" an internet connection this morning (thus this update) and check the weather forecasts from Montauk to the enterance to the Deleware Bay....simply, all looks great. So, we are about to haul anchor and get underway.
The offshore portion of this trip should take between 36 and 48 hours depending on winds. So we will be unable to be in contact, as we have no internet or cell phone service while offshore. We are "limited" to ham and long distance marine radio (also known as single side band). We will TRY to update our position tonite by ham radio. You can visit http://www.shiptrak.org/ and type in my call letters: N1ELQ.
Wish us luck getting otta here today.....Talk to you all from Cape May
The offshore portion of this trip should take between 36 and 48 hours depending on winds. So we will be unable to be in contact, as we have no internet or cell phone service while offshore. We are "limited" to ham and long distance marine radio (also known as single side band). We will TRY to update our position tonite by ham radio. You can visit http://www.shiptrak.org/ and type in my call letters: N1ELQ.
Wish us luck getting otta here today.....Talk to you all from Cape May
Friday, September 18, 2009
Hiding for now.....
Well, we got up this AM to a real breezy morning. Looked at all the weather forecasts and decided to stick our nose out to see the wind and sea-state for ourselves. Yep, our nose got punched. Winds were a steady 25knots with gusts into the low 30s. No thank you!!! Real issue is that the wind was from the WSW so when we rounded Montauk the wind would be dead ahead of us. (Sailboats don't sail directly into the wind) So we simply changed our plans. Diverted our course for Lake Montauk; a large harbor west of Montauk. Mostly large fishing yachts and commercial vessels. Don't think this place has ever seen a sailboat before :) Anyway we are anchored safely waiting for the wind to subside and change direction a bit. Later today ? Tomorrow for sure !?
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Great first sail !!!
We are anchored in Coecles Harbor, Shelter Island, NY. Our original plan was to sail to Three Mile Harbor for the night, but the winds were not favorable. So, we altered course and are very glad we did. Coecles Hbr is SO quite....no noise, no cars, no "human" sounds. A perfect place for our first evening off the dock. And to top it all off....there was an awesome sunset !! Taking showers, and making dinner and of course we are enjoying the obligatory "sun-downer(s)"
Plan to leave first thing in the morning. If you wish to track our progress, go to www. shiptrak.org and type in my ham radio call letters N1ELQ. We will TRY to update our position tomorrow evening while at sea.
Plan to leave first thing in the morning. If you wish to track our progress, go to www. shiptrak.org and type in my ham radio call letters N1ELQ. We will TRY to update our position tomorrow evening while at sea.
Leaving today....
As Joni Mitchell sang in the 70s that she had the "urge for going", we have had the urge to be on our way for the last week. A series of events have prevented us from "cutting the dock lines". The issues of finishing up the house for the new tenant, completing business obligations, loading the boat, waiting for spare parts, and dealing with our cars all took longer than we expected. We were all set to leave by Tuesday, but the weather window slammed shut and we sat at the dock waiting for some nasty weather to move through. We awoke this morning to a beauthiful blue sky, fresh breeze and a great forecast for the the next several days. So, today is the day !!
We will be leaving Westbrook on the early afternoon tide, bound for Three Mile Harbor, NY (near Shelter Is. and Montauk) We will leave there tomorrow morning (wx depending) and go "offshore" from Montauk directly to Cape May. We estimate this will take us 36 + hours so we should be arriving at the enterance to the Delaware River on Saturday evening. We will be out of contact until our arrival. Wish us fair winds !!
We will be leaving Westbrook on the early afternoon tide, bound for Three Mile Harbor, NY (near Shelter Is. and Montauk) We will leave there tomorrow morning (wx depending) and go "offshore" from Montauk directly to Cape May. We estimate this will take us 36 + hours so we should be arriving at the enterance to the Delaware River on Saturday evening. We will be out of contact until our arrival. Wish us fair winds !!
Friday, September 4, 2009
The adventure begins.....
Persephone is a 40 foot sloop launched in 2000. Her homeport is Westbrook, Connecticut. Our cruising grounds have been Long Island Sound, Block Island, Cape Cod and the adjacent islands. However, that is all about to change.......
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)