Tuesday, June 12, 2012

We left the dock at 6:45 a.m. expecting it to be a little rough in the Delaware River. As we turned into the bay, there was a moderate chop. After about 2 hours, the little chop had turned into 3 to 4 foot seas. We were getting a good push from the tide going out, so we were making over 9 knots over the ground. With the tide going out and the wind on our bow, the waves were close together making it very uncomfortable. We considered turning back at about half way, but it would still be uncomfortable and we would be in Delaware City instead of Cape May at the end of the day. At one point, the seas were so heavy, I wouldn't have wanted to make the turn. At the worst, the seas increased to 4 to 6 with a maximum 5 second interval. We backed off 200 rpm's to keep from launching off the waves. Once or twice the waves broke over the bow. The boat never flinched. All of the cabinets were secured with tape, but the noise from contents banging back and forth was pretty annoying. A couple of years ago, a seasoned sailor told me boats can take it, it is the people who can't handle it. We finally arrived at the entrance to Cape May Canal at 1:45 p.m. We didn't get a break from the seas until we were inside the jetty. We were secured at the dock at Utsch's Marina at 2:15 p.m.