Ocean Passage

 We left the 79th Street  Boat basin and headed to Sandy Hook, NJ. It was a trip of dodging tankers, barges, and ferries as we made our way down the Hudson river. When we got to the Verranzo Narrows bridge, the gateway for all ocean ships is was quite busy. To add to the excitement the weather started to get bad but we pressed on and arrived at Atlantic Highlands, NJ. We had to have the outboard motor looked at,as it got beat up in a storm while we were in NY.
 With our long list of things to do, and waiting for the right weather window to make the 112 km passage we ended up staying 4 days.

Finally, yesterday the reports all said that it was time to move on, so we left around 10am to make our way around Sandy Hook to sail south in the Atlantic to Cape May, NJ.
The day started out to be a nice autumn day, no different than sailing on Lake Ontario the wind pushing us along.

The planned trip would take about 23 hours. About sundown the wind changed direction and piped up a bit but we continued motorsailing with just the mainsail. Soon after dark the wind kept increasing, We had to take the sail down but contined under motor alone hoping that sunrise would bring settled conditions. Mother Nature had different plans. All night long we were thrown about by 4 to 6 ft. seas, with a 8 footers thrown in, our speed fell to 2kn or less. We had to make a choice, either continue on at such a low speed which would take us 12 more hours with the boat being thrown all over or find a nearer port.  At approx. 8am we turned back to Atlantic City, we passed it in the dark around midnight.
 As we were coming into the inlet I seen my first pod of dolphins, I guess mother nature was trying offer an appology.
 So her we are, waiting for weather again.