The Jersey Coast & New York City

Well, true to his word, Glen arrived promptly at 7:00 am in his dinghy at our boat to give us the tour of Cape May and much to our surprise, he treated us to breakfast. Glen kept saying how amazed and delighted he was that people of our age and generation would be doing what we are doing. He also said that we restored his faith in our generation. He truly believed that people should try to enjoy and experience life early on and thus highly agreed with the saying in the picture. To back up and give a little background, Glen is a retired industrial engineer who we met while at anchor in Cape May Harbor. His wife back home apparently does not share his enthusiasm for the boat preferring he said to "tend the garden". He was on his way to Connecticut to meet up with his son for a trip up the New England.

In trips past, we had used Cape May only as a resting stop, never staying long enough to get a true appreciation for the town. But once we had found a decent place to leave the boat and the fact that the ocean breeze made for a 10 degree temperature difference, we decided to stay and poke around a bit. Glen showed us the most popular bed and breakfast houses, the cute little library and several good restaurants. We rented bikes and pedaled all over Cape May and up to the light house.

Cape May's claim to fame lies in the over 600 well restored Victorian home that cover this 2 mile stretch of New Jersey's oceanfront. Fires in the late 1800's destroyed most of the town so most of the homes date from that time to around 1920. Cape May suffered as the fortunes of Atlantic City and Wildwood rose. But despite efforts to the contrary, Cape May clung to it's Victorian heritage. As the fashions have changed, Cape May has once again reclaimed it's place as one of the East coast's favorite vacation spots.

But it came time to move on and that meant going out into the ocean for the run up to New England. As the weather seemed to be unsettled, we chose to take the route up the Jersey coast and through New York (instead of straight up to Block Island, RI). This gave us a few more options for ducking into one of the inlets for shelter should the need arise. With the wind predicted to be SW going to NW and then back to SW, what direction do you think the wind actually was? Of course, northeast! So for the first day out we slogged northeast into a light northeast wind but with much larger waves then the wind would suggest. Thus off Atlantic City we decided to retire and hope for better winds the next day. But in yet another moments of panic situation, our engine quit just as we were approaching the inlet. So while Joyce steered away in the light air, Jim tried to figure out what was wrong. After changing what appeared to be a clogged fuel filter, we nervously motored into the inlet and tried not to think of what would happen should the engine quit in the inlet which was lined with a rocky jetty.

We left Atlantic City before dawn the next day under a forecast of 15-20 knot southwest wind with a good chance of afternoon thunderstorms. Our destination was Great Kills Harbor on Staten Island, just south of the entrance to New York Harbor. To be fair to the weather prognosticators, they got it just right. We flew along under spinnaker alone for over 7 hours and 60 miles from Atlantic City to Manasquan, at time exceeding our hull speed as we surfed down the larger waves. But a darkening sky and the sound of thunder impolitely informed us that it was time to take the spinnaker down. Moments later, the storm was upon us in tremendous flashes of lighting and booming sounds of thunder followed shortly thereafter by torrential sheets of rain. No where to run and no where to hide. While Jim drove the boat in whatever direction seemed prudent at the moment, Joyce keep poking her head above deck to see if Jim had been struck by lighting. As a side note, the cats slept through the whole event.

But the storm passed quickly and took with it the wind. We motor sailed or should I say motor spinnakered the next few hours to Sandy Hook only to see the sky darken once again. A quick listen to the weather radio indicated that a severe thunderstorm warning was in effect for Richmond and Kings County. So just where is Richmond and Kings County? A glance at the trusty Rand McNally road atlas confirmed our guess. The storm was occurring right where we were going! We could see the first gusts of the storm darkening the water as we pulled the spinnaker down and made things secure for the second time today.

We reached Great Kills Harbor and anchored just before dark having covered almost 90 miles in 14 hours. The harbor, while full of moored boats of every imaginable type, provided almost landlocked protection for a much needed nights rest. Although Great Kills does have some amenities to offer visitors, we decided that we wanted to put New York and the dreaded East River behind us as soon as possible. So the next day, we made our way through New York.

Having two mouths and no head, the East River is quite unique among rivers. To us, it's rather like a demon to be conquered. The current rushes through this narrow, tortured, stretch with such intensity that standing 3 foot waves and whirlpools are the norm. At times during our passage, which you must plan in order to have the current in your favor, we appeared to be sailing amongst white water rapids, especially through an area appropriately called "Hell Gate". All the while we're holding the wheel with white knuckled fervor, the sights of New York's business district rush past, at times reaching speeds 9-10 knots (normal for us is usually 5-6 knots). The infamous Brooklyn Bridge passes overhead early once in the river but many more high level bridges, skyscrapers and industrial relics combine to create a bewildering scene. Finally the Throgs Neck Bridge came into view marking the entrance to Long Island Sound. The wind even freshened allowing us to sail the last hour to an anchorage off City Island, which is known as the seaport of the Bronx.