10-18-2015 - 10-20-2015, Cape May, NJ to The Sassafras River, Chesapeake Bay, MD

On Sunday (10/18/15), expecting bad weather, we decided to stay at Cape May for a “layover day”. I worked on cooking and “office” papers and Chuck tried to replace the float switch in the bilge, but the replacement part didn’t work either. It rained a little, twice during the day. We heard there was a little snow in CT, and a lot more in northern New England.

On Monday (10/19/15) we were up and out early. It was COLD! We dressed in ski underwear, ski pants, 2 fleeces, jackets, hats, gloves and glove liners. We made our way around Cape May Point (it’s always rough, windy and bumpy there) and up Delaware Bay. Still having trouble with the engine belt slipping. (Chuck lost part of the tensioning tool in the engine compartment and neither of us can see where it went. Now he has to resort to another method, which, I think, involves a large wrench…). 

Our tattered jib sail, on the left

We were sailing with just the main and the engine, afraid to damage the jib. I called Hodges St Sailmakers, in Oriental, NC, to make sure they were planning to be around for the next few weeks, and not off on vacation or otherwise unavailable when we get there. Gill said they’d be there to fix our jib, and meanwhile, we should “baby it”. 

Fortunately the seas were still calm in Delaware Bay, and other marine traffic was light. We had a very pleasant day sailing up the Bay.

Calm conditions in Delaware Bay

The next four pictures are especially for Caleb and Andrew, our grandchildren.

Big Black Ship

Big Green Ship

Big Blue Ship

Big Red Ship

We anchored alone at Reedy Island, in Delaware Bay, just south of the C&D (Chesapeake and Delaware) Canal.

Reedy Island Anchorage

On Tuesday (10/20/15), we decided to take down the jib sail so it wouldn’t get any more damaged. We got it down without too much difficulty and pulled it inside the boat to try to fold it up. Well, this sail is huge, and it's difficult to fold outside on a lawn in nice summer weather. Inside the boat, it was sort of like trying to fold a king sized sheet inside a Smart Car. Just not possible! We finally stuffed it into a sail bag and laid the bag partly on our settee (couch) and partly on the dining table, where it looks like a huge sleeping dinner guest in a dark blue overcoat.

We got underway around 10 AM, and made our way out of the anchorage, up to and through the C&D Canal. We must have timed the tide all wrong because we were doing under 2 kts for most of the trip, until we finally sped up to a whopping 3.8 kts later in the day. At least the weather was pleasant, and warmer. I changed from “ski pants and jacket” to “shorts and tshirt” by mid day (but back to long pants by 3:30 when it began to cool off). The slow speed made it a long day. It was calm in the canal so I was able to cook dinner while we were underway.

The very narrow entrance to the Reedy Island anchorage
is between the red and green daymarks. All the rest is rocks!

Entrance to the C&D Canal

Lunch in the C&D Canal

Very calm conditions in the canal

Jockeying for space with the big guys!

We anchored at 7 PM, in the dark, at the entrance to Turner Creek in the Sassafras River. There were 2 other sailboats nearby. Chuck blew his conch horn to celebrate our return to the Chesapeake!

Chuck's Conch Horn, from last year's Bahamas trip