Position           38:47.61N 075:06.04W

Date                1355 19 June 2013

Days Run-       46.5nm – 51nm over the ground in 7hrs 45 mins

It is one of the facts of nature that the flood up an estuary finishes later the further up you are and the ebb finishes the nearer you are to the sea.  In practice this means that going down the Delaware River to the sea you get not much more than 4 hours of favourable current.  Starting against the last 2½ hours of the flood therefore made sense, especially as there was a good breeze on the beam which lasted for most of the trip and we made Cape Henlopen without having to butt much of the new flood tide.

Last time we descended the Delaware, in June 2011, it was in thick fog and we did not see a thing, other than the odd buoy and barge.  This time we had perfect visibility but given the width of the river and the flat nature of the land we still did not see much.

The nuclear power station at Salem NJ is a prominent landmark on the east side of the Delaware

We really require to find a better pilot book.  The readily available one is great if you want to find restaurants or attractions but not very clever on navigational detail and anchorages.  Cape Henlopen did not prove difficult but that was despite the pilot and not because of it.  For example it fails to point out which end of the inner breakwater you should go round and also that one end, the deeper end as it happens, has a large red stone built light structure the book pointing out only a much smaller light on the other end.  Never mind, the sun shone, the anchorage was sheltered and all was well in the world, especially as we both had good books to read.

Catering report – Wraps for lunch and chicken breast stuffed with avocado for dinner