Position           40:01.39N 073:14.52W

Date                2359 20 June 2013

Days Run        110.5nm – 115nm over the ground in 17 hours

We slipped from the Breakwater Harbour at Cape Henlopen dead on 0700 with the ‘windometer’ helpfully reading zero which was reflected in the glass like surface of the water.  So motor it was, right the way through to 1300 when there was enough wind to be able to motor sail effectively and 1800 when enough wind came up which allowed us to dispense with the engine and sail for five hours until the wind again faded to a not useful strength and direction at midnight.

The wind is very much what was expected from the high pressure system, you either appear to have north easterlies of enough strength not to wish to head into them or southerlies of little strength.

A side effect of the high pressure, and our recently replaced VHF antenna, is that due to some form of ducting we are picking up radio traffic at extraordinary ranges.  We heard one interchange between a yacht and the coastguard where the yacht was 120nm away, albeit it had a 34 metre high mast.  AIS, which works at not dissimilar VHF frequencies to the marine VHF radio at times showed targets over 200nm away.

Our route took us up the New Jersey Atlantic coast and before midnight across two of the main commercial traffic schemes out of New York.  Unlike our passage though these waters in 2011 there was little traffic to disturb our watch keeping.

Still, we managed 110nm towards the north east.  Our original destination for this leg was Block Island.  However a look back at the diary for 2011 suggests that this may be the week of the Block Island Regatta so we may look for getting further before we stop. 

Catering department – chicken wraps for lunch and the remainder of the Chilli from our Annapolis party for dinner.

A hazard of the course – busy fishing and dodging them a real game