Off the hazy East Coast
SY Cookielicious
Private
Sat 11 May 2013 21:54
74:20.55W
Last night went well, motorsailing in lights SSW-lies, doing 8 - 8.5 kts. We could see the glow of Norfolk, Virgina, but that was the only thing we got to see from the land, despite that we often are no more than 5 miles away from it, it has been very hazy. In the first 24 hours since we left Beaufort we did 200 Nm - our first! We know, we had the engine going as well, but we still did the distance.
The sea temperature keeps dropping, now at 10 deg C and the night watches are really cold. What's next - icebergs? So we dress up in everything we can find, using foul weather gear to keep the nightly dampness off us and drinking hot drinks to keep the inner furnace going.
In daytime it warms up a bit, the sun managed to break through the haze at last. No birds today, but plenty of flies. They were sitting all over the boat, about 2 feet apart, like sprinkled raisins. They were doing fine until they started biting Geoff through his socks. That's a bit lippy for a stowaway, so he chased them off with a towel and is now wearing his boots to not give the stragglers any opportunity to dig in.
In the afternoon the winds picked up and we could actually sail for several hours. Very rolly, but better than being on a catamaran in these seas.
We passed the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay in the early hours of the morning and we reached Cape May a few hours before dusk, and that is when the squalls like to get active. The first one stole our wind.
New Jersey coast during the night - there is no need for a moon when Atlantic City is on the horizon. The highrises are a complete lightshow, you can almost read the texts of the sides of buildings from 3 miles out.
Aiming for New York on Mother's Day. Shame there is no time to stop and shop, we will have to catch the 4 -5 kts tide through aptly named Hell's Gate in East River right, in the morning.
Cheers,
Geoff & Merel