Cape May NJ to Port Washington, NY

We left Cape May around 3:00 on Friday June 18th, as the winds were predicted to be around 12-15 out of the south for the next 24 hours.   Leaving at 3:00 put us in New York Harbor around 11:30, timed to head thru the area called Hells Gate with the current.   Currents run around 3 knots, so you definitely want to time the trip.    Planning a trip like this is a bit of guesswork.  Will the wind hold?  Will we do more than 6 knots?  

We left with our full main up, and jib, planning on the 15 knots.  We exited the breakwater at Cape May, and struggled to steer the boat, as the 3 foot waves predicted, were actually 5 to 7 foot waves, and the wind was 25 knots, not 15.   We quickly put in two reefs in our main, and the boat settled down, and we were off, doing 8 to 10 knots with a comfortable ride.   We held this until somewhere off the coast of New Jersey around 3:00 in the morning, when the winds started to die, and shift a bit.    We took out our reefs, but timing wise, were going to be about 3 hours early for the current in New York.  No issues, we just sailed slowly for a while, in virtually no wind, and ended up with the timing working out.

Good used find, Cheasapeake City, C&D Canal

 After Annapolis, we made a short jump to Rock Hall, MD, where we stayed for 3 days.  2 days were cloudy and rainy, but we got to use our raincatcher, which worked well.  We got around 50 gallons of water in the tank.  About 1/2" of rainfall.   

On the last day, the sun came out enough, we walked to town.  We found a used marine store, and got a bag for our dinghy seat, that will help to keep the dinghy organized.  Used and slightly faded and worn, but only $16.

Water Catchment, another Snake, Cicada's, view out the back,, and dinner.

Every time is rains it seems a shame to let all that fresh water run off the boat and not do something with it.  Many cruisers have rain catchment systems that are either after the fact or built into the design of the boat.  Well we went with after the fact and have come up with a system that we are testing.  Have mounted a "funnel" made of rubberized material on each corner of the dodger.  The water seems to drain off the forward side so that is where we put them.  On the bottom there is an attachment to a hose and from there into a filter.  After the filter we have a hose going into our water tank.  We have had limited times trying the system but it has worked each time and given us some fresh water.  On 6/11 while we were anchored in Rock Hall MD we took in 60 gallons of rain water.  The system is easy to set up and take down so is not there if water is not predicted in the forecast.

funnels at corner