It’s Saturday morning and we are about 50 miles east of Barnegat Inlet New Jersey moving along toward Hampton VA. We had a great sail last evening before the wind died to less than 10kts, which we expect to be the state of things for the rest of the trip.
The distance from Deep River CT, where we departed, and Hampton is about 350 miles and I anticipate that we will take about 2.5 days to complete the trip. That will put us in Hampton on Monday, hopefully before the strong southerlies kick in with the front that is expected to reach the area on Monday evening.
We left the dock shortly after 16:00 yesterday with James and Bob aboard as crew. James has not been offshore before or even out for an overnight but he is eager to learn so I thought it would be nice to have him along. Besides he even came to help sand Pandora’s bottom last week, a miserable job. It was really nice to have some help with that tough task, a first in my nearly 40 years of bottom sanding actually. Bob is very experienced with many offshore passages in his background.
As I have written already, it was a scramble to get Pandora ready to head out as my prep time was cut short by about 5 days due to the forecast for strong southerlies on Monday evening requiring me to move up my plans and leave earlier than I had hoped. My plan originally was to head out on Tuesday since I need to be in Hampton by Thursday but with the front, there was no way to make it with that departure and to wait until after the front passes would mean having to delay until next weekend to depart. If I did that, I would have not been in Hampton for any of the festivities. As part of my responsibilities in Hampton, along with a Board Meeting, I am to present to the skippers and crew of the 70 boats that are making the run and as “port captain” I have to brief them on what’s in store in Antigua when we arrive.
The closer that I got to my launch date it became clear that being ready in time was going to be a tall order and when I discovered that I was going to leave 5 days sooner than expected, I really shifted into high gear. For the last week I was trying to cram work into that period that rightfully should have taken twice that long and to say that I was exhausted is an understatement.
The last two days were particularly frantic as I was also dead set on fitting in one more visit with my mother knowing that I wouldn’t be seeing her again until after Thanksgiving. Normally I try to see her in the morning but this last time I had to see her after dinner as I just couldn’t fit it in any sooner. Happily, Brenda and I went together and after we said good by, we went out to dinner, our last meal together for around 3 weeks. Of course, we also had to make a visit to Home Depot for some items that I had forgotten.
All and all, by the time we shoved off yesterday, I was dead tired and to leave for a 350 mile run in the late afternoon, when all I wanted to do was to sit and have a glass of wine with Brenda, was quite taxing. As a consolation prize, Brenda drove down to the Essex Yacht Club and waved to us as we passed by. With the glare of the setting sun, I couldn’t see her but it was nice to know that she was there.
The tide was in our favor and we cleared the Saybrook breakwater just as the sun was setting. There wasn’t much wind as we headed through the Race and rounded Montauk but when we were on our SSW course to Hampton we then had a better angle and were able to sail on a close reach with about 15kts apparent until just before daybreak this morning. It was nice to “begin the season” with at least a 12 hours of good sailing.
Now the wind has died and it looks like we will be motoring the rest of the way to Hampton. Better to motor all the way than to pound our way into waves, that’s for sure. I’ll take motoring in calm conditions anytime, especially when I am tired from days, no make that weeks and months, of preparation.
And, speaking of “prep”, I will be doing a post about all that’s been done to Pandora in preparation for this season soon. At least I can tick off all the items, and there were plenty, that I did and hired along the way. Yes, it will likely be more than you want to know but I have to list them, with photos, of course, so please bear with me.
Normally, I don’t sleep well for the first night at sea but as I was so exhausted, sleep came fairly easily last night. My watch was from 00:00 through 04:00 and then I fell into my bunk and didn’t hear a thing until 08:00. Actually, I feel pretty good, especially as nothing has broken, so far at least, which is good.
So, here I am on my way to Hampton and final preparation for what should be a 10 day run to Antigua with a departure on or about November 2nd. I’ll be posting the shared page for the fleet so you can watch the 70 or so boats as they make their way south to Antigua.
Lots to do with final provisioning and a few more boat chores, but for now I guess I’ll think about what’s in store for the winter and enjoy some quiet time reading a trashy novel, or two. The only bummer about this part of the run is that Brenda won’t be with me but she plans to fly to Antigua to meet me when I arrive. That will be good, very good so all I can say for now, and in a hearty voice, “let the season begin”.
Indeed.
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