Today at 06:00 George and I pushed off from the dock in Chesapeake City to transit the Delaware River and head north to New York and onto Essex. Our next planned stop is perhaps Sandy Hook or perhaps somewhere in NY Bay. I guess we will have to see how the run goes. It was a simple departure compared to a sailboat where there are plenty of lines to pull and very different accommodations.
I, for one, have always imagined heading to a trawler at some point, although I am not above declaring those who have as having “gone to the dark side”.
The tides heading east through the Canal run fast and while the charts called for a strong tide against us this morning, that wasn’t the case. We had a fair tide and a bit of a push for the full transit.
Once we began heading down the Delaware River we began feeling a bit of foul tide, as expected but that should turn in our favor in a few hours. As George runs at a bit over 8kts, we do make a bit more progress than I’d be doing with Pandora under power when we move about 6kts. Not a big difference but that’s another 50 odd miles in a 24 hour run.
With 50 or so miles between the Canal and the mouth of the Delaware River, we should get there mid afternoon and then turn left and up the NJ coast for NY.
There’s not much to photograph along the way. How about the Salem nuclear plant.
In honor of the nuke, a photo of solar aboard. Both green? Tough to say but there is clearly a renewal of interest in nuclear as an option for carbon and global warming. Funny how the threat of everyone’s TVs turning off is changing some attitudes toward nuclear power and, I suppose, nuclear waste. As long as it’s NIMBY!
Salem has been in operation since 1076 and is certified to continue through 2036 and 2040 for units one and two respectively. That is a long time and given the growing concerns about carbon emissions, we are likely to see more plants being built in the coming years. More to come on all that, I guess.
It’s a busy day on the river with a number of small trawlers doing the run along with us. I expect that we will all arrive at the mouth of the river at about the same time.
George uses the Navionics charting program on his iPad and taught me something about that program that I had not known. It seems that the program will automatically chart a course for you adjusted for water depth and air draft, to pick the fastest route.
In the case of Pandora with a 63′ mast and gear, we’d be run down to the mouth of the river but with George’s boat set to a safety water depth of 10′ and a air draft, clearance, of 15′, the program routed us across some more shallow areas and through Cape May. I did not know that the program would do that. You learn something new every day.
Here’s the route, compliments of Navionics. It’s magic!
Departing from the dock this morning was a very simple affair. George fired up the engine, I tossed off the lines and off we went. Not a lot of fuss, no pulling up sails, and due to his shallow draft, 4.5′, no fear of running aground.
More to come I guess. One thing though, if the engine quits, no sails.
With apologies to Scarlett O’Hara: “I won’t think about that today, I’ll think about that tomorrow.”
Or, as Rhett Butler, sort of, said, “frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” Well, not until something bad happens, at least…
Besides, if the engine were to die, sailboat or not, there’s no wind today. Flat calm.
I could get used to this. Perhaps the dark side isn’t all that dark after all.
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