September 29th- Cape May to Cohansey River, NJ

Today a difficult decision had to be made. Our options were to stay in Cape May for several days and deal with stormy weather and 30 knot winds. We’d probably be anchored without good shore access. Option #2 was to leave today with a north wind gusting over 20 knots. I’ve been told to never go up the Delaware Bay with any kind of heavy north wind. There is a strong current in the bay and to get from Cape May to the C & D canal, a mariner needs to ride the flood tide up the bay. A heavy north wind opposes the tidal flood in the shallow bay and big chaotic waves form.

We took option two.

I’m going to start by saying it is very difficult to sail up Delaware Bay with a heavy north wind. We were both deeply disturbed by the days events.

When leaving Cape May I decided to take the the Cape May canal to avoid having to go around the tip of NJ. There are 2 low bridges. I thought they had 55′ of clearance. I measured my mast from the top to the waterline using a loggers tape last year. I came up with 51′. I read somewhere online that the Bristol 355 has a mast height of 53′. I got to the bridge and it read 52′. The Admiral mentioned something about King tides this time of year. I couldn’t turn around quick enough due to speed and current. We fit under the bridge with only inches to spare.

The Delaware was malevolent. I’ve been in two other instances that were similar but I think this was the worst. Clear for action! Life preserves – tethers – jacklines – foul weather gear. Load the guns!

At times Evergreen jumped over the tall peaks at seven knots, beating into the wind with a portion of her genoa out. Occasionally we’d slam into a wave the wrong way and our speed would jaringly drop to 3 knots. The Admiral manned the chart plotter to point me in the right direction. I was too involved with steering to look. Eventually she had to man the bilge pumps as Evergreen was taking on water through our anchor locker (more investigation needed). The first hour was the worst. We got into a groove. By the end of the ordeal I was exhausted but feel it was an accomplishment. Maybe I should just give Neptune the entire bottle of tequila.

The salt encrusted, wind burnt, mariners anchored in the mouth of the Cohansey river. Eventually they launched the dinghy and an unhappy dog got some land time on a small island.

Sunset on the Delaware bay.