Crew down

The coast of New Jersey has been the most challenging of the trip. I’m not sure if it’s the time of year or if it’s always this bad. The wind is always blowing 20 to 25 with large waves. When the wind direction changes, there might a few hours where it lightens up. That’s why we had to run to Atlantic City overnight.

Our trip to Cape May was during the day and I was going to be able to helm the entire way. The winds were 20 to 25 knots and 30 degrees off our heading, not really sailable, but the weather was forcasted to get worse and if we didn’t leave, we’d be stuck in Atlantic City for a week.

Coming out of the inlet was miserable. The waves were stacked up, the water was shallow, and the wind was blowing. At least I had timed the current correctly. There were also 3 other sailboats heading to the same place. It was too rough for me to mess with the main sail. I was able to get the staysail out on the Hoyte boom and get a little stability from the waves.

Our plan was to anchor for the night near the Coast Guard station in Cape May. In the morning, we’d go back out into the ocean, round Cape May Point, and then we’d be in the Deleware Bay and somewhat protected.

About 2 hours out from Cape May, Sue was below moving through the cabin. A large wave hit from a strange angle and sent her flying across the cabin and crashing into the corner of the settee. She was in a lot of pain and was having difficulty moving. I got some pillows and tried to make her as comfortable as I could on the floor.

I got back to the helm, increased the speed on the diesel motor and started looking for a marina. The closest was the Canyon Club Resort Marina in Cape May. They use Dockwa for their reservations so I submitted a reservation request for the night. I also noticed they were a quarter mile away from an urgent care place.

The way Dockwa works is you submit a reservation request. Usually, it comes back in 5 to 10 minutes with an confimation or a denial. For some reason, this request was taking forever. After 30 minutes, I thought we were going to be denied. Just as I was about to call the marina, the confirmation came through.

As I was coming into the inlet I called the marina to get a slip assignment and to also request an easy docking slip. My crew was injured and I’d be doing a single hand docking. The guys at Canyon Club couldn’t have been more herlpful. They gave me the perfect spot and had dock hands waiting for my arrival.

Once I was off the phone, I slowed the boat down and prayed the autopilot would keep us in the narrow channel while I deployed the fenders and dock lines. The water is shallow and if I leave the channel, I’ll run aground even at high tide. When I’m single handed, I do the fenders and lines at sea where there is plenty of the room, but it was too rough for me to try and go on deck.

We got tied up and checked in. We had dinner and decided to see how Sue was in the morning. If she slept if off, we’d leave in the AM. If not, we’d visit the Urgent Care in the AM.

She wasn’t better in the AM so we walked to the Urgent Care for her to get checked out. The X-rays showed she fractured a rib on her right side. Not much they can do for broken ribs. The doctor did prescribe pain medication, which appears to be helping somewhat. And, we extended our stay at the marina another night.

The dockmaster at Canyon Club remarked that if we’re going the great loop we should join AGLCA (America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association) because we’ll get discounts at most of the marinas in the area, including theirs. They even gave me a coupon code for a big discount on the membership. So, now we’re members of the AGLCA and I guess that makes us Loopers, or at least Loopie.

This does change our plans a bit. No more open ocean for a while, except tomorrow when we go out and round Cape May Point and enter the Deleware Bay. From there, we’ll travel through the C and D canal (Chesapeake and Deleware canal). In the Chesapeake we’ll stop in Annapolis and Norfolk for a while.

I’m also planning on buying a few ICW (Inter Coastal Waterway) guides. For those who don’t know, you can travel from Cape May New Jersey all the way to Brownsville Texas without ever going into the Ocean. You have to deal with bridges and boat wakes, but it should be smoother than the open ocean. We’ll see.