Long Haul

Saturday, May 17

21:00 - go to bed, safely docked at the Windswept Marina on Long Island.

21:05- wedding reception at the restaurant next door really starts rolling.

21:20 -  earplugs, check. Cody declines.

21:30 - Cody asks me for earplugs.

Sunday, May 18

03:00 - first alarm, goes unnoticed.

03:05 - second alarm, wakes me up, Cody sleeps on.

03:10 - I tell Cody it's time to get up.

03:15-03:30 - dress in all the layers, making a thermos of coffee, pack up the cabin, re-check the marine forecast. Looks good.

03:40 - push off from dock, don't hit anyone else's boat.

03:45-04:00 - motor under a bright moon to the Moriches Inlet (of doom*).

04:01-04:12 - get the s$&@ beat out of ourselves and our boat by 10 foot waves breaking over 2 foot shoals. Briefly become entirely convinced that I'm going to die in Long Island. 

04:13 - cogratulate each other on being alive.

04:30 - set sails.

04:35 - go back to bed (while Cody sails the boat), setting alarm for 07:00.

04:35-06:50 - ???

06:50 - wake up before alarm. Get coffee.

07:00 - cook hobo eggs. Get lucky double yoke.

07:20 - take over the helm from Cody and send him to nap.

07:20-08:00 - lovely calm sail (about 4-5 knots) while Cody tried to nap.

08:00 - Cody decides he can't sleep, comes out and starts fiddling with things.

09:00 - enter first NY shipping lane. See no boats.

10:30 - have to power up the motor to get around (behind) a 600 foot container ship from Panama, the only such encounter we would have in the entirety of the NY shipping lanes.

11:00 - Cody takes over the helm, I go to bed.

11:05-12:00 - ???

12:00 - wake up, hungry, burrito.

12:00-14:00 - ??? umm, maybe a little fishing or something???

14:00-17:00 - on watch, Cody passed out cold. Had a hard time holding our 240 heading, headed further south to make headway. Not a lot of wind, about 4 kts.

17:00 - Cody took over watch, I made dinner. (Pasta with kale, garlic, olive oil, tomatoes and Parmesan, it was fantastic.) We decided that since we wouldn't be arriving in our destination port (Little Egg, NJ) until 3:00 AM due to the unfavorable wind, we might as well sail through the night to Cape May, our first planned destination.

17:00-21:00 - tried to sleep, no go. Seas got choppy when Cody tacked to the Northwest.

21:00 - alarm went off, my turn at the helm. Went out on deck in the dark and the cold and with the sea monsters** and completely lost my shit. Told Cody I didn't want to be alone on deck in the dark. Still 4-5 hrs from any possible port.

Cody offered to stay awake and sail all night. I said,"that's not fair though!" And he said, "well, was it fair for me to drag you out to sea?"  So I stayed on deck with Cody until midnight, while the wind shifed to the North and we were able to get on a more direct heading. Then I went to bed, after asking Cody to clip onto a safety line for the duration of the night.

Monday, May 19

24:00-04:00 - slept a bit.

04:00 - alarm went off, Cody said he was good for another hour and to go back to bed.

04:00-05:00 - slept. Had crazy vivid dreams all involving wind.

05:00 - second alarm. Time to get up. Cody was talking sort of silly. Sleep deprivation. Sun was just starting to rise, we were 10 miles east of Atlantic City. Made coffee. Took the helm. 

05:00-11:00 - sailed down to Cape May (about 47 miles from Atlantic City). Saw 3 dolphins not 10 feet from Tri-oomph, again completely lost my shit, started waxing philosophical (again, sleep deprivation). Saw an enormous sunfish (70+ lbs!) sunning not 2 feet from Tri-oomph. Might have thought it was a shark at first. Might have been the most magical morning of my life - sunshine, smooth seas, and dolphins.

11:00 - I get the motor going because the wind died and we're going a knot. Cody wake up and we eat oatmeal and motorsail the final 5 miles to the Cape May Inlet. See so many flipping dolphins. Every time is magic.

12:00 - arrive in Cape May, find a private anchorage because the big boats have to anchor in deep waters.

12:00-16:00 - lay around in the cabin. Watch the new Startrek movie.

16:00 - take (not fully nude) showers on deck. Hope no one calls the cops. 

17:00 - wine. Relax. Exhausted.

*Everyone we talked to in Moriches wanted to tell us how their inlet is so deadly, in fact "America's 7th Most Dangerous Inlet!" We think it's probably because people from NY who don't understand what breaking waves mean drink too much then try to fish it.

**There are so sea monsters!

I promise I've been putting sunscreen on my face, I think it's windburn.