It was a misty and rolly transit to New York Harbor’s North Cove Marina this time. PRIDE has made the voyage from Baltimore to New York Harbor at near the same time of year a number of occasions. At least two times the transit was very fast under sail. This time it was slow and under power. Goes to show how wildly different the voyage can from one year to another.
The situation this year was a stalled low off the New Jersey Coast due to the jet stream formation above. Instead of the fast portion of the Jet Stream it was a slow portion of the Jet Stream that was not dragging the New Jersey Low off shore. As a result, the weather forecast last week was a fresh NE wind off of New Jersey. Not the type of sailing that you take PRIDE into when you need her to go towards the NE!
So…what do you do when it is best not go where you are supposed to go? You do something else for as long as possible hoping the weather will pass by in time to for you to catch up with your voyage plan. In our case we did not depart Baltimore till evening time Saturday…instead of departing in the morning. And when we did depart we went straight to the Eastern Shore south of Rock Hall and anchored around 11 pm. No sailing was lost because there was no wind. So a lot of logistics were taken care of.
After a good nights rest and because the NE wind that was off shore was going to reach the Chesapeake Bay we sailed around all day Sunday and went back to anchor in the same spot. Lots of good sail handling was practiced by the crew…as well some emergency drill practice through launching the small rubber boat for an errand ashore at Kent Island Narrows and recovery of small boat…all under sail.
After dinner and while everyone was resting I spotted a revised weather forecast that indicated we might best get underway rather than wait for Monday. By departing at midnight Sunday it might just be possible to live up to the original voyage plan arriving New York Harbor Tuesday afternoon rather than early Wednesday morning. So after hauling back the anchor at midnight we motored PRIDE up the Chesapeake Bay and through the C&D Canal and down the Delaware Bay to the Atlantic. Sure enough, the Atlantic was a bit roiled up with the previous 2 days of NE wind, but there was no actual wind Monday evening…so with a lot of rolling PRIDE motored on.
This morning we made New York Harbor as originally hoped for. Everyone is very happy not to be rolling around for a while. The Big Apple beckons to all once the work day is over.
Cheers,
Jan C. Miles, Captain aboard Pride of Baltimore II
