Block Island to Baltimore

September 28th 2006

Alan's Log:

Block Island to Long Island
We left Block Island a week ago on September 21st bound for New York. Somehow things didn't quite work out the way we planned and we never got to stay in New York due completely to a lack of planning on my part.

We day-sailed from Block Island to Long Island Sound where we spent our first night at anchor in New London CT. It took a while to appreciate as we motored out of the Great Salt Pond and hoisted sail…this was our first time alone on the boat and sailing.

We then worked our way south down the sound, over-nighting at New London CT, Port Jefferson and Port Washington NY en route to New York.

New York
I meticulously planned our arrival in the East River to coincide with the start of a favorable Ebb tide at Hells Gate, the confluence of the East and Harlem Rivers and an aptly named confluence in the days of sail.

Motoring down East River was a spectacular experience, tinged with excitement at the drama to come – transiting Hells Gate and a night on the town in New York.

Hells Gate turned out to be a non-event, either we timed the transit to perfection or, more likely, we experienced favorable winds and a complete lack of traffic that made it substantially less intimidating than transiting the Tacoma Narrows back home in Puget Sound. Unfortunately my planning was restricted to the navigational challenges and I had completely neglected to research Marinas in New York City. A brief internet search on the PDA en route down the East River revealed only one candidate which was full, so we reluctantly blew straight past New York and all of its attendant attractions, and straight into 30 Kt winds on the nose gusting to 35 against the current as we headed out the Sound. We dodged ferries, oil barges and errant yachts being tossed about in the wind. In these conditions discretion took the better place of valor and we did not hoist any sail even when the wind turned more favorable as we approached the anchorage at Sandy Hook NJ. The boat handled everything with aplomb however and we regretfully spent the night at anchor in Sandy Hook, a forlorn destination especially compared with what the lights of NY, now twinkling in the distance, had to offer.

New Jersey to Baltimore
From Sandy Hook we sailed offshore to the Delaware Bay, a distance of around 200 NM. We had planned a stop at Cape May, but were making such great progress under sail that when we arrived offshore Cape May in the early morning we decided to press on and complete our voyage to Baltimore. We ground our way up the Delaware bay channel and through the C&D canal – a grindingly boring two days of connecting the dots (between the channel marker buoys) before making landfall at Chesapeake City at the end of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. It is a small town surviving on the passing yacht trade. It had a sad feel to it and the next morning it was a relief to swing out into the last few miles of the canal at 0700 to beat the adverse tide change.

An unexpected meeting!
By lunch time the world seemed significantly better. We were out of the boring canal and into the picturesque upper Chesapeake Bay, and there was Chuck Scott, our neighbor in Gig Harbor, WA. on the radio! He is a tugboat captain and was piloting Nahoko, a 118’ Ocean tug, pushing an empty oil barge from Baltimore to Philadelphia. We came within a mile or so of each other heading in different directions. We arranged to maybe meet up at the weekend in Baltimore depending on Chuck’s work schedule.

Arrival at the port of Baltimore was everything an arrival from sea should be. Sunshine in the early afternoon; large ships coming and going; an interesting commercial port to pass; the famous Fort McHenry (location of the writing of “Star Spangled Banner”) and a lovely traditional whaler sailing into the harbor alongside us. We are moored at Henderson Wharf Marina in the middle of Fels Point, a historic seaport with cobbled streets and giant tobacco warehouses converted into shops and apartments and a happening area of town. We are armed with a list of "must do and must see" attractions provided by our friend Brad who went to college in Baltimore. Last night we explored a little and had a great cheap meal sitting outside at Mezze, a Tapas restaurant.

You will notice a lack of pictures in this report....An accident at night with my failure to understand the overflow mechanism of the watermaker resulted in my flooding the galley and our digital camera with water. It is now dismantled and drying out - whether anything is salvagable remains to be seen.

More later.

Next......We explore Baltimore with friends