Manhasset Bay to Annapolis in just under 48 Hours

Greg Farnoli and Charlie Dixon, our crew for the delivery home, joined us for dinner at Wild Honey in Port Washington on Thursday evening.  We walked to Stop and Shop for some provisions after dinner and then took the water taxi back to Owl Moon.

We left the fuel dock in Manhasset Bay where we had stopped for ice to put in our cockpit cooler at 8:10 am on Wednesday morning and hoisted the sails when we reached Hewlett Point at the mouth of Manhasset Bay.  We motor sailed for a while, entering the East River at Throgs Neck Bridge at 9 am.  Not long after that, we rolled in the big jib as the wind became gusty and shifty with the surrounding buildings and geography.  We kept the mainsail up through the length of the East River.

Hell Gate was fairly smooth where our speed was a little over 10 knots, but coming into the narrow stretch between Roosevelt Island and Manhattan, a tug pushing a large (wide) barge was coming towards up and made quite a wake.  His wake bounced off the wall at the edge of the river creating quite a choppy and confused seaway.  I had to throttle back with water coming over the bow.  Then we saw ahead fairly steep standing waves that were cresting.  We were in for some white water rafting on Owl Moon!  The waterway settled down after getting by Roosevelt Island.

We didn't get very close to the Statue of Liberty on this trip.

Nearing the end of the East River, we moved to the other side of the river to take the Buttermilk Channel south of Governors Island.

Current on channel marker in the Buttermilk Channel

Coming out from the lee of Governors Island, we found a nice NW breeze, rolled out the big jib and turned of the motor.  We had a nice beam reach for a bit.  After clearing the Verazanno Narrows Bridge, out course turned dead downwind and we poled out the jib and went wing and wing for a bit.  Then we jibed to go out the Ambrose Channel on a broad reach.  After clearing the shoals of Sandy Hook at about 1 pm, we jibed one last time as we turned south.  We would stay on starboard tack until 6:10 am Friday morning when the wind move aft and dropped enough that we started motoring.

Thursday evening at about sunset, we realized we need to charge our batteries.  We were having such a great sail that we ran the generator instead of the motor.  The generator is quieter than the motor and has the added benefit of being able to run the air conditioner down below

The almost full moon was out most of the night and sailing was very smooth in the ocean swells.  Greg and I had the 20:00-23:00 and 02:00-05:00 watch and Diane and Charlie had the 23:00-02:00 and 05:00-08:00 watch.

We arrived at Cape Henlopen Breakwater Harbor at 11:00 where we anchored to rest and wait for the slack before flood at the Delaware Bay entrance.  We wanted to start then so that we would have favorable current all the way up the Bay, Delaware River, through the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and part way down the Chesapeake Bay.

At 14:30 we hauled up the anchor to get on our way again.  We were able to motor sail for a while, but eventually had to drop sail and motored up to the canal where we would not be able to sail anyway.  Watch assignments were the same as the night before.

We made good time going up the Delaware Bay and River, arriving at the C&D Canal at 21:30...7 hours from the Bay entrance.

Sunset on the Delaware Bay

  Getting into the entrance was a little tricky with the lights for the north and south side of the canal merging into one string of lights as we approached from the south.  However, with the help of the chart plotter we found our way into the canal and from there following the lights was easy.

Soon after coming on watch at 02:00 on Saturday morning, we cleared the narrow stretch at the top of the Chesapeake Bay and it looked like we could sail towards the Bay Bridge on a close hauled course.  So we hoisted the main and rolled out the little jib.  Speed varied, but we were in no hurry and sailed for most of that watch.  I stayed on as Charlie took his 05:00 watch since were were getting close. Soon the wind died and we motored the rest of the way in to Annapolis, the sun rising as we came through the Bay Bridge.

....

As we came under the bridge, we were in the foreground for some students in a photography workshop.

We arrived to our slip at Tecumseh marina at 07:30...less than 48 hours after departing Manhasset Bay.  It was a very smooth and successful trip home.