S/V Bentaña: 3-2 Finally Headed South

Judy here--We had a lovely motor down the Hudson (wind was on the nose) and reached speeds of 9.5 kts with the current. It is amazing what a clean prop and clean bottom (as well as a favorable current) will get you in speed. We arrived at The Statue of Liberty and followed Dick’s suggestions on how to get into the little known anchorage west of the statue. It was a nail biting experience in the dark as the channel is only about 60 feet wide, the markers are unlit and the current kept trying to push us out of the channel. There was a heavy swell out of the SE, but in the anchorage it was as still as a pond.

We rafted up with “Endeavor”, gave our wonderful friend Dick a hug, and got out the grill to cook our 3 lamb steaks which we shared with Dick. Hobie made himself right at home on “Endeavor” and investigated every nook and cranny he could reach. (This was his first venture stepping off Bentaña by himself.) Our dinner and libations were in a relaxed mood and it felt SOOOO GOOD finally to be on the way!

Saturday we spent the day drying out all our wet clothes and gear and doing…boat projects! Dick is an engineer and helped us brace up the davits and worked on the windlass. The day was lovely, warm and relaxing. We dined together again and made Stone Soup. It was very tasty!

Our friend Lou Spitz had given us the name and number of some folks on another boat “Northern Lights”**- go figure!- who were also headed south. They were at Liberty Landing Marina and travelling with “Serenity”. (**Northern Light was the name of our Tartan 30). We three headed south the next morning (Sunday) about 0800 and “Endeavor” headed for Long Island Sound and Rhode Island.

After slaloming through the commercial traffic in Upper and Lower NY Harbor, we got out onto the ocean and had a lovely “reach down the beach” to Cape May. Our wind was 10-15 kts out of the west and we were making 7 kts over ground with all three sails flying. Our speed kept increasing, so we dropped the main before dark. The wind built and we continued to gobble up the distance to our destination, so we finally dropped all sails and motored slowly to arrive at Cape May inlet at sunrise instead of in the dark. What an absolute pleasure to have our autopilot working! Thanks, Daryl!!! We figured it did not like the name Otto, so we renamed it Fritz. We went in and anchored by the Coast Guard Station. It was low tide and we could not get to our friends’ mooring as the creek was too shallow.

About 1130 Monday morning we weighed anchor and went to Nicki and Franz’s mooring in Cape Island Creek at Schellenger’s Landing. Franz came out to get us in their dingy and we spent a lovely afternoon and evening together doing errands, talking sailing and eating. What fun! They are heading south also and their boat was already in Norfolk, VA. Luckily they were home to finish up all the last minute stuff and we were able to get together. They are lovely people and we are so lucky to have met them two years ago. The next day, Tuesday, we spent the day aboard relaxing and cleaning. Nicki and Franz joined us for dinner aboard and we had another wonderful evening together.

Steph had an appointment in NYC on Thursday, so on Wednesday, October 24 (our 30^th wedding anniversary) we rented a car, took a short tour around the “Painted Ladies” of Cape May, drove to brother Lew’s home in Manhattan, unloaded Hobie and our stuff and went to Brooklyn to niece Anna and Pete’s for dinner. Anna was our flower girl at the wedding. We got to see their lovely home in Brooklyn and had a great dinner and had the extra surprise of seeing niece Becki too! Anna and Pete’s boys were sleeping, but Wolfie heard us arrive and came up to say “Hi!”

The appointment complete, we headed to Rockland County and West Marine to pick up our anniversary present. I got us a pair of GoPro Cameras, so hopefully we will get some good footage that we can post when we have enough bandwidth. Hobie had some paperwork at the Vet so we stopped there to pick it up and headed back to Cape May.

We had been watching the forecasts and tracks for Hurricane Sandy and figured it was time to “get out of Dodge” so to speak. We called Nicki and Franz and asked where they would go if they were in our boat (pun intended.)