Category: inspiration

Three weeks ago, Lori and I flew to New York City to move S/V Trident south to Cambridge, MD.

It was raining when we arrived. We joined 50+ other boats waiting in Manhasset Bay for the weather to improve. But after one day of hunkering on the boat on a mooring ball, and one day of provisioning, a good weather window opened for a few days. On day 3 we were blessed with a sunny, clear day as we went down the East River, highlighted in my last post.

We ended that day at anchor at Atlantic Highlands, NJ with the rest of the transient fleet moving south. We left at sunset on day 4, for a sporting overnight run down the coast of NJ to Cape May. We enjoyed strong Northwest winds and a bright full-moon to light the way.

We spent one night at anchor in Cape May Harbor, then moved to South Jersey Marina for one night, for a walkabout, a bike ride, a geocache (my first in NJ!), a shower, and dinner ashore.

On day 7, we departed Cape May at the morning’s slack tide and headed up Delaware bay, with both the wind and a several-knot current on our nose, making for a slow, long day of motoring. We made it about halfway up, anchoring in the mouth of the Cohansey River on the NJ-side of the bay.

Day 8 took us from Delaware Bay to Chesapeake Bay, via the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, in which sailing is not allowed, so another day of motoring. We went as far south as we could, anchoring at sunset in Worton Creek on the NE shore of Chesapeake Bay.

With anchor up on day 9, we had a chance to sail down Chesapeake Bay, and up the Choptank River, arriving at Cambridge, MD near sunset.

We anchored outside the town, in the river, on the first night and then moved into the town’s harbor to anchor on day 9.

For the next 5 days, we busted our butts to get Trident ready for haulout for the winter. We lowered and stowed 3 sails, removed the bimini, secured the bimini frame, consolidated and removed all the foodstuffs, linens, and appliances, removed the outboard motor, cleaned the boat topsides and below, changed the oil & filters, topped off diesel, prepped the freshwater system for winterization, and worked on completing the long todo lists.

We worked hard, but dinghied to shore with the bikes and explored the town a bit, too. Renting a U-haul truck for a few days worked out great, which we used to move all the offloaded items to a temperature-controlled storage unit.

We enjoyed dinner ashore with Teri & Jim, who graciously drove 2+ hours from Washington, DC to meet up with us. It was so great to catch up.

We also got in a few visits with Edwin, who will be leaving Cambridge to join the Salty Dog Rally to Antigua on Nov 1st, on his boat S/V Frog’s Leap.

A stubbed toe, several bruises and sore muscles later, Lori backed the boat up to the dock at Yacht Maintenance Company in Cambridge for haulout, some maintenance, winterizing, and shrinkwrapping for the winter.

Lori and Mike will return in May to put Trident back in cruising shape and take her back north to cruise through Maine for the summer.

Another fun adventure in the books.