Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Pictures: 1/4 bushel of crabs in our dinghy, along with fresh water; houses along the New Jersey Intracoastal Waterway, decks hanging over the water; bay side of Atlantic City, wind generators with casinos in the background; sailboat that was towed in to Atlantic Highlands after getting loose from it's mooring in the high winds (the tow boat operators have employees on the sailboat deck running the boat the last quarter mile)

As of last night we have made it to Chesapeake City, Delaware, right on the state border with Maryland. We spent our final two days in New Jersey taking a nice walk through an historic town, buying crabs from a local crab boat, eating steamed crabs for lunch on our boat and getting past the last of Delaware Bay. We also had a kind local man offer to take us to a grocery store and back. It was at least 8 miles each way, so he was a true Good Samaritan. When we asked what he did before he retired he said he was police chief for a 60,000-person city in south Jersey.

We had seen more of New Jersey than we wanted, but we were safe, comfortable, and relatively happy so it could be worse. On Thursday Oct. 20 we were anchored off of Greenwich, N.J. This is what I wrote then:

If it does not stop blowing we may not get to see what the guide book promises is a village with many early American homes. Hmmm. Sounds like Cohasset or Duxbury. To get here we traveled off of our course a few miles, along a serpentine river (the Cohansey), away from Delaware Bay because we did not have time to get all the way through the bay before dark. As it was, we were the only boat we saw all afternoon on our trip from Cape May, NJ to Greenwich. Many boats were waiting the forecasted winds out in Cape May or Atlantic City. However yesterday turned out to not be as windy as projected so we did make some progress.

Prior to yesterday, we had two days of interesting cruising in the back waters of the Jersey Shore. We were following the NJ Intracoastal Waterway which we hadn’t had any experience with before. The bridges are low, most at 30 ft. clearance or less. The depth of the channel is mostly 8 ft. or more but you have to be vigilant watching the depth-sounder. There are a lot of marshes and birds on your starboard, going south, and lots of beach houses and docks on your port.

After our first night’s anchorage on the NJ ICW we headed out from behind a low island to leave the way we had come in and were immediately confronted with dredging pipes and buoys. The workers were not too helpful about which way to go to get around this and we grounded out in an attempt to get around the buoys. We had been hopeful that with our Mainship we would NEVER go aground but here we were already stuck! The workers came out in a scow that had a 25 HP outboard on it and told us they were trying to signal us to go out at the other end of the small island; they did offer to try and tow us off the mud and they were successful. Evidently the signs warning of the dredging in that area had blown away and when we passed the dredging equipment the night before the workers were already gone for the day and we made it past somehow. We can float in 36 inches of water, so to get stuck we are in REALLY shallow water!

Backing up to last weekend, we spent it in Atlantic Highlands. That makes 5 and a half days in the Sandy Hook/Atlantic Highlands area. The weather just was not cooperating. We were able to get groceries, wine and beer, and also replaced two of our boat batteries there so it is a good stop for reprovisioning. The anchorage was secure and access to a dinghy dock was easy. There is also a great-looking bike path that evidently goes for quite a way along the shore. I wasn’t able to get my bike off the boat due to the winds and rain.

Our plans are to get to Annapolis and do some laundry, pick up a GPS chip being sent there, and other housekeeping duties before we head south through the rest of Chesapeake Bay. Stay tuned!

Heading South

Pictures: Manhattan, looking at the new WTC with the cranes on top in the middle of the picture; Ken on the flying bridge of RISING TIDE, East River, NYC; children with waders getting net ready at Sandy Hook; sunset off of Norwalk, CT, in the Norwalk Islands

We felt fortunate to have such warm weather for leaving Cape Cod Bay and starting our trip south. And it was perfect for 4 days. It just wasn’t perfect long enough! For the next 4 days we have been stuck in a windy weather pattern that is making it hard to make progress.

On the good side, we had two friends, Ralph and John, help Ken move RISING TIDE from Cohasset to Duxbury. Then before casting off for the Cape Cod Canal and Buzzards Bay we had dinner out with our sons Pete and Justin. Beautiful summer weather helped us to make great mileage to Cuttyhunk, then Fisher’s Island, then the Norwalk Islands in Long Island Sound. Flat seas each day and calm nights were an added bonus. We only got ashore at Fisher’s Island, but we took a nice walk there and found a place to watch part of the Patriots-Jets game (Fisher’s Island is off the Connecticut coast but is part of New York State so locals were mostly Jets fans).

We also had a great trip through the East River in New York City, past La Guardia Airport, Riker Island, Brother Island (where Typhoid Mary was held), Manhattan and out into NYC Harbor with Coney Island, Ellis Island and Staten Island. It was hot in the river and there were only a few other boats.

We decided to stop at Sandy Hook in New Jersey, still within sight of the NYC skyline. It seemed too rough to continue and maybe too late in the day since we would need to go 25-30 miles to the next stop, either the inlet at Snake River or Manasquan. However, the forecast for the next few days wasn’t promising. At our anchorage off the beach in Sandy Hook we could see a row of matching 3-story houses and a lighthouse. It turned out that we were in the Gateway National Recreational Area, which includes Fort Hancock, a closed Army base, and several small museums demonstrating what the 1940s Army life was like. Also there are biking trails and hiking trails with information stops about the Revolutionary War to Cold War history of the area.

Even though the next few days featured drizzle and high winds, we were in the lee and enjoyed watching locals fishing from the shore, school kids on a field trip to catch sea life in nets, lots of bikers and joggers, and a prisoner beach-cleaning- crew. Twice we took the trail to the ocean beach side of this narrow isthmus. We moved mid-day on our third day at Sandy Hook to a town mooring field a mile from our anchorage. The town, Atlantic Highlands, has a nice downtown area near the dock. We have been able to re-provision and also to connect up with friends from TAMURE, a Connecticut boat we knew from our first trip on the Intracoastal Waterway.

Last night Kitty and Scott from TAMURE gave a slide show at the local yacht club and we tagged along. It was very well done, and featured their family on an earlier four-year sailing trip with their two boys (9 and 11 at the time). We also had dinner with the yacht club officials and the featured speakers. So even though we are “stuck” in northern New Jersey, it is not a lost cause! Not sure of the upcoming weather. Stay tuned!

Summer 2011 update

Jay and Laura, Ben & Shelby, RISING TIDE at anchor in Pocasset, Mass.

Ken worked determinedly this spring to get RISING TIDE ready so we could follow through with our cruising plans. He replaced the steering cables and pumps in both steering stations, built a two-bench-and-table dinette, added an anchor windlass, and more anchor chain. (And many other projects!) I upholstered the dinette benches, and the fold-out couch, and generally assisted in most projects. Ask us sometime how much fun it was trying to prime the old steering system before we realized that it all had to go!

We hoped to cruise to Maine to attend a mid-July wedding, travel back to Cohasset for a late-July wedding, then a multi-week trip to Cape Cod and Buzzards Bay in August. All went well. Ben and Shelby Hazen threw a wonderful “country” wedding with an outdoor ceremony in a cleared field, live music from a guitar/fiddle quartet, a huge banquet held under an equally huge tent in an adjacent cleared field, and lots of fresh beer from Andrew Brewing Co. – Ben’s and his father Andy’s company.

After the Lincolnville (near Camden) wedding we traveled to Islesboro, Searsport, back to Camden, Vinalhaven, Rockland, Boothbay, and quite a few other spots in-between. Then, back in Cohasset, we attended Jay and Laura Bertovitch’s wedding. (Jay often sailed with us when it was just us and Pete taking a trip and Pete needed company.) This was another outdoor wedding, on another beautiful day, looking off at Little Harbor from Greg and Ellen Bertovitch’s lawn. Then back at Cohasset Harbor we celebrated at Atlantica restaurant, including special fireworks later that night over our boat.

The final part of our boating travels included a trip to Provincetown for a lobster feed at Long Point with the Hull Yacht Club, then continuing on with several HYC boats to warm water in Pocasset and Cuttyhunk. We took a side trip into Westport, Mass., and enjoyed the area – near enough to Horseneck Beach to walk there and the Tripp Marina had showers and a laundry. We finished up our time in southern waters with 5 days in Lagoon Pond, part of Vineyard Haven, Martha’s Vineyard, and a couple of days in Marion.

Two quick weekend trips to Marblehead rounded out our summer. The boat ran well and we only had one “accident” – a lobster pot warp wrapped on our prop, that I freed up with three freezing dives into the cold Islesboro, Maine, water.

Next up: another long cruise this fall to Florida and maybe the Bahamas. We expect to leave in two days!! (October 8).

Winter Driving Trip, East Coast, 2011

Pictures: Sunset over the marsh in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.
Roseate spoonbills in the marsh along Black Pt. Wildlife Drive, MINWR


We were lucky to be able to sneak away in the worst of the winter and drive down the coast to Florida in late January. We already had lots of snow in Duxbury, starting before Christmas, and the shoveling was getting repetitious.

We visited a few cruising friends in our first week in Florida, including Pat and Addison from THREEPENNY OPERA, in Vero Beach, Susan and Barry from SWAN, in Nettles Island, Chris and Kevin, from ANDROS, in Stuart. All those couples were currently taking a break from boating (although Pat and Addison were soon to return to their boat in the Bahamas, and ANDROS will sail there in a month or so). We organized a lunch with several of the above sailors plus fellow vacationers Bertha and Roy, from SERENADE.

During our second week we stayed in a condo in Titusville, near Cape Canaveral and Cocoa. This was originally set up as a chance to stay in a nice unit for a good price, maybe not in such an exciting area. It turned into a really great opportunity to leisurely explore the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, where we found different things drawing us there each day at the beginning of the week. One of the best attractions was the 7 mile wildlife drive of Black Point. It is a one-way, unpaved route that encourages stopping and watching and wandering. Other interesting parts of the refuge are the Haulover Canal, which is part of the Intracoastal Waterway; a small boat launching ramp (where we watched launchings and nearby fishermen); and a walking trail that took us through a grove of oranges--bitter!--planted by early settlers. On the way back off Merritt Island one day we stopped and watched kite-boarders; one entertained us by skimming so close to shore that the edge of his board knocked down traffic cones set on the beach.

We visited the Titusville Munincipal Marina where we had stopped on our 2008-09 cruise, and also spent some time at the Canaveral National Seashore. A great restaurant in the area, Dixie Crossroads, was our destination for lunch one day. We also spent time with Jim (Heidi's brother) and Riko in Cape Canaveral and had a great meal at their house. Then, at the end of the week, we checked out a Birding Festival that we saw advertised. It turned out to be lots of fun and we spent our last two days learning about hawks, Florida Scrub Jays, bobcats, local trees and shrubs, and all types of birding resources. So Titusville is not such a boring destination!

At the start of our third week we attended "TrawlerFest" sponsored by Passagemaker Magazine and held in Ft. Lauderdale. We had a chance to go aboard many boats and talk to other trawler owners ("trawler": slower-moving live-aboard power boat for cruisers who don't mind a Sunday-driver pace with the tradeoff of conserving fuel/traveing further before refueling). We also stopped to see Peggy and Jack, who now are living the good life at a small marina in Ft. Lauderdale aboard their 41 ft. power boat, enjoying their first season after converting from sailing.

View of the kiddie pool and main pool from our condo in Weston.

Our condo near Ft. Lauderdale was at Weston, on the edge of the everglades. We have stayed at this resort before, and it is in a good location for taking day trips in any direction in South Florida. Weston is a fairly new, purpose-built town with all the amenities you could want. It is, however, very difficult to find your way around and we spent a lot of time lost on this trip, as we did the first time we stayed there! Walking was safer, and we took good walks around a golf course nearby and also between sister-resorts on our street. Another easy trip from our corner of Weston was Markam Park. I would recommend this park to anyone staying in this area as it has dedicated parts for mountain biking, model-plane flying (and watching), fishing, tennis, boating, camping, target shooting, and dog exercising. And I probably am forgetting some of the uses provided. Of course, picnicing, swimming and regular biking are big here.


Airboat similar to the one we were in, passing us in the Everglades.


Susan and Barry visited us in Weston for an overnight and we all took an air-boat ride the next morning through the everglades. The trip included stops to watch alligators sunning on clumps of sawgrass. Another day we drove to Naples and to Coral Gables to see friends who have winter homes in those cities. We made it back to Ft. Lauderdale one day to re-visit Peggy and Jack and to sit by one of the canals, have a few beers and watch boats. But mostly we relaxed by the resort's pool, or in the large hot tub.

Heidi, Ken, and Josie Stephens at Naples Beach.


Driving back north, we stopped in South Carolina and checked in on Elaine and Roy Davis. They have a winter home in the Charleston area, Seabrook Island. We had a delicious lunch and then tried to take in the views, but we were thwarted by dense fog. Actually, we spent two days on the same island during our 08-09 cruise. At that time we had missed having any kind of nice meal for Thanksgiving and decided to get off the ICW two days later and treat ourselves royally at Bohicket Creek Marina. Great spot with excellent restaurants, and now we know we have friends there!

We may have avoided some nasty storms and bitter cold while we were gone but home-sweet-home still was surrounded by lots of snow when we returned. It took two days to shovel paths to the wood pile, shed, etc. and to get as much excess snow off of the roof as we could. Ice dams were forming so we worked on those, too. Everglades, alligators, and roseate spoonbills are now but a memory.........

A Month in Maine

On the Sheepscot River, just below Wiscasset
Ken fishing from the cockpit in Seal Cove
High on the St. Saveur trail at Acadia National Park
Ken & Tammy on the marina launch in Camden Harbor. Perfect day!

We were fortunate to have a good long time to spend in Maine this summer -- the summer of ALL GOOD WEATHER DAYS !!! We left Cohasset on August 14 and returned on September 8. Our boat ran well and didn't consume too much fuel (phew!). The experiment with powerboating is going well so far.

We removed one couch (we had two) from Rising Tide just the day before we left. And we brought on a table and one temporary bench for the table. These did not get installed until a few days later but then got a lot of use. We had been using a fold-up table in the cockpit prior to August but with shorter days and buggy conditions at our preferred dinner time (around 7:30 pm) we needed an inside place to eat. We did eat well, with lobsters supplied by brother-in-law Matt in Marblehead for the first few days, freshly gathered mussels several times in Maine, plus fresh produce at farmer's markets and grocery stores along the way.

We met up with daughter Tammy in Camden and she stayed with us for a few days while she attended a bridal shower and wedding in that area. Tammy lives in New Mexico so we especially enjoyed a chance to combine her visit and our summer boating. She joined us one night at a Lincolnville, Maine restaurant with our friends Andy, Judie and Emily Hazen (from Lincolnville).

There were 5 nights anchored or moored in Acadia National Park. This is a wonderful place to visit by boat, with two boating-oriented towns -- Southwest and Northeast -- and a long fiord, Somes Sound. You can access several excellent hiking trails from a cove in Somes Sound, and stops for a free shuttle bus to the rest of Mt. Desert Island and the Park from Southwest, Northeast, and the village at the head of Somes Sound. We also connected up with two families from Duxbury while here; they were camping and took us to see their RVs and camp sites (plus provided dinner) after we took them all out for an afternoon cruise.

The second half of our trip was spent at several other Maine coastal locations. We visited Castine and were able to stay on the town dock for most of a morning while we explored the town and had lunch. We got a mooring from Warren Island State Park, which is part of the Islesboro Island group. On a walk around the perimeter of the island we discovered a campfire from the previous evening that had been built in an illegal area and had not been fully put out. Since there are only a half-dozen campsites in this park it is questionable whether anyone else would have noticed this smoldering fire before it ignited the nearby bushes. Ken ran to get a bucket from the nearest campsite and I used my hat to bring a few pints of seawater to put on the fire until Ken got back.

Following that adventure we spent some time in Rockland, a great place to eat out, provision, get boat parts, and access the internet at the public library. I also found a high school friend who is an artist and psychic in Rockland. Kitty Smith has a gallery near the library and we enjoyed catching up on all those years after I poked my head in when I saw her sign.

Hurricane Earl was threatening as we headed back through Muscongus Bay so we tucked into Seal Cove in the Damariscotta River. This is a great hurricane hole, protected on all sides, and we spent a few days on anchor. We swam in the water here, as well as in several other locations on our trip, quite unusual for Maine where the water is mostly too cold. We had a kayak with us on this trip, a new eight-footer, and the small coves we ducked into were perfect for kayaking. A surprise discovery in Seal Cove was a stream and waterfall pouring into the southwest corner, loud enough to hear while paddling around. By the way, the hurricane mostly bypassed Maine, but you never can be too careful.

A planned rendezvous with our friends Linda and Frank Cassidy was fun; we met them in Penobscot Bay, at White Islands, near Vinalhaven Island. Another chance for sundowners and dinner came when we scheduled a stop in Casco Bay at Cliff Island and rafted with Barb and Dick MacLeod. It was great to see our Maine friends!

We saw a lot of wildlife in Maine, including tuna off of Cape Elizabeth, seals everywhere, lots of porpoises, osprey adults and young in many locations, all types of ducks; Ken fished a lot and caught some mackerel in Acadia National Park. We spotted whales swimming along in our direction as we left Maine and entered New Hampshire waters at the Isles of Shoals.

All-in-all it is not too much different to have a trawler, going 8-9 knots (still pretty slow), anchoring in areas we would have gone to in a sailboat, and being out in the sun a lot as we were in our Tayana. Some of the small differences are that we got to carry a kayak on the forward cabin top, out of the way, and we got to pick the best anchoring spot in prime small coves maybe a bit sooner each day than we would have previously. We're still not brave enough to take advantage of our 34" draft but eventually we should be finding anchoring spots in by the beach. We'll save that for Cape Cod and Islands cruising!

NEW Rising Tide Visiting Friends and Family

We successfully brought the new Mainship from Milford, CT to Cohasset, MA about two weeks ago. We stopped in Marion and the Hartley side of the family got a look while we were at the Marion town dock. We also caught up with Peter Cassidy and the Perkins while we were in Marion.

Once in Cohasset we got down to business on the long list of repairs/replacements that it will take to bring the boat up to speed. We also took a 4-day trip to Marblehead to see family there and on the way back stopped in Hull to see our HYC friends, including Tom and Jean Fisher who have a Mainship, "Edgecomb". We expect to return to Marblehead for the July Fourth Weekend, to see Mike & Mimi Powers, and Dave and Suzanne Santry.

The pictures in this post are of our early visitors, sons Pete and Justin, Pete's friend Crystal, "Rising Tide" in Marblehead and the two Mainships in Hull.

Mainship 34 in Milford, CT

Here are two pictures of the new RISING TIDE, located in Milford, CT, and due to be brought to Cohasset soon. Keep checking for updates!