Friday, November 06, 2009

Newport to Charleston – Day 2


We continued to make way by motor sailing. (We’ve already used the engine more than on either of our Atlantic crossings.) Our sunrise is shown left.

A mid-day report from Commanders’ Weather forecasted an increase to already expected high winds so our captain decided to change course and go back towards Cape May to take shelter for the night. This course change allowed us to sail for a few hours. Before dark we were safely anchored in an anchorage area between the US Coast Guard station and the mouth of Cape May Harbor along with nine other sailboats seeking shelter.

It was unusually calm while we enjoyed a civilized dinner down below in the salon and secretly wondered if we should have pressed on. Within minutes of when the high winds were forecasted to start, we experienced gusts up to 43kts in the harbor. High winds and building seas kept us alert and on edge throughout the night. At times we had the engine on and ready to avert danger. During the night 3 of the 9 sailboats were rescued off the rocks.

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