Cape May, NJ June 20, 2007

We left Hampton, Virginia on Tuesday morning the 19th of June at 8 a.m. It was not too long before we met outbound and inbound ships along the shipping channel. Several naval battle ships passed us on the outward bound trip. We also saw a very fast low to the water naval boat which Gordon believes may transport navy seals. A few large container ships soon followed us on our outbound journey as we hugged the outside of the channel to avoid their large wakes. There were several fishing tour boats that were in the channel and only moved out of the traffic lanes when the ships gave 5 blasts on their horns.

We had southeast winds 10-15 knots as we traveled up the coast with little traffic on the way. At night it was hazy but we had light from the quarter moon and a few stars that shone above us. Gordon put two reefs in our main sail as the weather forecast indicated thunderstorms. Around 4 a.m. were heard thunder in the distance and had a short but heavy downpour as we headed toward Cape May, New Jersey.

We decided to anchor at Cape May to avoid any inclement weather as the cold front passed us. As we entered Cape May harbor at 8 a.m. We skirted 4-5 fishing boats that were trawling their nets in the oyster beds. It took an hour to anchor the boat safely in the inlet behind the Coast Guard Station because of the depth of water and a strong current just outside the channel. We had long naps today and are preparing to head out tomorrow (Thursday June 21 solstice) and hope to make Block Island, Rhode Island by Friday at 5 p.m.