High Time We Went!

 (Don’t you think?)
 

It’s been a cold (50's), rainy, windy (12-16 mph)  Memorial Day weekend here at Herrington Harbor North near Deale Maryland.   Brrrrr.  Takes us back to our early blue-tarp-and-propane-heater boating days at Pend Oreille and Priest Lakes in North Idaho.  We have enjoyed some social time with Loopers Bab and Nancy Volkwein aboard their Mainship 39, Zinzer, and here on Irish Lass with our Airbnb hosts Troy and Heather and our new Deale friend Melanie.   And we have learned how to use the reverse cycle function in our AC system to produce HEAT. (Amen!)

But now….

….it appears…..

….with repairs and commissioning complete, and……..

….with Chesapeake Bay weather forecast to moderate……

…..we have no choice…….

…..but to go ahead and…..

SET SAIL, DEPART, CAST OFF, VAMOOSE!

At roughly  8:00 am Eastern on Monday we will exit Herring Bay and proceed north up the Chesapeake to The Middle River area just north of Baltimore, specifically to the Baltimore Yacht Club, for the night.  The distance is charted at 45.2 miles.  The weather at the beginning of this voyage may still be a little sporty and we expect to take about 4 hours to make the run.

On Tuesday, we will proceed from Middle River across the Bay and north to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal which will take us to Delaware City near the head of Delaware Bay.  This is a sea-level canal (no locks) that provides a path for ocean-going vessels from the Atlantic to the north end of Chesapeake Bay via Delaware Bay.  Our distance will be just over 50 miles, but with calmer weather, we expect to cover this distance in 4-ish hours as well.

On Wednesday, we will proceed down Delaware Bay to Cape May, NJ and the Atlantic Ocean, a distance of 61 miles.   This is more than we like to run in a day, but Delaware Bay provides few options for an interim stop.  So, we will use the speed (and fuel capacity) of the boat to make a straight run.  We have to watch wind, tide, and weather carefully on this stretch, but we expect about a 5-hour cruise.   (We hope this stops stirs  pleasant memories of pushups, barracks inspections, and marching for our ex-Coastie friends Erin, Mark, and David.  Semper Paratus and  Thank you for your service!)

From Cape May, we will run up the NJ coast in open water with an ultimate goal of New York City by the weekend.  More on that to come………..

 

Meanwhile, thanks for following.