We are in Cape May NJ. we survived the storm. Arrived yesterday (Thurs) battered and weary. It was the only option, could not get back to New England. out of food, out of fuel. As a final insult to us, we picked up a 100ft length of line wrapped around the prop a mile from the jetties and almost did not make it in.
took us 7 days and we still could not get home but we stayed afloat.
Everyone is well. Tired and tense but drank most of that away last night.
2 other boats did not make it - sank, CG rescued them, 1 sank off New York and one 150 miles S of Nantuck.
Heading home tomorrow (Fri) leaving at dawn, route up the NJ coast into NY and up LI sound.
Expect to be back in Bristol Sunday morning.
Boat beat up pretty good but she is a well-found vessel and took care of us altho some things broke and she took a frightful pounding.
So we are fine and getting the vessel prepared for the final leg home. Everyone bruised and sore. Endured almost 6 days of constant howling gales, 35 knots and 3 days of steady 40 knots, horrendous high seas and never-ending tension, I was wondering when her seams would finally open up but they did not.
"...But the Hand that held these (seas) also held the Spray" - Joshua Slocum, in Sailing Alone Around the World.
His hand held the Mary Rose and delivered us safely at long last to peaceful waters. No more than a pin-prick on a chart covering thousands of square miles of open waters, we were completely at the mercy of wind and wave and dependent upon the whim of the weather. Oddly enough we made it in an 80-plus year old wooden boat! I praise the genius who designed her sturdy and strong - the brilliant engineer and naval architect Nat Herreshoff who designed her well - and all those men, now all of them long dead and gone to dust, who carefully built her so many years ago in Bristol. Their good and solid work saved our lives.
Mike
Mike
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