Yeah, I went sailing again and wrote about it. Fortunately Colleen is very patient with my sailing addiction.

I just got back from a quick sailing trip from Marion, MA to Lewes, DE, with my friends Tom and Mary Mitri on their boat, Glory, a Mason 44. I have sailed with them on several occasions in the past, including an 8 day, 900 mile sail from Marion to Hilton Head. This was the first leg of their trip south, from Lewes they plan on day tripping up the Delaware River through the C&D Canal and down the Chesapeake Bay ending up in Norfolk, Virginia, where I hope to join them again, bringing Glory from Norfolk to Hilton Head, a 550 mile jaunt. After Hilton Head, Tom and Mary plan on sailing further south to Florida before hitting the warm water and sandy beaches of the Bahamas for a winter respite, heading back up to Massachusetts in the spring.

The Mitris are my neighbors in Arlington, they live directly across the street from us. Soon after moving into our neighborhood in 2012, while I was doing yardwork, I noticed Tom folding a sail in his front yard, that sparked a conversation about sailing, which has since become a close friendship, not just based on sailing. The four of us, the Mitris, Colleen and I, will get together for a beer, that inevitably turns into a few beers, some good conversation and laughs before it’s realized how much time has passed, time slips away when you are having fun.

After many frustrating months of getting Glory prepared for her trip south, as well as waiting for a promising weather window, we set out from Marion at 4am on October 15th. The early start was in hopes of taking advantage of the tidal currents throughout our trip. The tide pushed us through Buzzards Bay, as we passed south of Fishers Island and into Long Island Sound. Overnight in the sound we had a minimally adverse current, which was as we hoped.

We arrived at the Throgs Neck Bridge at 7am, as the direction of the current changed in our favor. The current pushed us through Hell’s Gate, the East River, along Manhattan’s east coast, into the Hudson River with the Lady Liberty off to our starboard side and through The Narrows. Off the coast of Sandy Hook we were welcomed to New Jersey by a small pod of dolphins.

I hadn’t been through New York City by boat since doing it twice on my father’s boat Deep End in the early 1980’s. This time as with the times in the past was quite memorable. It’s a different perspective on how you see the city. I look forward to doing it again.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention, the sailing, not in the city, there you are required to be under auxiliary power, was amazing. We were under sail from Buzzards Bay all the way to the Throgs Neck Bridge, where we doused the sails and fired up the engine to propel us through the madness of New York Harbor.

Northern New Jersey was just about at our halfway point, still ahead of us was a sail along the Jersey Coast and then across the mouth of the Delaware River to the town of Lewes. Sailing along the Jersey Coast was great, the sailing gods were with us on this trip. The autopilot on the other hand, kind of sucked. In light winds and under power it worked okay-ish, however once the conditions picked up a bit the autopilot was not up to the task of auto piloting. This forced us to do a lot of hand steering, which to put a positive spin on it, keeps you on you toes and helps keep you warm during the chilly autumn nights. The constant movement needed to maintain the boat’s preferred direction keeps the blood pumping, and not relying on the autopilot keeps you more in tuned with the needs of the sails.

The Jersey Coast was a pleasant sail, at times we had some wind gusts in the mid-20s, which for Glory, a heavy boat with a modified full keel, takes with ease. Throughout the night, with heavy-ish winds, moderate seas and a lackluster autopilot we decided to sail with only a reefed mainsail. This was a good decision. With the reduced sail plan, we had a more restful overnight, not too much banging and bouncing, while still averaging close to 6 knots.

We made it to Cape May, the southern tip of New Jersey at sun up. We let out a bit more sail for the remaining 12 miles across the mouth of the Delaware River. We were on a beam reach with winds and seas cranking up a bit, wind gusts hitting the low to mid 30’s and 6 foot closely stacked seas. One of the waves pounded into and over the starboard gunwale creeping up and under the canvas / isinglass enclosure soaking Tom. The enclosure offers great protection most of the time, this wave was just Tom’s momentary bad luck. I was dry and happy at the helm.

By 9:30am on Friday, October 17, we were anchored in 12 feet of water behind a jetty in Lewes’ outer harbor, completing our 360 mile journey in just over 53 hours, 90% of which was under sail. After some celebratory Scotch we took some well deserved naps before moving Glory to a dock in the downtown area of Lewes about 5 miles away.

Heading into downtown Lewes via the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal.

After settling the boat and cleaning ourselves we walked the town, had dinner, followed by a bit more Scotch on board before crashing. I had to get up early the next morning, pick up a rental car and drive back to Arlington.