(^34) BLUE WATER SAILING • June / July 2017
{ COASTALCRUISING }
I
n the summer of 2015, my wife
Carol and I thought about sailing
our boat Legacy, a 2011 Hunter
39, from her homeport in Hamp-
ton, Virginia, to New England via
a coastal route in 2016. Sailing
in the company of some other vessels
from our yacht club was also a pos-
sibility. Cruising with a small flotilla
of friends would further enrich the
experience. Going coastal would also
allow us to meet new people and see
new places.
With this decided, we started to lay
a plan. We thought about departing at
the end of May 2016 from Hampton to
spend the Memorial Day weekend on
the eastern shore of the Chesapeake
Bay, and then sail the 10 miles out the
bay to make the overnight, 140-mile
passage offshore to Cape May, NJ.
From there, we would sail to AtlanticCity, where we would leave the boat
for three days so Carol and I could
fly to Chicago for her high school re-
union. Some of our flotilla would sail
on while friends aboard a buddy boat
named Starchaser would wait for us
before continuing up the Jersey coast
to Manasquan, and then Sandy Hook
and Atlantic Highlands.
From there, we planned to cruise
through New York Harbor, the East
River, Hell Gate, and then into Long
Island Sound where we could take our
time visiting various ports of call in
New York, Connecticut, and possibly
Rhode Island. At some point, a ren-
dezvous with other boats in the flotilla
was also a goal. Then, we would return
via Long Island Sound, the Jersey
shore, Delaware Bay, the C&D Canal
to the Chesapeake Bay, and be home
by mid-July.THE GETAWAY
The “to do” list of preparations was
long but Legacy is a good boat and we
had her rigged for ocean sailing. On
May 26, the lines were tossed, and we
set course for the charming village
of Cape Charles 14 miles across the
Chesapeake Bay. This short, windless
cruise motoring across the bay under
sunny skies was anticlimactic to say
the least. However, we had a great
Memorial Day Weekend visiting with
friends and local sailors, sampling lo-
cal fare, visiting shops, and dressing
as pirates for a costume contest that
we didn’t win.
On May 30, our cruising flotilla
skippers listened to the weather fore-
cast from Chris Parker on my SSB.
It was not good. A nasty low was
developing off South Carolina with
likely movement north in a few days.
Local weather had turned to a gray
overcast. I evaluated Chris’ report
and given the pros and cons, we all
decided we would go as planned since$IORWLOODFUXLVHIURP+DPSWRQ9LUJLQLDWR
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Going Coastal to
NEW ENGLANDby Curtis Morris, Jr.