One major difference between sailboaters and powerboaters is their view of passage or journey versus destination. I had the opportunity to experience a journey on a sailboat, when my husband and I helped our friend Tom sailed his 47-foot sailboat Zebulon from Newport, Rhode Island to Solomons Island, Maryland. It was the month after the fateful day of September 11 so security was tighter than usual.
We had met Tom and his wife in Virginia in the spring of that year. They had sailed their boat to Maine for the summer, and in between work and schedules, left Zebulon on a mooring in Newport. This was now early October, and it was starting to get cold, and they needed to bring Zebulon down to their Florida home as soon as possible.
At Newport, after we got reacquainted with Tom, we walked to a nearby supermarket to provision for the next several days. Back on the boat, we made dinner and discussed about the trip. We left Newport on a frigid Monday morning. The temperature was 45 degrees with wind gust of 25 to 30 knots, swells of 4 foot waves 1 minute apart. Needless to say, the seas were rough and brrr, was it cold. Water sprayed over the bow God knows how many times. I went down below and got sick almost immediately. After battling the ocean for seven hours, the captains decided to call it a day. We anchored at Plum Island, at the entrance to Long Island Sound. The anchorage was so calm it was like night and day.
Better sea conditions awaited us the next day, with 6 to 9 knots wind from the west. Tom sailed with the jib for a few hours. Around 09:30, we heard the Coast Guard hailing us on the VHF radio, interrogating us about boat registration, destination, and other details. Everything checked out fine, and we proceeded our merry way.
Traveling down the East River, we ran with the current at Hell Gate and Zebulon got up to 12.4 knots - a record! We rejoiced. Looking around, we found ourselves to be the only pleasure boat on the river. We were approaching New York City. Soon, FDR Drive came into view. It was packed with traffic, of course. Seeing it from the river was exciting and very relaxing.
We got to New York City just before sunset. The Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty were simply magnificent. We were busy snapping pictures when a small coast guard patrol boat chased after us. They wanted to know what we were doing there since the harbor was closed from sunset to sunrise. We had no idea about the new policy. Our radio was turned off for some time. Their radio was not working, so after much shouting over to each other, they agreed to let us by. By then, we were already approaching Verazzano Bridge.
We took advantage of the nice sea conditions by doing an overnight - a new experience for us. The captains took turns watching; it's somewhat of a blur now. All I remember was that it was so cold they had donned at least 4 layers of clothing complete with gloves and hat. We got to Cape May, New Jersey some time during the day and refueled there, then ran over to Lewes, Delaware at the mouth of Delaware Bay just in time for another lovely sunset.
The next day was a beautiful sunny 78 degrees. Since we had made good time, we took it easy this morning. We dinghied in to town, enjoyed coffee at a local bakery, and ran some errands in this quiet retiree town. Land never felt so good! We didn't return to the boat until noon.
Traversing the Delaware Bay was a little rough, but it paled in comparison to the first day of the trip. The only other boat we saw on the bay was the aptly named Salt and Pepper (the captain was Caucasian, the first mate African American). We cruised up the C&D (Chesapeake and Delaware) Canal, and anchored on the Chesapeake side. Complete solitude. As we started to make dinner, flies flew in and must have reproduced themselves overnight. Tom and I spent the next morning swatting flies, swarms of them literally.
This was now Friday. Our goal was to get to Solomons Island. Fortunately, the weather cooperated. We made it there just in time for another sunset celebration. This time we toasted to our journey's success. We learned a lot about ourselves on this journey. We now know that we prefer the comforts of a powerboat and that we like to discover and explore new destinations. Sometimes the difference between a tourist and a traveler is just one night's stay.