Starducks Ship’s Log
The Voyage from Annapolis to Nantucket & Return
This is an account of the voyage that we took in our new Beneteau 361 sloop during the summer of 2004, after the wedding of son Sam and selling our house. We’d only done sailing trips in the Chesapeake Bay prior to this journey, so this one was regarded as an ambitious undertaking, to cover the distance from Annapolis MD to Nantucket Island off the coast of Cape Cod MA and return.- Kurt & Marieluise Riegel
Wednesday, 04 August, 2004
We departed Ed & Linda Gray's dock in Edgewater MD about 09:04 in the morning, with excitement, anticipation and a tinge of fear in our hearts. This voyage to Nantucket and return is our most ambitious nautical undertaking to date! Very calm day, no wind for the first half. For the second half of the sailing day, since the wind was in our direction, we deployed the gennaker sail to great effect. Toward the end of the day, we decided to put in at Rock Hall MD where we’d stayed before with the Grays, but found the harbor confusing under threat of gathering storm. We probably anchored in a different area than before. A huge squall hit just as we started the anchoring maneuver but we managed to drop anchor in the nick of time and survived quite a buffeting, with only feet to spare in a tiny harbor.Thursday, 05 August, 2004
Motored out of Rock Hall smoothly and sailed most of the way up the bay, with lots of tacking in a north wind. We motored into the Sassafras River for a nice stay in a quiet cove. Our 4th wedding anniversary is today and it’s a super treat to spend it under these unusual conditions with Maise, the most wonderful person and perfect wife. We dined on lasagna and fine wine, both great even though consumed intemperately.Friday, 06 August, 2004
We had a huge north wind all day. We motored out of the Sassafras and were just able to sail close to the wind up to the Chesapeake & Delaware canal. Winds were too head-on and fluky to sail much in the canal so we motored most of the way, having timed the current poorly. Ditto for the Delaware River - this presented a 1-1 ½ knot current against us all day together with a big following wind. The huge tailwind had us sailing at 5-7 knots all day, finally teaching us that a single sail, jib, is often good and sufficient for sailing dead downwind. Two sails just don’t work together well on a run. We anchored on the north side of the Delaware at Nantuxent Cove with sufficient protection from the overland wind to have a pretty good night, since there was insufficient time to get all the way to Cape May at the mouth of the river in one day.Saturday, 07 August, 2004
We had a wonderful run down the second half of the Delaware River into Delaware Bay, with a somewhat tricky entry (for these novices) into the Cape May canal. There were turbulent currents caused by cross-tides at the mouth of the canal inlet, bouncing us about a bit, but not beyond our ability to compensate. We had difficulty deciphering very complicated channel markings, and a tight anchorage, but we arrived and anchored safely in Cape May harbor at the Atlantic end.Sunday, 08 August, 2004
We rose early and entered the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in our lives as sailors. The seas were calm and the weather was perfect, giving us a terrific offshore wind and a beam reach right up the New Jersey coast at full speed all the way. We went far beyond our goal for the day, Atlantic City, waving at Donald Trump as we tore by to Barnegat Inlet. This was really our very first inlet entry from the ocean, so we were more than apprehensive. Worse, the tidal information available indicated that we’d arrived at just the wrong time for an inlet entry, with strong current outward from the inlet we were about to enter. After a conversation on VHF radio, and a caucus with a fisherman, and inspecting the waters ahead very carefully with binoculars, we decided to make a try at it. The engine was just strong enough to get us into the inlet, and no difficult turbulence was encountered. Again, there were tricky narrow channels inside the inlet, sometimes poorly marked so it was edgy getting to anchorage. To our horror, we awoke the next morning to find that we had moved during the night about 300 feet, resetting the anchor at the edge of a busy traffic channel. A few more feet, and we would have been aground. Henceforth, we will be more diligent about setting our anchor quite deliberately using reverse engine thrust.Monday, 09 August, 2004
We refueled and entered the ocean again at 06:15 for a super run on beam reach at full speed to Sandy Hook, rounding the hook and anchoring on the far end of the Sandy Hook Bay sheltered from the SW wind. Dodging a few freighters was interesting and not as scary as we had feared, and dealing with the currents and variable winds turned out to be easily manageable. There were nice views of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge from our anchorage!Wednesday, 10 August, 2004
We sailed from Sandy Hook toward the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, past the Statue of Liberty and on to the 79th Street Boat Basin for a mooring. The sights of Manhattan during our water entry were unique and spectacular … I can recommend sailing as a welcome change from most of the painful forms of transportation that one must endure to enter New York City. There was major shipping traffic as we entered the New York bays. New York is magnificent to approach this way, on a sail under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge past Brooklyn and Staten Island, past Governor’s Island up to view the Statue of Liberty from very close indeed, and then into the Hudson at the Battery. We were in touch with Eden to inform her of our progress up the river, intending to rendezvous with her at the 79th Street Boat Basin. We grabbed the first mooring of our sailing lives here, more difficult than we'd imagined. After overcoming the considerable disorganization of our very first dinghy deployment, we finally got ashore to meet her. We walked the great West Side neighborhood, bought some fresh fruit, and finally saw her ground floor apartment at 75th street … very nice indeed. We walked back to Starducks, met her friend Ryan, and Maise cooked a super dinner for all four of us on board. Kurt dinghied the two of them ashore, and we got a little wet in the waves. Do we need a larger dinghy, if only to avoid being drenched by waves? We had our first night aboard the turbulent and bouncy Hudson, with an introduction to what happens when winds and currents operate in opposite directions on a sailboat at anchor. Now I understand why a mizzen sail is desirable at the aft end of a sailboat at anchor, to allow wind to dominate in the competition between wind and current.Wednesday, 11 August, 2004
It rained a lot during the day, but we went ashore to do some shopping for fresh food at Fairway, and got a baker’s dozen of poppy bagels at H&H Bagels together with lox at Zabar’s Deli. The best in the world! Too much of the day was spent aboard hiding from the rain.Thursday, 12 August, 2004
We went to the main dock, pumped out our holding tank, refilled the water tanks and set sail for the East River. Hoping to get Eden aboard, we made arrangements with her to join us at either the North Cove Marina or the South Street Museum, but found both closed to us by the Coast Guard as a part of a general state of alert for lower Manhattan. It seems that we are just too suspicious. We entered the East River, were denied entry at the South Street Seaport Museum and were met again by the Coast Guard, with mounted machine guns in plain view, in front of the UN. We were told that the left half of the river was closed to us, but we could proceed since the right half has an inoperable bridge about 20 feet high that would do bad things to our 50 foot mast!Friday, 13 August, 2004
Is it supposed to be unlucky today? I don’t think so! We sailed from the bottom of Long Island Sound to just short of Montauk. We did a drive-by “war sail” of the anchor beach to find WiFi … no luck. Kurt is worried about having his Johns Hopkins course in shape to deliver by the first of September. Tricky current and winds at anchor, in opposition to each other, had us running to avoid wrapping the anchor around the keel. We had a tense moment when the boat was anchored from the MIDDLE cleat of the boat, with no way of releasing huge pressure, but Maise & Kurt timed a fabulous simultaneous effort to release an additional 10 feet of anchor rode and release the center cleat.Saturday, 14 August, 2004
We sailed to Block Island in weak wind initially, fearing the arrival of tropical storm Charlie. In the literal calm before the storm, we had to motor most of the way. Kurt enjoyed our first long, long rollers in the gap between Montauk and Block Island, but Maise regarded them apprehensively. They don’t exist in Bavaria. At Block Island we anchored on the correct side of Salt Pont in the center of the island to avoid wind-whipped waves. All went well even though we moved 250 feet during the night according to GPS, evidently resetting our anchor quite well. A dinner ashore was a nice dinghy venture on this voyage … we’ll get this dinghy business tamed somehow.Sunday, 15 August, 2004
We hid out at Block Island during the Hurricane. Kurt wanted to depart in the afternoon since the weather reports indicated it was again safe, but Maise, in her own words, was “chicken” so we stayed in hiding.Monday, 16 August, 2004
We arose at 03:00 to sail out of Block Island harbor. It was, of course, pitch black and difficult to get oriented so GPS came in handy. It was cold and drizzly and Kurt felt chilly even in spite of his foul weather gear. Maise assisted wonderfully in getting us out of the harbor, shining our searchlight on markers exiting the harbor, etc. We sailed well for about 6 hours but finally had to depart from our planned southern route to Nantucket because the adequate winds were nose-on; we were “making good” too little speed to arrive before nightfall. Therefore, we diverted to the closer and more favorably oriented (with respect to wind direction) Newport. We arrived in the early afternoon, anchored and went ashore to explore a new town. Returning by dinghy, we met a nice New Zealand couple who had just bought their used 47-foot Beneteau over the internet, flying to America to take delivery. (Trevor & Lesley Fyfe, 65 Pohutukawa Ave, Shelly Park, Howick, Auckland, NZ Ph 0064 9 534 9534, US 857.991.9564, pohutukawa65@hotmail.com)Tuesday, 17 August, 2004
After attending to a number of fix-up chores on the boat, this was a day to get off the boat and walk, walk, walk … it felt great. Kurt found an open WiFi hotspot at the north end of town, and another at the south end of town at a great coffee shop called “The Bean” or some such. Maise & Kurt had good sandwiches and Kurt set to work polishing up the first 2 weeks of the JHU internet course on environmental compliance. The proprietress of the shop was most gracious about allowing WiFi customers to stay for hours, and Kurt had a nice discussion with her over the value of WiFi as an amenity to attract and retain customers. It’s a good idea. Any business model that relies on usurious hourly rates for WiFi access seems like a loser to me for the long term … kind of like charging customers to use the toilet.Wednesday, 18 August, 2004
We sailed from Newport up Buzzards Bay to Woods Hole, to fight a terrific current between the Atlantic Ocean side and Buzzards Bay. A point of confusion was the red/green marker issue, seemingly reversed from what we expected as we “returned” from the Bay to Woods Hole. Of course, what we were really doing was the reverse, passing from the Bay to the Ocean, which explains how the markers were colored. The currents were strong and swirly and our 27 horsepower engine just barely got us into Woods Hole. There we encountered only frustration as we tried time and again to find either an anchorage or a pier for temporary use while we shopped. Nearly running aground in one tight place, we gave up on the losing battle with an inhospitable Woods Hole and went back down the channel to Hadley Harbor to find a wonderfully peaceful anchorage. Kurt tried fishing with a piece of beef scrap and a fly rod; not surprisingly, he caught nothing.Thursday, 19 August, 2004
We sailed from Woods Hole to Nantucket, this time passing through the difficult Woods Hole channel in the same direction of the current. It’s a lot easier this way, but we still encountered whirlpools that wrested steering control. We had good winds and 3 foot waves, making great speed until a right turn put us beating into a stiff wind for our last 10 miles or so into Nantucket. We motored up the very narrow channel into Nantucket Harbor, our destination, and it felt really great to have made a successful first major voyage! The harbor is beautiful, but we were relegated to the anchorage area most distant from town. The winds remained stiff throughout our stay in the harbor. There were mega yachts all over the place, and one parked next to us caused us a little difficulty. First, it behaved much differently from sailboats in the competition between wind and current, being strongly influenced by the latter; therefore, it caused difficulties for several sailboats, including Starducks, as it cut like a scythe through them. Secondly, a bozo who clearly had no nautical experience drove the boat’s launch directly over our anchor rode, snagging it; fortunately, it was not cut, but Kurt had to shoo the same boat away from our anchor rode several times during the Nantucket stay. Isn’t it surprising how many people somehow think that the line running from a boat’s bow at an angle down into the water stops magically at the water line instead of continuing on? Because daylight was waning and the winds were very high, only Kurt did a dinghy tour of the harbor, returning soaked. We phoned David Lee and made arrangements to meet him ashore the next day.Friday, 20 August, 2004
We drove our dinghy to the Town Dock and tied up, walked around town and then down to the “A&P” (really the Grand Union now) to meet up with David Lee. He drove us around the island a bit, and then to his wonderful house to meet daughters Merritt and Kate. Wife Ramsey, a wonderful person, died last year after a 5 year battle with breast cancer. A drive and walk at Madaket was wonderfully beautiful. It was just great to have a chance at reunion after too many years – David & Kurt had worked in different roles on several energy conservation projects for the Department of Energy. They'd also had a super cross-country ski trip in Vermont in the '70s. It is evident that they have strongly overlapping enthusiasms so it will be interesting to try to get together on projects in the future.Saturday, 21 August, 2004
We went ashore in Nantucket on the launch (water taxi) since the wind and waves were so high in Nantucket harbor. Our anchorage area is located in arguably the worst place of all, where winds are high and distance from town and cross currents are highest than anywhere else. Met David Lee and his daughters Merritt and Kate and joined him at his house again for a most pleasant pasta salad and conversation about possible work together covering a wonderful range of topics from WiFi tags to cancer metadata studies to anti-turtle airbags for sailboat masts. He’d like to make SBIR (small business innovative research) proposals on a number of topics to a number of federal agencies. We went on a nice walk to “The Links”, formerly a golf course but now an area used for walking and dog congregating. We did a little more walking about town, then back to the boat for a nervous night checking and rechecking anchor and currents. During the night the anchor slipped and then re-set within 30 feet according to GPS. I discovered that the anchor rode had chafed badly from sharp edges at the bow of Starducks as it swayed right and left … bad design. I’ll have to put a softening sleeve over the rode at that point.Sunday, 22 August, 2004
The wind calmed just a bit and we were able to negotiate a ride aboard our dinghy to town. Our objective was to walk and walk, and we did just that most of the day. Nantucket is a great walking place with no end of delights. We stopped by the Fish House to buy two lobsters, cooked, which we consumed dockside like starving people - great! We bought Starbucks ice cream for Starducks, dinghyed home and prepared to set sail for Martha’s Vineyard or Woods Hole the next day.Monday, 23 August, 2004
A sail to Martha’s Vineyard from Nantucket went very well, although it was a bit too choppy for Maise’s taste. We arrived a little late, but with enough time to dinghy ashore for a big pizza at a local joint. At our table were Gerry & Judy LaMarque, Solomons MD 410.326.8077 who have a summer place at Vineyard Haven 508.693.0553. He’s a boat surveyor and imparted the useful tip that our Beneteau gas valve consumes 2 amps to run … an unconscionable waste of power for a safety function alone. The town at Martha’s Vineyard is not impressive at all, and seems populated by a social stratum markedly less elevated than at Nantucket. Although we were well-sheltered from the wind and its waves by placement against the shore, during the night the wind shifted half circle and we awoke to pounding from waves over a huge fetch stretching all the way to Cape Cod.Tuesday, 24 August, 2004
We sailed all day from Nantucket to Newport, in conditions that were mostly run or broad reach with following seas, a combination that sails fast but is difficult to steer. The passage through Woods Hole inlet was very smooth, with the current in our favor this time and with the benefit of knowledge how the channels in that confusing place run. We’d confused red with green before, failing to realize that coming from Buzzard’s Bay is in the direction of entering the ocean! Nearing Newport, wind weakened and we made a try with the gennaker but failed miserably, motoring a few miles before the wind picked up again on a beam reach. It was nice to sail in proper style into Newport Harbor.Wednesday, 25 August, 2004
We woke up in Newport Harbor after a long and restful night asleep, with no worries during the past night of slipping anchors or wind and waves. Nice change. Very relaxed change for Maise, giving relief from stressful waves on the ocean and on Buzzards Bay. We did a little shopping for the big voyage, replaced a broken French press coffee pot, checked our email at a nice restaurant “Coffee Bean” or some such.Thursday, 26 August, 2004
We went out and completed shopping at Stop and Shop for provisions for the boat. Ed Gray met us at the fuel dock at 12:30, where we fueled, put groceries and beer, ice and water aboard Starducks. Note on sailing vs. motoring … we were pleased that the entire voyage from Annapolis to Nantucket and back to Newport consumed only 7 gallons of diesel fuel, with mostly very pleasant sailing – the winds have been good to us. Realizing that this was our last and only opportunity to see Newport prior to setting sail, we decided to dingy in to the restaurant “Scales” on the south side of the harbor. On the way, Magdy Battikha telephoned to say he’d arrived and we agreed to meet him after dinner at the dock. Comically, Kurt forgot all cash and credit cards but was to be saved by Ed’s credit card. But … oh no! …. Scales refused plastic. The problem was solved by walking back to meet Magdy, Kurt dingying him to Starducks, dinghying back to Ed on the south side of the harbor at a condo dock, Ed paying the bill and riding back on Kurt’s dingy to Starducks. At about 20:00 Todd Crotteau & Doug Karr arrived; we took Starducks to the Yacht Club dock, and set sail immediately for the south. Spirits and enthusiasms were high at the beginning of the voyage, in pitch blackness except for a rising and waxing moon. We finally settled into a Kurt/Magdy 22:00-02:00 shift, relieved by Ed/Todd/Doug at 02:00. Great sail on an increasingly moonlit night, most of the way to Block Island.Friday, 27 August, 2004
We sailed past Block Island in a good but wrongly directed wind that required tacking, too much of it, getting well down the coast of New Jersey. During the night Magdy developed severe seasickness, his patch having been applied too late to have effect. He spent a wretched night expelling fluids from all orifices, to the point that he asked if the Coast Guard might take him from the boat. Kurt consulted with the Coast Guard who said that, lacking symptoms such as blood in vomit, unconsciousness or imminent death, we should make for the nearest port. (The Coast Guard has apparently narrowed its mission and intervenes now only in cases of imminent threat to life, and merely calls commercial firms for threats to property.) Since that nearest port would have been both unfamiliar and entered at night, we opted to continue on to Sandy Hook for a daytime delivery. Rotations worked well but, boy, it’s hard to stay awake at 0:DARK:30.Saturday, 28 August, 2004
Magdy awoke in better spirits and health. We made for Sandy Hook and arrived at about 09:00. But the currents were perfectly mis-timed and we fought them for hours, wasting most of the day getting in to a marina, fueling and depositing Magdy, and finally retracing our steps back into the ocean at 14:00. Nice lunch, loud music from Jimmy Buffet, and we are sailing again!Sunday, 29 August, 2004
The wind was poor for most of the day, and opposing factions (motor = Ed & Doug, and sail = Kurt & Todd) contended. In what might charitably be described as a compromise, most of the afternoon was spent motor-sailing to meet a newly-discovered deadline of 8 pm to catch the last ferry from Cape May to Lewes. We arrived on time, and Starducks got through the Cape May canal just in time to see the ferry, with Ed & Doug aboard, depart in front of us. We hailed Ed by cell phone, flashed a light at him, and he was surprised to see us there so fast. Todd & Kurt sailed on until about 1 AM, but because the wind was weakening and the current against us was strengthening, Kurt dropped anchor. There was a little confusion between wind and current, and we nearly wrapped the anchor rode around the keel but got it free and went to sleep for about 4 hours.Monday, 30 August, 2004
Kurt awoke, weighed anchor in zero wind, and started the motor. Within an hour or so the wind started up again and got better as we did the last half of the Delaware River to the canal. Kurt slept most of the canal trip and Todd motored through, enjoying the varied architectural and historical sights. In the Bay, Todd went below for “15 minutes” and, like Kurt, emerged hours later. Since the wind had become appropriate for deployment of the gennaker, we put it up on the port side and had a nice long sail at double speed until we ran out of space and had to gybe over to another tack. Gybing the gennaker is no simple matter, so Kurt re-socked it, deployed starboard gear, and re-deployed it on the starboard side. No sooner had it inflated than, wham, we were hit by vastly stronger winds. We had a deuce of a time getting the overpowered sail back down and feared disaster. As it was, the boat heeled quite severely, spilling water over the rail, but somehow we got it under control again. Under normal sails, we resumed sailing at nice speed down the Bay. In darkness it became a little tricky to stay oriented, but Todd & Kurt made a good team. We sailed under the Bay Bridge without incident and Kurt napped as we approached Thomas Point. Wham, coming into the wind at Thomas Point woke him up as Todd suddenly had a demon on his hands. He sailed perfectly, and Kurt went below again to prepare to start the motor should the winds die in the South River. Horrors! There was black ooze creeping up between the floorboards. An inspection of the bilge beneath the diesel engine revealed a large quantity of black oil, leading Kurt to believe the engine had blown and dumped its entire oil supply. Lest further damage be done, we decided to sail all the way to Ed’s dock, and phone him with an alert. Graciously, he said he’d meet us at the dock and help us tie up – just phone as we arrive. (Easier said than done, it turned out – Kurt’s cell phone quit somewhere in the last miles.) A fantastic battle with the South River commenced, the winds growing ever less strong and favorable as we neared Ed’s. Just before the South River Bridge, we encountered a very tight turn and essentially no wind, requiring 3 tacks at very slow speed to go several hundred feet, the way being revealed not by markers but by GPS bathymetry shouted to Todd by Kurt below. At the bridge, we had to get all the way to the right to have a shot at getting through the widest segment, and missed it even at that – but got through the second segment just fine. All markers were illuminated except for the last red/green – our on-board searchlight did the trick, and up to Ed’s dock we sailed. Todd took in sails perfectly and we arrived at zero velocity for a perfectly safe landing.Tuesday, 31 August, 2004
Karl, Annapolis Yacht Sales diesel expert, arrived and pronounced Kurt an idiot for not properly inserting the engine’s dip stick prior to departing. Actually, he was quite mannerly … Kurt extrapolated that judgment from his own opinion of himself. Throughout the voyage, the engine had been spitting oil out the dip stick hole to make the mess previously reported. The next 3 days are to be spent cleaning up the mess and replacing a quart of oil – that’s all that was spilled, so no lasting damage was wrought on the engine, in Karl’s opinion. Slightly worrisome is the 2.5 gallons of water that had entered the bilge during the voyage – the propeller shaft seal is suspected. Perhaps a shot of lubricant via syringe will do the trick.Wednesday, 01 September, 2004
Maise gets on an airplane from Dulles to Germany for walks in the Alps with her father Werner. He’s been bound to Maise’s mother’s sickbed as principal caregiver for 2 years, so this is a most wonderful gift of renewal for him. Kurt has to get used to life as a live-aboard bachelor!Some summary thoughts about this voyage:
It was indeed, the voyage of a lifetime. Most Chesapeake sailors never touch the ocean beyond, so we feel fortunate to have dared the journey, and to have made it so smoothly. We had the support of many friends, chief among them the Grays - which support contributed mightily toward our success.
We got to know our boat much better, capabilities and limitations, and feel more confident about sailing her. We learned some good lessons about navigation, how to handle currents, a great deal about managing sails under a variety of conditions, especially with following winds and seas.
A lesson for our next voyage is that time spent ashore is essential to a quality cruising experience and we'll strive toward a larger ratio of shore to sailing time in order to get more exercise, to learn about new places and, most of all, to meet with friends. We hadn't planned for it, but fortuitously had a full moon for most of our night sailing – it proved to be so important that we'll always plan overnight sailing at the time of the full moon henceforth. We'll probably buy a chain for the anchor before we venture out of the Bay again, having learned how vulnerable a nylon anchor rode is to chafing, cutting by stupid motor boaters, and other stresses. The onboard laptop-based navigation system served us very well indeed but we recognize the wisdom of currying backup paper charts.
We do regret not having the company of more friends and family on these excursions, but recognize the logistical barriers they face in participating. Difficult as it might be to believe this, some people still, voluntarily, go to work in order to earn incomes. Actually, even in our good fortune with time to pursue this voyage, both of us recognize strong personal imperatives to continue working. I can't believe I'm saying this, but we're now pointed at buying a house on (ugh) land and re-joining the workforce on some basis.
Let the reader not conclude that this proves that we have acquired an aversion to sailing – quite the contrary. We're enthusiastically planning our next adventures at sea!