17 September Sandy Hook to C&D Canal

The anchorage at Sandy Hook is great – much better than I had expected – and a great staging spot. We checked the forecast once more, as you do, and it still looks like a good broad reach down to Cape May.

The reality was less wind than forecast so more motoring, Perhaps if we gone further than 3 miles offshore as we did we would have found stronger breezes. As we approached Cape May at 7am the tide was about to turn north, winds had increased to 20 knots from the north east which would be upwind going up the Delaware. Interestingly local cruisers had done a sharp intake of breath when we mentioned Cape May “Oh, the seas get really rough there.” Yes, there is a large area of shallow bank extending south from the Cape where the seas will become confused as you turn to enter the Delaware but it is a short distance.

Turning north east into the Delaware brought the wind around to a close reach, too close to make the angle without a tack between anchored oil tankers on the west shore. One tack to starboard and one to port brought us to the east side of the shipping channel. It's fifty miles of nothing to see up to the entrance to the Chesapeake and Delaware canal. With a fair current we arrived late afternoon and with time to enter the C&D, tide with us again, and reach Chesapeake City basin before sunset.

late afternoon in C&D

Chesapeake City basin is a little treasure. It sits halfway along the canal, has a marina for small boats, anchoring space for about ten snugly and 130' of free town dock. We were the last boat to arrive and and one failed attempt found a snug spot for the night in about 3.2m depth. The basin was dredged last year.

The trip from Sandy Hook to Chesapeake City was 185nm and took us 30 hours – more motoring than sailing.