46. The Atlantic

We knew there was a storm coming but it was predicted to hit land late that night so we left Cape May at first light. The seas on the New Jersey coast were fairly calm with gentle swells. It was so nice that we thought we would get as far as Barnegat Inlet that day. There we would wait out the weather until we would make the final hop to New York City. Carpe Diem was taking the inside route from Cape May to Manasquan Inlet which was great for vessels requiring a clearance of not more than 35 ft. and/or a draft of less than 4.5 ft. At the Inlet, they would also have to go on the outside to New York city. We were in touch with several sailing vessels along the way and we all thought to go to Barnegat Inlet. At about 10:30 the skies darkened and winds and waves got bigger and bigger (6, 8, 10, 12 -15 ft.) and the gentle swells of the early morning became a distant memory as the wave period diminished.
For those reading this who are not sailors, the wave period is the time between one wave and the next. If the wave period is less than the wave height, it produces waves that hit your boat very hard making your ride very choppy. The Beaufort Wind Force Scale is a guide to show what may be expected in the ocean remote from land and a way of describing the mean velocity of wind and predicting the wave heights and deep sea conditions.

Beaufort # 4 -Moderate Breeze -winds 11-16 knots/hr. ,waves 3.5-5 ft.
Beaufort # 5 -Fresh Breeze -winds 17-21 knots/hr., waves 6-8.5 ft.
Beaufort # 6 -Strong Breeze -winds 22-27 knots/hr. ,waves 9-13 ft.
Beaufort # 7 -Near Gale -winds 28-33 knots/hr. ,waves 13.5-19 ft.
Beaufort # 8 -Gale -winds 34-40-knots/hr., waves 18-25 ft.
Beaufort # 9-Strong Gale -winds 41-47 knots/hr., waves 23-32 ft.
Beaufort # 10 -Storm -winds 48-55 knots/hr. ,waves 29-41 ft.
Beaufort # 11 -Violent Storm-winds 56-63 knots/hr. ,waves 37-52 ft.
Beaufort # 12-Hurricane-winds 63+ knots/hr. ,waves 45+ ft

Sea conditions can be more dangerous near land than in the open sea. In many tidal water areas, such as where we were, wave heights can increase considerably in a matter of minutes. As we watched the waves get higher and higher, we decided to head for Atlantic City where we knew we would find a well protected anchorage. Just as we were heading for the buoy marking the entrance to the harbour, a huge wave swept over the bow of the boat all the way up to the pilot house knocking open our front window (the latch was not completely closed) and the inside of the cockpit was drenched with salt water. Wiping the electronics was top priority and the rest had to wait until we anchored just after noon.

Coming into the harbour at Atlantic City

Every cushion in the pilot house was sodden. We spent the afternoon drying out as best we could but it was cold and cloudy. The winds continued to build and even in our protected anchorage almost a mile from the harbour entrance, the waves were 6 to 8 feet.

Although the predictions were for near gale or gale winds when we went to bed, by midnight we were caught in a “Violent Storm” with sustained winds of 50 knots with gusts to over 60 knots for 26 hours with fierce rain splattering on the windows trying to find a way in. We had to re-anchor several times; we just could not get a good hold. Re-anchoring three times in the pitch black dark with the rain and wind howling was the most frightening experience we've had so far. Eight of the ten boats in the anchorage were re-anchoring in the night and it was a critical game of musical boats trying to avoid hitting each other, the docks and the shoals. Every time Roman went out in the driving rain to pull up the anchor and I steered the boat through the sheets of rain which made the visibility just about zero, I prayed. The windows on the sides of the pilot house, the marine ones we paid a fortune for, leaked steadily for the first time in eight years. The winds were so strong that it turned our dinghy upside down. We lost the top to our motor, our gas tank, life jackets, lights, our bailing pump which we could have really used, one of the grappling poles which we will need for the locks and some other odds and ends we left in the boat.

But we came through it a lot wiser. Never again will we prepare the boat for the next day if there is even the slightest indication that the winds will be building at night. Fortunately all the things we lost can be replaced and the bruises and scrapes from being tossed around every time we moved through the boat are inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

At one point, I said to Roman that we would have been better going to a marina but the next day we heard several horror stories. Several boats were cast adrift still tied to a dock when the dock to which they were tied broke away from shore. One boat could not untie their lines and was rescued by the Coast Guard already in the Atlantic. The Taj Mahal, in Atlantic City, evacuated everyone from one of their areas with large panes of glass as pieces of furniture were tossed around and whirled through the air. In Cape May, a research boat did not get back to land on time and one man died and another was brought back by the coast guard seriously injured.

By early afternoon the next day, the winds eased up and the sun came and I could dry all the cushions, towels and rags we had used to mop up the water. I spent the day drying everything in the strong winds about 20 knots - good for drying but not for staying on the lines we strung up all over the boat. I kept a constant watch on everything drying as I did not feel like sewing another our boat cushion cover if it went flying. It was cold with highs in the lowers 50's and we both wore wool toques for the first time since the fall. One of the other boaters looked for our gas tank but it was a lost cause. Roman felt that it had been swept out to sea. Rich from The Great Catsby came by and took us to Brigantine Beach where Roman walked to Ace hardware and bought their last gas tank. He worked on the dinghy engine for several hours, started it with a rope and it is now running without a cover.

That night we got together on the The Great Catsby with some of the boaters celebrate the fact that we came through this nightmare. Rich and Carol were in Hurricane Bob and said that what we went through was much worse.The next morning, I teased Roman that I was taking him out for breakfast for his birthday when we went early in the morning to Burger King on Brigatine Island in order to use their internet and let everyone know that we were all right. We found that most people, especially those in Canada, had no idea that there had even been a storm here. We left Atlantic City as soon as the stores opened as we needed to buy another prepaid minutes phone as both of our phones were not working. My phone still had minutes left on it but the message is “the maximum call rate has been reached.” Apparently there is a life span on these phones. I called from another boater's phone and Net10 can send me a new phone in a week to 10 days but where would they send it? We needed a phone right away just in case other things failed, God forbid, on the Atlantic.

We travelled with other boats with no further problems, thank goodness, to Barnegat Inlet, N.J. and then on to New York City. The seas were still fairly rough and the winds about 30 kn but it consistently became calmer and we made this last leg on the Atlantic Ocean safely.