For those of you who are not familiar with Blue Yonder 3 (BY3) (photo attached) here are a few tidbits (those of you who know her already or not interested please skip to next paragraph). She is a 1985, 40' Mainship Trawler with fore & aft cabins each with head (toilet, sink & shower), full galley, salon (for seating), aft deck for sunning, lower & fly bridge helms, Garmin GPS at each helm, Garmin Radar, generator for 110 while cruising or at anchor, twin turbo-charged Perkins diesels for power, 100 gallons of fresh water, 40 gallons for waste, and 300 gallons of diesel. She cruises at 10 mph and tops out at 18-20 mph. Purchased boat from original owner in 2014. Not a go fast boat but comfortable and very sea worthy.
Prior to trip made test run to Annapolis to photograph Blue Angels from boat for Naval Academy Graduation (some photos attached). Check ride was success.
June 1, 2018 (Friday) : Finalized supplying boat with provisions etc. Charts in order of use, charts on GPS loaded, dock lines secured. All systems checked out OK. Jay Sacks and I depart Islandview Marina 12:40 pm. Engine time 322.8. Through Kent Narrows north. Stop at Piney Narrows, top off fuel and pump out, 324.3. Cruise to Still Pond, seas calm with slight wind. Drop anchor, 327.8. Rain forcast but we received none. Checked current would be favorable ebbing7:30 am so plan to leave then for C & D Canal. GenSet started on first try and worked as planned. Calm night, little wind slept well.
June 2, 2017 (Saturday): Pulled anchor at 7:30 am cruise to C & D Canal. Slight overcast, light wind, no rain on radar. Favorable current making 10-12 mph at 2000 rpm. Arrive C & D 9:45 am, 330.1. Smooth through C & D, little traffic. Crossed paths with one large barge (photo attached), no issues. Arrive Delaware River 11:10 am, 331.5. Over cast no rain or wind. River calm. Decided to go to Cape May, NJ. Tanker traffic in channel of river but no issues, no other traffic (photo attached). River calm and smooth, no wind, current favorable making 9-10 mph. Pass Salem Nuclear Power Plant (photo attached), I think beard grew 3 inches as we passed and Jay and I had a slight glow this night. Delaware Bay very calm, no wind making 10-11 mph. Arrive Cape May channel 5:00 pm, 337.3. Channel into Cape May Harbor, drop anchor just beyond Coast Guard Station. Microwave Chicken Cacciatore from Merle (Jay's spouse). Forecast for rain and strong winds, possible thunder showers tonight Sunday and Monday.
June 3, 2018 (Sunday): Forecast was correct. High winds 25-35 mph and rain last night. Jay up at 6:00 am discovers we have dragged anchor and are about to hit Coast Guard Pier. Start engines and avoid pier, pull anchor and reset further up in harbor. Wind very strong, wind gusts to over 35 mph and rough sea. CQR anchor will not hold, tried several times with no success. Decide to move to Sunset Pond to anchor based on info in Skipper Bob's Anchorage publication. When we get to Sunset Pond found nice spot with good water depth and drop CQR anchor. High winds and rough sea we find after several tries anchor will not hold. Resort to rigging Danforth as secondary anchor and drop both CQR and Danforth. This time we are holding. This whole procedure took about 1.5 hours. Weather is horrendous, Never experienced this kind of wind before. Hard rain off and on most of day. As of 2:09 pm anchors holding. Folded bimini top on bridge which was catching lot of wind. So far no damage. This weather is supposed to last through Monday (tomorrow) so we are not likely to move on until Tuesday, June 5, 2018.