fetchinketch

We are now at anchor in Sandy Hook Bay waiting for the tide to rise and the current to slack enough for us to get in the marina without hassle. My plan is to spend this time productively and phone in our Custom’s clearance.

We spent about an hour on the phone trying to clear in through Customs.  What a crazy run-around!  If you think the Department of Homeland Security is keeping you secure… well, I certainly would not count on it!

When we checked in to the USA in Puerto Rico, things went smoothly, and exactly as we expected. We made a phone call, got a clearance number, and were told to report to the local Customs House within 24 hours with our paperwork.  While we were there, the officer gave us a brochure for the “Small Vessel Reporting System”, a program where you are interviewed and pre-approved so you can check in with just a phone call.  That sounded great, so we signed up for the program, got approved while we were in Culebra, and now is our first chance to use it.

We filed a float plan electronically before we left the Virgin Islands, as required, and we call the number given to us when we arrive here in the USA. 

Ooops.  That number is only for arrivals in Florida.  He gives us the number for Customs in Newark, NJ. 

Ooops wrong number.  He transfers me to another line—which does not answer. 

I try another tack, and call a number listed on the website. 

Ooops wrong number, but call this one, they say. I ask if they can direct me to a list of the right phone numbers.  No, the only list they have is a paper copy, and if they lose it they are in trouble.  Really?

OK, so I call… He says, we have to call Immigration first.  I try to explain that isn’t right, but no… 

Ooops!  Immigration says:  No… call that last guy back we don’t need to talk to you. 

A call back and the guy obviously has no idea what to do. I can’t decide if this is funny, sad, or worthy of a primal scream. He takes my name and the boat name, and says, that’s it. I am sure this is wrong.  I need a clearance number.  No, he says, you just say you talked to Officer Edgerly and everything will be fine.  I KNOW this is wrong. 

I try another number from the website. 

Ooops! Wrong again, they give me a new number. 

I call this one, and I am talking to Edgerly again.  Oh, great.  

I try to explain I have information HE needs, and he NEEDS to give me a clearance number.  He fumbles and fuddles, and agrees to take my information and call back when he figures out what to do. (No, we do not ever get a phone call back.  Surprised?)

Now it is Karen’s turn.  She calls the office in Florida–again–and starts all over at the top.  When they try to send her to the Newark number she explains that we have been through all this before, and can he pretty please help us?  A pretty female voice wins the day and he agrees to violate “procedure” and clear us in through the Florida office.  He takes our float plan number, and other details and we finally have our clearance number!

Our tax dollars at work… or not.

I am mystified about how I, with a minimum of research, can know more about the Customs Clearance procedures than most Customs Officers apparently do. The frustrating thing about this whole process is only somebody who WANTED to comply with the law would jump through the hoops we did.  If we had a boat full of counterband we would have ignored the whole process and who would have known?  Stupid.

Time 1300 local
Lat N 38° 27.0′
Lon W 72° 12.8′
Nautical miles from Great Harbor, Jost Van Dyke, BVI: 1262
Nautical miles to Sandy Hook, NJ: 147

We are making good time, but the miles aren’t as easy as they had been. For the last 18 hours we have been close hauled into 15 to 25 knots from the northeast. Especially for those places where the wind and current were opposed, it has been a bouncy ride. During one stretch we actually found a combination of boat speed and wave height and wave spacing that had us pounding like a Boston Whaler.

I had hoped to be trolling line as we crossed the great underwater canyons of the outer continental shelf, but it has been too rough to deal with the gear, or especially a large fish!

Our watches are now spent huddled under the dodger out of the spray, fully kitted out in foul weather gear because it is so freezing cold! Hey, have some sympathy! We spent the winter in the tropics where an evening when it dropped below 75° was relished as “cold”. So the cloudy, breezy, 63° we are experiencing now feels frigid!

All the weather models agree, around 20:00 this evening the wind will drop off to almost nothing. We should be arriving mid afternoon tomorrow.

Time 1200 local
Lat N 36° 28.9′
Lon W 72° 35.9′
Nautical miles from Great Harbor, Jost Van Dyke, BVI: 1159
Nautical miles to Sandy Hook, NJ: 249

We had a rather rough and wild night with steady winds between 25 and 30 knots with big confused seas. Sunrise this morning had us passing through the back side of the front. Many places we stopped in the tropics we felt like we were looking at every possible shade of blue, but as the sun rose under the clouds this morning, we were looking at every possible shade of gray. With the white horses on top of the waves shining bright in the morning light it was its own flavor of beautiful.

We are sailing fast and comfortably again on a close reach in 15 to 18 knots of wind from the northwest. We are riding the Gulf Stream for most of today, making almost 10 knots over ground.

As we approach the New York Harbor entrance in the early hours of tomorrow morning the wind is forecast to fade, so we will likely be coming in under power.

Because of our deep draft, and a marina with a relatively shallow and current-infested entrance, there are limited times during the tide cycle we can get in. Right now, we don’t know those times. That has to wait until we are in range of a cell tower so we can look it up. I expect we’ll be coming in and dropping anchor to wait for a good entry time.

Time 1515 local
Lat N 34° 349′
Lon W 72° 40.6′
Nautical miles from Great Harbor, Jost Van Dyke, BVI: 1057
Nautical miles to Sandy Hook, NJ: 360

In the rougher and winder weather, I have been trolling three lines behind the boat, where normally I troll five or six. That just makes for fewer tangle and problems. Right after lunch, just as I was thinking about when it would be time to bring the lines in before it got too rough to fish safely, I saw one of the lines pop out of its release clip, and the rod start to bounce. I did not hear any line running out, so I figured we had snagged another wad of seaweed. Or at least that is what I thought until the fish launched vertically 6 feet out of the water.

After a few minutes of fight, we had an 11 pound mahi-mahi on the gaff, and in the cockpit. A picture or two, and I look up and see BOTH of the other lines have fish on!

One of the other lines is a handline, and the two fish have managed to wrap themselves together so the only choice I have is to hand-over-hand them in together. I lost one getting them in over the transom, but added another 15 pound mahi-mahi to the freezer. Anybody want to join us for grilled mahi-mahi in Sandy Hook?

Not to long after we had the fish cleaned and packed away, the wind picked up into the low 20’s and the seas built to the point that fishing is no longer practical. So I guess you call that “Just In Time” delivery of fresh fish!

Time 0830 local
Lat N 34° 07.2′
Lon W 72° 37.3′
Nautical miles from Great Harbor, Jost Van Dyke, BVI: 1031
Nautical miles to Sandy Hook, NJ: 387

Yesterday Karen noted on the chart a DART buoy, part of the worldwide tsunami warning system, about 15 miles east of our position. Any floating object out in open water attracts fish. This one, 300 miles offshore certainly didn’t see a lot of fishing pressure, so off we when on a detour to see what we could pull up.

When we got there, there was no there, there. The buoy was missing. I had read years ago ago that the DART system suffered from chronic underfunding, I guess this is one of the results of that. So all you people along the east coast of the USA who might be expecting the government to warn you of an approaching tsunami: Surprise!

Just by way of commentary, as I have traveled around I noticed one consistent thing that separates effective governments from ineffective ones. Ineffective governments focus on popular, visible, infrastructure projects. Like big highways, public marinas–or tsunami warning systems. Then once built, ignore them and let them fall apart because maintenance is not politically visible, and it is hard! Effective governments seem to understand, if something is worth building in the first place, it should be worth keeping in working order.

A highlight of yesterday’s sail was a fish! Yes, we caught one! Now… granted he was a little small. Okay, a lot small. A jack that might have tipped the scales at a pound. Most of yesterday’s fishing consisted of a constant retrieval of lines to clear off seaweed.

We have entered the weather system that will carry us most of the way to our destination. All the weather models agree, we should jog a bit further east to avoid a large calm that is developing off the Maryland coast. Winds right now are pushing 15 knots, late tonight we expect to see close to 30, pretty much all from behind us so it should not be an uncomfortable ride

Time 0130 local
Lat N 31° 33.0′
Lon W 72° 19.0′
Nautical miles from Great Harbor, Jost Van Dyke, BVI: 887
Nautical miles to Sandy Hook, NJ: 542

We’ll, I guess I deserved it! In yesterday’s post I bragged about how we had managed to avoid the calms and keep sailing by clever routing. So of course today, we spend almost all day under engine!

Once we crossed the warm front, the wind died–and stayed dead almost all day. We fired up the Volvo so we could keep moving while we waited for the next front to bring some energy back into the the system. Looks like we be back sailing fast again tomorrow evening. The afternoon of the 8th looks good for our arrival, but I’ll need to get online as we approach to check tides to see when we can actually get into the entrance to the marina.

We have had trolling lines out, but no hookups yet. Fishing here on the end get of the Sargasso Sea is truly an exercise in frustration. It is impossible to troll a line for more than a few minutes before it picks up a bundle of floating weed. I have been sort through my lure box looking for those designs best capable of shedding the tough tangles of plant matter.

Time 1842 local
Lat N 28° 43.3′
Lon W 71° 18.6′
Nautical miles from Great Harbor, Jost Van Dyke, BVI: 714
Nautical miles to Sandy Hook, NJ: 717

Today, at almost exactly our halfway point on this passage, we transitioned completely from the Northeast Tradewinds of the tropics to the Southwest winds that prevail along the southeast coast of the US. We made that transition with a day of slow but steady sailing. Lots of sail changes, and sail trim to accommodate the changing winds.

From here on weather becomes more variable. We are entering that part of the world, where I am sure most of you live, where weather changes all the time as a result of the constant give and take of air masses between the Arctic and the Tropics. Right now as I look ahead of us there is a solid wall of dark clouds which promises steady rain overnight. No major storm, according to the weather models, just a rainy warm front.

As we were leaving the marina in the Virgin Islands, a Swan 48 in the slip next to us was getting ready for their own jump to the northeast USA. They were making a stop in Bermuda, which is pretty much on the straightest course to New York or points north. As part of their preparations they were loading on many jugs of extra fuel because the weather service they subscribe to warned them about the light winds along their chosen route. With a little understanding of what the weather patterns are we have managed basically the same route and–so far–have burned exactly zero gallons of diesel.

Our weather strategy from here is to sail more or less straight toward Cape Hatteras until we pick up the Gulf Stream, and then use that river in the ocean to gain an extra 3 or 4 knots of speed going north.

Time 0140 local
Lat N 27° 30.0′
Lon W 71° 09.9′
Nautical miles from Great Harbor, Jost Van Dyke, BVI: 648
Nautical miles to Sandy Hook, NJ: 791

The wind might drive Harmonie across the ocean, but electricity makes her work. Of course electricity is used for things you find on most modern boats, like refrigeration, but is also used for a lot of the heavy lifting in sail handling, the auto pilot, and for the watermaker. So a lot of time and thought goes into generating, storing and using electrical power.

A bank of 12 Group 37 batteries stores the power. Unusually for a boat of her size, the main D.C. power distribution is 24 volts, not 12. But of course batteries don’t make power, they only store it. Power on Harmonie is generated in two ways.

First is a six kilowatt Onan diesel generator. In the original factory design, this was the only source of power on the boat. The second system is a 615 watt bank of solar panels we installed last year.

A day in Harmonie’s power cycle looks like this: First thing in the morning I start the generator and run it for about an hour to replace the bulk of the power drawn out of the batteries overnight. If we need to make water, that happens at this point since the generator can make more power than the batteries can accept. An hour’s run time uses about a pint of diesel fuel.

Once the batteries are mostly charged, the solar panels take over. They supply all the power we need during the day, with enough left over to bring the batteries up to full charge. On a typical day the panel will generate 2.5 to 3.0 kW-hrs depending on weather and our usage.

Speaking of usage, when we are anchored our biggest consumer by far is refrigeration. Second is the watermaker. Third… well that almost doesn’t matter!

Our sailing day today was probably what people imagine when they talk about sailing being peaceful and quiet. Winds a bit lighter, speeds a bit slower, but we’re moving in the right direction, it is beautiful, and a comfortable ride.

Time 2005 local
Lat N 25° 12.8′
Lon W 70° 44.3′
Nautical miles from Great Harbor, Jost Van Dyke, BVI: 525
Nautical miles to Sandy Hook, NJ: 930

We are, of course, surrounded by undrinkable water, yet we have all the fresh water we need. There are two reason for this.

First, is the huge freshwater tank onboard Harmonie. In the stub of the keel there is a tank with a capacity of about 330 gallons. To put this in perspective, when we sailed my old boat to Hawaii we had two tanks of 40 gallons each. We did not feel especially “water-poor” on that crossing and arrived after 21 days at sea with almost all of one tank untouched. If we were really careful, I figure we could make a full tank of water on Harmonie last for almost 3 months with no input.

In addition to a huge storage tank, we also have a reverse-osmosis unit that uses a high pressure pump run by electricity to make about 10 gallons an hour of freshwater from seawater. Pretty much every day we are in clean ocean water we run the ‘RO’ unit for 30 to 60 minutes while we run the generator. If we are in murky or potentially polluted water we wait. The watermaker has been our only source of water since we left Florida almost 6 months ago, and I don’t think we have ever had less than 150 gallons of water in the tank.

Nothing exciting to report in our sailing today. Winds are a bit lighter, but we continue to make good progress. The winds have begun to clock around from east, to south, and will eventually turn to south west as we circle the Bermuda High. Right now it looks like a landfall on June 8 is most likely, although there is a lot of weather yet to negotiate between here and there.

Time 1810 local
Lat N 23° 22.0′
Lon W 68° 58.0′
Nautical miles from Great Harbor, Jost Van Dyke, BVI: 378
Nautical miles to Sandy Hook, NJ: 1058

Our progress northward and west ward continue under clear skies with steady, comfortable winds. The wind is from the east-southeast at 15 knots, and we are on a deep broad reach moving at 6.5 knots in nearly flat seas. We are watching the weather models daily to try to pick out the best possible course through the calm spots.

The different models are suggesting different courses–some shorter in distance, but through lighter, and more variable winds. Since making finely scaled predictions is not really something the models are good at, I tend to discount any recommendation based on picking a course through small scale changes in weather forecast several days ahead in favor of a course that might have a bit more distance to it, but more reliable winds that are part of larger scale weather features.

Out here in this part of the open ocean our wildlife count drops dramatically. A few flying fish, and a graceful tropic bird are about our total for the day.