Great Kills Harbour- Sept. 1-10, 2011

OK, so the Richmond County Yacht Club is a great place- lovely lounge, very friendly yacht club members, but we certainly didn’t count on being there for 10 days!

....Walking to the nearest grocery store on sunny, hot days, watching the osprey dive for fish, one little dead fish (a reject?) left on the top of our wheelhouse one morning and continuing our friendship with the family on our buddy boat, the Thomas Leigh....
Each day we would check the weather sites: NOAA Hurricane Center, Passage Weather, Wind Finder and then listen to the Marine weather on the VHF radio.

   Hurricane Katia - still in the Atlantic, could be heading our way?  What is Lee doing in the Gulf?
   Wind in the wrong direction -that line squall was interesting!
   Hurricane Katia - moved north, but how much swell did she leave behind?

We would get together to discuss our options for heading out into the Atlantic for the 110 mile run down the coast.
Meanwhile, another Canadian boat came into the harbour to anchor and wait.  We got to know them and they shared their perspective as veteran cruisers who had made the trek south several times before.  Their idea was that Saturday might be a good time to motor over to the Sandy Hook anchorage an hour away, to be ready to take off for the "outside" leg as soon as the ocean looked calm.  Ben and Marcel talked. Cheryl and Jane talked. It was decided!
So, after lunch we left the harbour and motored over toward Sandy Hook.
We kept on going, to the fourth green marker, just to have a good look at the Atlantic ….
It was beautiful!  Lots of other boats out, sunny skies, light winds, and nice, smooth swells.  As we motored up beside the Thomas Leigh, Ben and Marcel nodded, Jane and Cheryl gave the thumbs up… and it was decided!

We were setting off for an overnight run all the way to Cape May… at the bottom of New Jersey…approximately 18 hours.
No stops along the way.  Go Old Rosie!