theroadtocruising

Dogs in the Dingy

Ok, the goal was to set up in Sandy Hook, NJ and wait for a cold front to come through, and then follow the westerly winds out along the New Jersey Coast either to Cape May or farther down the Delmarva Peninsula. That sounded great until about 3am today when the boat was doing 360 on the anchor, and the downpours were actually a deluge. The dogs are having a hard enough time figuring out the bathroom routine on the deck but in a torrential downpour and winds, they were both obviously laughing at me as I got wet and they did nothing!

Last night we were going to grill out until Brian announced he had no idea where the regulator was for the gas grill. I sort of mentioned I thought it was in the Propane Locker, but he said no and we briefly looked for it without success, so dinner was done in my new stove top oven, an omnia ( http://www.omniasweden.com ). The baked chicken was moist and with crispy skin and the asparagus was thrown in at the end to perfection.

Needless to say, the chore list today included sorting through all of the lockers and reorganize things. We spent about 2 hours as a team organizing without finding the regulator for the gas grill. I then went out in the drizzle and pulled items out of the cockpit lockers, still no regulator. Finally, I opened the Propane Locker, and guess what? Yep, the regulator was sitting right where I told him it was! Shocking! The grill will be cooking dinner tonight and many nights to come now.

The rain continued until about 2pm when there was a brief calm, bright blue skies and a chance to dingy the dogs to shore for a bathroom break. Pickles hates the dingy but loves the shore, Phin is just Phin (a butthead) no matter what we do! But the end result is both were happy to have firm ground under their paws for a nature break.

We did take a quick trip to town for a much needed shower and a visit to the laundry. I don’t really mind sailing for the next few days, but not before I got a shower and clean clothes. Oh, yeah, did I mention some really delicious ice cream while we waited for the clothes to dry?

Sunset at 6:33 p,m tonight, days are getting shorter

Brian and I are now enjoying the sunset with gusty winds and are making plans for leaving tomorrow morning for our first overnight sail. It looks like it will take about 20 hours to get to Cape May and then we can decide about the next leg of the adventure!

We are dry, well fed, sleepy, and ready to get a little farther south tomorrow! Wish us luck.

Happy dreams everyone.
Tara, Brian, Phinneus and Pickles!