Annapolis to Long Port NJ March 28, 2004
Mark Smith and iLean Windward - a 2003 Bavaria 38 Cruiser


Sunday
The new boat handled very well; we ended up making excellent time. Under motor the whole way up the Chesapeake Bay as we were head-to-wind; made around 9 kts COG, according to GPS which checked out in terms of where we were, when. We ended up staying in Delaware City, just inside the Delaware City Canal branch (just before the 15' clearance fixed bridge). Uneventful day, almost no boats at all; I think we saw 1 boat on the C&D canal.

Monday
On Mon, left about 6:30, and headed down river. Some commercial traffic, but nothing major (I've sailed a few times in NY harbor, which is the craziest). Good winds, so we made sail and shut off the engine. Sailing about 7-8 sometimes 9 kts (COG) in good ENE winds. Boat sailed extremely well, surprisingly stable for a fin- keel. Pointed well too, certainly as well as the Pearson. I have sailed with a furling main before and am not too impressed with them- still this one worked great and I may become a convert :) The boat is extremely well balanced. While we were a bit over-powered (we didn't bother to reef the main), the weather helm was very slight- In my opinion, perfect. I was prepared for the boats very quick responsiveness compared to the Pearson, so the couple of tacks
we did I focused on not putting the wheel hard-over, but instead just steered the boat through a reasonable (about a boat-length) turn, and then straightened her out; worked great.

Water was choppy, 2-3 feet seas, at worst. It was more the chop rather than wave height that made steering tiring. Flogger's shoal was no more choppy than anywhere else. Made very good time and went into the Roosevelt Inlet by mid-afternoon. Lewes is very nice, but definitely a fisherman's boat place. Still, we had a transient slip at Angler's marina, and had a very calm and restful night.

Tuesday
Next day was to be exciting as the forecast for coastal waters called for 6-8 ' at bay mouth, and 6-9 feet seas. NE winds 10-15 kts. Chance of drizzle. 40 degrees.

We went out to the ocean through the opening just off Cape Henlopen on our Starboard side and the breakwater on our port. Seas built to about 3-5 feet at most. Uneventful, really. We went (east) out a bit to avoid some shoaling towards Cape May and then turned NE. Again, we were head-to-wind, so motor only.

Occasional seas to maybe 6', but we were never "below" the waves. In terms of those waves, size didn't matter- period did. As they were locally generated waves from the wind, the "period" was crazy- almost constant; more of a chop. So, lots of the bow banging down hard. We found that by heading at an angle to the waves, so they were on the quarter bow, it worked great by effectively increasing the wave period to something more reasonable that we could surf down. We made about 6 kts. As we approached the mouth of the Great Egg Inlet we saw the biggest waves of the day (gets a bit shallow there- about 20 '), saw a few that were probably about 10+ feet we were definitely below the waves! Again, nothing eventful and no problems. The banging had stopped, so life was good :)

The boat did extremely well. While I missed the stability of the Pearson 35' full-keel, the Bavaria handled extremely well. We never felt uncomfortable (well, definitely cold!) or that we weren't in full control of the boat. The big waves only lasted for maybe 5 minutes, if that. As we approached the inlet closer in, the waves returned to 3-5- this time on our stern, so we were doing 8+ kts COG. Within 10 minutes we were in the slip, tied up, electric on, heat turned on, done.