CODA BAHAMAS BOUND 2024-2025 (14)

CODA : A long travel day to Atlantic City 

8 October 2024

Farley State Marina, Atlantic City,  New Jersey 

Atlantic City as seen approaching from the Atlantic Ocean.

Marc- Today was our longest travel day- 13 hours- departure at 06:30 before dawn and arrival at 19:00 after dusk.  It all started out a bit turbulent with 15 knot headwinds and a contrary current from Atlantic Highlands to around Sandy Hook.  Everything started to look better once the sun came over the horizon and the incoming tide gave us a favorable current heading south along the coast for the next 6 hours.  The Northwest winds meant we could raise our sails and no seas since we stayed about 1 mile from the beach.  We did some 5 foot really long swells.  They were barely noticeable until they came crashing down on the beach as large cresting waves.  The wind diminished after we passed the Manasquan Inlet making us motorsailers.  In fact by the time we passed Egg Harbor we had dropped the sails and crashed into headwinds and 4 foot waves until reaching Atlantic City.  The was one surprising boat elevated on large pipes off of the Egg Harbor Inlet.  I could not really make out what this was all about until next to it and then noticed a floating pipe some 500 feet away somehow connected to this dredger contraption.  I made an immediate turn to port when I saw both the boat and the pipe since I realized that CODA was about to pass between them.  There was no advance notice.  After making my detour the VHF came alive with a message to not worry about the dredging pipe.  We received  help from the many sailors docked here when we came in after dark not knowing how to find our slip.  Most of these people are delivery captains on really big boats.  We met them again at dinner in Michael Patrick's Pub.

The last two hours of our approach to Atlantic City was more like this photo: drenched in salt spray.

CODA at night.