Sail La Vie, LLC

Barnegat Bay Trip  July 18-19, 2008

Our trip from Jersey City, NJ to Barnegat Bay began on a Friday evening at 17:00 hours.  We had a dinner at a local restaurant near the marina prior to leaving and timed our departure to ride the out-going tide under a full moon.  Our crew was Steve with sons William and Michael and longtime sailing friend Kevin.

Kevin at the wheel - we still have no Autopilot so it's hand steering all the way.

As we motored As we motored past the tip of Manhattan, Sail La Vie was saluted with a fireworks display from Brooklyn.  I explained to the crew that I had arranged the fireworks to coincide with our departure.  Yes, timing is everything, although I should have ordered a westerly wind as we motored south into a southerly wind under the Verazano bridge into lower New York Bay.

As we passed the northerly tip of Sandy Hook , we set up the night watches and settled in for an overnight sail south along New Jersey’s coast.  Under the full moon with 2-3 foot seas we motored into the southerly wind with Steve and Michael on watch.

Michael catches some sleep after his watch.

Early Saturday morning the During the night the wind shifted and Kevin and William sailed on their watch, until a squall blew through at 05:00.  As this was also the change of watch, Steve came up on deck to help lower the main sail and install the connector between the dodger and bimini.  This is the one “design flaw” on this boat.  It is not set up to have the enclosure in place to keep the cockpit dry while under sail.

Steve in his "deck chair" checking in with Karen at home.  A beach chair fits nicely on the cockpit seat.

At 08:30 we approached At 08:30 we entered the Barnegat Bay inlet.  The tide was nearing high tide and we had an easy entry motoring through the inlet.  We picked our way through the channel markers, and it was at this time I was happy that Sail La Vie draws only 3 feet as we bumped bottom at one point while clearly between the markers.

After picking our way to the west side of the bay, we followed the Inter-coastal waterway markers north.  With only one bridge opening between us and our destination in Brick, NJ we were nearing the end of the trip under sunny skies.

The Bridge Opening?

Approaching the bridge I I raised the bridge tender on Channel 13 and was greeted with a response “we’ll get you right through, Captain”.  Kevin was at the wheel and we continued to motor toward the bridge as we watched the traffic stop.  Motoring closer to the bridge and awaiting the actual bridge opening Kevin put the engine in reverse to slow our approach - and the engine stopped!  OK, let’s restart the engine – it would not turn over.  We closed the circuits to all items drawing power and switched to both batteries – and the engine still would not turn over!  By this time the bridge was open, so I let out about 5’ of the jib and the wind pushed us through the bridge opening.  To any observer, it would have looked like a completely uneventful operation.  Needless to say I was a little shaken.

We let out all the sail and continued sailing north on Barnegat Bay.  Approaching the inlet for the lagoon we started to plan how to sail to the dock.  I suggested we try the engine one more time and it started right up!  We motored to the dock and arrived in Brick, NJ 15 hours after our departure from Jersey City.

William's affirmation for his love of sailing.

We'll be planning another trip this fall - call or email to sign-up for the next trip.

August 2-3, 2008

Pics to follow for our trip back.

For this trip we left Brick, NJ about 09:00 timing the three hour trip south through Barnegat Bay to coincide with an outgoing tide through the inlet.

Sail La Vie's crew was Steve with son Michael, former scout Nick and friend Kate and my daughter's friend George.

We motored through the bay and hit one rainstorm - no lighting, the thunderstorms were south of us.

Once we cleared the inlet we set the main and jib wing-on wing for a five hour run up the coast under sunny skies and a 10 kt breeze.  Using the pole for the jib and rigging a preventer on the boom for the mainsail made this an easy sail.

We cleared the northern tip of sandy Hook about 19:00 hours and watched magnificent thunderstorm over Long Island twenty five miles to the north as we anchored in the bay behind sandy Hook in sunny weather with light winds.

Sunday morning we sailed across the bay to South Amboy where Sail La Vie was scheduled to get new bottom paint and the engine overhauled - only one bridge opening stood between us and our destination... needless to say we did not put the engine in reverse and had an uneventful landing at Lockwood Boatworks.