Best Laid Plans

At Sea
38 47.15 N 074 39.86 W

Well, my plans yesterday did little good. Sailing close to shore failed to produce onshore/offshore winds. We've been motor sailing all the way, and it appears that we'll motorsail all the way to NYC. Oh well.

We can't complain much about the passage though. It has been nice. The seas have been calm. We have not been harassed by any ship or barge traffic.

Last night, passing the Delmarva Peninsula I was treated to a very nice lighting show. There was a thunderstorm over land, perhaps 30 miles away. It seemed to be almost stationary. Every 5-=10 seconds a flash of heat lightning would light up the overcast sky, reflecting from the cloud bottoms. Every 5-10 minutes I could catch sight of a cloud to ground stroke from afar. It never came close enough to threaten us.

On the radar, I saw intense rain cells approach from the west. Each came within two miles of us but missed us. If it were not for the radar, I would never have known they were there.

There's risk of thunderstorms tonight also. Indeed, in this part of the country, this time of year, it is hard to find any night when there is not some risk of thunderstorms. They don't scare us much. If they come, we just lower the sails, go below, put electronics in the oven, and wait it out. Years ago I had a guest on board another sailboat who became terrified because we were in the middle of the lake and as a thunderstorm approached. I think fears like that are unjustified. Indeed, if one were to sail across the ocean as people have done for thousands of years, there is no opportunity to go ashore to avoid a thunderstorm.

Another 20 hours and we'll be at Sandy Hook, at the entrance to NY Harbor.