After 13 days and 678.6 nm, we made it home with our new boat!  Thanks
to everyone who gave suggestions and advice for our trip.  We learned so
much by doing it, making mistakes, and fixing things along the way.  We
can't wait to take her South to the Bahamas next Winter...

Here's a brief listing of our experiences as a first time
trawler-cruiser going from the Chesapeake to Penobscot Bay, Maine:

1. Chesapeake - easy cruising and nice weather.

2. Sassafras River - great anchorage.

3. C&D Canal and Chesapeake City - peaceful and easy.

4. Delaware Bay - my original fears were unfounded.  It was very easy
   although winds were only 15 knots.

5. NJ Coast - big wind (40 knots!) taught us to trust our anchor
   overnight.  The waves were 5-6 feet beam-to rollers.  With the
   stabilizers, we weren't bothered at all.  I played guitar at the helm on
   watch.

6. NY, NY - we were stopped by the Coast Guard in the East River (I have
   a nice picture of it with the Empire State Building in the background).
   The trip from the Verrazano Narrows Bridge to Long Island is
   breath-taking.

7. Hell Gate - trivial to handle even with an oncoming tug/barge.  It
   was almost disappointing that it was so easy.

8. Long Island Sound - beautiful and easy to pull in and out.

9. Block Island - don't go in May.  It's too early in their season.

10. Block Island Sound / Buzzard's Bay - I call it The Beast.  Terrible
    wind and confused seas got my wife and dog pretty sea sick.  Took water
    through the hawseholes.  Very nasty.  I'd never go through there again
    with 20 knot winds.

11. Point Judith Harbor of Refuge - glad I found it when my wife
    demanded to "get out of this now!"  It was calm and there are nice
    marinas there.  It took two days before my crew was willing to go out
    into The Beast again.

12. Scituate - the perfect harbor.  I want to go back.

13. Portsmouth and onto Penobscot Bay - known waters.  Muscongus Bay's
    lobster pots are annoying with a larger boat.

14. Home.  Nothing beats it.

================
Jeffrey Siegel
M/V aCappella
DeFever 53PH
Castine, Maine

(SNIP)  Jeffrey said: 10. Block Island Sound / Buzzard's Bay - I call it
The Beast.  Terriblewind and confused seas got my wife and dog pretty
sea sick.  Took water through the hawseholes.  Very nasty.  I'd never go
through there again with 20 knot winds.
11. Point Judith Harbor of Refuge - glad I found it when my wife
demanded to "get out of this now!"  It was calm and there are nice
marinas there.  It took two days before my crew was willing to go out
into The Beast again.

Thanks, Jeffrey!  Originating from Point Judith for most of my boating
career, I've always been puzzled about what other areas of the country
call "bad weather".  The prevailing sou'wester is usually 15-20 knots in
Block Island Sound and Buzzard's bay. Given those winds and seas as
"normal", I just can't get excited about 15 knots inside Hawk Channel in
the keys...

I would caution you that Albemarle can get equally snotty.

                               Regards.....

Phil Rosch
Old Harbor Consulting
M/V "Curmudgeon" Marine Trader 44 TC
Currently Moored in Thunderbolt, GA

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't
do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away
from
the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.
Discover." - Mark Twain