New England Trip: First leg: Delaware City to Lewes DE 2023

 Updating in progress. We'll try to take more photos of ourselves, as we get organized. 

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We departed a quiet Delaware City 6 am Tues, August 8, 2023. It had rained overnight so everything was wet.

Thanks Bruce for getting up early to meet us at 5:30 am (and taking photos)!

We brought Thunder aboard first. Before we departed the dock, we placed Thunder in the back stateroom since he had not been "oriented" and would not be underfoot. After exploring, he had something to say...

But soon settled down, a little closer to us that he usually does.

While I made breakfast, Dave put up all the sails

 as soon as we had a good sail angle. It was nice to hear the engine go quiet.

We stayed out of the channel. Photo below shows heading towward us, 

but he made his turn shortly there-after.

Big bow wave from the bow bulb. 2 ships passing.

There was more wind than forecast by several models. 

Thunder and Claire fell under the weather briefly. Here Thunder bracing himself to not fall downhill and stays "toe to toe".

We had a record sail down the bay going with the current and wind. That's why we left at 6 am. A trip that can take 12 hrs, only took us 8!

It was a fast ride on a broad reach with some big fetch but was kinda fun. As the advice goes, if you feel seasick, take the wheel. That was work too, as we had to handsail most of the way.

A lighted marker about half way down the Delaware Bay

The 3 things Lewes is famous for:

1. pilot boats to serve the ships

2. The U.S. Coast Guard

3. The Cape May to Lewes Ferry