I'M Back...... HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED!

I know it's been awhile since I posted on my blog. I will do better, and try to figure out how to load photos too. Here's why I stopped for a spell and didn't write anything. On May 21 we arrived in Cape May NJ. We had gone up the Chesapeake Bay and crossed the C & D Canal into Delaware Bay then down that to arrive there.

We were having things go so well and we were in a nice rhythm. Celia and I stopped in Annapolis for a couple days then went to Baltimore inner harbor and docked. We toured Ft Monroe and saw the USS Constitution. It was all great and we were making good time in order to get her to NYC before her flight back to Tennessee.

We stayed at a marina at the top of Delaware Bay. The weather was not good so we elected to wait one more day. When we left it was not the best but PHANTOM does not mind rough weather as long as the crew can handle it. We've learned - through some bad experiences - to take things down and put them on beds, in sinks, or in closets. The trip down Delaware Bay can be really rough but this day was a 3/4 out of 10. To help you make-up time there is a tremendous current 3 or 4 mph to help you get down faster. Later than may not prove so friendly!

Cape May is entered through a Canal shortcut. With the current, it flows very fast and has to be taken seriously. We docked at Utsch's Marina. Next day weather had turned bad again but I wanted to move on. There was only one other boat moving so we decided to stay. Next morning, same thing, bad weather but doable but nobody wanted to go. Finally about 11 am, I decided to leave and try it. Big Mistake! Not because of the weather but because having been undecided for two days made me not as prepared as I should have been. I got in a rush to leave and you shouldn't do that.

I prepared everything, made my route on the iPad, went up on the fly bridge, where I drive the boat from normally, and started removing the new covers on the deck covering the seats. I had them special made in Norfolk and the lady who did them didn't get a chance to fix it so it would not pool water on top. Unfortunately was a 3" puddle of water pooled there. When I lifted the cover, my iPad slipped from under my arm and went into the water..... covered by 2"! I grabbed it up, laid it aside, and finished uncovering the instruments and seats. I started the engines and proceeded to leave the marina.

The marina breaker wall you go out to exit the marina opens up directly into the Cape May Canal AND that very fast current I was mentioning. I was trying to see if my iPad was working, trying to see my route, and trying to negotiating the Canal. Before I knew it, the strong current was pushing the bow of the boat directly at a navigational marker in the middle of the channel. In order to steer away from the marker, the right rear roof of the boat struck the marker! When you turn a large boat left the back goes right and that's what happened. Hello R18..... your color, number, and a mental video of that instant will forever be imbedded in my memory.

An explanation of navigational markers is in order here. Some of these markers are little floating cans, or bigger floaters, and some are 20" round steel poles sunk 60 feet down INTO BEDROCK! Then to hold the little red triangle markers, on top of this pole is a welded a steel plate 4/6" thick. This last kind of marker - the non-floating steel one is, of course the kind I chose to become intimidate with!

PHANTOM was wounded but not mortally. One of the supports for her sunroof was literally sawed in half and many of the screws holding the roof to the radar arch came loose. Some of her beautiful wooden railing that I spent weeks varnishing was broken, the supports holding it were bent, and numerous other small incidentals happened. This happened on the morning of 22 May.

I continued on toward Atlantic City for a little while but Celia came up and told me the roof was moving in all directions. Not good so I returned to my Cape May marina to assess the damages. When I saw it, I was heartbroken. All the work I had done for 2 years seemed wasted. It was the original day in my Black Rock! How disappointing the rest of my days that week were. Too much going on, not paying enough attention, and trying to do too much is an expensive lesson to learn.

First thing I did once I returned to the marina was Survey the damage then call the insurance company to report the accident. They sent a surveyor and I got someone to do the estimate. Some loopers staying in the marina came by and together we formulated a strategy to do emergency repairs so I could continue on my Loop.

I contacted the local Harbor Host in Cape May, Bruce & Buffi Miller. They are my counterpart there and provide assistance just as I would in Tarpon Springs. They were new and I was their first customer, the very first looper to call them!

Thursday Bill was scheduled to arrive in Cape May so Celia, after me begging her, drove to the Newark airport to pick him up. I had the surveyor and a guy coming to install another piece of the autopilot scheduled to come and stayed behind. While waiting, Jeff Hester helped me install a new VHF antenna that was torn off. After becoming a nervous wreck and stopping to settle her nerves, Celia finally got Bill and returned to the boat.

He chipped right in and on Thursday we made good progress on the temp repairs. I got up at 5 on Friday to finish installing the last bit of hand rails and we departed for Manasquan NJ late that morning. We passed Atlantic City, because we wanted to get Celia to NYC to see the Statue of Liberty and cruise around the harbor.

The trip Friday was about 8 hours and the seas a little unsettled but we were determined and made it in by 5:30 to our scheduled dock. The river current there was fierce and tides were near 5 feet. The weather report for the next day said we were going to have our best weather the next morning on Saturday for our trip to NYC.

They were 100% correct.... beautiful weather for the 4 and 1/2 hour ride into NYC. It got a little overcast but nothing could dampen our spirits that day! I had a terrible week, but when you're on a boat doing the Loop and a trip of a lifetime, nothing was going to spoil it. The temporary repairs were proving to be more than adequate, Celia got to see NY before she had to fly out the next day, and Bill and I were going to continue up the Hudson River and through the Erie & Oswego Canals, out into my first Great Lake, Ontario and continue on the loop!