home is where the boat is: New Jersey

Monday, October 21 – Saturday, November 2, 2013

We spent nearly two weeks in New Jersey—sailing it the first week, visiting friends and family as we traveled, and then spending time where we grew up the second week. It’s always so nice to visit family that we could have stayed much longer, but we were still hoping to follow fall down the coast, so we knew eventually we’d have to move on.

Growing up we had sailed in New Jersey, but sailing with Evelyn offered a completely new perspective. Lou and I grew up along the Delaware River in Florence, NJ—“a community with character at the bend in the river”—if you look at a map it’s easy to find the bend, and that’s where Florence is. (For everyone who loves to joke and ask what exit we are from—it’s exit 6 on the Turnpike, and 52 on 295—as those from New Jersey know, exits are no joke!) We attended the Delaware River Sailing School, hosted by the Red Dragon Canoe Club in Edgewater Park, when we were younger and then taught at the sailing school as instructors throughout high school and college. We were certified by US Sailing as small boat instructors there, and later pursued our USCG licenses primarily because of those experiences, and the desire to delve a bit deeper (which eventually led us to Maine!). We spent summers and weekends kayaking, sailing, and canoeing the river with friends and each other, and I can’t count the number of days I kayaked or sailed after school. Later I made friends—and an extended boating family—up and down the river because of the Delaware River Yachtsman’s League, and the wonderful work the League does to unite boaters along the river into one boating community.

Evelyn docked at Penns Landing by the USS Olympia

We know the Delaware River and all its bends and turns so intimately, and the river has always been such an important part of our lives. When I traveled away from home for the first time my sister bottled a bit of the river for me, because she knew that it was a part of me I couldn’t live without. Whenever we visit home we visit the river too—walk along it, drink coffee by it, boat on it. I can’t possibly imagine what my life would have been like if I had not grown up along the Delaware—my most life-altering events can often by traced back to my early relationship with the river, and decisions I made because of experiences I had there.

The river is home, and the river is important to us. When we first purchased Evelyn we dreamed of a day we might sail her up the river, and sail her by the Red Dragon, where we had met as children. It seemed simple, but also so far away, and we knew that moment would be so special to us, so full of meaning. When we were fourteen we may have dreamed that we’d one day sail our own boat to those docks, but never could we have imagined that we would have also lived aboard her, would have sailed her down from Maine, and would have done it together. All that would have seemed unthinkable or impossible. Too much of a dream, too much of a fairytale.

flying the Red Dragon burgee

But here we were, sailing down the Jersey Shore, and in just a few days we’d sail to the docks at the Red Dragon. The moment we imagined for years was even more special than we anticipated—a friend, who was a strong part of the sailing school and an avid sailor (he’s visited us in Maine by boat on multiple occasions!)—arranged for a welcome party, and friends, family, members of the Red Dragon, DRYL, and those who had been involved with the sailing school met us there. They cheered as we arrived, and this magnificent homecoming we’d dreamed about was shared with those who had helped to make it possible. It was more special than we could have ever anticipated. Then, we were able to show-off Evelyn, and welcome aboard friends and family who had never seen her.

Throughout the two weeks we were in New Jersey we were able to share time with friends and family again and again. When we departed Sandy Hook after NYC, we left early, and hustled down the Jersey Shore, past its unforgiving and shoaling inlets, many of which had changed drastically since Hurricane Sandy last fall. We entered Barnegat’s inlet at sunset, with the help of my Dad who now sails Serenity, our family boat, on the Barnegat Bay, and family friends who have a home and boats there and use the inlet often. Entering Barnegat was the first time I truly felt at home since we’d left Maine—everyone in Jersey has their preferred beaches, and LBI, Ocean City, Corsen’s Inlet, Wildwood, and Cape May were always my favorites. Having Barnegat Light—a lighthouse I’d visited so many times before—welcome me from the ocean was a wonderful feeling.

Barnegat

The Barnegat Inlet was as rough and tricky as its notoriety reports, but once we were inside everything was perfect. We pulled up to the dock right besides our friends’ home, and we spent the next two nights with them, joined by my mom and visited by Lou’s mother and brother. We relaxed and showered, did laundry and had a great time—it was a vacation down the shore, and our welcome home to New Jersey.

We left Wednesday in the pouring rain—but to favorable winds—and made good time sailing and motoring. We thought we’d only make it to Atlantic City but instead ended the night in Cape May, just at sunset. The wind increased to a howl and we stayed anchored there two nights. But family was not far away! My sister drove down to meet us that night, and we spent her day off enjoying all our favorite parts of Cape May—the trails at the State Park, the eclectic shops, and Sunset Beach where we found handfuls of Cape May Diamonds.

Stones & "Cape May Diamonds" at Sunset Beach

We left Cape May for a difficult day in the Delaware Bay—we were headed straight into the wind and chop all day, and it was our wettest ride to date. Everything was soaked. When we reached the Delaware River—a moment we had waited so long for—we were met with sand waves and terrible chop fighting the current, tossing Evelyn around and beating her up. It was like a slap from a scorned friend—Where have you been? How dare you leave me! How dare you come back!

That night we anchored just below the C&D Canal (Chesapeake & Delaware), and the next morning faced another rough day heading into wind, waves, and current as we traveled up the river. But that night we found ourselves at Penn’s Landing Marina compliments of Lou’s parents, who joined us for dinner in the city. Our night at Penn’s Landing was another special experience—all my childhood I adored the Moshulu as a Philadelphia landmark, and here we were, docked nearby her. We were also nearby the Seaport Museum and other areas of Philly’s waterfront, where for the past twelve years I have joined the DRYL every August when they gather here.

The next morning we sailed up the River and by the Red Dragon, the reality that was better than the dream, and docked Evelyn off the docks we had once swum from on hot summer days.

At Penns Landing: Evelyn, USS Olympia, & Moshulu

The next days were full of visits with family, friends, members of the Red Dragon, and members of the community—we had some special experiences while we were there, and had the unique opportunity to share Evelyn with the graduating seniors from Doane Academy, as well as the fourth grade environmental studies class. We also met with the Rotary Club of Burlington, another organization important to us, because Lou and I had both been Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholars, which awarded us with academics, experiences, and wonderful friends that impacted our lives in such meaningful ways.

While we were in New Jersey we spent time with our siblings, our grandmas, our aunts, uncles, and cousins, friends, neighbors, people we had known our whole lives and those we had only just met, and we shared Evelyn with them too. Our past and our present seemed to finally merge as we shared our current lifestyle—it was now all one continuous, long story that connected the life we’d been living in Maine with our friends and family in New Jersey.

When we left we left with a passenger—Lou’s mother joined us for our travels from Edgewater Park, NJ to Rock Hall, MD, as well as for her first night aboard a boat! The Delaware River may not be on the average cruiser’s agenda, but for us, it may have been the most memorable stop.

More photos from our trip to New Jersey: