Splash Postponed Until Next Week

When I settled my bill this afternoon, I told Ed what I had left to do, and he suggested I go ahead and finish up while I'm in the yard and launch next week instead of tomorrow. They're going to be pulling boats all next week anyway, so it's not really a big deal to them. They won't start pulling moorings until the following week, so that'll give me a little time to get the sails bent and check her out before I take off.

I also discussed the route with him, and he strongly urged me to go through New York and stay away from the New Jersey coast -- there aren't any good places to go in until you get around Cape May, especially at night. He also said that it only takes about 7 hours to get from here to South Street Seaport, and another hour or two to get to an anchorage.

He even said it's pretty easy to transit at night, i.e., the city's lit up like a Christmas tree. If I had another hand, I'd do it at night, break out of New York Harbor early in the morning, and head down the Jersey coast during the day. However, since I'm going by myself, I don't think I can safely pull more than one allnighter, and I'll need to do that on the 140 mile, non-stop trip down to Cape May.

Boat watch:

I got one of the coamings put back on today, and all the bungs glued in. That's less than I'd planned, but since I've got a few more days, it shouldn't matter. I'll also postpone the provisioning until next week, though I did buy a new water hose, safety gear, and fuel this morning, so I'm all set there.