Snow

I saw a few flakes of snow this morning on our walk. Zoe loves the snow, but sure hope we don't get too much of it before we leave. It's still too windy to go up the mast and add the chafing gear, but it should clear up by Thursday. Hopefully, I can get everything else ready by then, so all I'll have left to do is add chafing gear, bend the sails, and take her out for a shakedown.

Even then, it'll still be cold, but I should have a weather window of at least 4-5 days where I can shake her down and still make it to Cape May before the next front comes through. I'm considering doing the Sandy Hook to Cape May leg in one shot over night. It's just 24 hours and with weather windows only lasting 4-5 days at a time, I don't want to get caught somewhere along the New Jersey coast for another week waiting for good weather to go back out.

There are a few marginal places to go in along the New Jersey coast, but none of them are really appealing. It's also really shallow, so going inside for that section isn't a good idea either. I've been reading the cruising guides and message boards and have concluded that going down outside for this section is the best option.

However, that means I'll need to do a few more things to get ready -- most of which I've done over the last few days waiting for the high winds to die down. So, I guess the current weather delay is actually a good thing. It also gives me a chance to pick up a few more supplies based on what I've used since going in the water a couple weeks ago.