Behind the Blog: Mars v. Venus

Atlantic City to Cape May via Mars v.
Atlantic City to Cape May via Venus

We agreed on one thing... Atlantic City is gross. We spent as little time there as possible, anchoring only because we needed a place to sleep while traveling down the Jersey Coast. Trust us on this one... don’t visit. We arrived shortly before sunset and left at sunrise in route to Cape May, the southern most point in NJ, still trying to recover from the horror of our early evening walk on the boardwalk the night before. Donald Trump should be ashamed.

Weather proved to be unfavorable... we were heading right into the wind which isn’t ideal for sailing and the seas were 2-4 feet (mostly 4). A few minutes into the “cruise”, the alternator belt gave out... of course we didn’t know that was the problem at the time. Pat was on deck raising one of the sails; Drew and I were driving. Jake and Emily were still sleeping.

Drew and I knew something bad happened because the instruments were going hay-wire and the engine temperature was way too high. Within a few seconds there was smoke (my opinion)/steam (Pat’s opinion) coming out of one of the lockers - right where Drew was sitting.

To effectively tell the rest of the story, it will be necessary to use 2 perspectives:

Jo - There’s a fire; I’ve got to get Jake & Emily up on deck with us. (The engine sits just below the stairs leading from the cockpit to the cabin, so I didn’t want them below and us above in the event of a problem. There are plenty of hatches they can and do frequently crawl through, but those are closed when we’re under sail.)

Pat - The engine is overheating. I wonder why Jo has abandon her post at the helm?

Jo - (Once it was clear the kids were all safe) I can’t believe this is happening... we’re going to be STUCK in Atlantic City!

Pat - I can’t wait to diagnose this engine problem.. whatever it is, I bet I can fix it! Of course, first I’ll need to ask Jo a few questions in order to discern exactly what happened.

Jo - If this is how Pat cross-examines witnesses, I can’t believe one hasn’t walked off the witness stand and punched him. What happened to innocent until proven guilty!

Pat spent the next 2 hours with his head stuck in the engine replacing the alternator belt. The kids and I sailed the boat (not particularly well, but a reasonably straight zig-zag). It was very hot and the seas were probably the worst we have encountered on our trip to date. Even Pat had to take motion sickness medicine (a regular thing for Emily and I). We were on day 3 of home schooling and classes had to be cancelled for inclement weather!

Pat - (after everything was back to normal and having spent some time reflecting on his accomplishments) After I hose myself down and get this grease off, I think I’ll make myself a nice tunafish sandwich!

Jo - Emily just threw up. I can’t believe Pat is eating tuna fish!

Pat - It sure is a nice day for a sail.

Jo - The only good thing about today is that we didn’t have to call the coast guard. If the NJ coastline doesn’t end soon one of us is going overboard!

Talking to his brother later in the day, Pat described the seas as “a little rough”. The alternator belt issue was “fixable”; that’s why we keep spare parts on board. The fact that Emily threw up must have had something to do with what she ate for breakfast. Clearly, we were on 2 different boats! Actually, it would have been great if we had been on 2 different boats!

Thankfully, Cape May proved to be a really lovely destination and a very calm anchorage. Weather outside and moods aboard improved significantly the following day, which was mostly spent ashore, enjoying the beach!


Follow-up: Drew now checks the engine temperature at least every 5 minutes when we have the motor on... just to be sure everything is okay; Jake and Emily have practiced opening the hatches by themselves with good success, and we will be restocking on Bonine (motion sickness medicine) at the next opportunity... just in case. As for tuna, we’re still good... what with the 40+ cans Pat purchased back in June!