Florida-NY, Successful

[WanderingStar]

We brought Wandering Star home, arriving yesterday. I found crew and information on this forum. The weather (two tropical depressions) threw us a few curves. We spent two days at sea, making 186 miles our first 24 hours (with the current) then went ICW to avoid a forecast 40 knot NE. Five days of heavy rain and high winds saw us at Charleston, where we went out to sea again. Another forecast of adverse conditions brought by the second low brought us closer in, but we stayed at sea. This time the challenge was thick fog and light wind. Our best day was passing Hatteras (far off) with flying fish, dolphins and petrels. The next day we had to divert to avoid naval gunfire, but saw a big shark. After four days at sea we made Cape May to refuel. The next day we continued alongshore through NY Harbor to Mount Sinai (34 hours). We sailed in strong and light breezes, the boat performing well. We navigated the Ditch in rain, fog and wind. Fourteen days underway brought only three sunny ones. The crew was fun, hardworking, and dedicated.

[smackdaddy]

Great work WS! Sounds like a helluva trip. And it's great to hear the crew worked out well.

[nolatom]

Well done, and well sailed. Glad you enjoyed it in spite of (or maybe in part because of) the several challenges..

[CalebD]

I am glad that you and your Wandering Star made the trip successfully back to Mt. Sinai harbor. That is a great accomplishment for you.
It was nice to meet you a while back in Huntington over dinner.
Welcome back to LI.

[nk235]

Congrats on the trip! I'm sure I'll see you in the harbor

[sailingdog]

Congrats, and looking forward to a longer post with photos.. you do have photos, right???

[tkringstad]

The following link will take you to a selection of the photos taken during the delivery of Wandering Star from Ft. Lauderdale to Mt. Sinai.

Kodakgallery.com: Slideshow

As part of the crew, I will concur with John that while it was a challenging trip due to the unsettled weather, it was a great experience. There were events along the way that we can try to write up and share, but all of them essentially re-inforce time honored values of proper vessel and crew preparation with prudent decision making while under way. This was a delivery with a time bound schedule due to work commitments which influenced our decision to keep sailing through conditions where we we might otherwise have stayed on a hook if it were a more casual cruise. Crew safety was still foremost in the decision making progress. I will add that we ate very well and this was a very important ingredient that kept crew morale high even though there was so much rain along the way. It also helped that the trip ended on a glorious day as we came through NY Harbor and Long Island Sound with beautiful clear skies and nice warm weather. Oddly, the three days of sun we had included the day we set out, the day we rounded Cape Hatteras, and the day we arrived.

Those of you who live in the Mt. Sinai area have a great addition to your sailing fleet.

Tom.

[tommays]

Great to see it all went well

[imagine2frolic]

Nice photos, and sweet looking vessel. It's always great to have a happy, and well food crew, and for the crew to have a responsible owner. Congradulations to all involed......i2f

[WanderingStar]

Thank you all.
Good food, good company, a nice day at the end. Challenges met.
Most of all a safe and successful trip make for good feelings.