Cape May, NJ and here we sit

 Kerm here...

All the books say don't do the NJ offshore in an east wind.  We tried.  The books were right.  Yesterday, we saw that the seas were running 2 to 4' so we packed up and headed out the inlet.  The tide was going out and created crazy huge rollers in the inlet.  I had to go almost from lock to lock on the steering wheel just to keep the boat somewhat in control.  Bad omen.  Next we headed to the outer marker.  2 to 4' seas my ass.  Huge rollers that made me feel like I was shooting a small boat version of the Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch and we hadn't even taken our turn north yet.  Now what the hell am I going to do?  So for the first time we decide to abandon our plan and head back to the marina.  Ah, but how do we turn around in these monster rollers.  Very, very carefully.  Oh, to have just a bit more power. OK, find a pattern of smaller waves, turn just before the crest and put a blast of power on for the turn and hope the timing is correct.  (A blast of power from the old Lehman diesel probably is some sort of oxymoron).  Anyway, all turned out but then we still had to shoot the inlet again.  It's true,  Jersey inlets are a real bugger and should be avoided in an east wind.  Lesson learned but we are now tucked away safe at the marina.
At this point, the NOAA forecast just gets worse and worse for waves and weather on the NJ coast.  The old salts here say that it is unusual for this stuff to last longer than 3 days but we're in an extremely odd pattern that could go on and on.  They're slapping there foreheads,too.

So we go into maintenance mode.  It's good timing as we have put on a hundred hours since the last good go- over.  Fuel system filters and bleeding, oil change in engine and metering unit, alignment check and general nut and bolt check.  I also have what sounds like a ticky lifter that should be looked at but I don't have the tools.  My conscience will probably get to me and I'll probably get to this one too at some point.  Oh, to have little Joe Hauser here for a general check over on the Lehman.  I have no idea what I'm doing and every change in sound at any given RPM makes me wonder if it's normal or something is amiss.  The diesel engine is a mysterious thing to me...

We found out that the Erie Canal is closed due to high water (snow melt)  and and the Hudson is probably running like the Mississippi at flood stage so this is on our mind also.  Had we known we probably would have stayed in the warm climate a bit longer.  Woulda, shoulda, coulda.  When the weather clears we will probably do Atlantic City next,  then Sandy Hood,  then somewhere north of NYC on the Hudson.  Perhaps near West Point where we can get a train to NYC.  The prediction is that the Erie will open sometime in the next couple of weeks but the people that predicted that are the same ones that said 2 to 4' on the NJ coast yesterday.

Signing off for now...
Kerm