It’s Wednesday and I’m still suffering a fresh air hangover. My vision is a little cloudy, I can’t focus and my body is rebelling from being stuck indoors all day long. This past weekend we grabbed a few buddy boats, untied the dock lines and headed for Sandy Hook, NJ while we pretended we were headed to some exotic location. If I squinted hard enough the hills of Staten Italy almost resembled the islands of Greece. It was a fun game to play.
Sandy Hook is only a 20 mile sail away, but it felt good to be sailing somewhere again. Day sailing is fun and all, but it’s hard work tacking to avoid cargo ships and ferries every five minutes. Our friends Lance and Blake were game for a weekend adventure and it was fun to give them a glimpse of what our cruising life was. I think we hooked them!
We had absolutely amazing winds on the way down. It seems our little pirate ship needs a good deal of wind before she really picks up speed, but we had her going over 8 knots a few times. I can’t even imagine how she’ll fly once we get a bigger jib on her!
As soon as we dropped anchor in Horseshoe Cove we loaded up into our giant 11 ft aluminum dinghy and headed to the beach for the sunset. The dogs could barely contain themselves when we asked them if they wanted to go for a ride! Now that we have the outboard running again were going to have to start taking them on rides around the marina. The beach was full of tiny pebbles, shells and horseshoe crabs. It was wonderful to have my toes in the sand again. On our way back to the boat we picked up our friends Lauren and Brian from Sea Biscuit for a couple of sundowners. It was such an amazing night full of wine, laughs and cool breezes!
Blake and Lance insisted on sleeping on the bow of the boat and we’re startled when Jason jumped in the water unannounced in the morning. After a quick jaunt back to the beach for more pebble collecting for terrariums, we pulled anchor and made Blake sail us back to the marina. She may have been about to poop her pants the entire time, but she looked good behind the wheel! We are actively forcing our friends to learn how to sail our boat so that we can convince them to come visit when we’re off sailing in foreign lands whether they want to or not.
This trip was the perfect weekend getaway and we cannot wait until we can go again. Our friends John and Gus from our other buddy boat, SV Velero, were telling us that there are actually bike paths on the other side of the beach and it’s a really nice little path. You can rent bikes from the ocean side, but we may just bring our folding Origamis. Next time we’ll pack up after work on Friday, so we have a full day of fun and relaxation on the beach. Maybe that will make my hangover a little less severe. Sigh.
Looks like a fun cruise!
An 11foot aluminum dinghy, huh? Sweet!
Deborah
It came with the boat! But, we’re starting to like it….
Gorgeous photos!
How long does it take you guys to get ready to get underway considering you’re living on your boat and working full-time?
Well that depends in how many dishes are in the sink and if we still need to fold the laundry 😉 generally not long, we try to make sure our set up is secure so it’s as easy as possible to go out as often as possible.
PS Tell us more about those folding bikes! I clicked the link, they look awesome.
We love our origami bikes, I should probably do a whole post on them as they are definitely worthy. Our only real complaint is that while they are aluminum and the frame is light and generally not effected by the sail air, the hardware they used most definitely is! We have to switch everything out. They have a lot of different model n options for size/weight too
That’s awesome! Once this whole COVID thing blows over, I’ll definitely head out to Horseshoe. If you’re still in the area, let’s meet up! -Lukas (s/v Anywhere)