Monday, August 8: We left Liberty Landing marina at 7 am, in order to catch a favorable current as we left the New York harbor area. It was a pleasant morning. A little hazy and humid, but cool enough, with high thin clouds and some sun. It is supposed to reach 89 degrees in New York City, today, but it should be cooler than that at sea.
The highlight of the morning was sailing past the Statue of Liberty. She was a magnificent sight, with her golden torch gleaming in the morning sun.
After we cleared the harbor, with all the moored barges and high-speed ferries that we had to dodge, we raised our sails and motor sailed in the forecast wind that was W at 10 kt. With help from the breeze and a good following current, we managed over 8 kt over the ground.
A little later, the wind picked up and moved to our beam, so we cut the engines and raised the spinnaker. We had a good run down the Jersey shore, with boat speed over the bottom of 7.5 to 8.5 kt. With our spinnaker up, we were slowly pulling away from MerSea. But, after a while, we looked back and saw that MerSea was hoisting her spinnaker, as well.
Now, the race was on! When the wind was over 10 kt, Bottlenose would pull ahead. When it was under 10 kt, MerSea was faster. We sailed neck and neck for several hours, each taking great pictures of the other boat.
At last, around 4 pm, the wind died, so we doused our spinnakers and motored.
Sheila came on her night watch at 9 pm and had an uneventful leg down the Jersey shore past Atlantic City. All the casinos on shore were lit up. One tall building looked like a giant projection screen, with colorful animated scenes flashing in succession. The night was a little hazy, but the visibility was not too bad. There was very little commercial ship traffic and nothing she had to avoid.
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