Silent Maid Cruise Day 4

Monday, Sept. 14, 09
Cohansey to Philadelphia.
map

The favorable flood began at 2am. We got up at 6. Hauled anchor and out into the bay again, motoring against the wind.


Steaming lights on, the dawn breaks.



Breeze dead ahead, ebb starts. Coffee & oatmeal. Chocolate for me. After tiding the cabin, I steer for a long time, hence no pictures for a while. We pass Salem Nuclear, Fort Delaware, the Chesapeake Canal, the Christiana River, the dredge MCFARLAND, The Commodore Barry bridge, and lot of floatsam in the river. The predominate wildlife are seagulls from the landfills, AKA seagull sanctuarys. The post modern tour begins in earnest. Power plants, trash dumps, factories, and oil refineries consume the riverbank real estate. New Castle is a bright dot on the chart. Pretty cute town. I steer kneeling on the aft deck so I can see over the bow, watching for and taking evasive actions around floating trees and almost submerged chunks of wood. River traffic increases and we monitor channel 13.


Amidst the oil refineries, Chuck spots a water purifying plant. I start lunch around Marcus Hook. Tomato & avocado salad, radish coleslaw, potato salad, ham & cheese on pumpernickel.



This is John's cue to start sailing again. I hold her into the wind and the guys set the sail. The sun stays bright today. Nice change after all the wet weather.


Running upriver.






We make better progress against the tide. See the wake.



Sail full out against the forward stay.








Here comes the KALMAR NICKLE motoring returning to Delaware after a weekend tour in Philly.

Lot of cordage on that ship.








Sailing with the big boys around Horseshoe Bend. We catch the bridge and tug making eyes at us. I am sure it is because MAID is so beautiful under sail.




The breeze picks up at the Walt Whitman. Almost home.









We furl and motor into Penn's Landing Basin.