A Great Sail to Sandy Hook

We were both dreading the 12 hour sail from Atlantic City to Sandy Hook. Our last trip in the Atlantic was rough, in more ways than one. But, having to get this leg behind us before we could make it the rest of the way home, we had no choice but to brave the seas and get on with it!

To our surprise and delight the trip was flawless! We had beautiful weather and fair winds. The seas were about two feet, and I didn't get sea sick at all! We did notice, however, that we must be getting close to home. We all wore pants and sweaters on this trip! We haven't worn warm clothes since we arrived in Florida the first week in April!

It took a total of 14 hours from port to port, which got us into Sandy Hook, New Jersey in the dark. We weren't concerned, we'd come into port at night before without incident.

Andy went below to find a phone number for Pete and Peggy who we had met in Atlantic City because Sandy Hook was their last stop and he wanted some direction to help us find the anchorage. Sandy Hook was a very large bay, and in the dark we couldn't see any other masts or anchor lights.

While he was below deck, Henry and I kept a casual look out, as we were in the middle of this massive bay and our depth was over 40 feet. Out of nowhere I was startled by our ladder jumping on the side of the boat! I looked up in time to see several large sticks knock past our hull!! I screamed for Andy to come up, and we stopped the boat to find ourselves in the middle of a field of these sticks strung with heavy line!

Andy tried to back us out the way we came in, to no avail. Our prop was fouled with line. The engine cut out whenever we tried to move.

Andy got on the radio and called for help. The Coast Guard responded and told us that we were caught in a fish trap. More of a boat trap if you asked us!! The Coast Guard boat came along and kept an eye on us while we awaited Boat Tow US assistance. We cut the lines that entrapped us and were towed to the anchorage that we were trying to find in the first place.

Boat Tow US sent a diver the following morning to unfoul the prop. Thank goodness we got a Boat Tow membership! The towing and diving bill would have been $1200.00!!!!!!! Yikes!