2008 Cruising Plans

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

037-33.540 N
076-18.720 W

Happy New Year from the crew of the BlueJacket!

We hope that everyone had a wonderful 2007 and we hope that 2008 will be even better. I've been remiss in writing to let people know what we've been up to since we arrived in Deltaville, VA with BlueJacket. We decided that we're going to do something very unique (for us) as we're going to head NORTH this upcoming season and we'll spend the winter at home, outside of Boston. As a result we had to winterize the boat as she's going to be in freezing temperatures for the first time since I've owned her. We've never done that before, so that was a learning experience. We also had to pull everything off of the boat that couldn't freeze, which included lots of food-stuffs and cleaning products. It's amazing how much stuff we took off, and in the process we gained about 2" of waterline back! The SUV we rented to drive home was packed to the gills. We also had BlueJacket hauled so that the hull could dry out and we pulled the mast so that it could be repainted. She definitely looks a lot different!

Since we've been home I've done a major overhaul on the GeoffSchultz.org web site. It looks very similar to the way it looked before, but the underpinnings are completely different. All of the pages are dynamically generated from a database and as a result of doing this, I've been able to imbed Google Maps into all of the indexes and trip reports. You can click on any of the markers on the map to see information about that position. I can now add trip reports to the web site via e-mail from the boat. The bottom line is that the web site looks much like it did before, but it has a lot more capabilities.

As I mentioned before, we're going to have a very different cruising season this year. The current plans are to head up the Chesapeake in early May and then follow the Delaware Bay to the Atlantic. We'll head to New York where we'll follow the Hudson River to Troy, NY where we'll join the Erie and Oswego canals. We'll have to pull the mast at that point and transport it for quite a few miles. We'll actually ascend to 420 feet above sea level and then descend to 244 feet above sea level. Forty locks later we'll enter Lake Ontario. From there we'll follow the St. Lawrence to Montreal and Quebec and then to the Canadian Maritimes where we'll explore Prince Edward Island.

We'll cross to Magdelan Islands and then head on to Newfoundland where we'll explore the southern coast. The guide books make this area of Newfoundland sound spectacular, comparing it to the fjords of Norway with 1000 ft cliffs that have waterfalls cascading into the sea. From there we'll head to Nova Scotia and explore the Bras d'Or lakes which bisect the northern end of Nova Scotia. We'll work our way down the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, eventually crossing the Bay of Fundy and re-enter the US. We'll head down the coast of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and eventually we'll end up in Rhode Island where I think that we'll leave BlueJacket for the winter.

I plan to enter the Canadian Maritimes sometime mid-August as by then the waters have warmed up and the prevalence of fog is reduced. I do expect a lot of fog as the guide books show that fog is present between 25% and 50% of the days in August and September. I'm glad we've got a good radar! We should be back in RI sometime in early-mid October, just in time to enjoy New England's beautiful foliage season. The whole trip will be about 2500 nautical miles and will take about 6 months.

So that's the plan, and who knows, we might even stick to it! Have a great new year and keep in touch!

-- Geoff and Sue

Log ID: 1128