New places, new experiences and new challenges begin today!

Aug. 14, 2018

We spent an entire summer on the Chesapeake about three years ago and boated up and down the Atlantic intercoastal waterway four plus times. We are very familiar with the terms that relate to tides. High, low, rising, falling, ebb and flood. We are also familiar with wind speed and direction as they relate to our traveling and anchoring.

We must now add the element of water current to our planning.  We are headed for the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal then down the Delaware Bay and up the Hudson River. If we travel when the tide and current oppose each other we would use more fuel as we fight against the current. Although set at 1400 rpms to run about 8 knots we would loose 3-4 knots in the fight. If that's not enough in certain areas the tide against current situation could potentially cause waves to peek at 3=5 feet!!

If we run with the tide and current we will get an extra push which means adding up to four knots to our speed, so our 1400 rpms will have us running at 12 knots rather than 8, a significant time and fuel savings. Complacency is definitely not a word fitting of this lifestyle!