It was a lovely summer morning. August 2011 at Cape May NJ. Cape May is an oasis for Sailboats. Boats that approach from the Chesapeake come through the C&D Canal which is 55 miles from the channel at Cape May. In between, for a sailboat there is no where to stop. It's all or nothing. This is the Delaware Bay. Strong current, big chop. I've made the trip several times, as fast as 8 hours and as slow as 11 hours. It's all about the tide.
The "rule of twelfths" is instrumental in using the tide to your advantage and to avoid the tide from impeding your passage. The total amount of water that moves in a tide cycle is broken into twelfths. The cycle is @ six hours long. In the first and last (6th) hour of the cycle, 1/12th of the total amount of water moves in each hour. In the 2nd and 5th hours, 2/12ths of the total move in each hour. In the 3rd and 4th hours, 3/12ths of the water moves. That totals 12/12ths (duh). Notice half the water moves in the middle two hours. In areas with strong tidal current this has the water in the first hour barely moving and speeding to as much as 4-5 knots during the peak two middle hours.
When leaving the C&D bound for Cape May (or vise versa) you need to play this to your advantage. The tide cycle is 6 hours. The trip is 55 miles. A sailboat usually figures about 5 mph. Thats 11 hours. If you leave an hour or an hour and a half before the tide you want (from Cape May leave on a low tide/ from C&D leave at high) you have the first hour plus going against a weak slack tide. That extends the time you have tidal advantage. You have that stolen hour, six hours of the cycle plus add the first hour of the next cycle. Eight hours. On a day with good wind you can make the trip in that time. I've averaged 11.5 mph (!) on the trip in a bit over eight hours on a day with good breeze.
On the morning following my best trip up the Delaware Bay to Cape May I awoke feeling satisfied. Gabe (need I say my Airedale who passed this May) and I had a long hard day on the sail the day before and I'd decided to take a rest day. We jumped off the boat for a morning walk. Our morning walks were a wonderful time. Gabe was a vibrant happy pup. Even at his age then of ten years old. He'd been an amazing companion, the most trouble free dog I've ever known. He was intuitive and sweet. So we bounced along, smelling the sea air and enjoying the sights. We walked the boatyard early that morning around 7 am. We came to the end of a huge marina building that sat end to end with another building. As we came to the opening between the two buildings another man walking a huge shepherd crossed into the opening opposite Gabe and I. Gabe was free and seeing them bounded off to say hi. When the man saw Gabe run toward them he screamed "get your dog, he'll kill him!!", as he struggled to restrain this huge beast. I yelled for Gabe to come and he turned and returned. We boogied off in the other direction to safety.
Later in the morning, 9:30 or so, we went up to the marina office. The office had several folks chatting around the desk. Gabe went from person to person introducing himself, everyone had a chance to pet him. Once his greetings were over and I attended to business he started browsing, wandering around the large showroom. At the desk with my back to Gabe I heard a growl. I knew it was the beast shepherd, and somehow just sprung toward Gabe. On my way rushing to Gabe I saw the Shepherd who was also running at Gabe. He was coming from a far corner room (someone had left the door open) about the same distance from Gabe as I. We were both at least thirty feet and closing on Gabe fast. Gabe was frozen as we converged. At the last second, I leapt, knee forward and landed on the back of the shepherd's neck just as he reached Gabe. The shepherd bit at Gabe who collapsed sideways down just as the shepherd chomped. At the same second my knee crushed the huge beast flat to the ground. The adrenaline was surging and I grabbed the shepherd under the jaw and was going to break its neck on my knee. I intended to kill it, I sure didn't want to have it turn on me. But I remember through the fog of battle thinking BLOOD. I looked to Gabe, as much to inspire my kill as anything. Shocked, there was no blood. Gabe had avoided the bite. Instinctively, (I swear this is all true) I yanked the shepherd off it's feet by the neck with me as I jumped up, choked it and screamed NOOO in it's face and threw it by the head away from us. It flew ten feet in the air twisting it's body like a cat falling from a tree. When the beast landed it didn't even look back as it scampered away like a kicked Cocker spaniel. It was over. I turned to the folks in the room. They were aghast. I shrugged and said laughing "I grew up in a kennel"...The owner of the dog (marina owner I think) came running up because I abused her dog....Laughing I told her how close I had been to owning her marina as I walked out. She didn't have much to say to that. Others there later told me more about the shepherd. They'd had police complaints many times about the dog. Don't believe me? Call Utsch's marina and ask about the Airedale, shepherd flying hippy caper....
No comments:
Post a Comment