Tag: baltimore

This blog chronicles the boating adventure of the Rubin family in July, 2017. Casting off in Baltimore with Boston as the destination and many stops along the way.

It’s finally almost here – the trip we’ve been planning for months and dreaming about for years. In the last few weeks, we kind of lost our minds and decided to buy our lifetime dream boat, a Prestige 560 Fly. We knew we would do this some day, and decided what better time than right before our 3 week boat trip to Boston? We named the boat Sababa, a Hebrew word that indicates that things could not be better, and with a boat like this, and this upcoming trip with my family, that’s how I feel!

Over the last six months, we mapped out an itinerary with several key milestones that include poker and shopping in Atlantic City along with dinner with Aliya and Dan from NJ at Buddakan, a “drive by” to waive at the Jays on the NJ shore, a play on Broadway (School of Rock), pizza (vegan for some) in Mystic, Ct, visiting Amy & Michael (Ann’s brother and family) in Providence, Martha’s Vineyard, biking in Nantucket, touring Falmouth on Cape Cod, and the highlight of our trip: stopping in Boston for two nights to visit Tamara at Camp Young Judea in New Hampshire during visiting day; and let’s not forget, Peter Lugar’s with Cousins Kenny and Laurie in Brooklyn on the way home. Finally, we may be joined by the Geva boys in Brooklyn for the final stretch back to Baltimore. Click for our full itinerary.

Day 1: Baltimore to Cape May, NJ

I woke up just after 6:00 a.m. this morning full of adrenaline. Months of planning, so many details, an unexpected new boat that we could not have even imagined buying a month ago, and the time had finally arrived. I did not want to wake up Ann, so I stayed in bed for about 15 minutes, but then I had to get moving. With everyone sleeping, I took care of some details – moved the water hose from the dock to the boat, put our empty luggage in the crew quarters, which we use as storage, removed the remaining covers from the bow and stowed them, and secured the galley. At around 6:50, I woke up Elana, and we went for a 2 mile run along the inner harbor. Beautiful morning, and lucky for me, I am still able to keep up with her – barely.

When we got back, Ann was already up and having breakfast. Elana and I took showers, and I started getting the boat ready. Turned on the generator; pulled the power cords and stowed them; turned on all the electronics; turned on the main engines; plugged in our route to the chart plotter, and we were ready to go. Benny was still sleeping, so Ann, Elana and I released the dock lines, brought them onto the boat, and we were off! (enable FLASH to watch this video clip)

As we pulled out of Harbor East marina, Ann and Elana brought in the dock lines and the fenders, and I piloted and navigated from the flybridge.

Our route this morning was 118 nautical miles. We cruised along just below 6 knots through the inner harbor area for about 15 minutes until we were ready to get on plane.

As we approached the Key bridge, I brought Sababa up to 23 knots, at 89% load on the port engine and 92% on the starboard one, and we were planing.

Elana and Benny assumed the teenage position, despite all the beautiful scenery around them.

We followed the shipping channel up to the Elk River, which connects the Chesapeake to the C&D Canal. I had timed our departure to hit the Delaware River at 12:30, and despite some no wake speed in the C&D, we arrived about 15 minutes early, which was just fine. Water in the Delaware River and the Bay was as calm as can be. I had heard many stories of the rough waters there, and so it was with great relief that we had a completely smooth ride. Even as we approached Cape May, NJ and looked out on the open Atlantic Ocean, there were no waves. It was sunny and 77, and in fact, up on the bridge we had to put on sweatshirts because it felt chilly.

Our new boat, which we’ve only had for 2.5 weeks, handles great. She leaves a pretty big wake behind, and we had to be conscious of that because it really impacts other boats if we’re not careful.