There's always a college kid looking for a summer job at the beach... so you don't have to spend $130/ hr to get nice brite-work if you're willing to take a little time and teach someone a new talent.
This past weekend I sailed from Point Pleasant, NJ down the Atlantic coast, around Cape May, and then up the Delaware Bay to the C&D
Canal. 30
knot sustained winds with gusts over 40. 6-8' seas, white caps, lots of froth and the occasional rouge wave hitting us broadside. My vintage H-49 ate up the ocean like it was candy and never once did we feel like she wasn't up to the task! Didn't see anyone else out there but monitored channel 16 where the only chatter were calls to Seatow, BoatUS, and the Coast Guard. There's nothing like a heavy
displacement sailboat with a
ketch rig which gives us several sail options... long tacks out into the Atlantic with just the
jib and then a nice balanced close hauled point of sail with
jib and jigger once we reached the Delaware Bay.
To boot we averaged 5 knots as the bird fly's... but of course we couldn't follow the bird.
Awesome sailing experience... we even nicknamed one of the crew members "Puker"! We're such a compassionate bunch!
"Woopie doopie... we have fun!"