Accordin to Nobeltec's Tides and Currents -- That's at the Bay side of the inlet. If the winds were "on shore" that wouldn't make the experience too friendly there.

The tide inside supposedly varied at the USCG station about 2.5' on that day. At that time it was rising inside the inlet. There is certainly some complicated hydrology going on there.

I suppose that it's possible that he bounced over the jetty (leaving some chunks behind or holes in the hull). Then were deposity on the opposite side what they describe as the "channel".

I'm amazed if he hit in that seastate, that he or some his crew weren't thrown from the boat or injured in the aftermath.

About 18 or so years ago, an experienced sailor in a Hinckley went aground on the NJ Coast. Their engine had failed, their GPS didn't work, they hit the coast off of one of the long stretches without any lights (state park?). Anyway, the boat hit the sand a few hundred yards off the shore. Two of the 4 of them ended-up drowned when they were thrown from the boat by the impact. The other two got washed with the remains of the smashed-up Hinckley bounced closed enough to shore to wade/swim through the surf.

Why they approached that coast in the dark with a boat that could have stayed offshore (regardless how uncomfortable) no one will every really know.

The captain and owner of the boat had sailed to and from Southern New England for many years.