Thank you everyone for your advice on whether to round Cape Hatteras or go the ICW route at this time of year! We spent 3 glorious days motoring up the ICW, and anchoring out every night. Then we broke the #1 rule of having a schedule. Our crew member had already booked his flight out of NYC and I thought if we pushed hard offshore from Norfolk, VA then we could at least make it to Cape May before the Northerly wind storm, anchor it out, and continue on to NYC. We didn't make it. With only 30 miles to go to Cape May, the winds clocked out of the north, increased to 30+knots, and it snowed enough to completely cover our cockpit enclosure. This slowed our progress to the point that I knew we wouldn't make it to Cape May before sunset. So we heaved to of the Jersey coast, off and on for the next 36 hours until the storm passed, and then sailed into Atlantic City where we've been at anchor for the past few days. Our crew was able to catch a bus to NYC to catch his flight on time.

In retrospect, I think we should have stayed at anchor in Norfolk for an additional week to wait for a bigger weather window. But it sure was good a shakedown! Tomorrow morning we will push off for NYC to anchor in front of the statue of Liberty.

Our solar panels have been generating 50+ amps in sun at anchor for the past few days, so I was able to edit some video of our trip and post it to our youtube channel for your enjoyment. Also my girlfriend Monique wrote a great article about our trip so far that she post to her blog today.

Thanks again for the advice! I'm so glad we didn't round Cape Hatteras like that Island Packet that had to call May Day.

Fair winds, calm seas, schedules out the window, and happy sailing!

Drake
s/v 'Paragon' (1976 Westail 42)

video: Paragon's North Atlantic Voyage - Leaving Oriental, NC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JAT---54Lo

blog post: Attack of the forty foot…Paris Hilton?
http://39degree.blogspot.com/2013/03/attack-of-forty-footparis-hilton.html