On the fateful day that the weather predicted was our one vague chance for another week, we set out at first light (~30 mins before dawn), and immediately conditions were pretty bad, as predicted. Just crossing the New York Harbor we were already in 4 footers with random chop, which is pretty uncomfortable conditions -- not unsafe, but gonna beat the hell out of your brain after a while. Our plan had been to just set off and immediately jump on plane (high speed diesel guzzling mode) and get as far as we can stomach today. If we'd had to stop for conditions, we're stuck navigating a very shallow and windy New Jersey ICW (IntraCoastal Waterway), which would have added days to our trip, as well as likely running around here and there. So we were trying desperately to avoid having to do that.

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It's uncomfortable for a while, but after getting across the bay, the big swells stay but the chop largely disappears, so it's no longer jarring conditions, just endless rolling back and forth. We've been in worse, though, so we're actually pleasantly surprised at how not-quite-miserable it is. We quickly pass Manasquan, the first bail-out point, which Inquest later takes to avoid more of this, and we head into the working day hours and I end up taking all my meetings from the helm all afternoon, making my coworkers seasick over the internet. As the day goes on, the conditions, as predicted, slowly (though slightly) improve, and we just say screw it, let's get as far as we can.

With the time we're making, we check the tides and see that we actually have the tides with us all the way up the Delaware and into the C+D, and we target getting all the way to Chesapeake City, expecting to get in just after sunset. The currents held, so the predictions were correct within a few minutes, and we made it in. We finally pull into the anchorage a few minutes after sunset, just as the last light faded -- buzzer to buzzer, burning something north of 500 gallons of diesel for the privilege, after a nearly 180nm day, making it our second-biggest boating mileage day ever.