Summer Home

After three rainy, sunny, rainy, sunny days in St. Michaels, we awoke yesterday morning to clear skies and strong winds (15-18 mph) out of the northwest. That meant we would be heading up the Chesapeake Bay with 2-3 foot head seas and the challenge of docking the boat is a crosswind. I guess it was time to test all that "technical stuff" as well as my docking and close quarter maneuvering skills.

As we came out of the Eastern Bay around Bloody Point the Chesapeake was awash in white caps and banging the hull pretty hard. I slowed the boat down to about 20 mph, adjusted the trim tabs to help keep the bow down into the waves and made way for western shore. While not the most comfortable ride, ENCORE ran beautifully and within an hour and a half were coming into the Severn River to Annapolis. 

As we got our docking instructions from the Yacht Basin, we found we had been assigned to an inside slip on the southern end of the marina. The fairway entry into our slip is only 42 feet wide, which meant I had about 1 foot off the bow and 1 foot off the stern to rotate the boat and back her into the slip. Under calm conditions, this would have been challenging, but with 18 mph winds, it raised the "pucker factor" more than a few notches. Nonetheless, slowly (and with only an occasional "oh shit"), I spun her around and brought her to rest. Phew!

The Annapolis Yacht Basin will be ENCORE's home dock for the next 6 weeks as we use this time to visit with nearby family and friends, enjoy Maryland and this delightful maritime city, and travel back and forth to Florida, Connecticut and Maryland. In late September we will start our journey south.

Annapolis Yacht Basin

Annapolis, MD

Wow... this boat is fast!

While we had intended to stop at Fairlee Creek on the upper Eastern Shore near Chestertown, MD, we found the Delaware Bay surprisingly calm and the Chesapeake Bay to be surprising rough. But we made such good time anyway, we decided to give ENCORE an opportunity to make a longer run and headed further south to St. Michael’s, MD.

The best!

The Crab Claw - St. Michaels, MD

Here are a couple of interesting points about ENCORE and how it performs. ENCORE is 44 feet long and has a beam of 14 feet. She weighs 26,000 pounds (empty) and carries 380 gallons of fuel and 140 gallons of water. She is equipped with twin 380 HP Cummins diesel engines with new high efficiency Zeus Pod drives. The hull is a "modified" deep V which basically means she can putt along like a trawler at slow speed or get up and go on plane at 38 mph at wide open throttle. At "cruise" speed, which is about 80% of throttle (2700 rpm), ENCORE runs a very comfortable 32 mph and burns about 28 gallons per hour.

The result of all this is that ENCORE is a faster boat, covers more ground in less time and burns less fuel to get there. She also seems to handle most sea conditions well and while I don't have plans on cruising in anything more than 3 to 4 foot seas, ENCORE could handle it if needed (of course, the resulting mutiny by the Admiral might be more painful than the pounding seas).  


As a result of this, I am already starting to rethink the trip south on the ICW in late September and how that might impact our distance and timing. Of course, much of that trip is in speed-restricted channels so it might not matter all that much, but in "open water", we can take full advantage of the Sabre 40 design and propulsion.

And We Are Off!

Based on the weather forecast for some strong winds and storms on Sunday, we had to adjust our plans (already) and decided to head south today. We left Sea Bright, NJ at 745am, and after topping off the tanks made our way north around Sandy Hook before turning south offshore in the Atlantic Ocean toward Cape May some 140 miles away. The winds were out of the NW at 5-7 knots, which produced following seas and a reasonably smooth ride. ENCORE handled the conditions beautifully, and we arrived in Cape May about 6 hours later.

A good wash to remove the sea-salt spray (from the boat and me), a few maintenance items to attend to, and a well deserved cocktail and dinner to end the day. All in all, an excellent first day on the voyage south. Because of a threatening forecast for Saturday night and Sunday, we will depart Cape May early tomorrow morning and head northwest on the Delaware Bay, traverse the C&D Canal, and travel south on the Chesapeake Bay to Mears Great Oak Landing at Fairlee Creek for two days of chilling out and waiting out the weather.

Fully commissioned and provisioned

Leaving Sea Bright, NJ

Our New Boat!

Today was a big day for the Captain and Admiral as we finally took delivery of ENCORE, a new "downeast" Sabre 42SE motor yacht built in Maine.  Following commissioning and sea trails at Sandy Hook Yacht Sales in Sea Bright, New Jersey we brought her down the Intracoastal Waterway to our home port in Sarasota, Florida.


Here are few facts about ENCORE:


LOA: 45' 6"
Beam: 14' 0"
Draft: 3' 4"
Air Draft: 15' 6" 
Displacement: 26,000 lbs
Fuel Capacity: 380 gals
Water Capacity: 140 gals
Holding Tank: 60 gals
Engines: Twin Cummins QSB 5.9 380hp
Drives: Twin CMD Zeus 3500 pod drives
Cruise Speed: 30 mph @2750 rpm