Atlantic City - Enough already...

By the outdoor pool 6 floors up, they had a fire pit to keep you warm

When we first arrived here last Sunday, storms were on the way and they kept building the winds and waves to the extent that we opt'd to stay for awhile in Atlantic City. The first series of forecasts painted a picture of Saturday being a good day to head north but then a following storm out in the Atlantic started to close the gap. So we gritted our teeth and said we were going to head out either Friday or Saturday although neither day looked very good. Today, Thursday, was not a good day. One 42' sailboat down the way went out this morning only to return to the marina after a couple of hours, very rough!

Gold is a very popular color - wonder why

So anyway, Friday's forecast as of yesterday was to  be 15 - 20 kts winds with gusts to 25 kts and 3-4 ft waves, not much fun since the wind was out of the northeast, the direction we were headed. I downloaded a grib forecast and it didn't agree with the coastal forecast I just referenced. What to do? Saturday's forecast was 10 to 15 and gusts to 20 but with 3 to 5 ft waves. However, the latest forecast now agrees with what grib said 24 hours ago! So now Friday is to be 10 to 15 with 3 to 4 ft waves, something we can live with but the winds are to increase later in the day so we plan on an early start, around 5:00 am.

All these forecasts can drive you crazy. They are always changing and you wonder if anybody knows anything at all about the weather?! I'll get up at 4:00 am Friday morning and check the forecast again and hopefully the weatherman won't suddenly find a hurricane he somehow missed yesterday! (but I wouldn't put it past him!) You can find out if we left and track our progress up the coast on Spot, the link in the left panel on the blog.

Our destination is the Atlantic Highlands anchorage, at the end of the mooring field, hopefully by 5:00 pm or so. It will  be a long day for us.