By Donald Wittkowski
Erik Wade’s departure from the Jersey Shore was far less dramatic than his arrival.
The 40-year-old sailor quietly slipped out of Seaview Harbor Marina in Longport on Wednesday morning, ending his nearly month-long odyssey in New Jersey that included running aground twice in the midst of a 1,400-mile voyage from Boston to Key West, Fla.
“All systems go!” he said in a text.
By sunset, he had made it to Delaware on his 36-foot sailboat “Pyrate,” but was bracing for a storm Thursday that could disrupt his trip just as it appeared he was finally making some headway.
“There’s a big storm coming tomorrow night and I gotta plan what to do,” he said in another text after dropping anchor in Delaware to catch some rest.
Earlier in the day, he complained about the bitterly cold weather out on the ocean.
Wade was able to get underway Wednesday after spending the past two weeks at Seaview Harbor Marina making repairs to his battered boat, which doubles as his home.
His solo trip from Boston to Key West for a winter sojourn was interrupted when he ran aground in late November near the Ocean City-Longport Bridge. A towing vessel came to his rescue.
On Dec. 2, Wade got beached in Sea Isle City after his anchor line snapped while he was asleep and the winds and tide pushed him ashore.
Much to the curiosity of hundreds of bystanders, he remained stranded on the Sea Isle beach at 61st Street until TowBoat U.S., the same company that rescued him near the Ocean City-Longport Bridge, pulled him back out to sea on Dec. 6.
Throughout his unintended stay in Sea Isle, he benefited from the hospitality of local residents who gave him food and even a place to stay. To help Wade pay his expenses, one good Samaritan set up a GoFundMe page that has so far raised $1,670 toward a goal of $5,000.
After he was plucked off the Sea Isle beach, a broken tiller arm left him without steering. He also had to fix a shattered instrument cluster before he could restart his engine. Tethered to a tow line, his disabled boat was taken to Seaview Harbor Marina for repairs.
“I had no idea of the outcome. (It’s) difficult to keep on when all is very possibly lost,” Wade said in a text about his initial fear of losing his boat. “But once she was at the marina, I knew it was going to be alright. I feel incredibly fortunate!”
Wade, a union bridge painter in Boston, still hopes to sail all the way to Key West for the winter. He said he doesn’t have a lot of money and will live on his unemployment benefits when he finally makes it to Key West.
He plans to relax and rest up in the semi-tropical climate before heading back to Boston next spring to find work again as a bridge painter.
His steel-hulled sailboat, which he values at around $40,000, serves as the full-time home for his nomadic lifestyle.
Wade described himself as an experienced sailor. He said he has sailed solo along the East Coast a few times, including one trip from Delaware to Key West.
In an era of satellite-based navigation, he instead relies on paper charts, a compass and a monocular when he sails.
“If you’re going south, there is dirt on the right. And vice versa if you’re going north,” he explained of how he uses the coastline to guide him in his old-school style of navigation.
