New
York, New York!
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3
June - Reedy Island, Delaware
Aaron
- I thought I set the alarm for 0500, but nothing heard so
I guess I did not, and although I was awake at around 0600, the bed
was too warm and as Colleen had rejected my crazy idea of the night
before to make a one day push all the way for Cape May (over 100
nautical miles away), I stayed in bed till 0700. Did anyone follow
that sentance? Is it a sentance? Can I spell sentence?
No, but the spell checker can.
So,
we hauled anchor at around 0715 and headed for the small Spa Creek
bascule bridge (the kind guys jump cars over in Magnum PI or
whatever cop show is popular these days in the US) for the 0730
opening. Easy in theory, tough when you run Hard Aground five minutes
after getting underway.
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I was pointing out something
to Colleen on another boat in the anchorage and not looking either
ahead or at the depth sounder when - opps - we stopped.
I
should have gunned it right there and turned hard to port (back into
the channel - there were a few boats anchored right in the middle of
it [as were we] - my excuse for not being more [or less] in
it). But I did not, and after we were fully stopped and I
realized what had happened, I tried to drive over it fully
expecting to get loose easily as usual. No dice. Not
even an inch. Full throttle for 30 seconds.
Nothing. Same in reverse. Nothing. Oh
oh. Colleen went below to try to figure out how to call
the Tow Boat US guys with whom we are insured for up to $500 of
towing (about 30 seconds I think). She was not able to raise
them. The tide was fairly high already and dropping.
Time to kedge it off? One more try. I finally found that
if I gunned it and cut the wheel to port, and then eased off and cut
back to starboard, the bow would swing about 5 degrees back and forth. In this way, I
slowly worked the bow around to port and out into the channel,
apparently slowly flattening the mud bank below the keel. I
was able to get more and more momentum back and forth as we further
flattened it and eventually, achieved forward movement and slipped
back into the channel. Whew. We made the 0800 bridge
opening.
Once
back in The Bay, I had a Hell of a time getting the auto pilot to
steer straight. It would work for a minute, and then start
arcing one way or the other no matter how I adjusted the rudder,
sea, and steering controls. Wacky. Perhaps this is it
and its finally died - or at least gone partially crazy. The
wind built to 15 knots and we got the sails up and were soon sailing
along at 6-7 knots through the water, but were only making about
five knots against the current. With the current against us
for most of the day, there is no way we could have made a 100 mile
day (in daylight) anyway.
The
wind build steadily throughout the day and by 1500 we had 20-25 from
just aft of the beam and were hitting 9.5 knots through the water on
occasion surfing down mini-waves. The forecast was for only
10-15 knots of wind so we had not bothered to reef early. I
also just was not into sailing today for whatever reason and felt
very lazy and inept. As it started to gust 30, we decided to
reef and attempted it while still underway going downwind.
This works about 50% of the time if you really get it right and make
sure all the lines are clear and there is proper tension on the main
boom up haul. Of course today was one of those days and it was
a real bitch to get it down as the lazy jack lines got tangled with
the batt-carts, Colleen had a tough time with the halyard as we had
no auto pilot and she had to do it with one hand while steering with
the other, we had barges bearing down on us, 30 knot gusts, short tempers, etc. Some days just suck for no good reason.
We
finally got a 3X reef in and slowed down to 6-7 knots, but had the
comfort of a more manageable sail plan. However, the way we
had reefed the sail was a mess and some of the battens where sort of
bent on the boom. When the wind eased later on, I hoisted the
main back up and we had full sail right up to the mouth of the
C&D canal. The wind was only 15 knots or so and this time
we got the genoa in, turned the motor on, headed up into the wind
while we slowly dropped and flaked the main down. Doing it right and having it nicely flaked made me
feel better and cleared my foul mood a bit.
The
tide was favorable through the C&D canal, which links the upper
Chesapeake with the Delaware River, and we quickly motored through
the 20 miles of so of canal. Once into the Delaware River, wow
what a scenery change. The shores were grassy (vs. the
tree-lined Chesapeake) and a huge nuclear power plant dominated the
Eastern Shore.
We
tucked in behind Reedy Island, about 4 miles down river from the
C&D canal, and anchored in 10 feet next to two other
cruisers. Glad to have finally got a big move in. Quiet
night.
4
June - Off the Jersey Shore
Aaron
- The tides in the Delaware River are strong so we
initially planned to leave just before slack tide at 0900 to ride
the ebb down, but when I awoke at 0700 to feed the screaming meemies
I noted that we had slack current in our anchorage so I yelled down
to Colleen to get up and we got going. Beautiful day.
Sunny, 10 knots on the beam, motor sailing against the moderate current
making 4-5 knots over the ground. Easy.
When
the tide and current turned at exactly 1038 as advertised in
"The Captain" computer current program (using this a lot
lately - thanks Hiner for letting us pirate your CD), we headed out
to deeper water mid-channel and were soon doing 7-8 knots over the
ground and comfortably arrived off Cape May, New Jersey at 1500. We had
planned to pull in for the night, check it out, and then do another
50 mile trip up the coast to Atlantic City tomorrow. Colleen
really wants to avoid doing any more overnighters. But I
convinced her that we should just push on as God knows when we will
get weather like this again and there are not so many places to hole
up on the Jersey Shore. Also, we have a lot of friends we
would like to see in NY and would prefer to stay a bit longer up
there and not have to push so hard to Boston.
Beautiful
evening. 12-16 knots just aft of the beam, full moon, flat
seas, no current. We moved along at 6-7 knots in great
comfort. It seemed like we were passing Atlantic City for
hours. The tall neon-lit buildings were visible for miles in
either direction. I had fun listening to the Yankees / Red Sox
game on NY radio while on watch, even though the Sox blew another
Pedro start and lost to the damn Yankees 8-7.
5
June - Larchmont, New York
Aaron
- Colleen spelled me for four hours and came on watch from
0100 to 0500. Still good sailing, though the seas built up a
bit. Soon after I came back on at 0500 with the sun rise, I
could see the twin towers of Manhattan's Word Trade Center on the
horizon. Finally back in familiar territory! Another
mini-milestone.
By
1000 we were passing under the bridge connecting Coney Island and
New Jersey and were in New York Harbor sliding by the Statue of
Liberty, Ellis Island, and Manhattan's financial district. We
decided in principal that we would push on to Larchmont, which is on
the other side of the East River in Long Island Sound, later in the
afternoon. But the current in the East River would have been
negative from 1100 on so we pulled in to a marina in Jersey City
ostensibly to take on fuel (we bought 50 gallons at almost $2 per -
yikes) but in fact to get free water, kill time, and make phone
calls and get e-mails.
At
1400 we slipped the lines and headed into the East River which runs
between Manhattan Island and Brooklyn. We had a lot of current
initially, but were still able to make four knots over the ground
and were soon enjoying positive flow as the tide turned. Neat
to be traveling right through the city, under the Brooklyn bridge,
past Queens and on out. The only negative was a couple of
bratty kids who yelled obscenities and tried to shell us with rocks
from the bank. Welcome to New York.
We
pulled into Larchmont Harbor at around 1700. Wow. Huge
Great Gatsbyesque yacht club. Hundreds of beautiful
boats. Massive houses with manicured landscaping and docks
leading to the harbor. Bit of cash around here. We
anchored amongst the furthest out YC moorings, threw the dingy in,
and whizzed into the club to call our friends Maggie and Jerrel who
live here. Jerrel used to work with Colleen in Hong
Kong. We had a great evening with Maggie and J and their
daughters Rosie (5), who we knew in HK between the ages of 0 and 2,
and Chloe (2.5).
6
June - Larchmont, New York
Aaron
- We borrowed M&J's car in the am and made the
requisite supermarket run. M&J and the girls came over to
the boat in the afternoon and took the tour. The girls really
liked running around down below and playing with the cats. The
kittens are getting a lot more used to new people and this was the
first time they really interacted comfortably with kids.
In
the evening we hooked up with the Clayton gang and attended a
cookout at Bruce and Julie Clayton's house about 45 minutes away
from Larchmont. Bruce and his sister Carolee are old close friends
of mine from high school. Carolee and her husband Dan, also a
Camden Rockport HS grad, picked us up at the YC and introduced us to
William, their recent family addition. Doug Clayton, who we
worked with in Thailand over the past year or so, was also there and
it was great to catch up with everybody.
7
June - Milford, Connecticut
Aaron
- I twisted Jerrel's arm and got him to call into work for
a "personal day" today and at 0800 he was banging on the
hull and ready to play hooky. Another beautiful day.
Sunny, light breeze. Very relaxing motor sailing down Long
Island Sound. After a couple of hours, the wind built to 7-10
knots and we were able to get a bit of sailing in. So
nice. We furled the genoa and pulled into a small harbor near
Norwalk Connecticut at around 1500 and Colleen dingied Jerrel ashore
to catch a train home while I jockeyed amongst the moorings.
It was great that he could join us for a bit of sailing.
We
then pushed on to Milford Connecticut and anchored behind Charles
Island which is about one mile out from the narrow harbor entrance,
but with light winds, and the island blocking the prevailing
easterlies, we felt pretty comfortable. We decided not to try
inside Milford harbor as it looked very narrow and shallow on the
chart. We dingined in and it looks like we would have had the
depth, but there was no room for a sailboat the size of Redwings
to anchor. The small inlet was packed with moorings and all of
the boats were also tied to stern moorings so they would not swing
into one another. Made a few calls, got on line, took a walk,
and headed "home". Beautiful evening on the boat
watching the yacht club's Thursday Night Races pass right by our
anchorage spot.
8
June - Niantic, Connecticut
Aaron
- We left Milford at 0900 and had another beautiful sail /
motorsail in 10-15 knots of wind under sunny skies arriving in Niantic
at 1600. We were originally gonna head under the bridge and up
into the Niantic River which looked like the best place to meet our
friends Steph and Anne Marie who arrived this evening, but saw a
bunch of masts on the South Eastern shore of the bay, looked at the
chart and identified what looked like a good anchorage near a small
yacht club, pulled in and dropped the hook.
We
dingied in and found out that we had arrived at the Niantic Bay
Yacht Club. What a down home joint after the Larchmont
YC. After we told the "permanent member on the
scene" Stuart that we had sailed from Hong Kong, we became
instant club celebrities and were allowed free showers, phone calls,
internet, mooring, and water at the dock. What nice
folks. Colleen called Anne Marie and told her where to find us
and at 2000 she and Steph arrived and yelled at us from the
breakwater to come in and pick them up.
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Steph
sailed with us in St.
Martin
(also see Steph's
Log)
and is now a salty veteran of Redwings. This
will be AM's first trip on the good ship. Girls happily talked
well into the night and I happily listened to the Red Sox with the
ear phones on. Heading to Shelter Island to hook up with our
friends from May-Britt
tomorrow who we traveled with in the Bahamas
and Chesapeake.
Another beautiful clear cool evening with no bugs and minimal swell.
Photo:
News Flash! Steph is closet cat lover.
Glitter and Sparkle eat your hearts out. |
9
June - Shelter Island, Long Island, New York
Aaron
- We headed into the dock at the Yacht Club and once again
received a warm welcome with one of the employees running down the
dock to take our lines. Free water and free internet
downloading and by 1000 we were underway headed towards Shelter
Island. No wind again. Beautiful morning. We
motored all the way. Very enjoyable though and low stress.
Shelter
Island is situated near the end of Long Island between LI and
Montauk. Lots of current ripping through the various passes to
get their. Lots of boats too out on a Saturday. We were
trolling for bluefish and lost our killer lure that has caught about
30 fish when a power boat whizzed close behind and past us ignoring
my pleas.
Beautiful
homes with rolling lawns down to the water lined the Shelter Island
shore. I'd never really heard of it before. Its really
beautiful here. We found a spot to anchor in side Green Harbor
near the yacht club moorings and May-Britt and shut down the
engine. We called Robert, who we met in the Bahamas on
May-Britt two months ago, and he welcomed us to Shelter
Harbor. BBQ to start at 1900. Rasmus, Kersten, and
Robert's daughter Katrina and her boyfriend Brian, came out to the
boat in Robert's runabout and I took off with them water
skiing. It really reminds me of summers in Camden around
here. We had a good time skiing, even though we were all a bit
out of shape. I took a major digger at the end of my second
run - I was trying to push it as hard as I could till I fell as I
knew I was through - and oh man my ribs are killing me. I felt
a little crunch. I don't think there is anything broken but
ouch. The
girls dingied into Robert's house and borrowed three bikes and took
off riding around the island.
By
1900 we all felt like napping but rallied and headed into the
BBQ. Beautiful wedding going on at the Yacht Club. I
forgot my shoes so was walking around bare foot through the YC and
on to Robert's house and probably looked like a real scum. Oh well.
What
a fest at Robert's. In fact it was Katrina's 24th Birthday
party. I wondered why Robert had already planned a BBQ in June
when we mat him in April in the Bahamas! Unbelievable food - shrimp,
lamb, chicken - best feed I've had for sometime. We had a
great time with all and did not make it "home" till
mid-night. Could be a short sleep. If the weather is
nice tomorrow, we will make an early break for Block Island.
If not, or if we feel lazy, we will hang here again tomorrow.
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Copyright
©2001 All Rights Reserved by Aaron Henderson and Colleen Duggan
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