Our Catskill Summer ....
It was a very nice summer in Catskill where we have spent the past 17 summers on the boat. Weather was hot in June and very wet in July but that's "weather".
Laura took some time to visit her children and their families in Tennessee and Houston. Yes. I did survive without her for a couple weeks.
We had both of our families down to the boat for fun days and a sail out on the river. Never seem to get enough time for friends and families but we'll keep trying. My great-niece Devynn graduated from High School and Laura made one of her most-fun desserts for her party. Devynn's favorite animals are sloths and Laura saw sloth-cupcakes somewhere on-line. She decided to make them for the party and they came out awesome. What an artist! Everybody loved them....
Of course, we had several jobs on our "boat list" which we worked on and off during the summer. To be honest, we didn't tackle the bigger jobs until September when the push of heading south took over.
I order a lot of boat stuff from Defender Marine on-line. I had been trying to get a new teak cockpit table for almost 2 years that is made by Edson - the same brand as our steering system so I know it would mount well - but they had been back-ordered for hardware that was not available after all the COVID shipping problems . I received an email from them in mid-August that the tables were back in stock.
Laura and I had a trip planned to Maine in late August to meet several other boating friends at an Ocean Cruising Club rally. This would be a perfect way to save shipping and a little on sales tax because we could stop by the Defender store in Connecticut to pick up the table.
Speaking of COVID.... The day we left on our trip we received a call from a friend that they were not feeling well and had tested positive for COVID. Oh boy. We had dinner with them the night before under the marina tent. Even though we were feeling fine, we decided to cancel our trip to Maine so we would not potentially expose many elderly folks to COVID. Laura spent several hours on the phone cancelling our reservations and was able to get a refund for all of them - many of which said, "Not refundable". Ya never know until you try!
But, we did stop at Defender and pick up the new table along with a few other items on my list.
Here is the old table. It was getting pretty thin from 40(?) years of sanding / varnishing and was looking pretty ratty.
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| Bottom of old cockpit table |
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| Top of old cockpit table |
The new teak table came unfinished so we could make it "our own". This was the bottom after I put it together. Pretty but not shiny.
We spent the next 10 days or so refinishing the table with AwlWood from AwlGrip. This is the same finish we used on our bow pulpit 5 years ago and it still looked pretty good except for a few edges where mosture had seeped under the finish.
After hanging the pieces in the marina garage, we put on the sealer / primer then 7 coats of the clear gloss finish. It was quite a job.
After all these coats, we put the pieces flat and sanded to 600 grit. Here's Laura ready to put on the finishing coats.
When it was done, we were very happy with the results. Yea! Our new cockpit table!
One item on our list for the summer was to replace the tell-tales (small cloth wind indicators) on our jib sail. These has become worn and broken over the last couple years and made it harder to properly adjust the sail correctly when sailing. In late September, on a calm day, we decided to unroll the sail and pull it down to stick on new tell-tales. No problems and we hauled the sail back up about an hour later.
I mentioned to Laura that we never had these on the mainsail and, now that we had spares, let's do the mainsail too. She agreed and we unrolled the sail to drop it on the deck. As we were unrolling, we could see parts of the burgundy sunbrella (used to protect the sail from the Sun while it's rolled up) were loose because the thread had rotted. Oh boy.... We couldn't let this go and continued to pull the sail down until it was on the deck.
I pulled Laura's Sailrite sewing machine up on the cabin top and we man-handled the sail to sew 3 or 4 parts that needed help. It was a tough job and both of our hands were sore from pulling the heavy / stiff sail around. Here she is sewing up the sail on the deck.
Those who have been following my blog know I am a big fan of the Siren Marine security system I installed 2 years ago. This summer, I noticed the batteries in several of the remote sensors were getting low so I decided to put new batteries in all 6 of them. They are small "coin" type batteries. This work is a small price to pay for not having to run cables all over the boat from the main computer to the sensors. I completed the job in just a couple hours. Here I am replacing the battery in the High Bilge sensor. I'm sitting in the bilge. That is our refrigerator over my head.
We have had a few leaks down our bedroom wall that got worse over the last few months. I troubleshot it down to a lifeline stanchion that was screwed into the toe-rail. I think the water was running down the screw holes that were not properly sealed. The leak had also infiltrated the wooden toe-rail.
Laura and I spent a couple days removing all the rot from the toe-rail. I hated that job. Every time I took the grinder out I found more soft wood to remove.
We eventually got all (most?) of the rotten rail removed including a large portion of the aft starboard corner that had gotten crunched from a bad docking somewhere. I replaced most of the removed wood with epoxy and a small strip of mahogany. After we finished it looked pretty good and no leaks during the next couple storms. Success!
Sorry I didn't get pictures of this work. Not sure why but we were pretty busy trying to get it done before the next rain.
Around this time I decided to replace some of our forward lifeline stanchions because they were becoming corroded between periodic cleaning and polishing. After our dock neighbors left in early October, we moved Second Wind to the other side of the dock so we could work on the port bow. The work was fairly uneventful. We removed 2 of the stanchions and epoxied the screw holes because the new bases were different screw patterns. Then we sanded and painted the entire toe-rail from the bow to the step before mounting and bedding the new stanchions. Here I am helping with the paint job.
By October 5th we had the boat ready to go. The past several weeks I completed a long list of engine maintenance items - changing (3) fuel filters, pump impeller, oil and oil filter, transmission oil, all v-belts, and anything else I could think of. I also ordered spare oil, filters and tools for the trip. Laura did her excellent job of stocking our freezers and cupboards during 4 trips to various grocery stores. The boat was looking and running good so we were ready.
On Saturday, October 7th a huge storm came through and dumped several inches of rain in the Catskill Mountains. We had seen a possible travel window for sailing down the coast of NJ starting maybe Tuesday so we were anxious to go. Saturday afternoon we dropped our car at my sister and brother-in-law's house then they drove us back to the boat. We were ready!
But wait.... The creek was really flowing from all the rain. Our boat is docked in a corner away from the creek currents but we could hear the water gurgling by all night.
Sunday, October 8th (Day 1) - Catskill to Halfmoon Bay
Our 18th wedding anniversary!
51 degrees. Water temp 64. Winds out of the south at 10-15 increasing to 15-20 later in the day.
67nm miles
Plans were to leave at 7am on Sunday morning. When I looked at the creek, I could see a pretty fast current line right behind our boat. I was worried that as soon as I backed out of our slip, the current would push us into the boat next to us. Not a good thing.
Instead we had a quiet breakfast and waited for the tide to come up a little which should slow the current. By 8am it didn't look as bad so we untied the lines and backed out into the creek. We were underway!
Predicted winds were out of the SW to W but the Hudson Valley doesn't usually allow east or west winds. Instead, they are funneled between the hills to south or north. Today, they were funneled out of the south - right in our face.
It was chilly and cloudy. We were not able to take advantage of an ebb tide going out because tides were wrong for us traveling south this morning. Fortunately, all the rain in Upstate NY over the past couple days had a lot of water draining into the river so the flood current against us never got as bad as usual. We would typically slow to maybe 4.5 knots against the river tidal currents but today, we never went below about 5.5. Nice!
A short while after leaving I took this picture of the Catskills. I thought the shadows looked cool.
Around 9:30am the Sun came out and our cockpit quickly warmed up. It was a pretty day on the river.
Our warm Sun only stayed out for a couple hours then the clouds came back in and cooled us off. Laura took this picture of me "driving" the boat. The way we've setup the boat, we only have to watch where we are headed and periodically adjust the autopilot. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy the trip.
A couple hours later we passed my friend Sam's boat near Poughkeepsie. Here is a picture of Apollonia tacking against the south winds in front of the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park, NY. The schooner Apollonia is a merchant vessel delivering cargo up and down the Hudson River. HERE is a link to their interesting website.
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| Schooner Appolonia Sailing The Hudson |
After passing Poughkeepsie, the winds picked up to almost 20 knots on the nose and stayed there. By this time we had the ebb current pushing us south and should have been making 7-8 knots. Because of the winds holding us back, we were only making about 6. Oh boy. Now we probably won't make our intended anchorage before dark.
Here we are motoring against the big winds approaching the Newburgh Bridge.
Once we entered the narrower river by Storm King Mountain (you can see the mountain in the distance under the bridge above), the winds finally died and we made good time to Haverstraw Bay. The Sun set as we entered the bay and we continue south to Halfmoon Bay anchorage. It would be nicely protected there from the predicted SW winds tonight.
We dropped anchor in the pitch black dark near Halfmoon Bay at 7:30pm. I had used our excellent RayMarine Doppler RADAR to get across the bay and anchor next to 3 other boats safely. It was a long day but we tried to make good distance so we would be ready for the Tuesday weather window down the NJ coast.
The wind was not our friend today.
Laura made a quick dinner of left over enchiladas and we hit the sack around 9:30am. We always try to time the currents so they are helping us through New York City and all the busy ship traffic / big wakes. Plan was to leave tomorrow morning around 7am to catch the ebb tidal current through the city.
Monday, October 9th (Day 2) - Halfmoon Bay to Atlantic Highlands
44 degrees. Water temp 63. Winds calm in the morning then 10-20 out of the SW later in the afternoon
50 nautical miles today (117 total trip miles)
We woke up to the phone alarm at 6:20am. I was very happy that my morning engine checks found everything well with Gertrude - our 1981 Perkins Diesel - after all the maintenance I had done the past several weeks and running for almost 12 hours straight yesterday.
We pulled anchor at 7:10am. Once again I was happy that we had no major problems our first 24 hours away from the dock since Spring. We had checked out just about everything but the sails.
Winds were almost calm as we motored back onto Haverstraw Bay then turned south toward New York City. Pretty sunrise a short while later.
Once again we had mostly cloudy skies with intermittent Sun. I put up the canvas behind me in the cockpit to try and stay warm.
We passed under the Tappan Zee bridge and a few hours later approached the George Washington Bridge. I love this view of the NYC skyline under the bridge.
Approaching the bridge, Laura spotted this huge American flag hanging from it. Very nice!
We picked up speed with the ebb current and ran 7-8 knots all the way through the city. We did pull over and get our Lady Liberty selfie. You can tell from my hair that the wind was honkin' again.
We dodged all the traffic and crossed under the Varazanno Narrows bridge into the lower bay. As we turned a little more south, we were able to put out our first sail of the trip - about 1/2 jib. Winds were 40-60 degrees off the starboard bow and running 12-22 knots. Not a very good wind for sailing but we made the best of it. Sorry about the finger in the corner. I was trying to hold on while taking this picture in the crankin' winds.
Again the wind was not our friend today.
A few hours later we were motoring behind the breakwater at Atlantic Highlands and headed for the fuel dock. This was our first fuel since filling here in May. We only took 53 gallons but were shocked a little by the price - $4.88 / gallon. That's $1.30 more than we paid here in May. Yikes!
The anchorage was very full with 14 other boats. We had to anchor way outside the breakwater with no protection from the ferry and other powerboat wakes. It was a little bit of a roller-coaster ride until things calmed down after about 9pm.
We hit the sack early and set the phone alarm for 4:30am. We need to leave by 5am to make Atlantic City anchorage before dark.
Tuesday, October 10th (Day 3) - Not moving today
51 degrees. Water temp 62. Winds 10 out of the SW
We both woke up before the alarm just after 4am. I immediately checked my phone for the Windfinder.com forecast off the coast today. It had changed for the worse. Yesterday's forecast of light SW winds in the afternoon were now 4-5 hours of 10-15 knots from the SW. That would make for a 20 knot headwind if we were motoring into them at 5 knots. From experience, we know our little 58 horsepower engine (when it was new 43 years ago) cannot push the 21 ton boat into winds and waves. We would slow to 2-3 knots and take forever to get anywhere with a crappy ride.
I want to mention here that I "usually" take my own advice. Many folks I've known who were planning a passage sometimes let the momentum of leaving make the decisions for them. You plan and work to get everything ready then something happens like the forecast changes. Think about it... This works for many other decisions we all make every day. If people ask my opinion or I see that they might be headed for trouble, I tell them to evaluate all the options as they are now. "Don't let momentum make the decision for you." In this case, we probably could have left this morning and slugged through it. But, it should be much better tomorrow so we'll wait.
After verifying the forecast with PredictWind.com and Windy.com, I quickly pulled another blanked onto the bed and said to Laura we could go back to sleep. Tomorrow had a much better forecast with winds more west and calmer.
We were up before 9am on a pretty day at anchor. Since we were anchored north of the Highlands, the SW winds were very light and the Sun was out all morning to warm us up.
I could see that several boats had left in front of us and maybe we could move behind the breakwater for a calmer anchorage. After breakfast, we pulled anchor and started slowly motoring forward. Just as we got to a good place, one of the anchored boats pulled his anchor and motored toward the fuel dock. Now we had a great spot and quickly dropped the anchor with a couple hundred feet of breakwater to protect us from most wakes.
We ran the Honda generator for several hours to charge up batteries and give us hot water for showers. Don't think I even worked 1 boat project today. What's up with that?
Current plan is to get up early and head down the coast to Atlantic City tomorrow and anchor before the bridge. We'll leave there early on Thursday for a run to Cape May then up the bay with the flood current just after noon. Should be in the Chesapeake on Thursday night or Friday.
Wish us luck with tomorrow's forecast!
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