Saturday, October 5th
Weather was pretty nice today and the batteries were staying charged with good winds and lots of Sun. Three boats had moved from the spot I really like to anchor so we had our daily anchor drill and moved about 300 feet behind the breakwater. Now we were protected from just about every wind direction and most of the ferry wakes.
Just before noon, we dropped the dinghy, lowered the outboard from the stern rail and went into town. Yea! After 4 days of not getting off the boat, we were both ready for a change of scenery and a little exercise.
We tied up at the Atlantic Highlands Municipal Marina dinghy dock, deposited our trash in the dumpster (always a priority on a cruising boat) and walked through the marina to downtown. The area seemed a little more run down that the last few years but it was a nice day for a walk and we did a little sightseeing through town. The movie theater is still open and we're planning on seeing a movie there in the next few days. Today we wanted to keep walking for a bit.
A short time later we walked into the Super Foodtown for a few fresh fruits and veggies we were getting low on. The store was very nice but the prices were about 20-30% higher than Catskill. We ended up with three small bags for $75.
It was about a mile back to the dinghy and no problem with the extra load of groceries. We trucked the groceries back to the boat and enjoyed a quiet afternoon as the winds were finally dying. Around 4pm I decided to break out my guitar and Laura joined me in the cockpit for cocktails and music. Dinner was burgers on the BBQ (first time I've been able to grill in several days because of the winds) and we watched the second part of Lord of the Rings on the new computer.
Sunday, October 6th
No anchor drill this morning! The boat is now in one of the best anchoring spots in the harbor so we are staying here for at least a couple more days.
It's a beautiful morning again with a few clouds that are supposed to clear up later in the day.
Last Spring, on our way north, we met a couple in Great Bridge (south of Norfolk) who were pretty new to sailing and working their way north on a 44 foot Catamaran. We tied up next to each other at the free dock and invited Annette and Noel over for cocktails on Second Wind. They became instant friends and Laura stayed in touch with Annette over the summer. Over the past week, they have been sailing in Long Island Sound and pulled into Atlantic Highlands yesterday. We actually met them at the fuel dock as we were coming back to the boat with our groceries. They were just leaving the fuel dock so we helped them tie to a mooring which they had reserved. We made plans to get together soon. Ok. That's the background.
Today, we took the dinghy into town and Noel met us with his car at the dinghy dock. We learned the last few days that they had a house on the hill in Atlantic Highlands. Laura had been talking to Annette and they invited us up for brunch. "Also bring your laundry", she said.
It was a great brunch and a nice reunion with friends. We sat, ate and talked for a few hours while reviewing our sailing histories and future plans. Then we all took a walk around the Highlands for about 3 miles up and down the hills. We were pretty pooped after getting back to the house (not much exercise in the past 10 days) and I'm glad it was a little cool out plus we had walked a couple miles yesterday to loosen up. Annette took us back to the dinghy dock (with a clean two loads of laundry) and we spent the rest of our day on the boat at anchor. We finished up Lord of the Rings and started The Hobbit.
The weather forecasts for this week look pretty bad. There is a sub-tropical low forming off the NJ coast on Tuesday / Wednesday which will be bringing high winds from a Nor'easter along the coast. Tomorrow, I'll check the forecasts again and decide on one of three options. Right now the forecasts are showing 30, 40 and possible 50 knot winds for Wed, Thur and Fri. Our options are -
1. Stay where we are at anchor. We're pretty protected in this spot and the holding in this harbor is excellent. But I'd be worried about the low coming closer to shore than the current forecast and seeing 50-60 knot winds while anchored. Once you are in that stuff and things go bad, you can't try to move somewhere else.
2. Try to get a mooring in the harbor. We wouldn't move very far for a mooring but it might be worth it for peace of mind. These moorings are hurricane rated and the only boats in the harbor that survived Hurricane Sandy were on the moorings. Problem is all the other boats heading south are backed up here and the last few days no moorings were available.
3. Go back to Haverstraw Cove where we were a week ago. This is a coastal storm and the winds even 50 miles inland are much less. Plus that cove had excellent holding and 360 degree protection from waves.
Monday, October 7th
The wind forecasts for this week have gone down a bit and now show top winds in the 30-35 knot range. Winds have been that high in the past week we've been here and, even though the boat is moving around a lot, we've been safe. But, I've learned not to bet my boat on the forecasts. They can change quickly.
So, we decided to not stay on the anchor for the storms this week. I'll call for a mooring this morning for the next 4 days of storms and if there aren't any available, we head back up river.
I called the Atlantic Highlands Yacht Club who manage the moorings and left a message. A short time later they called back to say no moorings were available. While I was on the phone, I heard someone talking in the background and the gent I was talking to said, "It's your lucky day. Our harbormaster just told me he was hauling out his boat tomorrow and you can have his mooring." Yea! We don't have to go back up river 50 miles! The mooring they gave us is only about 300 feet from where we are anchored. I was hoping it was farther into the harbor but at least we'll be safe and I won't worry about the anchor pulling up if the winds really "blow like stink".
I was getting restless so got out my list of boat projects. We finished all the critical ones before leaving Catskill so were now down to low-priority items. I worked a few projects in the morning and Laura dug out one of her (3) sewing machines to fix my sofa cushion which keeps falling over on me. She then decided to sew a few other things - maybe something Fall-like for Annette and Noel? We're supposed to get together later in the week for cocktails and we might be heading down the coast of NJ together. I'll bet when the weather breaks and the seas finally calm down, there will be a mass exodus down the coast. We're planning on maybe Monday (a whole week from now).
We ended up staying on the boat all day working small projects and watching a few movies. Now on the Daniel Craig James Bonds.
Tuesday, October 8, 2019
Friday, October 4, 2019
Atlantic Highlands (Day 7-8)
Thursday, 10/3/19
Neither of us slept well last night as the boat was jumping around pretty good with the wind and waves. Because of all the boats anchored here, we couldn't really get behind the breakwater and the winds were N-NE which was right off the bay. We had 2-3 foot seas bouncing the boat around all night but our anchor held fine. I wasn't worried because I've anchored here at least 20 times and never dragged anchor - even in 50 knot winds. The bottom is mud and shells which our anchor digs right into.
During the day, the winds clocked to the east which made the anchorage much better. I called the yacht club to see if they had a mooring available and they were full up. Per their recommendation, I did make out a reservation request on Dockwa (a marine reservation app) and it came back "added to waitlist". We decided to sit out the day, work on the boat a bit and relax.
In the afternoon I checked our main engine (normal daily checks) and found that two of the new belts I had put on in Catskill were a little loose. This is normal for new belts that will stretch a bit when first used. Also, our LoPro bilge pump was turning on every few minutes even though there was just a little water in the bilge. This usually means either the boat rocking is turning it on or the sensor is dirty. I changed into my bilge-monkey clothes and got to work.
A few minutes later I had the alternator and raw water pump belts adjusted then cleaned the LoPro. I should mention it is very important to NOT OVER TIGHTEN belts on this Perkins engine. Most of the problems I've had in the past were self-inflicted from over-tightening something. Keep the belts too tight and you will be replacing pumps because of worn bearings. Our raw water pump is $600 (I know from experience). The LoPro still wasn't happy when I turned it back on so I just shut it off to give it a break. We have a giant 2,500 gallon per hour bilge pump as backup but it will let the bilge get higher before starting.
Later in the afternoon the big winds finally calmed down to mid-teens. A few hours later I looked out and there were several additional boats anchored around us. Two were in a more sheltered spot where I was thinking of moving if we didn't get a call for a mooring. Oh well. I wasn't too concerned since the lower winds were supposed to last all night.
Our little wind generator has been cranking over the past 24 hours with the high winds. Even though it's been cloudy and we haven't had any solar power, our batteries were in good shape. That doesn't usually happen with no Sun so really shows how high the winds have been.
Laura and I watch the rest of The Ranch latest season which I had downloaded to our iPad then also watched two Kevin Costner movies - The Upside of Anger and Bodyguard - and Sister Act. She made Chicken Tortilla Soup for dinner which was our first "hot soup" meal of the Fall season. It was 93 yesterday as we passed NYC but only went to 64 today here. We went right to sleep on a calm boat.
Friday, October 4th
The day breaks sunny and only about 10-15 knot winds. They are supposed to pick up later in the day so I'm looking for a more protected place to anchor. Lots of boats around us so not much room. But, we can move up about 150 feet which will put the breakwater more on our beam for a little more protection. Before breakfast (and before anybody else comes into the anchorage), I start the engine and we pull up the anchor. After moving upwind farther into the anchorage as far as I feel safe, we drop the anchor and feel a little better. After securing everything, I said to Laura, "Maybe I should have gone up a little farther. Someone might come in and anchor between us and the boat in front of us." This has happened several times in the past. I want about 150-200 feet between us and other boats. Some people think boats are like cars in a parking lot and squeeze into the cracks.
Wouldn't you know that not 5 minutes later a 35 foot Hunter sailboat comes in and drops anchor right next to us. I went out on the bow and watched as they drifted closer and closer. Finally, when the guy managing the anchor looked over at me, I gave him the "thumbs-down". They eventually moved over about another 50 feet which was OK. Also, two of the boats in front of us left so, right after breakfast, we did it all over again to move another 150 feet behind the breakwater. Now we were in a nice spot with much better protection when the winds clocked tonight from NW to N to NE.
A few hours later the winds really start honking. I turned on my instruments and the winds stayed in the 25-30 range for several hours. There was a little 1-foot chop coming down the anchorage but didn't seem like much after the last couple days. I could see the waves out on the lower bay were steep and breaking.
Just before lunch a couple other sailboats came into the anchorage. Both drove around for awhile and anchored away from us (yea!). I noticed it was high tide and the winds were crashing the lower harbor waves right over the breakwater. It was pretty awesome! Check it out in the picture above.
Laura and I worked a few boat projects and decided to not drop the dinghy for a walk in town because the boat was blowing around so much. I'd rather stay here and watch things.
Neither of us slept well last night as the boat was jumping around pretty good with the wind and waves. Because of all the boats anchored here, we couldn't really get behind the breakwater and the winds were N-NE which was right off the bay. We had 2-3 foot seas bouncing the boat around all night but our anchor held fine. I wasn't worried because I've anchored here at least 20 times and never dragged anchor - even in 50 knot winds. The bottom is mud and shells which our anchor digs right into.
During the day, the winds clocked to the east which made the anchorage much better. I called the yacht club to see if they had a mooring available and they were full up. Per their recommendation, I did make out a reservation request on Dockwa (a marine reservation app) and it came back "added to waitlist". We decided to sit out the day, work on the boat a bit and relax.
In the afternoon I checked our main engine (normal daily checks) and found that two of the new belts I had put on in Catskill were a little loose. This is normal for new belts that will stretch a bit when first used. Also, our LoPro bilge pump was turning on every few minutes even though there was just a little water in the bilge. This usually means either the boat rocking is turning it on or the sensor is dirty. I changed into my bilge-monkey clothes and got to work.
A few minutes later I had the alternator and raw water pump belts adjusted then cleaned the LoPro. I should mention it is very important to NOT OVER TIGHTEN belts on this Perkins engine. Most of the problems I've had in the past were self-inflicted from over-tightening something. Keep the belts too tight and you will be replacing pumps because of worn bearings. Our raw water pump is $600 (I know from experience). The LoPro still wasn't happy when I turned it back on so I just shut it off to give it a break. We have a giant 2,500 gallon per hour bilge pump as backup but it will let the bilge get higher before starting.
Later in the afternoon the big winds finally calmed down to mid-teens. A few hours later I looked out and there were several additional boats anchored around us. Two were in a more sheltered spot where I was thinking of moving if we didn't get a call for a mooring. Oh well. I wasn't too concerned since the lower winds were supposed to last all night.
Our little wind generator has been cranking over the past 24 hours with the high winds. Even though it's been cloudy and we haven't had any solar power, our batteries were in good shape. That doesn't usually happen with no Sun so really shows how high the winds have been.
Laura and I watch the rest of The Ranch latest season which I had downloaded to our iPad then also watched two Kevin Costner movies - The Upside of Anger and Bodyguard - and Sister Act. She made Chicken Tortilla Soup for dinner which was our first "hot soup" meal of the Fall season. It was 93 yesterday as we passed NYC but only went to 64 today here. We went right to sleep on a calm boat.
Friday, October 4th
The day breaks sunny and only about 10-15 knot winds. They are supposed to pick up later in the day so I'm looking for a more protected place to anchor. Lots of boats around us so not much room. But, we can move up about 150 feet which will put the breakwater more on our beam for a little more protection. Before breakfast (and before anybody else comes into the anchorage), I start the engine and we pull up the anchor. After moving upwind farther into the anchorage as far as I feel safe, we drop the anchor and feel a little better. After securing everything, I said to Laura, "Maybe I should have gone up a little farther. Someone might come in and anchor between us and the boat in front of us." This has happened several times in the past. I want about 150-200 feet between us and other boats. Some people think boats are like cars in a parking lot and squeeze into the cracks.
Wouldn't you know that not 5 minutes later a 35 foot Hunter sailboat comes in and drops anchor right next to us. I went out on the bow and watched as they drifted closer and closer. Finally, when the guy managing the anchor looked over at me, I gave him the "thumbs-down". They eventually moved over about another 50 feet which was OK. Also, two of the boats in front of us left so, right after breakfast, we did it all over again to move another 150 feet behind the breakwater. Now we were in a nice spot with much better protection when the winds clocked tonight from NW to N to NE.
A few hours later the winds really start honking. I turned on my instruments and the winds stayed in the 25-30 range for several hours. There was a little 1-foot chop coming down the anchorage but didn't seem like much after the last couple days. I could see the waves out on the lower bay were steep and breaking.
Just before lunch a couple other sailboats came into the anchorage. Both drove around for awhile and anchored away from us (yea!). I noticed it was high tide and the winds were crashing the lower harbor waves right over the breakwater. It was pretty awesome! Check it out in the picture above.
Laura and I worked a few boat projects and decided to not drop the dinghy for a walk in town because the boat was blowing around so much. I'd rather stay here and watch things.
Thursday, October 3, 2019
Haverstraw Cove to Atlantic Highlands, NJ (Day 6)
We slept in a little later this morning as the low tide was around 9am and we wanted a little more water under us when leaving this cove. Just before 10am, we had the boat ready, pulled up the anchor and motored out. There was only about 1/2 foot of tide but it was rising so, if we "rubbed", it wouldn't be for long. No problems going out and we never saw less than 1 foot under the keel.
The tidal current was with us for as few hours as we motored south toward the new Tappan Zee Bridge and New York City. I knew this would change and we'd have 3-4 hours of slower ride before it switched back around to helping us near the George Washington Bridge in about 20 miles. No problems motoring down the river other than the western hills funneled the west wind up the river from the south - right on our nose. The west wind forecast, and my hopes of sailing this day, were not to be.
We've been watching them build the new Tappan Zee Bridge for the the past 3 years. It looks like they have now removed all of the old bridge and it's 99% complete (there are still some work barges attached to the new bridge). Here is a nice picture of the Tappan Zee Bridge lit by the Sun.
Storms in the area seemed to be following us all day and we passed south of several around NYC. My timing worked well as we were doing between 7.5 and 8 knots through the harbor. The place was crazy with ferries all around us. At one point I was being passed by 5 ferries at once which rearranged everything down below in the boat. But, we had a great view of Manhattan.
After looking on ActiveCaptain for alternate anchorages besides Atlantic Highlands, I decided to check out Great Kills Harbor which had good reviews. We had never been there before and would arrive just before sunset which I thought would let us anchor when we could see everything. The reviews on ActiveCaptain said there were many private moorings in the beautiful harbor but a few places to anchor near the north end. A storm approached as we were entering the harbor and it was dead, low tide. Not the best scenario for entering a new place. But, it stopped raining a short time later as we motored by the many marinas. As we approached the northern part of the harbor, we could see there were no open areas left. The entire harbor was filled with private moorings - most of them empty.
Laura took this nice picture of Lady Liberty while we were bouncing around from the ferry wakes.
Sometimes cloudy, stormy days give you a beautiful sunset. This was just as we were entering Great Kill Harbor.
Now you might say, "Why not pick up a private mooring if nobody is using it?" The problem is you don't know what's holding it to the bottom or what chain / line the mooring is made of. It could be something as tiny as a little danforth anchor for someone to tie off their 16 foot runabout. Plus, private moorings are almost never inspected. They rust and rot and wear when folks don't want to spend the money to take care of them.
We decided to leave the crowded harbor and motor-sail to Atlantic Highlands where we had been many times before. It was dark by time we were back into the lower harbor and I navigated by RADAR and our chartplotters. No problems other that a squall that came through with 25-30 knot winds. But, after over 80,000 miles on the water, I saw it coming and we had already pulled in the jib that was helping us along.
It was 8pm before we motored behind the breakwater at Atlantic Highlands. Our RADAR is very helpful navigating "close in" around anchorages. I can drill in all the way and it shows all the anchored boats and channel markers. It also makes it easy to spot "holes" in the anchored boats where we might drop our hook.
This time, there were no holes. I tried a few places and even tried closer to shore but "bumped" over a sandy spot so left there quickly. We eventually had to anchor to the east of all the other boats which was very exposed to north winds. This was the most boats I've ever seen anchored here. I can always find a protected spot out of the waves and ferry wakes. Not this time.
After anchoring, Laura and I were so tired we didn't even have dinner. Navigating and anchoring in the dark through two ship channels takes it toll and we hit the sack early. Tomorrow we will try to rent a mooring here behind the breakwater for the first time. They are $55 per night (most expensive moorings we've ever seen) but will be worth it with the storms scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
The tidal current was with us for as few hours as we motored south toward the new Tappan Zee Bridge and New York City. I knew this would change and we'd have 3-4 hours of slower ride before it switched back around to helping us near the George Washington Bridge in about 20 miles. No problems motoring down the river other than the western hills funneled the west wind up the river from the south - right on our nose. The west wind forecast, and my hopes of sailing this day, were not to be.
We've been watching them build the new Tappan Zee Bridge for the the past 3 years. It looks like they have now removed all of the old bridge and it's 99% complete (there are still some work barges attached to the new bridge). Here is a nice picture of the Tappan Zee Bridge lit by the Sun.
Storms in the area seemed to be following us all day and we passed south of several around NYC. My timing worked well as we were doing between 7.5 and 8 knots through the harbor. The place was crazy with ferries all around us. At one point I was being passed by 5 ferries at once which rearranged everything down below in the boat. But, we had a great view of Manhattan.
After looking on ActiveCaptain for alternate anchorages besides Atlantic Highlands, I decided to check out Great Kills Harbor which had good reviews. We had never been there before and would arrive just before sunset which I thought would let us anchor when we could see everything. The reviews on ActiveCaptain said there were many private moorings in the beautiful harbor but a few places to anchor near the north end. A storm approached as we were entering the harbor and it was dead, low tide. Not the best scenario for entering a new place. But, it stopped raining a short time later as we motored by the many marinas. As we approached the northern part of the harbor, we could see there were no open areas left. The entire harbor was filled with private moorings - most of them empty.
Laura took this nice picture of Lady Liberty while we were bouncing around from the ferry wakes.
Sometimes cloudy, stormy days give you a beautiful sunset. This was just as we were entering Great Kill Harbor.
Now you might say, "Why not pick up a private mooring if nobody is using it?" The problem is you don't know what's holding it to the bottom or what chain / line the mooring is made of. It could be something as tiny as a little danforth anchor for someone to tie off their 16 foot runabout. Plus, private moorings are almost never inspected. They rust and rot and wear when folks don't want to spend the money to take care of them.
We decided to leave the crowded harbor and motor-sail to Atlantic Highlands where we had been many times before. It was dark by time we were back into the lower harbor and I navigated by RADAR and our chartplotters. No problems other that a squall that came through with 25-30 knot winds. But, after over 80,000 miles on the water, I saw it coming and we had already pulled in the jib that was helping us along.
It was 8pm before we motored behind the breakwater at Atlantic Highlands. Our RADAR is very helpful navigating "close in" around anchorages. I can drill in all the way and it shows all the anchored boats and channel markers. It also makes it easy to spot "holes" in the anchored boats where we might drop our hook.
This time, there were no holes. I tried a few places and even tried closer to shore but "bumped" over a sandy spot so left there quickly. We eventually had to anchor to the east of all the other boats which was very exposed to north winds. This was the most boats I've ever seen anchored here. I can always find a protected spot out of the waves and ferry wakes. Not this time.
After anchoring, Laura and I were so tired we didn't even have dinner. Navigating and anchoring in the dark through two ship channels takes it toll and we hit the sack early. Tomorrow we will try to rent a mooring here behind the breakwater for the first time. They are $55 per night (most expensive moorings we've ever seen) but will be worth it with the storms scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Havastraw Cove (Day 5)
Today we relaxed a bit and finished getting the boat into cruising mode by setting up the solar panels. Cloudy and no wind (for the AirBreeze wind generator) didn't help the battery situation so I uncovered the old Honda 2000 generator and got it running. Shortly later we were charging batteries and running our hot water heater off the generator.
Laura was baking up a storm in the morning with something new - apple cinnamon braided short-bread. While it was rising, we decided to take a dinghy ride into the town of Haverstraw at the western side of the cove. The sun was just peaking out so we turned off the generator and let the solar panels charge our batteries.
Dropping the dink and using the mizzen-boom to crane down the 125 pound outboard from our stern-rail is almost second nature to us now. A short time later we were underway.
Here is a picture of Second Wind from shore
I drove around the cove looking for a place to tie up. No usable docks around the cove but there was a rocky place to tie up near a walkway. We were able to get off and tie up the dinghy to a large rock. No place to lock it up but we weren't going far - just a little walk to loosen up and exercise a bit.
The main street in town had lots of small shops and was fairly busy for a Tuesday afternoon. For some reason, it seemed like there were 2 or 3 barber shops or hair salons on each block. How often do people in this town get their hair cut?
You can just see our little dinghy in the right-middle of this picture tied to shore. Not much there.
We walked a few blocks then came back to check on the dinghy and maybe walk the other direction. After buying a quart of milk at a small grocery store, we walked a little farther then saw someone standing around about 20-30 feet from the dinghy. Deciding not to take any chances, we went back and quickly got underway. I drove all around the cove looking for other places to stop but nothing was available - just grass and stone shoreline.
We tied the dinghy up behind the boat so we could use it later to visit Slow Cruisin'. Our friends Lee and Linda had left Catskill early this morning and were going to anchor near us for the night. I sent Lee the waypoints for safely entering the cove and relaxed most of the afternoon. I even took a nice nap!
Slow Cruisin' entered the cove around 6pm and anchored about 150 feet from us. 1/2 hour later we dinghy'd over with cocktails and a large salad Laura had made as our contribution to dinner. Lee made Chicken Parmesan and we chatted while it was cooking. We had a fun evening with good friends. Here are our two boats anchored under the sunset in Haverstraw Cove.
They told us they were going to Northport on Long Island for several days to visit friends since there wasn't a weather window for the next week off the NJ coast. I looked up distances and tides to see if we could join them (we are much slower). Tomorrow was the only day of helping winds which would change to the east on Thursday - the direction we would need to go down Long Island Sound. We could have left at 5am to make the long journey but we would have had a very long day around NYC and into Long Island Sound. We decided to head down to Atlantic Highlands instead and wait there for our weather window.
Back at our boat, it was humid and warm. The temps were hovering in the high 70s outside and lows 80s inside at 10pm and I was starting to sweat just getting ready for bed. We had all the windows / hatches open but even that breeze was warm and humid. I decided to take advantage of the work I had performed to on our air-conditioner and try running it off our Honda generator. I moved the generator off the back deck (was right over our bed) to the side of the boat and ran it all night. It worked excellent and cooled the boat down quickly Only problem was I woke up at 2am wondering when it was going to run out of gas (it only holds just under 1 gallon). After lying in bed for 1/2 hour, I got up and filled the tank so it would run the rest of the night. Then I slept well until early morning. At least for now, I had no problem using 2 gallons of gasoline to stay comfortable all night. That might change in the future when we are in remote places and gasoline replenishment isn't easy or inexpensive.
Wow. Air-conditioning on Second Wind while anchored! First time in 13 years and it felt excellent!
Laura was baking up a storm in the morning with something new - apple cinnamon braided short-bread. While it was rising, we decided to take a dinghy ride into the town of Haverstraw at the western side of the cove. The sun was just peaking out so we turned off the generator and let the solar panels charge our batteries.
Here is a picture of Second Wind from shore
I drove around the cove looking for a place to tie up. No usable docks around the cove but there was a rocky place to tie up near a walkway. We were able to get off and tie up the dinghy to a large rock. No place to lock it up but we weren't going far - just a little walk to loosen up and exercise a bit.
The main street in town had lots of small shops and was fairly busy for a Tuesday afternoon. For some reason, it seemed like there were 2 or 3 barber shops or hair salons on each block. How often do people in this town get their hair cut?
You can just see our little dinghy in the right-middle of this picture tied to shore. Not much there.We walked a few blocks then came back to check on the dinghy and maybe walk the other direction. After buying a quart of milk at a small grocery store, we walked a little farther then saw someone standing around about 20-30 feet from the dinghy. Deciding not to take any chances, we went back and quickly got underway. I drove all around the cove looking for other places to stop but nothing was available - just grass and stone shoreline.
We tied the dinghy up behind the boat so we could use it later to visit Slow Cruisin'. Our friends Lee and Linda had left Catskill early this morning and were going to anchor near us for the night. I sent Lee the waypoints for safely entering the cove and relaxed most of the afternoon. I even took a nice nap!
Slow Cruisin' entered the cove around 6pm and anchored about 150 feet from us. 1/2 hour later we dinghy'd over with cocktails and a large salad Laura had made as our contribution to dinner. Lee made Chicken Parmesan and we chatted while it was cooking. We had a fun evening with good friends. Here are our two boats anchored under the sunset in Haverstraw Cove.
They told us they were going to Northport on Long Island for several days to visit friends since there wasn't a weather window for the next week off the NJ coast. I looked up distances and tides to see if we could join them (we are much slower). Tomorrow was the only day of helping winds which would change to the east on Thursday - the direction we would need to go down Long Island Sound. We could have left at 5am to make the long journey but we would have had a very long day around NYC and into Long Island Sound. We decided to head down to Atlantic Highlands instead and wait there for our weather window.
Back at our boat, it was humid and warm. The temps were hovering in the high 70s outside and lows 80s inside at 10pm and I was starting to sweat just getting ready for bed. We had all the windows / hatches open but even that breeze was warm and humid. I decided to take advantage of the work I had performed to on our air-conditioner and try running it off our Honda generator. I moved the generator off the back deck (was right over our bed) to the side of the boat and ran it all night. It worked excellent and cooled the boat down quickly Only problem was I woke up at 2am wondering when it was going to run out of gas (it only holds just under 1 gallon). After lying in bed for 1/2 hour, I got up and filled the tank so it would run the rest of the night. Then I slept well until early morning. At least for now, I had no problem using 2 gallons of gasoline to stay comfortable all night. That might change in the future when we are in remote places and gasoline replenishment isn't easy or inexpensive.
Wow. Air-conditioning on Second Wind while anchored! First time in 13 years and it felt excellent!
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
Poughkeepsie to Haverstraw (Day 4)
When we leave in the Fall to head south, one of the critical parts of the trip is off-shore down the coast of New Jersey. The weather patterns in the Fall tend to be constantly changing with fronts coming through every 3-4 days. Because of this, we typically wait in Catskill until we see there is going to be good sailing weather down the coast 2-3 days in the future.
Since we were in Poughkeepsie, we had a choice of going back to Catskill (our dock was paid for the season) or heading south down the river. I check the forecast and there was no good weather window showing for the next week. I was thinking maybe we should go back to Catskill since we would have power (with heat and A/C) plus our car was there. Laura and I talked about it a bit and it wasn't until Monday morning that we decided. We both wanted to keep going even if we had to anchor for several days waiting for NJ coastal weather.
Up early to prep the boat for leaving. Stow everything loose, fill up water tank, disconnect power and leave. We were off the dock at 7:45am and turned the boat south.
It was another sunny day with light winds (no sailing - boo hoo). We caught a couple hours of the ebb current which helped us almost to West Point. Then it was a slow trip for the next 15 miles to Haverstraw Bay. Our goal for today was Haverstraw Cove anchorage on the western shore of Haverstraw Bay. Here is a picture Laura took a short while after we left Poughkeepsie. Pretty fall colors in the mountains.
Passing Bannerman's Castle, Laura took this nice picture of Storm King mountain.
Winds were only 3-5 knots in Haverstraw Bay but we decided to roll out our big sails to make sure everything worked. No problems and I turned off the engine for a short time as our jib and mainsail pushed us along at 2-3 knots. A little while later we rolled them back in and motored into Haverstraw Cove. The blue dot on this picture is the location of Haverstraw Cove. A very protect anchorage.
The only problem with Haverstraw Cove is getting in. I religiously use ActiveCaptain on my charting systems which is a crowd-sourced application showing anchorages and obstructions. If a boater runs aground, he can create an obstruction on ActiveCaptain showing the location and how to get around it. Anchorages have reviews from other boaters telling about entering the anchorage or places to see. I followed the instructions from an ActiveCaptain review and never saw less then 9 feet of water around us. A Canadian boater came in behind us and ran aground - twice!
We motored around inside the cove for awhile looking at depths. Not much under 20 feet so we anchored near the northern end away from the inlet.
Around 4pm I decided to open a bottle of our 19 Crimes Banished red wine. It's our favorite and we bought two cases before we left (it's only $9 a bottle). I worked on the blog a bit and we started dinner around 7pm. Laura had thawed a thick bone-in NY strip steak which I cooked on the grill. It was awesome with some mushrooms and fresh veggies. Fresh apple pie for dessert completed our day.
I had downloaded the whole current season of "The Ranch" from Netflix and we watch 3 episodes. This season is a big downer so far. Hope it picks up.
Since we were in Poughkeepsie, we had a choice of going back to Catskill (our dock was paid for the season) or heading south down the river. I check the forecast and there was no good weather window showing for the next week. I was thinking maybe we should go back to Catskill since we would have power (with heat and A/C) plus our car was there. Laura and I talked about it a bit and it wasn't until Monday morning that we decided. We both wanted to keep going even if we had to anchor for several days waiting for NJ coastal weather.
Up early to prep the boat for leaving. Stow everything loose, fill up water tank, disconnect power and leave. We were off the dock at 7:45am and turned the boat south.
It was another sunny day with light winds (no sailing - boo hoo). We caught a couple hours of the ebb current which helped us almost to West Point. Then it was a slow trip for the next 15 miles to Haverstraw Bay. Our goal for today was Haverstraw Cove anchorage on the western shore of Haverstraw Bay. Here is a picture Laura took a short while after we left Poughkeepsie. Pretty fall colors in the mountains.
Passing Bannerman's Castle, Laura took this nice picture of Storm King mountain.
We motored around inside the cove for awhile looking at depths. Not much under 20 feet so we anchored near the northern end away from the inlet.
Around 4pm I decided to open a bottle of our 19 Crimes Banished red wine. It's our favorite and we bought two cases before we left (it's only $9 a bottle). I worked on the blog a bit and we started dinner around 7pm. Laura had thawed a thick bone-in NY strip steak which I cooked on the grill. It was awesome with some mushrooms and fresh veggies. Fresh apple pie for dessert completed our day.
I had downloaded the whole current season of "The Ranch" from Netflix and we watch 3 episodes. This season is a big downer so far. Hope it picks up.
Weekend Work in Poughkeepsie (Days 1-3)
Friday (9/27) we untied our lines and were off the Catskill Marina dock at 7:15am. It was a beautiful morning as we motored down the Hudson River with a little helping current for the first few hours. The Hudson is an estuary which means the tides both ebb (water goes out to the ocean) and flow or flood (comes in from the ocean). In fact, before the 16th century, the local Indians called the Hudson Mahicantuck which means, "the river that flows both ways."
You can think of the tides like a wave coming up the river. When traveling north, you can catch the wave for quite a while because your boat is traveling in the same direction as the wave. On the Hudson, the wave travels at about 12 miles per hour. When boating south, you go over the wave in a few hours depending on how fast you go. For our slow sailboat heading south, the helping ebb only lasts about 3-4 hours. Then we have 3-4 hours of the tidal current against us. If we start on the ebb, we can usually catch an ebb-flood-ebb cycle during a long day and make maybe 60 miles. Today we wouldn't be going that far. Shadows Marina in Poughkeepsie was only 33 nautical miles away.
It was a beautiful day on the river. Temps climbed from the 50s to mid-70s and we pealed off layers of clothing. It was nice to get back to "cruising mode" with setting the boat on autopilot then sit back and read a book or cruise the Internet. Just make sure to look up often to see that we are on the right course. Our autopilot only keeps the boat on a straight compass course. It doesn't turn when the channel changes and I wouldn't want it to. I need to look up and make sure there isn't a kayak in front of us or a tug-and-barge coming up our butt.
River traffic was normal with a few tugs pushing or pulling barges. I like seeing the tug and barges with matching colors like this one.
The day was uneventful and we enjoyed the calm water and warm weather. No wind for sailing but that happens often on the river. We tied up at Shadow's Marina around 2:30pm right across the dock from Marika. It would be a short commute to work for the next few days - just walk about 20 feet down the dock.
I left Shadows with Marika and 4 crew-members at 3pm. We needed to travel only a couple miles to the dock at Marist college for boarding at 3:30pm. The dock at Marist college is only about 30 feet wide which makes it tricky for a 100 foot, 330,000 pound, 3-story ship. But, I've dock here almost 100 times over the past 5 years so pretty much have it down.
Here is Marika docked at the Ice House last Tuesday - another venue for us in Poughkeepsie. Here we had a dock that fit the boat.
This weekend is "Family Weekend" at Marist. Families come to visit the college and pay a set amount per person for the whole weekend. They can then sign up for different events including a Hudson River cruise on Marika or Spirit of the Hudson (the other boat at Hudson Cruises). We ran (4) 45-minute cruises on Friday evening and had the boat back to Shadows around 8pm. A short walk over to Second Wind and I was relaxing on the sofa 15 minutes later.
Saturday morning I was up early and had Marika underway around 8:30am. Our cruises today were 9, 10, 11, 12, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. I should mention that Laura helped out on Marika Saturday as a crew-member because we were short people. I told the normal crew to give her some direction. They replied, "We're not telling the Captain's wife what to do!" It eventually all worked out and I was glad to have her aboard.
The Spirit of Hudson would pick up passengers on the 1/2 hour between our trips. It all went well except for a south wind that picked up in the afternoon. When at the Marist college dock, the boat is facing north. We can't dock on the other side facing south because the dock is cocked a bit (not quite perpendicular to the river) which would put our props on the rocks. Docking with a south wind makes it more difficult because the wind is pushing the 3-story stern of the boat north. No major problems and we had a full boat (140 passengers) for most of the trips.
Back to Shadows around 6pm and Laura made sauteed Grouper with rice pilaf and steamed broccoli. It was awesome. Thanks Lee and Linda for the Grouper!
Sunday we did it all over again with cruises at 9, 10, 11, 12, 1 and 2. The winds had changed to the north and were not a problem in the morning. In the late morning, the winds changed just enough to the west that they were blowing us onto the dock. Not a problem for docking but a big problem for leaving because I couldn't spring off this dock. It has railings which prevent boats from bringing in the bow or stern. I typically waited a few seconds (minutes?) for the wind to die between gusts then I used the bow-thruster and rudders to get the boat away quickly.
This worked fine until our last cruise. We docked and the passengers un-boarded safely. Then we unloaded all the trash and prepared to bring the boat back it's normal dock in Hudson. The wind was now steady from the NW at 20 with gusts to 25. I tried leaving a few times but the wind just blew us back onto the dock. Finally, after about 15 minutes and several tries, we were able to leave the dock when the winds died a little and make the run 35 miles to Hudson.
One of Hudson Cruises owners Noor (and his wife Cheryl) picked me up at Hudson Docks and drove me back to Shadows in Poughkeepsie. They wanted to take us out for dinner / drinks to thank me for 5 years of running Marika. This might have been the last time I was Captain on any cruises. Not sure what we are doing next summer. Laura met us at Shadows Restaurant and we had ordered a few items including the Grand Shellfish Platter - two tiers of oysters, mussels, clams, shrimp and lobster. It was very good and I ate much more than I should have.
Laura and I were back to the boat around 10pm and we were finally done! We could now start our Winter cruising!
You can think of the tides like a wave coming up the river. When traveling north, you can catch the wave for quite a while because your boat is traveling in the same direction as the wave. On the Hudson, the wave travels at about 12 miles per hour. When boating south, you go over the wave in a few hours depending on how fast you go. For our slow sailboat heading south, the helping ebb only lasts about 3-4 hours. Then we have 3-4 hours of the tidal current against us. If we start on the ebb, we can usually catch an ebb-flood-ebb cycle during a long day and make maybe 60 miles. Today we wouldn't be going that far. Shadows Marina in Poughkeepsie was only 33 nautical miles away.
It was a beautiful day on the river. Temps climbed from the 50s to mid-70s and we pealed off layers of clothing. It was nice to get back to "cruising mode" with setting the boat on autopilot then sit back and read a book or cruise the Internet. Just make sure to look up often to see that we are on the right course. Our autopilot only keeps the boat on a straight compass course. It doesn't turn when the channel changes and I wouldn't want it to. I need to look up and make sure there isn't a kayak in front of us or a tug-and-barge coming up our butt.
River traffic was normal with a few tugs pushing or pulling barges. I like seeing the tug and barges with matching colors like this one.
The day was uneventful and we enjoyed the calm water and warm weather. No wind for sailing but that happens often on the river. We tied up at Shadow's Marina around 2:30pm right across the dock from Marika. It would be a short commute to work for the next few days - just walk about 20 feet down the dock.
I left Shadows with Marika and 4 crew-members at 3pm. We needed to travel only a couple miles to the dock at Marist college for boarding at 3:30pm. The dock at Marist college is only about 30 feet wide which makes it tricky for a 100 foot, 330,000 pound, 3-story ship. But, I've dock here almost 100 times over the past 5 years so pretty much have it down.
Here is Marika docked at the Ice House last Tuesday - another venue for us in Poughkeepsie. Here we had a dock that fit the boat.
This weekend is "Family Weekend" at Marist. Families come to visit the college and pay a set amount per person for the whole weekend. They can then sign up for different events including a Hudson River cruise on Marika or Spirit of the Hudson (the other boat at Hudson Cruises). We ran (4) 45-minute cruises on Friday evening and had the boat back to Shadows around 8pm. A short walk over to Second Wind and I was relaxing on the sofa 15 minutes later.
Saturday morning I was up early and had Marika underway around 8:30am. Our cruises today were 9, 10, 11, 12, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. I should mention that Laura helped out on Marika Saturday as a crew-member because we were short people. I told the normal crew to give her some direction. They replied, "We're not telling the Captain's wife what to do!" It eventually all worked out and I was glad to have her aboard.
The Spirit of Hudson would pick up passengers on the 1/2 hour between our trips. It all went well except for a south wind that picked up in the afternoon. When at the Marist college dock, the boat is facing north. We can't dock on the other side facing south because the dock is cocked a bit (not quite perpendicular to the river) which would put our props on the rocks. Docking with a south wind makes it more difficult because the wind is pushing the 3-story stern of the boat north. No major problems and we had a full boat (140 passengers) for most of the trips.
Back to Shadows around 6pm and Laura made sauteed Grouper with rice pilaf and steamed broccoli. It was awesome. Thanks Lee and Linda for the Grouper!
Sunday we did it all over again with cruises at 9, 10, 11, 12, 1 and 2. The winds had changed to the north and were not a problem in the morning. In the late morning, the winds changed just enough to the west that they were blowing us onto the dock. Not a problem for docking but a big problem for leaving because I couldn't spring off this dock. It has railings which prevent boats from bringing in the bow or stern. I typically waited a few seconds (minutes?) for the wind to die between gusts then I used the bow-thruster and rudders to get the boat away quickly.
This worked fine until our last cruise. We docked and the passengers un-boarded safely. Then we unloaded all the trash and prepared to bring the boat back it's normal dock in Hudson. The wind was now steady from the NW at 20 with gusts to 25. I tried leaving a few times but the wind just blew us back onto the dock. Finally, after about 15 minutes and several tries, we were able to leave the dock when the winds died a little and make the run 35 miles to Hudson.
One of Hudson Cruises owners Noor (and his wife Cheryl) picked me up at Hudson Docks and drove me back to Shadows in Poughkeepsie. They wanted to take us out for dinner / drinks to thank me for 5 years of running Marika. This might have been the last time I was Captain on any cruises. Not sure what we are doing next summer. Laura met us at Shadows Restaurant and we had ordered a few items including the Grand Shellfish Platter - two tiers of oysters, mussels, clams, shrimp and lobster. It was very good and I ate much more than I should have.
Laura and I were back to the boat around 10pm and we were finally done! We could now start our Winter cruising!
Monday, September 30, 2019
Our 12th Trip Down the U.S. East Coast - Preparation
Howdy y'all! I've decided to start our sailing blog again with our 12th trip south down the US East Coast to Florida, Bahamas and other distant places.
10 of our other trips have been documented in our books available on Amazon HERE. Last year, we did not keep a blog. I enjoyed keeping the blog of our RV trip this summer so thought I'd start it up again for the boat.
The past several weeks have been a frenzy of getting us and the boat ready for the 1,500 mile trip south. Laura had scheduled a trip to the Seattle area to visit her two daughters and their families for the middle weeks in September and I had committed to a Captain job on the 100 foot party boat Marika in Poughkeepsie for the last weekend in September. That set our timeline for leaving. We would bring our 43 foot ketch Second Wind to Poughkeepsie on Friday, September 27th, live there for the weekend while I was driving Marika, then head south on Monday.
Laura was gone for 11 days and didn't fly back until the 21st. That only gave her 5 days to get all of her stuff ready which included stocking our pantry, fridge and (2) freezers for long range cruising. She likes doing that part of our list since she the knows where everything is. Plus, she's has gotten really good at finding homes for 40-50 bags of groceries. She's good!
I worked boat projects while she was gone including
13 years ago we purchased a Honda 2000 gasoline generator to supply power to the boat when needed while anchored and for emergencies. One problem we've had was it would never run our refrigeration or air-conditioner. When I bought it, I thought it had enough power to run them (individually) but turns out it didn't have enough power to start the compressors. We've since replaced our power-hungry refrigeration but still couldn't use our air-conditioning or heat at anchor.
Several weeks ago another boater told me about the Microair EasyStart system that lowered the starting current required for air-conditioners so they could be run by portable generators. I researched it a bit but didn't go much further because it was expensive - $300. I looked at it again while Laura was gone and decided to buy it. I received the system a few days later and installed it the next day. I had to take my air-conditioner apart and install the (4) wires from the EasyStart. Not too complicated for someone who has worked in electronics for 40 years. Anyway, when I turned it on, nothing happened. The A/C didn't work and even the fan wouldn't turn on. After checking 5 times that I wired everything correctly, I called Microair and had a technician on the phone in about 5 minutes. Nice! He talked me through taking a few measurements then had me remove the EasyStart to check the A/C. It wasn't working.
I then called Webasto (my A/C manufacturer) and again had a tech on the phone quickly. While I was taking a few measurements for him, my 14 year-old multi-meter stopped working. Everything was falling apart!
I let him go and drove to Harbor Freight for a new multi-meter. The next morning I decided to check the A/C circuit card over good and found a broken leg on a voltage regulator. I had probably hit it while hooking up the EasyStart. I called Webasto again and, after making a few measurements, they told me the circuit board was bad. They don't sell direct so I called Defender where I purchased the A/C 8 years ago. They called me back about 30 minutes later and said the new circuit card was $120 including overnight shipping. Great!
The next day, I installed the new circuit card and the EasyStart. Everything worked the first time and has been working since. Also, the Honda 2000 will now run our air-condition and heat for the first time in 13 years. A convoluted success story.
Here I am holding onto the new circuit board. See the box with all the wires? I had to take out the circuit board underneath the wires and put in the new board. No problemo!
We made grocery runs in 3 sections. First, all the consumables (soap, shampoo, tooth paste, paper towels, etc). Then meats and cheeses. Finally, fresh veggies and fruit the day before we left. Total was right around $1,000 - our usual leaving expense.
Our last two evenings we spent with family and dropped our car off at Hop-O-Nose marina on Thursday night for winter storage. We were free (almost)!
Early Friday morning (9/27) we said our goodbyes to our friends at the marina and motored down the Catskill Creek at 7:15am. On our way about two weeks earlier than ever before and almost a month earlier than last year when I had cardiac ablation surgery in October and we didn't leave until October 29th.
10 of our other trips have been documented in our books available on Amazon HERE. Last year, we did not keep a blog. I enjoyed keeping the blog of our RV trip this summer so thought I'd start it up again for the boat.
The past several weeks have been a frenzy of getting us and the boat ready for the 1,500 mile trip south. Laura had scheduled a trip to the Seattle area to visit her two daughters and their families for the middle weeks in September and I had committed to a Captain job on the 100 foot party boat Marika in Poughkeepsie for the last weekend in September. That set our timeline for leaving. We would bring our 43 foot ketch Second Wind to Poughkeepsie on Friday, September 27th, live there for the weekend while I was driving Marika, then head south on Monday.
Laura was gone for 11 days and didn't fly back until the 21st. That only gave her 5 days to get all of her stuff ready which included stocking our pantry, fridge and (2) freezers for long range cruising. She likes doing that part of our list since she the knows where everything is. Plus, she's has gotten really good at finding homes for 40-50 bags of groceries. She's good!
I worked boat projects while she was gone including
- installing snaps on the inside of the canvas cover we made for our dinghy (chaps)
- re-packing the propeller shaft
- fixing a leak in our exhaust anti-siphon loop
- replacing the raw water impeller (each Fall before we leave)
- replacing all the (4) belts on our main engine
- purchase and install an "EasyStart" for our air-conditioner / heat
13 years ago we purchased a Honda 2000 gasoline generator to supply power to the boat when needed while anchored and for emergencies. One problem we've had was it would never run our refrigeration or air-conditioner. When I bought it, I thought it had enough power to run them (individually) but turns out it didn't have enough power to start the compressors. We've since replaced our power-hungry refrigeration but still couldn't use our air-conditioning or heat at anchor.
Several weeks ago another boater told me about the Microair EasyStart system that lowered the starting current required for air-conditioners so they could be run by portable generators. I researched it a bit but didn't go much further because it was expensive - $300. I looked at it again while Laura was gone and decided to buy it. I received the system a few days later and installed it the next day. I had to take my air-conditioner apart and install the (4) wires from the EasyStart. Not too complicated for someone who has worked in electronics for 40 years. Anyway, when I turned it on, nothing happened. The A/C didn't work and even the fan wouldn't turn on. After checking 5 times that I wired everything correctly, I called Microair and had a technician on the phone in about 5 minutes. Nice! He talked me through taking a few measurements then had me remove the EasyStart to check the A/C. It wasn't working.
I then called Webasto (my A/C manufacturer) and again had a tech on the phone quickly. While I was taking a few measurements for him, my 14 year-old multi-meter stopped working. Everything was falling apart!
I let him go and drove to Harbor Freight for a new multi-meter. The next morning I decided to check the A/C circuit card over good and found a broken leg on a voltage regulator. I had probably hit it while hooking up the EasyStart. I called Webasto again and, after making a few measurements, they told me the circuit board was bad. They don't sell direct so I called Defender where I purchased the A/C 8 years ago. They called me back about 30 minutes later and said the new circuit card was $120 including overnight shipping. Great!
Here I am holding onto the new circuit board. See the box with all the wires? I had to take out the circuit board underneath the wires and put in the new board. No problemo!
We made grocery runs in 3 sections. First, all the consumables (soap, shampoo, tooth paste, paper towels, etc). Then meats and cheeses. Finally, fresh veggies and fruit the day before we left. Total was right around $1,000 - our usual leaving expense.
Our last two evenings we spent with family and dropped our car off at Hop-O-Nose marina on Thursday night for winter storage. We were free (almost)!
Early Friday morning (9/27) we said our goodbyes to our friends at the marina and motored down the Catskill Creek at 7:15am. On our way about two weeks earlier than ever before and almost a month earlier than last year when I had cardiac ablation surgery in October and we didn't leave until October 29th.
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