New York and Jersey City

Sunday, August 7:  Today, we left City Island at 8 am, with a 15 kt wind on our nose and a steady light rain from  grey overcast skies. 

We could see the New York City skyline off in the distant gloom. 

Our departure time was selected so we could motor through Hell Gate on the East river with the current running with us.  By the time we got there, the rain had stopped and there was some blue sky starting to appear.

We found that the current was indeed pushing us along but somewhat faster than we expected.  In fact, we saw boat speeds over the bottom of up to 11 kt.  11 kt!  

I am guessing that our water speed was no more than 5.5 or 6 kt, so the current must have been running at about the same speed, giving us the extra push.

It really was not a problem.  The water was swirling noticeably in places, but the channel was fairly wide, making navigation quite manageable.  It was only when we looked at the shoreline racing by that we could tell that we were going really fast.

After making it through Hell Gate, we then motored down the west side of Roosevelt Island,  then came around the south end of Manhattan, passing by the UN building and under the Manhattan bridge and the Brooklyn bridge. 

We also  got our first glimpses of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and Empire State Building.  Wow!  We are really sailing in New York City!

We then went a short distance up the Hudson R. to Liberty Landing marina at Jersey City, NJ, and took a slip that Stephanie had reserved for us.

We settled in and then walked a half mile to a bike rental stand and the Bottlenose crew rented bikes.  Then, all five of us rode the Liberty Landing ferry over to the Manhattan financial center for lunch.  We sat outside under thick shade trees at “Southwest NY”, looking out over all the activity on the Hudson. 

There were ferries zooming around in every direction.  Add, commercial tugs with barges and recreational boats and it was a zoo.  The water on the Hudson was in perpetual turmoil from all the boat wakes, yet, out “playing in traffic” were two kayakers.  How they could handle the rough water and not get run down by a ferry was beyond me.

After lunch, Stephanie and Lance took us inside a nearby building that had a great vantage point for seeing the construction of the new Freedom Tower on the site of ground zero for the 9/11 attack.

Then, they went back to work on their boat, while the rest of us went for a bike ride along the Manhattan shore of the Hudson.  We got as far as the aircraft carrier museum, Intrepid.

By now, the day was hot and steamy, so after riding an hour or so, we had had enough and took the ferry back to our boat.

Back on the boat, we worked on cleaning it up, inside and out, since this was the first marina we have stayed in for a while.  We had earlier filled our fuel and water tanks.

We met Eric, who came on board MerSea today to help them stand the necessary 24-hour watches during our overnight ocean leg that starts tomorrow.

All six of us had dinner at Liberty House, just a few steps from our marina.  It was a little expensive, but the food was good.

It was still steamy outside but cooler.  No matter – we have our A/C units humming and it is comfortable in the boat.

City Island

Saturday, August 6:  The weatherman is calling for our winds today to be from the SW at 10 kt.  Our route to City Island is almost directly into this wind, so we will either have to beat into it (tacking back and forth) or just drop the sails and motor.  We have 35 miles to go and we will also have the current running against us.

The expected high is 81 degrees and there is a chance of showers with a mix of clouds and sun.

When we got out into the Sound, there was not much wind, so we did just motor most of the day.  Since this was the weekend, we saw lots more recreational boat traffic and lots of regattas.

At noon, we first noticed the New York City skyline way off in the distance.

About an hour outside of City Island, the wind piped up to 15 to 20 kt from the south, so we were finally able to shut down the engines and just sail the rest of the way.

Stephanie had made reservations for a mooring ball for us at the City Island Yacht Club, so Ted hailed them on the VHF as we were coming in for an assignment.  The mooring field was fully exposed to the wind, which continued to blow at 15 kt, making it more difficult than usual to pick up the mooring ball pennants and secure the boat.

We called the free water shuttle so we could have happy hour at the club, then walked 10 blocks to Arties restaurant for dinner.  The small dining room we were in was noisy, but the menu was extensive, the food good, and the prices reasonable.  There was a light drizzle falling as we walked back to the club, after dinner.

We went back to the boat on the club launch.  The wind was still blowing 15 kt kicking up good sized waves and it was still drizzling, making getting in and out of the launch quite challenging.

Later, Ted and Lance planned our departure time tomorrow, so we could go through Both Hell Gate and the Battery with not too much current.  Both really rip at their maximum of around 5 or 6 kt and this can be hazardous!

Black Rock Harbor

Friday, August 5:  It was a pleasant morning, with a mix of sun and clouds.  The weatherman said the high would be 77 degrees, with wind ESE at 5 to 10 kt.  We have only about 25 miles to go, today, and a favorable current starts running with us at mid-morning, so that’s when we weighed anchor from Joshua Cove.

Soon after we left our anchorage, we launched our spinnaker.  And what a great run it was!  We continued flying it almost all the way to our destination at Black Rock Yacht Club in Black Rock harbor, CT.  Even though we never saw over 10 kt of apparent wind, we maintained excellent boat speed due to the expected ½ to 1 ½ kt of following current.  We averaged 7.5 kt over the bottom and occasionally hit 8 kt!  It was just a fantastic day on the water. 

There was noticeably more commercial traffic today on the Sound.  Quite a few tugs pushing or pulling barges, plus ferries and commercial fishing boats.  This was never a problem, because the Sound is so big that all vessels have plenty of room for safe navigation.

We arrived around 2 pm and picked up the mooring ball that the Black Rock Yacht Club provided for us.  MerSea took the adjacent ball.  Around 3:30, we called for the free water shuttle to take us over to the club for showers, drinks, and dinner.  The club members were friendly and made us feel welcome.  The club was first rate in every respect.

Tomorrow, we go to City Island which is part of the Bronx in New York City.

Hard Times Enroute to Joshua Cove

Thursday, August 4:  We had a long way to go, today, to get to Joshua Cove, CT, so we weighed anchor at 7 am.  The weather was balmy, but otherwise like yesterday.

We were motoring and leading MerSea out of the anchorage, calling them occasionally on the VHF to report water depths.  The tide was lower than when we came in, yesterday, and had about an hour to go to the low.

We made it past one known shallow area and were negotiating the final turn to leave the harbor.  It was narrow, here, and the current was running swiftly, causing a whole line of breaking waves in front of us.  Then…

CRUNCH!  What the??  Aground, again!! 

MerSea saw what happened to us and was being pushed along by the swift current, so they quickly made a slight left turn, passed us on our port side, and made it safely out of the harbor.

Ted initially tried to motor us off the pebbly bottom, but this didn’t work.  Then, he got into the dinghy and Sheila and I prepared two kedge anchors for him.  Ted set the first one out from our starboard quarter.  He wanted to set it more forward, but the current was so swift that his electric dinghy motor was not powerful enough to drag the kedge anchor rode through the water to the spot he wanted, so he just dropped the anchor where he could.

I cranked it in, but it had no effect.

Next, Ted took the second kedge and was able to set it just off our starboard bow, right where he wanted it.  The current was already easing up, so his motor was able to get the job done.  I cranked it in, but still nothing.

About a half hour later, the boat started to bob a little and make crunching noises.  Within a few more minutes, we broke free!  We recovered the kedges and were back on our way, having lost only an hour from our intended schedule.

Once we rounded the Orient Point lighthouse, we were hoping that the breeze would be strong enough and behind our beam, so we could have nice spinnaker run to Joshua Cove.  But, alas, it was too light to sail, so we just motored.

We had a strong following current that gave us a boat speed over the bottom of 7.5 to 8 kt, so we got to Joshua Cove around 1:30 pm – quite a bit earlier than expected.  

This area is very rocky.  The bottom is granite.  If you were to go aground here, it would be ugly.  As it was, it took us two tries to get our hook to set here.

Because of our early arrival, we had time to launch the dinghy and go on a tour of the area.  One of the first things we saw was that someone had built a nearly full-scale replica of Stone Hinge in their side yard.  Amazing!  Lots of houses with modern and other interesting architecture, as well.

We eventually went over to the Sachem Head Yacht Club, tied up to their dock (with their kind permission), and went for a walk around the neighborhood.  By now, it was quite warm, so after  we finished our walk, we were really thirsty.  The club had set out a big water cooler for their junior boaters and we nearly drained it!

Stephanie & Lance invited us over for happy hour after which, Ted and Lance fixed their windlass controller that had stopped working.  They bypassed an offending connector and just hot wired it to the boat to get it going, again.

Back on board Bottlenose and later in the evening, we had pulled pork barbecue, green beans, salad, and the trimmings.

Tomorrow, we head for Black Rock Harbor (near Bridgeport, CT).

Shelter Island

Wednesday, August 3:  It was a cool morning, with blue skies and wispy clouds and light winds.  We had a really short distance to go to get to Shelter Island’s Coecles Harbor, NY, so we just motored over.

One area of the channel leading in to our anchorage looked on the chart like it would be a little shallow for MerSea, so we went in first and radioed depth soundings to her as we went.  It turns out that there was depth to spare as we never saw less than 9 feet and MerSea draws only 4’ 9”.  Even allowing for the tide, this would be fine.

We invited Stephanie & Lance over for lunch on Bottlenose and had deli sandwiches, fruit, cookies, cool wine, and a nice visit with them.

In the early afternoon, we picked up Stephanie (Lance decided not to go) and dinghyed over to the marina and rented a bright yellow, four-passenger, all electric, smart car that looked like a overgrown golf cart.  It was the same price as renting four bikes and allowed us to see twice as much of the island in the time we had.

No pun intended, but “what a gas!”  We turned heads everywhere we went.  And, we saw pretty much the whole island in a couple of hours, including a stop in town for gelato.  Lots of water views and fine homes, many with lawn sculptures of sea monsters, dinosaurs, and other big animals.

We were just about to wrap up our tour, when the car started emitting this piercing alarm sound.  It was telling us that we were just about out of juice!

We immediately headed back toward the marina, but the car died just before the top of the last hill we had to climb to get there.  The rest was all down hill.  So, three of us got out of the car (Ted was driving) and started to push.  We felt so ridiculous that we all got the giggles and almost fell down laughing.

Nevertheless, we managed to get the car over that hill and literally coasted the rest of the way to the marina, right to the normal spot where they park this little jewel.  We advised the yard hand that came out to greet us that the car batteries might be a little low.

Back on the boat, we had a nice baked chicken breast stuffed with broccoli, wild rice, cheese, and herbs.  The rain showers that the weathermen predicted for today, finally arrived as we ate our dinner snug and dry in Bottlenose’s ample bridge deck saloon.

Tomorrow, we have a serious sail of over 35 miles to Joshua Cove, CT.

Sag Harbor

Tuesday, August 2:  We set out around 7:45 am from Watch Hill for Sag Harbor, NY.  It was a bright sunny, cool morning, with light N wind at around 5 to 10 kt.  As we sailed SW across Long Island Sound, the wind would come and go – sometimes allowing us to sail without the engines and sometimes dying away requiring us to motor sail. 

Our route, today, is only about 30 nautical miles, so we could afford to keep the engines off more than usual, when the wind was light.  We had a pleasant sail.

Compared to the weekend, the big difference today was that there were very few boats on the water.  We never saw more than a handful at one time – nothing like the zoo on Saturday and Sunday.  

Stephanie had reserved two mooring balls for us at Sag Harbor.  When we arrived in early afternoon, the dockmaster informed her that all the mooring balls inside the harbor were full, but there were some additional balls in an exposed area just outside the main harbor’s breakwater that we could have.  If the winds were strong, this location could have been very choppy and uncomfortable, but the winds today and tonight are expected to continue light, so we didn’t expect any problems.

Once we were securely tied up to the mooring ball, we dinghyed to shore and explored Sag Harbor on foot, with Stephanie & Lance.  We saw a lot of expensive cars, including a Bentley convertible and a Mazaratti.

By now the day felt hot – especially so, being on land and in the sun – so after our walking exploration, we stopped at an outdoor waterside bar for refreshments.  After cooling off a  little, we started looking for a nice place for dinner.  We decided on the Beacon.  It was expensive, but good.

We dinghyed back to MerSea for wine and dessert, while we watched a spectacular sunset.  A thin sliver of moon soon set, as well. 

Lay Day in Watch Hill

Monday, August 1:  We had a leisurely morning on the boat, then Stephanie’s friend took us in her SUV to the grocery and on a tour of Watch Hill.

After that, we continued to explore Watch Hill on foot.  Sheila checked out all the shops in town, then we climbed the hill to Ocean House, a huge, beautiful, fully restored classic hotel with great views of the Sound.  Sheila and I sat on one of their verandas and had a cold beverage, while looking out over the hotel’s gardens and the water, off in the distance.

We spent mid-afternoon relaxing on the boat, then picked up Stephanie & Lance in the dinghy and had happy hour with them in the Watch Hill YC upstairs bar.  The bar had a nice view of the harbor and we sat outside on the balcony with our drinks, watching a big storm brewing off in the distance.

At dinner time, we went over to the Bay Street Deli and got lobster rolls (the best in town!) to take back to Bottlenose for dinner.  We couldn’t decide which we liked best – the hot lobster roll sautéed in butter or the cold one mixed with mayonnaise.  The New England clam chowder was also excellent.  Add copious amounts of cool, white wine and cookies for dessert and it made a nice dinner aboard!  We were entertained by a spectacular show of lightning by that big storm.  Huge pitch forks of lightning would bolt across the sky, some spanning more than 90 degrees.  We never got any rain.