Up all night

Given the good forecast I decided to do the 120 miles of the Jersey shore in one shot. This meant hauling up the anchor yesterday morning at 0630 and leaving Atlantic Highlands where I had spent the night. This stretch of coast can be arduous and I did not want to get stuck for days in some unappealing backwater like Atlantic City waiting for weather to improve. The wind was quite light so after clearing the turbulent and busy Sandy Hook channel, I kept the motor running so as to maintain a speed of 6 knots. There was quite a parade of boats heading out after days of bad weather and I bet I was passed by a good $200 million in yachts. It was a beautiful day but I kept the engine running until 8 PM, when a really nice land breeze kicked in. The silence was nice. At 10 I made a routine look over my shoulder and was startled to see a large reddish light directly a stern, and was chagrined to find out it was nothing more than the moon. With that addition the night sailing was delightful. The aforementioned Atlantic City was the only annoyance, a temple to greed, waste, and avarice, using untold amounts of kilowatt hours to light up the night sky for miles. Reaching Cape May at at about 2 AM, I jogged back and forth in a type of heaving too until daybreak, when good light and a flood tide made entrance east. A couple of hours of rest and time to get ready for Delaware Bay, tomorrow.

A tired Charlie

Sandy Hook

Hi everyone,

Had a good run down to the Anchorage at Sandy Hook, NJ. Was going to wait till 1 PM to take advantage of the ebb tide but the rolling of the boat on the mooring was so brutal I left at 1130 instead. Casting of I headed out into the river and hoisted just the main. I motorsailed, like I have mostly been doing, in order to get through the insanity that is the harbor as quickly as possible. It really is stunning, visually, but you have to be 110% to avoid disaster. One thing I noticed was a huge Coast Guard presence which was because of the UN being in session.

Wow, 20 minutes of writing on this pathetic little keyboard and most of it just disappeared. I can't face writing it all again, so I will just say I am safely at Sandy Hook with a bunch more rain on the way.

Best to all, Charlie

NYC contnued

Sorry for no post yesterday. Low battery plus unrelentingly bad weather kept me hunkered below on    boat all day. I did finish reading Column of Fire by Ken Follett which I thought was great. It came in at over 900 pages so I stayed engaged. Today, things brightened up a bit and I joined our former housemate Dominic for an insider's walking tour of this section of the West Side. I gotta say, this city is crazy. No way could I ever live here, with the constant noise and tumult that pervades all. With reasonable weather, I will be out of here in the morning.

Charlie

Big A pple

Goo into the 79th Street Boat Basin and picked up a mooring. This has to be one of the better deals in this overpriced town at 30 bucks a night. 3 blocks up the hill to Broadway. I'll stay at least 2 nights, given the crummy forecast. Visiting our friend Dominick tomorrow, who will acquaint me with the city a bit.It n riverside  my hope that this mooring holds up better than the last one.

I motorsailed down here today. Good breeze, but inconsistent Needed to get here early in order to get a mooring, which are first come, first served. Went ashore for a bit and picked up some provisions. Starting to get dark and I am hoping for a quiet evening of reading. Although, with the incessant driving  on Riverside Drive, that may be wishful thinking.

Best to all, Charlie

72 miles

The cool temps got me motivated to move, and move I did, getting underway at 7. Anchored at Haverstraw Bay a couple of minutes past 6. I will say it again, the Hudson is spectacular. It is like the proverbial unrolling of a tapestry, and you are just taking it all in. I kept thinking about the Hudson River school of painting, and I understand. The trees have a certain lushness and attitude, that I don't see elsewhere. The varied terrain, rocky outcrops here, sand and marsh elsewhere. The color of water, cloud, and sky. And then then the man made elements. Those run the gamut. From towering industrial structures to exquisite country estates. The most beautiful Victorian lighthouses I have seen. What a day!

Charlie
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Mast up

Thanks to the help of Peppi and Dave, of let it be my mast is back up and I managed about 3 hours under sail annnd a couple more under power when the wind fizzled out. And the Hudson is still spectacularly beautiful.  It was a vicious river yesterday however, as I got thrashed by high winds and contrary  tides. It culminated in my mooring breaking last night at about 8. I noticed calmer conditions and stuck my head up for a gander, only to find that I was on the other side of the river. Starting the engine I backed away from the shore and returned to the other side where I tried, unsuccessfully to pick up another mooring. It was dark and blowing a solid 30. So I went back across and tied up at the club dock. Gave the broken hardware to the dockmaster who was very apologetic. Once again I received a lesson, that is, never trust someone else's mooring or ground tackle!

Charlie

Great rowing practice

Sitting here on a mooring at the Castleton Boat Club and just found out that I can get wi-fi here on the far side of the river so I am taking advantage of using a real keyboard. There has been some excellent rowing practice to be had, what with rowing back and forth across the Hudson in a stiff breeze, with gusts over 30. Add in the current and it can be quite exciting. The procedure is to look up and down the river to see what sort of boat traffic there is and then go for it, conditions permitting.

I was delighted to see a small boat coming down the river with its mast on deck, and pull into the boat club. Rowing over, I wasted no time introducing myself and offering to help them with their mast, explaining that I  was singlehanding and could use a bit of similar assistance when finished with theirs. Dave and Pepe, Canadians both, agreed to participate and we hope to do the work early tomorrow morning. They've got a 27 footer, mast stepped on deck, so it should be very straightforward. They are happy to get the help, because it is a new experience for them. Pepe is the owner, and relatively new to sailing.

It has been very windy and the tidal current has been strong so White Seal has been thrashing about a bit on her mooring with the dinghy bumping into the topsides on a regular and annoying basis. What happens is that the big boat is affected more by the current, and the little one is affected by the wind, so the two are constantly butting heads with each other as in a gladiatorial contest.

I've taken the opportunity today to do a ton of reading from a book that Mary, my mother in law gave me, a 900 page novel by Ken Follett which is very good. It is much cooler and with the wind I gave up on doing much of anything on deck. But I gotta get that mast up and get going!

Charlie