New York to Hampton
There is no escape from Halloween!
October 4, 2010
Although today was rainy and cold, it has been interesting. The current swiftly took us to NY City. I never realized that the city was such a maritime center but it makes sense given its location. As the river meandered, we could see the tops of the building over the mountains. New York is so different from Chicago. On one side of the river there were huge cliffs and the other side was Yonkers, NY.
Before we reached the city, we saw a tall ship. Deck hands showed young people in yellow slickers how to put up a sail. The name of the ship was Clearwater. Francie was sure that it was the boat commissioned in the 60’s by Pete Seeger. I on the other hand was skeptical. Out came the new Droid and moments later, the triumphant Francie read to me the information about the boat.
We went under the Washington Bridge and tried to imagine the scene last winter when the commercial airline was landed in the Hudson and Captain Sully became a household name.
I may have mentioned that we have AIS on our chart plotter. Commercial vessels appear as green triangles. When the vessel is moving, a red arrow projects from the triangle showing it course. It took both Francie and I to keep watch for approaching ferries and other commercial ships. At one point I started to laugh when the screen was covered with triangles whose red lines were going all over the chart. We felt like targets in a video game! We were dodging boats left and right. At one point, I pointed out a container ship to Francie. After a moment she said it has a bow wake. I looked at the screen. Sure enough it was coming at us. I moved the boat further out of the shipping channel and it seem to continue in our direction. After several maneuvers we managed to get out of its path.
We are Great Kill, a cove on Staten Island. It is cold and rainy. We are dry but have no heat. We opened the door to the engine room to help heat the boat. This evening will be blanket and books with the dream of warmer weather in the south. We are waiting for our weather window to leave for Cape May or Norfolk.
October 6, 2010
It is a small, small world!
Yesterday afternoon we decided to make the trip to Cape May. Cape May is about 126 miles south of New York via the Atlantic coastline. We have been watching the weather for days. It has been very fickle and is never the same forecast day to day. We thought there was going to be an opportunity for us to go today. The wind would be strong at the start of the trip, but would calm later in the evening. The same was predicted for the waves. It took us almost two hours to get out to the Atlantic opening from Great Kill. We were fighting the current.
The weather was exactly like it was predicted. The wind was 15 to 20 with gusts of 24. The boat was getting tossed around but we were going fast. Later it the afternoon it became warmer and the wind started to get light. We noticed a large black cloud over the land earlier. It was now right over us. The wind was coming from the east. The wind suddenly stopped and the temperature dropped at least 10 degrees. I looked down and the wind was now coming from the west. The whole thing happened in just a few minutes.
The winds lighted at about 4 in the morning. We arrived no worse for the wear but a little tired. Our only mishap was having the line for the roller furling snap. Mike had to crawl out to the bow and tie it together and pull the sail in from the middle of the boat.
Night is a difficult time to sail because it is difficult to determine how far away other boats are with the boat navigation lights, buoy lights and shore lights all merging. About 2 AM, Mike noticed that a ship was on the same course as our boat. According to our AIS it was coming right at us. Mike kept altering the course by a few degrees. The ship also was changing direction so we were no longer on a collision course according to our electronics. Mike could still see a huge ship coming at us. The boat looked extremely wide and had red lights across the bow. Boats don’t have lights like that. They have a red and a green light on the bow so you can tell the direction they are going. Finally the ship went passed but the lights were still coming at us. It turns out that the lights were coming from Atlantic City’s casinos on the shore many miles away!
We are in a marina tonight. When we pulled into the slip, there was a familiar looking boat from Chicago next to us. Bill the owner came over and introduced himself and asked us if we were interested in going to the Annapolis Boat Show. It is the premier boat show in the country. Earlier we had decided that we would not go because it would be difficult to get there. Bill was renting a car for him and his wife Jeanie to go to the show in the morning. We are off to the boat show in the morning.
After talking to Bill, we discovered he had been a member at Columbia Yacht Club and knew Francie’s dad and several of our friends. We mentioned that we were at Hammond Marina one year and transients for two years. He looked astonished and said so was he. We mentioned that we were on the lake most of last summer and went to the North Channel. That was when he once again said in amazement that he and his wife were also in the North Channel.
It truly is a small world. We never meet Bill and Jeanie all of those weekends we spent in Hammond, instead we find them at Utsch’s Marina in Cape May, NJ 1500 miles from where we started in July.
Laundry Chronicle: Utsch’s Marine is the best marine laundry facility we have found (second only to St. Joe free laundry with new Maytag’s). There are double and triple machines at a reasonable price. The only downside to this great laundry is that we have been wearing the same fleece for several days so that our laundry pile doesn’t do justice to the machines. In the same building are very nice showers, with a handwritten sign – NO hair dying allowed. So much for that plan!
October 7, 2010
We left at 6 AM for the boat show. We had a great day looking at all of the wonderful things you could buy for your boat. We did find the few things that we needed but managed to walk out with our credit card intact. We did get lots of valuable information which made the trip worth it. On the way to the show, Francie emailed Mike and Ivy from Muskegon. You might remember that they are the people back in July that first suggested that we take this trip rather than the river system to Mobile, which is the way we brought the boat up to Chicago. As luck would have it, they were at the show also. Another friendly face was Larry, who sold us the refrigeration and our composting toilet. We know him from the Chicago boat show and he helped straighten out our refrigeration problems. It is so nice seeing friendly faces of people from our past.
We arrived back at the boat exhausted but pleased with the entire experience.
October 8, 2010
Decisions-Decisions
Where do we go next and how do we get there? We have explored and discussed the options for our next stage of the trip for several days.. Our choice is to catch the tide and go up Delaware Bay which would mean leaving by 5:30 AM. That would take us through a canal and up to the north part of the Chesapeake. The other choice is to skip exploring the Chesapeake and go to the southern opening near Norfolk. To do that option meant sailing all night again.
We could not make up our mind since both options appealed to us. We would have to wait another day if we wanted to go up the Delaware since we missed high tide. That would be no problem. We could use the rest. We checked the weather on the Atlantic all morning to see if it would be conducive for an outside passage. Each time we checked it looked good. The decision was made for us. We prepared for the outside and left at noon. Did I mention that it looked like a good sailing day? Once out to the Atlantic, sails were up and we were cruising. It was a temporary joy. Soon the wind shifted and was on our nose. The jib came down and the motor went on. Later we had to reef the main twice as the wind picked up. The motor never went off for the next 20 hours and the wave grew and then lessened throughout the night.
The experience was not bad, but somewhat disappointing. We were much less nervous this time out on the Atlantic. We designed our shifts to fit our strengths. We did 4 hours on and off until the early morning and then went to 3 hour shifts. Both of us were able to sleep more this time. Considering how nervous we were initially about over nighters – it is amazing that we have done 2 in one week. It is hard to believe we were still on the Hudson last Saturday.
The Chesapeake is a huge shipping port. There is a maze of shipping channels coming into the port and going to different cities. Once again our AIS helped us navigate around the freighters. One must always remember to look behind as well as ahead. See the picture of the container ship that snuck up behind us. We saw him; I wonder if he saw us.
We arrived 24 hours later in Hampton, Virginia. We are in Virginia!!! It seems impossible. We thought Michigan and New York would last forever. Hampton is a beautiful town and we plan to stay for several day. Best of all it is warm and we are in shorts and t-shirts. Mike had to find his since he had given up on hot weather. By the way, it is 80 degrees here and it is 63 in New York.
October 10, 2010
What a wonderful day! The sun is shining and we started our day at the hotel exercise room. The marina has an agreement to lets its patrons use the hotel equipment. All part of our interval training. We exercised a week ago.
We relaxed this morning and planned the next couple of days. We are getting a car for two days to be able to explore Jamestown and Williamsburg. Early American History, the Revolutionary War and Civil War History are all layered here in the local museums as well as the National Historic sights. The Hampton Museum is in an area that was excavated several years ago and rich in history from the 1600’s on. In Hampton there is also a restored wooden carousel. The carousel is housed in its own building. It was saved from demolition when a local amusement park closed in the late 80’s. It took 8 years to restore it. Mike remembers riding on one like it at an amusement park near where he grew up.
We have travelled about 1800 miles so far. We think we are one step ahead of the frost line at this point and are hoping to slow the trip down and spend a little more time in ports exploring the places we visit.
Although today was rainy and cold, it has been interesting. The current swiftly took us to NY City. I never realized that the city was such a maritime center but it makes sense given its location. As the river meandered, we could see the tops of the building over the mountains. New York is so different from Chicago. On one side of the river there were huge cliffs and the other side was Yonkers, NY.
Before we reached the city, we saw a tall ship. Deck hands showed young people in yellow slickers how to put up a sail. The name of the ship was Clearwater. Francie was sure that it was the boat commissioned in the 60’s by Pete Seeger. I on the other hand was skeptical. Out came the new Droid and moments later, the triumphant Francie read to me the information about the boat.
We went under the Washington Bridge and tried to imagine the scene last winter when the commercial airline was landed in the Hudson and Captain Sully became a household name.
I may have mentioned that we have AIS on our chart plotter. Commercial vessels appear as green triangles. When the vessel is moving, a red arrow projects from the triangle showing it course. It took both Francie and I to keep watch for approaching ferries and other commercial ships. At one point I started to laugh when the screen was covered with triangles whose red lines were going all over the chart. We felt like targets in a video game! We were dodging boats left and right. At one point, I pointed out a container ship to Francie. After a moment she said it has a bow wake. I looked at the screen. Sure enough it was coming at us. I moved the boat further out of the shipping channel and it seem to continue in our direction. After several maneuvers we managed to get out of its path.
We are Great Kill, a cove on Staten Island. It is cold and rainy. We are dry but have no heat. We opened the door to the engine room to help heat the boat. This evening will be blanket and books with the dream of warmer weather in the south. We are waiting for our weather window to leave for Cape May or Norfolk.
October 6, 2010
It is a small, small world!
Yesterday afternoon we decided to make the trip to Cape May. Cape May is about 126 miles south of New York via the Atlantic coastline. We have been watching the weather for days. It has been very fickle and is never the same forecast day to day. We thought there was going to be an opportunity for us to go today. The wind would be strong at the start of the trip, but would calm later in the evening. The same was predicted for the waves. It took us almost two hours to get out to the Atlantic opening from Great Kill. We were fighting the current.
The weather was exactly like it was predicted. The wind was 15 to 20 with gusts of 24. The boat was getting tossed around but we were going fast. Later it the afternoon it became warmer and the wind started to get light. We noticed a large black cloud over the land earlier. It was now right over us. The wind was coming from the east. The wind suddenly stopped and the temperature dropped at least 10 degrees. I looked down and the wind was now coming from the west. The whole thing happened in just a few minutes.
The winds lighted at about 4 in the morning. We arrived no worse for the wear but a little tired. Our only mishap was having the line for the roller furling snap. Mike had to crawl out to the bow and tie it together and pull the sail in from the middle of the boat.
Night is a difficult time to sail because it is difficult to determine how far away other boats are with the boat navigation lights, buoy lights and shore lights all merging. About 2 AM, Mike noticed that a ship was on the same course as our boat. According to our AIS it was coming right at us. Mike kept altering the course by a few degrees. The ship also was changing direction so we were no longer on a collision course according to our electronics. Mike could still see a huge ship coming at us. The boat looked extremely wide and had red lights across the bow. Boats don’t have lights like that. They have a red and a green light on the bow so you can tell the direction they are going. Finally the ship went passed but the lights were still coming at us. It turns out that the lights were coming from Atlantic City’s casinos on the shore many miles away!
We are in a marina tonight. When we pulled into the slip, there was a familiar looking boat from Chicago next to us. Bill the owner came over and introduced himself and asked us if we were interested in going to the Annapolis Boat Show. It is the premier boat show in the country. Earlier we had decided that we would not go because it would be difficult to get there. Bill was renting a car for him and his wife Jeanie to go to the show in the morning. We are off to the boat show in the morning.
After talking to Bill, we discovered he had been a member at Columbia Yacht Club and knew Francie’s dad and several of our friends. We mentioned that we were at Hammond Marina one year and transients for two years. He looked astonished and said so was he. We mentioned that we were on the lake most of last summer and went to the North Channel. That was when he once again said in amazement that he and his wife were also in the North Channel.
It truly is a small world. We never meet Bill and Jeanie all of those weekends we spent in Hammond, instead we find them at Utsch’s Marina in Cape May, NJ 1500 miles from where we started in July.
Laundry Chronicle: Utsch’s Marine is the best marine laundry facility we have found (second only to St. Joe free laundry with new Maytag’s). There are double and triple machines at a reasonable price. The only downside to this great laundry is that we have been wearing the same fleece for several days so that our laundry pile doesn’t do justice to the machines. In the same building are very nice showers, with a handwritten sign – NO hair dying allowed. So much for that plan!
October 7, 2010
We left at 6 AM for the boat show. We had a great day looking at all of the wonderful things you could buy for your boat. We did find the few things that we needed but managed to walk out with our credit card intact. We did get lots of valuable information which made the trip worth it. On the way to the show, Francie emailed Mike and Ivy from Muskegon. You might remember that they are the people back in July that first suggested that we take this trip rather than the river system to Mobile, which is the way we brought the boat up to Chicago. As luck would have it, they were at the show also. Another friendly face was Larry, who sold us the refrigeration and our composting toilet. We know him from the Chicago boat show and he helped straighten out our refrigeration problems. It is so nice seeing friendly faces of people from our past.
We arrived back at the boat exhausted but pleased with the entire experience.
October 8, 2010
Decisions-Decisions
Where do we go next and how do we get there? We have explored and discussed the options for our next stage of the trip for several days.. Our choice is to catch the tide and go up Delaware Bay which would mean leaving by 5:30 AM. That would take us through a canal and up to the north part of the Chesapeake. The other choice is to skip exploring the Chesapeake and go to the southern opening near Norfolk. To do that option meant sailing all night again.
We could not make up our mind since both options appealed to us. We would have to wait another day if we wanted to go up the Delaware since we missed high tide. That would be no problem. We could use the rest. We checked the weather on the Atlantic all morning to see if it would be conducive for an outside passage. Each time we checked it looked good. The decision was made for us. We prepared for the outside and left at noon. Did I mention that it looked like a good sailing day? Once out to the Atlantic, sails were up and we were cruising. It was a temporary joy. Soon the wind shifted and was on our nose. The jib came down and the motor went on. Later we had to reef the main twice as the wind picked up. The motor never went off for the next 20 hours and the wave grew and then lessened throughout the night.
The experience was not bad, but somewhat disappointing. We were much less nervous this time out on the Atlantic. We designed our shifts to fit our strengths. We did 4 hours on and off until the early morning and then went to 3 hour shifts. Both of us were able to sleep more this time. Considering how nervous we were initially about over nighters – it is amazing that we have done 2 in one week. It is hard to believe we were still on the Hudson last Saturday.
The Chesapeake is a huge shipping port. There is a maze of shipping channels coming into the port and going to different cities. Once again our AIS helped us navigate around the freighters. One must always remember to look behind as well as ahead. See the picture of the container ship that snuck up behind us. We saw him; I wonder if he saw us.
We arrived 24 hours later in Hampton, Virginia. We are in Virginia!!! It seems impossible. We thought Michigan and New York would last forever. Hampton is a beautiful town and we plan to stay for several day. Best of all it is warm and we are in shorts and t-shirts. Mike had to find his since he had given up on hot weather. By the way, it is 80 degrees here and it is 63 in New York.
October 10, 2010
What a wonderful day! The sun is shining and we started our day at the hotel exercise room. The marina has an agreement to lets its patrons use the hotel equipment. All part of our interval training. We exercised a week ago.
We relaxed this morning and planned the next couple of days. We are getting a car for two days to be able to explore Jamestown and Williamsburg. Early American History, the Revolutionary War and Civil War History are all layered here in the local museums as well as the National Historic sights. The Hampton Museum is in an area that was excavated several years ago and rich in history from the 1600’s on. In Hampton there is also a restored wooden carousel. The carousel is housed in its own building. It was saved from demolition when a local amusement park closed in the late 80’s. It took 8 years to restore it. Mike remembers riding on one like it at an amusement park near where he grew up.
We have travelled about 1800 miles so far. We think we are one step ahead of the frost line at this point and are hoping to slow the trip down and spend a little more time in ports exploring the places we visit.