The Commodore Is Ready to Go!!!
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Sailing to the Bronx
November 18. Sandy Hook, NJ. Our stay at City Island turned out to be challenging, pleasant and productive. As we entered the South Minniford Yacht Club Marina, we lost all our electric power and, therefore, our instruments. Fortunately, the engine continued to run. Even though we rely heavily on the latest technology, we do not as yet dock by instruments. We successfully (read no damage done to dock or boat) parked Live Now in a slip 6" wider than her beam. Still we had a problem. Typically, no electrician was available, so,I proceeded to 'analyze' the problem, aided greatly by a long telephone call with a very helpful local marine electrician who "no longer did that kind of work" (He actually said, "I don't do dat no mour!"). He suggested that the problem lie with either the alternator or the electrical wiring connecting it to the batteries. This meant, in part, that I had to check out all the connections and follow the wiring from engine to batteries. For those of you who have had no experience with older boats, this is no mean task. Our little vessel is over 20 years old. In the course of her life, numerous amateur electricians have added an array of wiring for different generations of gadgetry with little regard to those who followed. Old wiring was never removed, nothing labeled and standard electrical wire color coding ignored. On top of this the wiring 'convolutes' through impossible to follow nooks and crannies requiring a 'houdini' flexibility to reach. Nevertheless, I prevailed, discovered the root cause and corrected the problem (except for the labeling-but then, why bother now that I know what everything is). So now the alternator 'alternates' and the monitor actually (for the first time) reliably monitors. After running the engine all day Saturday, we actually had more stored electrical power than we had before (that's never happened)! I also repacked the stuffing box so the boat won't sink when we leave it over Thanksgiving. Oh, and the bilge pump float switch works again following my ministrations to redress the damage done by an overenthusiastic first mate trying to get the #%$#@ thing to shut off. I distinctly remember advising her to 'jiggle' it, not smash it repeatedly against the side of the bilge (there may be some psychological transference in play here).
City Island is a part of the Bronx but doesn't fit the unfortunate image we've gained from the media. Rather you get a sense of community here with local businesses that have a connection with its customers. It also has a great maritime history having built several Americas Cup boats and even today houses numerous marinas and maritime related businesses. The bewildering sound of rapid gunshots does offset the maritime ambiance, however, and we were more than a little concerned until we learned that a police academy has an outdoor target range located nearby.
Saturday, around 0730 we departed City Island and the Bronx into a blustery East River, through Hell Gate, past the United Nations and Lower Manhattan toward Sandy Hook. Although cold and overcast with winds in the 15 to 20 knot range, we had a wonderful day cruising under power through New York Harbor. We saw only a few other pleasure craft and only a small number of tankers and barges. Hell Gate, as the name suggests, is a notoriously difficult stretch of water. Tidal flow can run 5-6 knots which is about as fast as our engine will power us. Visions of us being pushed backwards into a moored barge or careening wildly into a bridge flash through my head whenever I contemplate transversing this section. But, with careful timing we passed through just at slack water and actually got a nice push through the late part of the day.
Our enclosed cockpit protected us pretty well against the wind and low 40 degree temperature and we had a really enjoyable passage. We docked at the Atlantic Highlands Municipal Marina around 3:00 pm and celebrated by eating dinner at the Harborside Restaurant. We had planned to leave today, Sunday, for Manasquan Inlet and head on to Atlantic City Monday. However, this morning proved cold and blustery, with winds out of the Northeast at 20-25 knots (doable but not comfortable). Worse, the forecast for Monday off the coast of New Jersey calls for gusts in the 30 knot range with rain. So, after discussing the matter with the crew, she decided that we should just stay here until after Thanksgiving. We actually took a vote, but Pat said that since I wasn't a resident of New Jersey, my vote wouldn't count. She produced a receipt for the Jersey Turnpike claiming that it established her residency in the state. When I questioned her she just said, "fuhgeddaboudit!"
City Island is a part of the Bronx but doesn't fit the unfortunate image we've gained from the media. Rather you get a sense of community here with local businesses that have a connection with its customers. It also has a great maritime history having built several Americas Cup boats and even today houses numerous marinas and maritime related businesses. The bewildering sound of rapid gunshots does offset the maritime ambiance, however, and we were more than a little concerned until we learned that a police academy has an outdoor target range located nearby.
Saturday, around 0730 we departed City Island and the Bronx into a blustery East River, through Hell Gate, past the United Nations and Lower Manhattan toward Sandy Hook. Although cold and overcast with winds in the 15 to 20 knot range, we had a wonderful day cruising under power through New York Harbor. We saw only a few other pleasure craft and only a small number of tankers and barges. Hell Gate, as the name suggests, is a notoriously difficult stretch of water. Tidal flow can run 5-6 knots which is about as fast as our engine will power us. Visions of us being pushed backwards into a moored barge or careening wildly into a bridge flash through my head whenever I contemplate transversing this section. But, with careful timing we passed through just at slack water and actually got a nice push through the late part of the day.
Our enclosed cockpit protected us pretty well against the wind and low 40 degree temperature and we had a really enjoyable passage. We docked at the Atlantic Highlands Municipal Marina around 3:00 pm and celebrated by eating dinner at the Harborside Restaurant. We had planned to leave today, Sunday, for Manasquan Inlet and head on to Atlantic City Monday. However, this morning proved cold and blustery, with winds out of the Northeast at 20-25 knots (doable but not comfortable). Worse, the forecast for Monday off the coast of New Jersey calls for gusts in the 30 knot range with rain. So, after discussing the matter with the crew, she decided that we should just stay here until after Thanksgiving. We actually took a vote, but Pat said that since I wasn't a resident of New Jersey, my vote wouldn't count. She produced a receipt for the Jersey Turnpike claiming that it established her residency in the state. When I questioned her she just said, "fuhgeddaboudit!"
Watch Hill: Our last view of Rhode Island as we depart on our retirement cruise. We experienced calm seas and no winds on our first 3 days, then head winds! So, we motored...motored...motored our way to City Island NY. We are taking a zero day today, Thursday, November 15, to address some troublesome electrical issues and do some routine maintenance. It's a gloomy, rainy day with gale force winds forecast for the coastal waters.
And so it begins....
Well, tomorrow we start our cruise south from our home port in East Greenwich, RI. It's kind of a "Ready or not, here we come!" Everything isn't fixed but the essential things work, so we're taking off. It has been really cold and rainy here. Last Saturday we had winds gusting over 50 knots. So we couldn't have started much earlier regardless. We should have pretty good weather next week; sunny with highs around 50, winds NW, 10 to 15, shifting to the SW 5-10. Our plan is to head down Long Island Sound to NYC. It'll take us 3 days with stops at Fishers Island, Port Jefferson and City Island. This last stop will be so that we can time our passage through Hell Gate at slack water. After NYC we'll head out along the coast to Norfolk and the Inter-Coastal Waterway (ICW). We'll leave the ICW at Moorehead City to travel down the coast to Florida and the Keys. We will stop every night before dark while on the ICW. After the first of the year, the Bahamas. The challenge will be the shallow depth of the ICW. There hasn't been money made available to dredge for many years (global warming?) so instead of a 12' controlling depth, we'll most likely find places that won't handle our 5.5' draft. At least, this time, well be running aground in daylight since we don't plan on running at night as we have in the past.
We've been plagued by little mechanical and electrical problems ever since I finished the AT. Things that worked flawlessly all summer, took my return as an opportunity to break. Our new Mermaid reverse cycle unit's fan wouldn't come on so we had to send it back. The Inverter stopped inverting. Apparently, this was due to a bad shore power cord but that means I had two bad cords (the back up didn't work either). Seems unlikely. Nevertheless, I bought a new cord and everything is okay again. The water heater thermostat stopped thermostating, so I had to replace that. And then there's the routine failures (toilet water intake clogged with debris, etc.). Our friend Rob, the most knowledgeable mariner alive, noticed that our compass globe, although not leaking, was cracked around the base and opined it would give way within a few months. And, to top it off, last night, the OSU Buckeyes lost!!! Pat thinks it's an omen. She thinks it's me!!! Everything worked while I was away and the Buckeyes won! Of course, any fool can cruise the world with everything working and good luck. We're going. I have a feeling that the longer we wait, the colder it'll get, so Sunday's the day!!!
Our many thanks to our friends at Norton's for their help and to the Norton's staff and management. To paraphrase the Governor of CA as the Terminator, "We'll be back." I guess that would make us the "Marineators".
We've been plagued by little mechanical and electrical problems ever since I finished the AT. Things that worked flawlessly all summer, took my return as an opportunity to break. Our new Mermaid reverse cycle unit's fan wouldn't come on so we had to send it back. The Inverter stopped inverting. Apparently, this was due to a bad shore power cord but that means I had two bad cords (the back up didn't work either). Seems unlikely. Nevertheless, I bought a new cord and everything is okay again. The water heater thermostat stopped thermostating, so I had to replace that. And then there's the routine failures (toilet water intake clogged with debris, etc.). Our friend Rob, the most knowledgeable mariner alive, noticed that our compass globe, although not leaking, was cracked around the base and opined it would give way within a few months. And, to top it off, last night, the OSU Buckeyes lost!!! Pat thinks it's an omen. She thinks it's me!!! Everything worked while I was away and the Buckeyes won! Of course, any fool can cruise the world with everything working and good luck. We're going. I have a feeling that the longer we wait, the colder it'll get, so Sunday's the day!!!
Our many thanks to our friends at Norton's for their help and to the Norton's staff and management. To paraphrase the Governor of CA as the Terminator, "We'll be back." I guess that would make us the "Marineators".
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