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!"