The Navesink Light Station, aka Twin Lights, overlooks Sandy Hook and was the first lighthouse in the U.S. to use the Fresnel lens
Twin Lights
The Navesink Light Station, aka Twin Lights, overlooks Sandy Hook and was the first lighthouse in the U.S. to use the Fresnel lens
Leaving Sandy Hook Again for the First Time
After long delays waiting for the weather to offer the prospect for an enjoyable overnight passage down the New Jersey coast, we finally cast off from the Atlantic Highlands Municipal Marina on Wednesday, November 28. We left around 11:00 am so that we could arrive at Cape May Inlet the next morning. Our new friends, Mike and Joy of S/V Fiona Rois, left shortly after us. Mike and Joy are originally from Cincinnati. He retired several years ago as a Marketing Professor at a large University located just north of Ohio in a state whose name dare not be mentioned. Joy was a special education librarian. They spent the last 4 years preparing for this cruise (compared to our 2 weeks). They sail a beautiful 45' Cape Dory ketch.
A strong on-shore breeze made for a challenging but with Mike's assistance, a successful departure. The wind was 15-20 knots out of the northeast, perfect for our sail south. As so often happens, however, the wind gods punish the luckless sailor for the audacity to try and harness this elusive force. As soon as we rounded the 'hook' of Sandy Hook the wind died. Actually, the wind died almost immediately after I got all the sails up and trimmed! It takes us about 1/2 hour to get things right and 45 minutes to take everything down for what turned out to be for no purpose. Frustrating. On the bright side, no wind meant smooth seas and we enjoyed a tranquil motor down the coast. The water was pond smooth. This was only the second night passage for Pat and she said, "This is really fun!" The sunset was gorgeous and we settled in for a cold but what looked like an easy passage to Cape May. Of course, things soon changed.
Just before midnight, the wind clocked around to the south and began creeping up and up, reaching 20 to 25 knots with gusts up to thirty right on our nose. The water is pretty shallow along this part of the coast and rather than the regular rise and fall of ocean waves we had choppy, confused seas. This made for an extremely uncomfortable ride. Nevertheless, we were committed. The prospect of entering Atlantic City, the only safe harbor, in the dark with this wind was extremely daunting. Fiona Rois had been following us and for much of the night, I could see her running lights. Sometime after 2:00 am, I looked back and couldn't see her anymore. Monitoring the radio, we began to hear desperate calls on assistance, boat overturned, flares, people in the water (the usual) followed by the calm, measured response of the Coast Guard. We didn't hear any calls from Fiona Rois, but often you can only hear one side of a conversation. Still, Fiona is a well found boat and Mike and Joy experienced sailors. I wasn't really worried. We were having a bouncy but not a dangerous ride. Pat had been thrown to the cockpit floor only once and her head injury didn't seem serious. I thought maybe Fiona Rois had decided to pull into Atlantic City or had passed us somehow.
In the morning, we spotted her with all sails up ("full and by" as they say) passing about 1 mile to our east! Sailing! I was amazed and greatly impressed! A 25 knot headwind and they're sailing! I thought, "Wow, these guys are true sailors." I wondered for just a moment if I should suggest we try sailing and be true sailors like Mike and Joy. That thought was dispelled after one look at Pat's grim face. I didn't ask her if she was still having fun, but the fact that she hadn't thrown up yet was a good sign.
Twenty-four hours after leaving Sandy Hook, we entered Cape May Inlet. As soon as we entered the channel the wind seemed to die and we motored in bright sunshine to the South Jersey Marina, tying up next to Fiona Rois. Mike and Joy greeted us on the dock. Pat told Joy that she was feeling a little seasick. Joy responded, "I was starting to get seasick, but terror took over and I can handle only one thing at a time!" It seems that shortly before we lost track of them, their exhaust riser failed. The exhaust riser cools the engine with seawater. When they fail, the engine overheats. Mike heard alarms going off down below and descended into a smoke filled cabin. The engine continued to run but very slowly. They had to put up their sails not because were purists, but because they couldn't make any headway under power! Still, this was a prodigious piece of sailing and I was duly impressed.
After securing our boat, we all set off together for lunch. Mike and Joy plan to take the Intercoastal Waterway to the Keys and then over to the Bahamas, so I am sure we'll see alot of each other.
A strong on-shore breeze made for a challenging but with Mike's assistance, a successful departure. The wind was 15-20 knots out of the northeast, perfect for our sail south. As so often happens, however, the wind gods punish the luckless sailor for the audacity to try and harness this elusive force. As soon as we rounded the 'hook' of Sandy Hook the wind died. Actually, the wind died almost immediately after I got all the sails up and trimmed! It takes us about 1/2 hour to get things right and 45 minutes to take everything down for what turned out to be for no purpose. Frustrating. On the bright side, no wind meant smooth seas and we enjoyed a tranquil motor down the coast. The water was pond smooth. This was only the second night passage for Pat and she said, "This is really fun!" The sunset was gorgeous and we settled in for a cold but what looked like an easy passage to Cape May. Of course, things soon changed.
Just before midnight, the wind clocked around to the south and began creeping up and up, reaching 20 to 25 knots with gusts up to thirty right on our nose. The water is pretty shallow along this part of the coast and rather than the regular rise and fall of ocean waves we had choppy, confused seas. This made for an extremely uncomfortable ride. Nevertheless, we were committed. The prospect of entering Atlantic City, the only safe harbor, in the dark with this wind was extremely daunting. Fiona Rois had been following us and for much of the night, I could see her running lights. Sometime after 2:00 am, I looked back and couldn't see her anymore. Monitoring the radio, we began to hear desperate calls on assistance, boat overturned, flares, people in the water (the usual) followed by the calm, measured response of the Coast Guard. We didn't hear any calls from Fiona Rois, but often you can only hear one side of a conversation. Still, Fiona is a well found boat and Mike and Joy experienced sailors. I wasn't really worried. We were having a bouncy but not a dangerous ride. Pat had been thrown to the cockpit floor only once and her head injury didn't seem serious. I thought maybe Fiona Rois had decided to pull into Atlantic City or had passed us somehow.
In the morning, we spotted her with all sails up ("full and by" as they say) passing about 1 mile to our east! Sailing! I was amazed and greatly impressed! A 25 knot headwind and they're sailing! I thought, "Wow, these guys are true sailors." I wondered for just a moment if I should suggest we try sailing and be true sailors like Mike and Joy. That thought was dispelled after one look at Pat's grim face. I didn't ask her if she was still having fun, but the fact that she hadn't thrown up yet was a good sign.
Twenty-four hours after leaving Sandy Hook, we entered Cape May Inlet. As soon as we entered the channel the wind seemed to die and we motored in bright sunshine to the South Jersey Marina, tying up next to Fiona Rois. Mike and Joy greeted us on the dock. Pat told Joy that she was feeling a little seasick. Joy responded, "I was starting to get seasick, but terror took over and I can handle only one thing at a time!" It seems that shortly before we lost track of them, their exhaust riser failed. The exhaust riser cools the engine with seawater. When they fail, the engine overheats. Mike heard alarms going off down below and descended into a smoke filled cabin. The engine continued to run but very slowly. They had to put up their sails not because were purists, but because they couldn't make any headway under power! Still, this was a prodigious piece of sailing and I was duly impressed.
After securing our boat, we all set off together for lunch. Mike and Joy plan to take the Intercoastal Waterway to the Keys and then over to the Bahamas, so I am sure we'll see alot of each other.
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!"
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