second day out to nyc
10/26/06
Beautiful day in Long Island Sound
Today was the nicest day on the water yet. We woke up around 8:30 to ham, egg and cheese sandwiches. By 10 we were out of Huntingtons bay and sailing in 10-15 knots of wind. We were on a starboard tack the whole time averaging around 6.6 knots for the 4 hour trip. We got our first glimpse of NYC as we pulled out of Huntingtons and refused we could see the 20 some odd miles it was to NYC, but the empire state building was unmistakable to Hal. Today was also the first day of fishing on the trip as Hal trolled for an hour or so. We have yet to perfect the technique as fish were not jumping in the boat left and right. We anchored East of City Island and south of Rat Island. It should be an hour hop tomorrow morning till we are in Hell Gate staring at the skyscrapers. Trip odometer: 180 nautical miles
10/25/06
Day off
Because of the forecast, we motored farther in Huntingtons bay and picked up a complementary ball at Coney’s marina. The people at Coney’s were very helpful and willing to offer advice about a number of our queries. We spent the day on shore picking up repair materials at West Marine, the supermarket etc. We also had our first shore showers in days. They were much needed. Hal and I cut buzzed our heads. The boat got a lot of TLC. After talking to Deb and Linda we removed the electrical tape from the skirt of the mast and tried to cover the inch hole in the skirt with new tape. I don’t know if this will hold for that long and we really just need to replace the skirt. Last sail the bulkhead near the mast was covered in black gunk from the deteriorating skirt. The dodger needed some repair stitches, a very quick fix. We also tried padding the anchor locker with a rubber welcome mat. The floor boards needed a crowbar to remove before brad shaved them down a bit.
10/24/06
Brads Birthday
It was brads Birthday and he didn’t even know it. He had to be reminded by an old high school friend. We sailed from Port Jefferson to Huntingtons bay on Long island. Winds were 15-20 with gusts to 25, seas 2-4. It was a rough day out there lots of crashing in the anchor locker. We got in too late to get a mooring farther in Huntingtons so we picked up an illegal mooring in Lloyds bay.
10/23/06
Second Day Out-
We left our mooring at 7:45 am to avoid paying the city mooring fee of 25 dollars. We fueled up before leaving new London harbor. There was a small craft warning, seas 2-4 ft with 15-20 knots and gusts to 25. Not fully prepared we ducked into Nianic to set up our jacklines and reef our sails. It was now 11 and we had only covered a couple miles of our projected 40 to Branford. Of course we were confident and said what the hell lets go for it. By this time we had no starboard lifeline on the foredeck. Somehow the Jib sheet had come down on it and snapped the gate off. Never the less, we were on our way in a NW wind that we were beating against to make headway. At some point during the day it became clear that we were not going to make it to port before nightfall and with the wind from the NW we decided we would be better off heading to Mt. Sinai Harbor on Long Island. Early in the night we were forced to tack because of the shoals off of long island. The jib sheet proceeded to get caught under the dingy and snap on of the sail ties holding the dingy down. The dingy was pushed up and caused the other sail ties to rip into the dingy as they fought to hold it down on the deck. After furling up the jib and retying the dingy, which seemed to have miraculously survived, we continued on our way. At this point we were all exhausted and pleased to have Mt. Sinai in our sights. We dropped the jib and started the engine only to find no water coming from the exhaust pipe, a sign that there is a problem with the water pump. We turned the engine off and contemplated our next move. After deciding we should not bother dropping our anchor for the first time at night, we phoned the harbormaster only to find that they had no moorings for transients. Port Jefferson was 3 miles farther than Mt. Sinai but had moorings available, thus we set sail yet again and headed toward our third destination. We still had the looming decision of whether or not to turn on the engine because of the possible damage it would cause for the engine to operate without a cooling mechanism. We settled on sailing in through Port Jefferson’s narrow harbor. Unfamiliar with the area we moved our way through other sailboats while attempting to pick up a mooring, at night and under sail. Failing on a number of attempts and eventually loosing our only boat hook we started the engine only to find it was in running order! We dropped our sails and finally secured a ball around 11:30 pm, 15 hours later and 70+ miles removed. What a first day.
Beautiful day in Long Island Sound
Today was the nicest day on the water yet. We woke up around 8:30 to ham, egg and cheese sandwiches. By 10 we were out of Huntingtons bay and sailing in 10-15 knots of wind. We were on a starboard tack the whole time averaging around 6.6 knots for the 4 hour trip. We got our first glimpse of NYC as we pulled out of Huntingtons and refused we could see the 20 some odd miles it was to NYC, but the empire state building was unmistakable to Hal. Today was also the first day of fishing on the trip as Hal trolled for an hour or so. We have yet to perfect the technique as fish were not jumping in the boat left and right. We anchored East of City Island and south of Rat Island. It should be an hour hop tomorrow morning till we are in Hell Gate staring at the skyscrapers. Trip odometer: 180 nautical miles
10/25/06
Day off
Because of the forecast, we motored farther in Huntingtons bay and picked up a complementary ball at Coney’s marina. The people at Coney’s were very helpful and willing to offer advice about a number of our queries. We spent the day on shore picking up repair materials at West Marine, the supermarket etc. We also had our first shore showers in days. They were much needed. Hal and I cut buzzed our heads. The boat got a lot of TLC. After talking to Deb and Linda we removed the electrical tape from the skirt of the mast and tried to cover the inch hole in the skirt with new tape. I don’t know if this will hold for that long and we really just need to replace the skirt. Last sail the bulkhead near the mast was covered in black gunk from the deteriorating skirt. The dodger needed some repair stitches, a very quick fix. We also tried padding the anchor locker with a rubber welcome mat. The floor boards needed a crowbar to remove before brad shaved them down a bit.
10/24/06
Brads Birthday
It was brads Birthday and he didn’t even know it. He had to be reminded by an old high school friend. We sailed from Port Jefferson to Huntingtons bay on Long island. Winds were 15-20 with gusts to 25, seas 2-4. It was a rough day out there lots of crashing in the anchor locker. We got in too late to get a mooring farther in Huntingtons so we picked up an illegal mooring in Lloyds bay.
10/23/06
Second Day Out-
We left our mooring at 7:45 am to avoid paying the city mooring fee of 25 dollars. We fueled up before leaving new London harbor. There was a small craft warning, seas 2-4 ft with 15-20 knots and gusts to 25. Not fully prepared we ducked into Nianic to set up our jacklines and reef our sails. It was now 11 and we had only covered a couple miles of our projected 40 to Branford. Of course we were confident and said what the hell lets go for it. By this time we had no starboard lifeline on the foredeck. Somehow the Jib sheet had come down on it and snapped the gate off. Never the less, we were on our way in a NW wind that we were beating against to make headway. At some point during the day it became clear that we were not going to make it to port before nightfall and with the wind from the NW we decided we would be better off heading to Mt. Sinai Harbor on Long Island. Early in the night we were forced to tack because of the shoals off of long island. The jib sheet proceeded to get caught under the dingy and snap on of the sail ties holding the dingy down. The dingy was pushed up and caused the other sail ties to rip into the dingy as they fought to hold it down on the deck. After furling up the jib and retying the dingy, which seemed to have miraculously survived, we continued on our way. At this point we were all exhausted and pleased to have Mt. Sinai in our sights. We dropped the jib and started the engine only to find no water coming from the exhaust pipe, a sign that there is a problem with the water pump. We turned the engine off and contemplated our next move. After deciding we should not bother dropping our anchor for the first time at night, we phoned the harbormaster only to find that they had no moorings for transients. Port Jefferson was 3 miles farther than Mt. Sinai but had moorings available, thus we set sail yet again and headed toward our third destination. We still had the looming decision of whether or not to turn on the engine because of the possible damage it would cause for the engine to operate without a cooling mechanism. We settled on sailing in through Port Jefferson’s narrow harbor. Unfamiliar with the area we moved our way through other sailboats while attempting to pick up a mooring, at night and under sail. Failing on a number of attempts and eventually loosing our only boat hook we started the engine only to find it was in running order! We dropped our sails and finally secured a ball around 11:30 pm, 15 hours later and 70+ miles removed. What a first day.
posted by Scott Quarrier @ 4:35 PM
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