Where is Waretown?

The last few days have been pretty eventful. Graham showed up in Tarrytown right on schedule and we left early the following morning to catch a bit of the ebbing tide towards "The Big Apple". The trip down the last 25 miles of the Hudson River went according to plan and we arrived at the Liberty Landing Marina where we had reserved a slip, at around 3 pm. It was necessary to reserve the slip, as I found out; the first place that I called was full. Where we ended up was connected to the Liberty Landing State Park, a great place to walk the dog and one with a large restaurant where Graham and I later had some dinner. After our end of day beer, we hopped aboard a water taxi and went across the river to Manhattan. Graham took me on a tour of a small portion of that area before we returned to the marina around 7 pm. I was a bit surprised at how much construction is still going on at the site of "ground zero". I had expected to see some form of memorial already in place but all that I could see ere construction cranes in and around the area. It would be nice to return to the city and spend a bit more time looking around. The waterfront area alone would take days to really appreciate. One comment that Graham made a number of times was that there seemed to be a lot of public green space down where we were - small and large parks where one could be comfortable - with benches and flowers and buzzing with activity.
We had planned on doing a 5 hour trip the following day (Sunday) to Sandy Hook before we dod our jump "outside" on the Atlantic for the hop to the Manasquan Inlet in New Jersey, but the weather was so good, and the tide in our favour, that we decided to add the hop to Manasquan to our day's run. After about 8 hours, we arrived in the Manasquan Inlet where we had our first brush with difficulty in finding a marina. We ended up tied alongside a fixed pier at the fuel docks at the Brielle Yacht Club - an upscale place with upscale power yachts and a very rough fuel dock that was exposed to a strong current from the river. We docked, then decided to make a run for an unknown anchorage the other side of a lift bridge, then changed our minds and returned to the rough dock where we spent the night, anxious to get out of there the following morning.
We did leave at around 10 a.m., and rode a following wind through the start of the New Jersey Intracoastal Waterway. NJICW. It is quite shallow in most spots so we had to keep to the centre of the channel with one eye on the depth sounder as we went along, but after calling a reserving a skip at a marina in Waretown, we relaxed a bit, let out some sails, and actually had the motor off for a couple of hours.
Waretown is a small community on the west bank of Barnegat Bay - a large body of water about 15 miles long and in places several miles wide, but with an average depth of only about 7 feet. That meant that the strong winds that we were sailing in did not raise much in the way of waves on the bay. Still, we were relieved to arrive at a really well-protected, new marine facilityexpecially since the weather forecasts for the next several days point to cery strong winds. I think that we might be here until the weekend, which means that Graham's sailing times on Resolute this trip, might be behind him. The winds are forecast to reach gale force by Wednesday and Thursday so this cruiser will be staying put.
Well, Graham just returned from a shower after his run, time for a snack. I will post a few photos - Graham with the Statue of Liberty in the background, the two of us leaving NYC, and one of the waterfront at the marina in Waretown. By the way, the washrooms here are fabulous; I would highly recommend this place.
I may get back to you again before our stay here is over.

Food for now.

Mike

I can see the towers

Caja and I arrived safely after a really nice motor sail from Haverstraw Bay to Tarrytown. This is where Graham will report later this evening. The train station is all of about 100 meters from the marina. No taxi needed this time! Since I last wrote we covered about 60 miles in 3 stops. The first was at Kingston where I took a slip at the Rondout Harbour Marina. This was located up a very protected creek where I found a really well equipped boat club. It has nice grounds, good showers, laundry, and a helpful staff. Because the tidal currents are not very favourable, I left later in the morning and did some laundry while I waited for the current to change. It makes a huge difference to one's boatspeed if the current is against you. With the current we go around 6 knots; against it goes down to about 3.
There were a couple of interesting events that took place along the way to our second stop. Just before we arrived, an old sailing vessel (or a replica) appeared nearby. I have included a photo of it. The second was near Pockiepsie (?) when another fairly large sailing vessel appeared. I think that Pete Seeger has a similar boat - it looked as though there was a film crew aboard the boat. I have also included a picture of that one.
The docking at our second stop was scary. It was at a marina on the waterfront at Newburg. There was a strong current flowing across the marina and the dockmaster recommended that I try to go to an inside slip. As soon as the boat was crosswise to the current, away we went. It took about 10 minutes, and a lot of work before I was tied up. The only damage was to my ego and to the Lifesling that was hanging on the port stern rail. It got caught in the anchor on the front of a powerboat that we came too close to and the straps got ripped off. My first job today after we arrived in Tarrytown was to sew the straps back on. It took me about an hour using whipping twine and a sailneedle.
Yesterday was a 25 mile day as we went from Newburg to Haverstraw Bay in a very strong north wind. One of the places that I wanted to try to get a good look at was West Point. It occupies a very striking location on an elbow in the Hudson River. I took a number of pictures but the one I will attach to this is of the soldier at the top of the point. An interesting event took place as we were coming into the marina at Haverstaw Bay. I had noticed a tour boat going into the West Point area as we went through. I noticed it again behind us as we approached Haverstraw Bay Marina. Out of the blue, I received a call on my radio. It was from the captain of the tour boat. He called to compliment me on the boat. He asked a few questions over the radio and offered to take me shopping once we were tied up. He waited for me and took me about 2 miles over to the shopping centre and waited while I did the provisioning. His name was Tim and I included his picture. Caja and I came across him this morning as we were doing our morning walk.
The trip to Tarrytown today was easy and short. It took us about 2 hours to cover the 9 miles. There was a nice breeze from the east and while it was not strong enough to keep us moving at 5 knots, we had both sails up and motorsailed to maintain the 5 knots. The marina here is another good one. Great facilities. I spent the afternoon today getting the boat all filled - with water, diesel, and food. As I came into the area near the Tappan Zee bridge, I could see the skyscrapers of New York down the river. The foot of Manhattan Island is about 25 miles away, and the clear air, thanks to a Canadian high pressure system, made it easy to see the skyline of The CIty that never sleeps.
The dog has been fed, the boat is ready, I am up to date on my blog, but I need to eat. Another leg of this trip is almost over.

Rip van Winkel

Today was a relatively easy one; we left CBC around 9 and caught a good piece of the outgoing tide. At one time we were moving along at 6.9 knots over the ground. So it didn't take all that long - about 4 hours-to reach the land of Rip Van Winkel, Icabod Crane, Sleepy Hollow, and the headless horseman. I am tied up at a marina in Catskill N.Y. It is dark and the full moon is rising over the hills in the distance. It is quite a lovely scene. They really think a lot of cats in this town. The theme is present everywhere.What Mel did with moose, this town does with cats. The downtown area is well preserved and quite old but "up the hill" you will find the Wal-Mart and other big box stores.
I motor sailed all the way and for about 2 minutes tried to turn off the engine and go on sails power alone. Alas, the tide was against me at that time and I soon reached for the key to activate the "iron genny". It is looking as though much of this trip will be on the motor. The winds in the Hudson River valley are kind of flucky and seem to come at you from different directions every minute.
I have attached a few photos from the download that I did tonight. The first is of Heiner and Marleyn, a couple who I referenced in my last posting. The second is of a waterfront building in Albany N.Y. I don't know what it is but it was impressive. The third is of a barge that passed by me at CBC. The 4th is a long distance shot of the Catskill mountains, and the last is of the crew on the Beneteau, trying to decide how to cut their fenderboards so they would fit in their storage space. "How many sailors does it take to cut a piece of wood?"
Tomorrow will also be a relatively short day. I think that I will stop at Kingston N.Y., anad may be there for more than 1 day of there is anything to see or do. I am only about 80 miles from where I pick up Graham on Friday. The weather promises to be very good over the next week or so, so there will be no problem making the pick-up as scheduled, and we should be able to make good progress on getting through New York City and on to the New Jersey coast.
I am tied up next to a crew aboard a large Beneteau sailboat. It is their plan to try to go from Tarrytown N.Y. to the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay in 30 hours. They will be sailing non-stop and going the outside route, once they leave Tarrytown. I guess that it will take me about a month to do the same distance.

It is turning out that many of the marinas have Wi-Fi. If this trend continues, I will have no choice but to do a lot of writing. Until the next time, or "a la prochaine"

Mike

We are on a sailboat again

We left Waterford yesterday morning in a light drizzle that intensified into fairly heavy rain that lasted about 2 hours. The plan for today was to go as far as the Castleton Boat Club at Castelton-on-Hudson, and wait until the boat traffic on the Hudson settled down. Then Heiner and I would help each other to get our masts up. I would stay at least another day to do all of the rest of the work associated with turning a motor boat back into a sailboat. We arrived at the CBC by around noon we had caught the tide as it turned down the river and made really good time. It was also very quiet on the river so we immediately began to get ready to put up the masts. Another Canadian boat showed up and their crew of 3 pitched in. After 2 hours, all 3 boats had their masts up. Heiner and Marleyn left for an anchorage to complete the rest of their work. I set about doing mine, and the other Canadian boat did the same. By the time I got my sails up and some of the related lines installed, it was almost bed time, so I went downtown to the local inn and had myself a cheeseburger, washed down with a couple of cold ones. It was a long day but a lot was accomplished.
Today, I spent most of the day, it was a very hot and humid one, completing my tasks, including setting up a system of jacklines. I think that from now on, I will be attaching myself to the boat. It is evening now, and I thought that I would look for a few photos to upload to the blog. They are taken from the part of the trip from Oswego to Waterford. The first is of my second mate - he doesn't do very much. The second is of the town dock at the village of Phoenix; the third is a look ahead over the Mohawk River valley, and the fourth is of the town dock at Waterford.
I might someday get caught up and upload camera pictures to the blog on the day they were taken. That will be some other day.
Tomorrow is supposed to be very windy. If the morning forecast repeats that, I will likely stay here at the CBC for another day. The rest of the week is looking very good, so I do not anticipate any problems reaching Tarrytown by Friday when Graham is scheduled to join the crew.

Talk to you later,

Mike

The view from Waterford N.Y.

I'm looking out over the Mohawk River on a warm and sunny Thursday afternoon; it is a quiet and idyllic scene - calm waters, a state park across the river, a houseboat anchored in the shallows in a bay. My provisioning for the next few days is done, and we have a slip reserved for tomorrow night at the Hop-on-Nose Marina in the Catskill area. The staff there will put up my mast on Saturday and the sails and lines will go on the following day. The visitor centre here at Waterford is impressive - about 1000 feet of dockage, washrooms, showers, TV and Wi-Fi. And, the first 2 nights of a stay cost $0. Subsequent nights cost $10.00. A great deal!!!.
The stop in Ilion was sort of productive. Because of bad weather, I had decided to stay an extra day there. Some of the time was spent replacing a leaking water pump. The job, while straight forward had its complications because the pump was located in a relatively inaccessible spot. It took a bit of the contortionist in me to get the bolts off the old pump. In fact it took 2 hours to remove 4 bolts. It was also suprising to me that the footprint of the new pump did not match that of the old, so, I had to compromise and use 2 screws along with 2 bolts to hold the new pump in place. But, it sure is nice not to wake up in the morning to wet carpets. Just ask Caja. He'll tell you.
The trip down here from Ilion was quite pleasant, although we ended up with another lay day because of severe thunderstorms that ran through the area. We tied up above lock 8 on the system and used this time to repair the copper tubing that delivers fuel to the cabin heater. It was chilly so I gave it a test. Works just fine. The guitar got used for the first time on this trip and I managed to read about 15 pages of a book that I have had on the go for several months.
We arrived fairly early in the day (2:20 p.m.), but already, all of the available dock space was taken up. The harbourmaster allowed me to tie up to the pumpout dock but warned me that if anyone came in for a PO, I would have to move. Fortunately, noone did and I stayed there overnight. Early this morning, the boat just behind me let me know they were moving and we swapped places. So I have a place to stay tonight without the fear of being asked to move. Staying in 1 spot for more than a few hours has great advantages, not the least of which is that there is timed to talk to the other boaters. I rapaciously pick their brains for information about what lies ahead because for the most part, the others are experienced.
Now, 3 major sections of the trip are behind us: The Trent-Severn, Bay of Quinte and Lake Ontario, and the Oswego-Erie Canal. We are looking forward to the new experiences of dealing with tidal conditions once I get into the Hudson River tomorrow morning. I'll let you know how it went.
Chow for now.

Mike

The news from Ilion N.Y.

It has been a while since I last posted a note here, and a lot has happened since. Our intention was to post more regularly but with the excellent weather we have had, Terry, Caja, and I have been logging the miles.
The trip down the rest of the Trent-Severn was without incident; the lock grounds were all immaculate and well-kept, and the boat traffic was relatively light. We arrived in Trenton and stayed for the night at a small marina right where the waterway ended. It was nice to have access to showers and unlimited power but we were a bit disappointed in not having wi-fi at the marina. We did our shopping and refueling there and did try to get in a blog entry at the local library. It was in a beautiful new building right on the waterfront with large windows overlooking the water and very comfortable chairs and tables nearby.W e ran out of time, however; we were heading to the yacht club at CFB Trenton to take down the mast.
That we did and while coming in to the marina, noticed the boat crewed by a local couple which we had met at one of the locks. We renewed acquaintances and were fortunate enough to be invited to their beautiful, century-old home in Trenton. That he was a professional chef was an added bonus. They prepared us a lovely meal on the day that Terry was to return to Toronto for her orientation at George Brown. She made the trip to Toronto and returned to the boat on Friday night. We began our trip to Oswego N.Y. early the following morning.
It was another HHH day and with the mast up, we began our trip down the Bay of Quinte. We did have the main up for most of the voyage but the light wind was right behind us so we really motored-sailed. This area looks like a prime cruising region. Once Resolute is back in Canadian waters, I will add a cruise here to my list of places to go. Once we turned the corner at Deseronto, we were able to put out the genoa and did get a few miles of good sailing - reached 6.0 knots at one point. Our destination was Prinyer's Cove. We were very pleasantly surprised once we arrived. Good docks, a well-protected basin, washrooms, grounds, and a very quiet location met us. There were many boats there - they were pretty well full-up - it was, you will recall, the Labour Day weekend. There were also there a couple of other sailboats. We wondered if they were also heading south.
After a good night's sleep, we headed out early Sunday morning for the crossing. We were again plagued by quite light winds so it was motor-sailing again. The crossing took about 9 hours and we arrived at the Oswego marina were we took a slip, and made arrangements for the lowering of the mast on Monday.
The world is small. As we were pulling into our assigned slip, a woman emerged from the already berthed boat. Judy and Les were aboard a boat that Terry and I had met in Parry Sound last summer. She had joined Les in Oswego to help him do a delivery of a boat he was moving from Long Island to Cobourg. We shared a drink and renewed this friendship.
The next couple of days involved taking down and securing the mast for the transit of the Oswego and Erie Canals, and with provisioning and preparing for Terry's return to work in Toronto. The marina staff did an excellent job of taking down the mast and we had the chance to visit some of the local stores: Staples for boat cards and a new computer for Terry, Price Chopper for some food, and Wal-Mart for a new cell phone for me.

My new cell-phone number is 315-297-5951- you can leave a message; I will check them a couple of times a day.

Terry left and arrived safely in Toronto on Wednesday and around 11:15, I left to do my first lock solo. It went pretty well and practiced on 6 more over the balance of the day, arriving, tired, at Pheonix and the waterfront park maintained by the community. What a lovely location. Great docks and amenities nearby. I joined the crew - Cheryl and Robin from Just Imagine, a very large catamaran that Terry and I saw in Trenton at the yacht club for a quick trip to a convenience store for some "convenience" - beer. After a cold one and a chat on the docks, I returned to the boat, heated up the beef stew that we had made a few days earlier, took Caja for his evening constitutional, and then crashed.

The weather was promising to hold out for another day so I made the decision to cross Lake Oneida today. I would first of a all make a quick stop at a marina in Brewerton where I had ordered a replacement for one of the freshwater footpumps that had developed a leak. The crossing was to be a bit over 20 miles so I rigged up the autopilot and "Auto" steered for the 4-hour crossing. This Lake is long and narrow - like Rice Lake, and quite shallow and has a reputation for getting rough with the wrong winds - tomorrow is supposed to be windy.

There is a long and good dock at Sylvan Beach at the east end of Lake Oneida. It was quiet and peaceful when I pulled in around 4 pm. Around 5 the vintage cars stared arriving and by 5:30 there were about 200 of them. Also at 5:30 a local radio station started to play loud music from the 50's and 60's as part of their regular Thursday night broadcast. They continued until dark. Many locals also came out to look at the cars and to listen to the music. It was once again quiet and peaceful by about 9:30. I had a nice conversation with another Canadian couple, this one about a lovely cruising sailboat from Kingston. This would be their 3rd trip down south. They brought over their charts for the Erie canal and filled me in on good spots to tie up for the night. After they left, I made up a salad, Caja and I did our evening walk and I crashed, again fairly early. I was up at 6:30 this am and we began our trip around 8. It looks as though early starts will be the rule as the locks now close at 5:00 p.m.

Friday turned out again to be another HHH day but Saturday is supposed to deliver the remnants of Hurricane Hannah, so we again got underway very early. It looks as though we will be sitting tight on Saturday waiting for the lousy weather to pass. Going through one of the locks I had a conversation with a young man who was returning a boat he had just bought to Cleveland. He recommended the waterfront marina at the village of Ilion - it had wi-fi and showers and power - all for $1. per foot. The only problem was that it would be a 40 mile day if we got that far. My other option was to tie up to one of the lock walls, but when we reached the one upstream from Ilion, the walls were much too high for Caja to negotiate - so on we travelled. After a long day, we arrived at Ilion. One very large surprise to me is how light the boat traffic is on the canal. Even on Friday, yesterday, I only met about 3 boats all day long. Much of the canal here is a boring ride, straight and heavily forested along the side. There were some cottages close to Brewerton, but not many elsewhere. I wonder if that is all regulated. I had a very appreciated shower, a couple of very cold beer, a nice conversation with one of the RV residents here and tried unsuccessfully to log on. It was just as well, I was so tired, I didn't even notice the noise from the many trains that pass nearby.

Today, Saturday, the rains arrived as promised. The weather forecasts here are great!! I have been able to get very detailed ones, at any time, on my hand-held VHF radio. They did let up this morning for enough time for Caja and I to do our morning walk and to give me time to go to the marina office to find out why I could not log on. The attendant had given me the password for September. It has apparently not been changed from the august one. So, I am doing this using the august pwd. Once on, I was able to complete by registration for Skype, and to use it for a couple of calls back home.. I talked to Terry and Bob, and left a message for Graham. The service worked very well!! I may continue to use it for my long distance even after I return to Canada. Now, I can cancel my Bell. Good.

This brings us up-to-date. This afternoon I will try to complete the hookup for my cabin heater and to install the footpump that I picked up day before yesterday, and perhaps place a few more Skype calls. Too-da-loo for now.

Mike