From the Captain.

Arriving in New York City


Day 4: Mike and his crew from Riverview Marina in Catskill stepped the mast in short order and helped re-attach the rigging. We spend a few hours on their dock tuning the rigging, completing some other work on Luna. Organizing stuff and stowing is an ongoing task. We took on diesel and water and were off at 1:30.

Lifting the mast at Riverview Marina in Catskill, NY

The mast is slowly lowered through the cabin top

Floating lazily down the river looking at the mansions on the hillsides, we put in a 10 hour day. We were treated to a full moonrise and sailed by moonlight until 10:30pm, following a course from one blinking red buoy to the next. We anchored south of Pollepel Island, site of an abandoned castle belonging to the father of the Army Navy store, , who got into the US government suplus business after the Civil war and built a fortune selling military equipment and munitions to other countries and the general public.

Anchoring is somewhat tense because of the current change. This is unfamiliar to those of us who sail in non-tidal areas. We pointed south at the start, then the boat shifted to north, then south again, requiring the anchor to reset itself each time. The anchor was fine, though I woke several times during the night to check on our position.

Railroads thrive here. Freight trains go up the west bank of the river. Amtrak goes up the east bank near where we slept. Mercifully, sometimes they did not blow their horns at the crossing that must have been nearby.

Day 5  9/19/13 19.6nm. Pellepel Island the Petersen's Boatyard, N Nyack, NY.

We bathed in the Hudson in the morning, taking care to hold onto a rope against the northbound current. The water was warm. Playing to the tides and current, we were in no hurry to leave, hoping to motor out on the falling tide. We were to learn that currents do not change with the tides, so were slowed by an upstream current even as the tide fell.

We picked up a mooring at Petersen's, took the dinghy in. David's friend, George Stavis picked us up and took us to his house in Dobbs Ferry where we met Lynne, who had driven down from Vermont. She and David are making the final leg of this segment to NYC in the morning. George made us a great dinner, and we did our laundry and showered before turning in the for the night

Lynne Bond and David Watts help get us to New York

Day 6. N Nyack to Manhattan 18.9 nm. George drove us back to the marina, and David, Lynne, and we motored to Manhattan, cruising under the George Washington Bridge to pick up a mooring at the W 79th St. Boat Basin ($30.00/night). After settling, we dinghied into the dock, and took the subway to midtown for dinner and a play.

When sailing on Lake Champlain, we can judge the wind direction by seeing which way the anchored boats are facing. On the river, however, current trumps wind, and boats on moorings face the current not the wind. This creates some problems at night. When the current is slack (every 6 hours or so)  and the wind is in opposition, Luna fetches onto the mooring ball. The ball slaps against the hull. We get used to it. The next day, however, the attendant at the marina advises us to extend our centerboard to make the ship responsive more to the current than the wind. This will help the next night.

Day 7 NYC.

The Boat Basin is in a different world than Times Square. I can't believe they share the same city. Here, by the river, people jog and ride bicycles and push baby carriages. It is quiet, unhurried, and uncrowded.

As if to prove it's safe to do so, several hundred swimmers participate in an early morning swim from the boat basin to the lighthouse north of the GW bridge. We have breakfast on Luna (oatmeal, coffee, leftover naan from the Indian restaurant last night) and take a cab to midtown.

Moored at the W 79th St Boat Basin as swimmers (ON LEFT) splash toward the George Washington Bridge

Art lives in NYC. We wait 30 minutes in a line that snakes around the block to see an installation by James Turrell at the Guggenheim. We eat lunch at a Cuban restaurant, see a movie in the theater district (The Butler), have a small Thai dinner, and finally watch a preview production of An Evening with Janice Joplin for which Lynne has gotten tickets. Afterward, David and Lynne return to Dobbs Ferry by train, and Carol and I return to Luna.

It is drizzling as we leave the theater and raining a bit harder when the cab reaches the boat basin. When there is a lull in the rain, we dinghy back to Luna. A front has come through, and there is heavy rain all night. We are dry in the forward cabin. though there are a few leaks elsewhere that will require attention. We welcome the front. The wind has turned to the north, and predictions are for northwest winds of 12-17 kts off the Jersey shore for the next few days, perfect for the reach down to Cape May that will start tomorrow.