The Elements, The Beauty

Croton On The Hudson, NY
41 11.81 N 073 53.82 W

WRITTEN TUESDAY, POSTED WEDNESDAY:

Our salt water sailing is done for the next three months. We're up the Hudson River, almost far enough to reach fresh water.

I was going to write a blog complaining about how the elements conspired against us. Last evening, out at sea our nice wind died almost completely. NOAA forecast SW 15 but we got SW 3. That forced us to motor the last half of the passage.

We arrived at Sandy Hook, NJ around 0430. We had to wait until 0900 for the current to turn our way at the Verrazano Narrows so I thought we could grab a few hours sleep. I eyeballed a nice place on the Atlantic side to anchor in 20 feet of water with a sandy bottom. No wind, hardly any waves, why not. Just as I approached that point the wind started blowing really hard. Darn. I motored for another 90 minutes to the bay side of Sandy Hook and we anchored there. It still blew like crazy. It continued to blow like crazy until 15 minutes after we hoisted anchor and set sail to continue the trip. Then the wind died again.

We went up to 79th street Marina in hope of getting a mooring so that I could tour the Navy ships at fleet week. Alas, the ships were gone, fleet week ended yesterday. We took a mooring anyhow, but when we put the dinghy down and tried to mount the outboard motor we had to abort. The wind had come up again and the wind plus current plus waves made Tarwathie pitch so violently that it would have been dangerous to try lowering the outboard. Therefore, we changed our minds and departed for this place, Croton On The Hudson. This is an excellent anchorage.

On the plus side, we dodged 6 thunderstorms yesterday and today. They went south of us and north of us and we missed every one. We didn't miss the 7th storm. It hit the classic way, just 60 seconds before we dropped anchor here in Croton on the Hudson. The wind blew 35 and the rain was intense for the 10 minutes it took me to set the anchor and make everything secure. Then, I went below. My clothes were drenched. I stripped naked, grabbed a bar of soap and headed back out to get a free shower. Too bad, the rain stopped just seconds before I was ready.

But the really big story today is the beauty. Hills! Beautiful hills; the palisades of New Jersey. We haven't seen a hill since last fall. We're so tired of flat. The Palisades are a singularly beautiful way to re-introduce ourselves to hills.

On final event. Just 15 seconds before the 7th storm hit us, Libby went snif snif, "I smell honeysuckle." Is that a physics effect of lightning storms, or are the honeysuckles really in bloom.

p.s. The SSB radio link hasn't worked well the past week. I've been having trouble posting blogs. This is the first Wifi connection I've had in more than week.