The Battery looks very different without the World Trade Center Buildings. It is very sad passing by ground zero.

The Lady

There's a tug like no other

Who is buried in this tomb? Hint: Groucho's favorite.

If you answer this correctly you really date yourself.

Look out New York. Here We Come

Nyack, NY
N 41 05.444 W 073 54.816

Last night, at 03:00 around 15 miles south of Sandy Hook, NJ, I saw a number of fishing boats anchored about 5 miles off shore. I figured there must be an inlet nearby. I looked toward shore, and sure enough there was another fishing boat coming out. I was 3 miles off shore so I didn't worry much.

I took a bearing on the boat -- 270 degrees. I checked it again later -- 270 degrees -- uh oh. Again in 5 minutes -- 270 degrees -- uh oh. I had the right of way unquestionably. I turned on the spreader lights to make sure that I was highly visible. Still 270 degrees. I was determined not to yield unnecessarily. At last the bugger passed me less than one boat length in front of my bow.

I looked ashore again, and saw another boat coming out. Same story -- he was coming straight at me, even though I was not in the same place as when the first boat came out. I figured it out. These jerk fishermen were having fun playing chicken with the sailboat. This time I determined not to play and I stopped dead in the water to let him pass. Bugger.

We arrived at Sandy Hook around 09:00 right on schedule to pick up the flood tide. I gave Libby three choices, anchor, stay at the 79th street boat basin for the night, or continue up the Hudson. We heard from a couple of people that was a fun stop. She said that she felt burned out on cities after Washington, and Baltimore, so she chose to go on up the Hudson.

The tides in NYC harbor are hard to understand. We fought the ebb tide approaching the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. We made 4 knots at 2000 RPM. Passing under the bridge we picked up a flood tide and the speed jumped to 5.5 knots. That was faster than the trucks on the bridge above us. They seemed to go only about 3 mph.

A mile later and we were back to 4 knots. As we passed the East River, we had 0.3 knots ebb tide against us, but only 1/4 mile away in front of the UN building it was 3. knots flood tide. How could that be? Up by Hell's gate, the current was 9.2 knots at the same time.

We started to pick up the flood tide again as we passed Manhattan. By the time we went under the George Washington Bridge, we were doing 6.7 knots. That was 6.7 knots faster than the truck traffic on the bridge above -- it was completely stopped.

As the afternoon passed on a south wind picked up and blew stronger and stronger. If we hadn't decided to stop at Nyack, we would have been able to ride the tide and current another 50 miles before sunset. As it was, we did 184 miles in 31 hours. I confess though, that 22 of those 31 hours we were motoring. The wind was nil most of the time.

We've heard that Nyack is a very fun place to visit so we'll have a look tomorrow. We're staying at a yacht club mooring in Nyack. Just sough of us is the Tappan Zee bridge and across the river at the crest of the hill behind Tarrytown is (I think) the Rockerfeller Mansion. Just up the river are the Vanderbilt mansion, Roosevelt's Hyde Park, and many more sights. This is the start of the most beautiful scenery on the east coast. We say that, no because we are New Yorkers at heart, but because it so obviously true. The Hudson Valley and the Mohawk Valley and the Champlain Valley are all wonderfully beautiful.

NYC Bound

At Sea
N 39 30 W 74 11

We left this morning expecting light winds in the morning and a fresher breeze after noon. In fact, we had the opposite. Leaving the Cape May inlet we had a brisk 15-20 NW breeze. Ah the thrill of putting out to sea. We always love it.

Within an hour though the breeze stopped. We were forced to motor for much of the day. I know I wrote in the blog that I don't use the motor at sea, but today was the exception.

Around 19:00 the NW wind picked up again and we're tooling right along at 6 knots. I don't think it will last all night but we'll see.

If we can make it to the Verazzano Bridge by 10:00 tomorrow, we'll have a favorable current to carry us up the Hudson. If we miss that, we'll probably anchor overnight at Sandy Hook.

Our course takes us up the NJ coast, never more than 10 miles off shore. However, the NJ coast is boring. Just fishing trawlers and barges out here. There are a few inlets where we could put in if a storm came, but they don't sound interesting.

I did learn one thing by listening to the local radio stations. A poll of NJ residents say that they prefer that Tony Soprano should not get whacked in the finale episode but that he should go straight instead. Well, now you heard the word from the horses mouth.

No Respect for Delaware

Cape May, New Jersey
N 38 57.002 W 74 53.246

We made very fast progress today. 80 miles in 12.5 hours. If we maintained that for 24 hours it would have been a 150 mile day; our second best ever. It helped a lot that we had the current against us for only 3 of those 12 hours. Studying the current tables can really pay off.

This is the third or fourth time we made the passage to/from Cape May to the C&D Canal. Each time we pass from Maryland, through Delaware to New Jersey. Yet, we still haven't ever set foot in Delaware. I think that even when traveling by car, that we've always passed through Delaware without stopping. There seems to be nothing of interest to attract us in Delaware; hence no respect. Now I expect emails from blog readers who love Delaware. Let them come.

As we approached the C&D canal, we were making 5 knots under power at 2000 RPM. As we exited the canal we were doing 8.9 knots, still at 2000 RPM. Two hours after that we were doing 8.9 knots under sail, with a double reefed main. No wonder it was a fast day.

Coming in to the Cape May canal I plugged in my computer and the new WiFi gadget and scanned for a signal. Soon I found one coming from a house along side the canal. I told Libby to stop and circle near the house while I checked email. She did so. When I was done I came up on deck and saw an apparently irate homeowner on the shore staring at us. I suspect that he was angry at the thought of sharing his Internet with passers by. Too bad for him.

Havre

Havre De Grace
N 39 32.729 W 076 04.948

On Sunday the remnants of tropical storm Betty passed by. It was cold and rainy all day long so we just sat it out and did nothing all day.

Today started rainy too but we were restless, so we headed across the bay to Havre de Grace, at the mouth of the Susquehanna River. This is yet another place where we've never been before. We tried to get here last year, but just as we entered the very long (7 mile) channel in, we got hit by a very powerful 30 knot north wind that raised steep 5-6 foot waves almost immediately. That made us change our mind and we retreated to the Sassafras River.

Today, we had a mission. We were nearly out of clean clothes and some provisions. We hadn't had a chance to do either since Solomons. Therefore, we sailed here to Havre and took a mooring at Tidewater Marina for 75 cents per foot. While Libby did laundry, I walked around the town. There was nothing of great interest.

There is a railroad bridge nearby with an amazing amount of traffic. It seems that a passenger train passes every 15-20 minutes. I suspect that this might be the main train route from New York City to Washington DC. There is a highway bridge just upstream from the railway bridge and I suspect that it is the I-95 crossing.

When our chores were done I elected to not stay the night. I wanted to cross the bay to the Bohemia River so that we could be in a better position to traverse the C & D (Chesapeake & Delaware) canal tomorrow morning. We slipped the mooring but soon thereafter we got a weather report of a severe Thunderstorm near Annapolis heading our way, so we changed our minds and came back.

Tomorrow, we'll have to get up early and be underway by 05:30. The reward for timing it right is a rapid ride on the canal's currents. If we do it right, we'll have 4.7 knots of current with us as we pass Chesapeake City on the canal. Wow! If things work well, and if the weather holds up, we will be all the way or most of the way to Cape May NJ before sunset tomorrow.