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NY2000 - "The Perfect Cruise" or oOPSail 2000 7/1/00 - 7/8/00
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My trip to NYC for oOPSail2000, was quite an adventure. The folks
I went with deemed it the "Perfect Cruise". There were 6 boats altogether
in our group with one guy single handing the whole way. I ended
up with a friend aboard for the trip down, and by myself for the
way back. Things went ok (for me, it was not without incident for
others of our group) on the way down, but when we got there, the
location we anchored in was unbelievably rough. Boat/ship traffic
on the harbor as well as the confluence of two currents set up a
continuous steep 3-4 foot chop (really bad for 3 hours of every
tide). Only after midnight did it settle down some, then would pipe
right back up at dawn. As we later found out the whole harbor was
about the same.
We anchored just to the north of Elis Island. The day we arrived
(Sunday) we witnessed a smaller boat drag anchor into the rocks,
we tried to help, but he'd gotten too far into them. Didn't trash
his boat too much, but his girlfriend wasn't too happy. She split
as soon as the Coasties got her ashore. Shortly after, one of my
cruiser friend's boat started to drag into the same rocks. The two
males of that crew were aboard my boat. A panic ensued as they rushed
to save the boat and his girlfriend screaming his name! They were
able to get to it before it went ashore. His whole crew departed
shortly thereafter leaving him to single hand home! Hum!, but we
still didn't think things were too bad.
The next day (Monday) was a beautiful day, three foot chop and
all! Some organization planted a barge right in front of our area
to serve as a viewing/party platform for the big event. As it turned
out the thing slowed some of the wave action for us. Most of our
cruiser group was enjoying a few cocktails later in the afternoon
aboard another of the cruiser's boat when we noticed the sky darkening
some, at that point we decided to return to our respective boats.
Good thing we did. Almost as soon as we'd gotten back to my boat,
the wind piped up to 20-30 knots. I'd had an awning up as sun coverage
during the day, but I didn't have time to get it down, and I didn't
want the wind to bend the nice folding poles I'd bought for the
trip as awning supports, so we were holding the thing from blowing
away. When I looked at my anemometer I saw 44 knots, it then got
windier and the rain came! Probably the hardest rain I've ever been
out in. At that point the boat started to drag toward the (those!)
rocks, so we let go of the awning (which immediately destroyed the
poles), and I started the engine in an attempt to stay off the rocks.
My crew first cut down the awning, then went forward to retrieve
the dragging anchor. All told the event probably lasted 15 to 20
minutes. When the winds started to subside, we attempted to fully
retrieve the anchor, but could not. It had hooked up on something
on the bottom. An hour of pulling from all angles could not clear
it, so we decided it was holding well enough! We decided to stay
put for the time being. With shortened scope we were about four
boat lengths from the shore. Many boats dragged in the blow, but
no one to disaster. One of our friend's dingy got flipped for which
he lost many items, including flooding out his engine. We were able
to resurrect it though! much effort and two oil changes later.
Somewhere about 2am the next morning I felt the boat bump whatever
it was the anchor was hooked up on. A moment later my crew was awakened
by a second bump (and by me saying "time to move"). With still two
hours till low tide moving was necessary. We were able to get the
rode up to a shackle point between sections of chain where I hooked
a fender to it for later possible retrieval. What ever we were over
had actually surrounded the keel so it took some time to get the
boat free. By 3am we were anchored again.
The Forth of July was cool. The tall ships were quite a sight,
albeit some distance away, and numerous flybys by all kinds of military
aircraft, including a B2. By midday a Boat/US guy came around and
offered to retrieve my stuck anchor. My crew had Boat/US insurance,
so it didn't cost us a penny. Later during the day we took one of
the other cruisers boat for a joyride down the harbor. We got almost
to the Verazzano where we decided to head back. There were many
military ships anchored in the harbor, as well as the QE2. When
we'd returned to the boats, we'd found all was well, then almost
as soon as we were back aboard my anchor started to drag again!
it hooked us back up in a position directly between two of our cruiser
friends. We decided to stay there while we got dinner prepped and
down, then move. All three boats were sailing back and forth on
their hooks in the two knot current, for which we had fun fending
off each other at about 10 minute intervals. After dinner we moved
to a real nice viewing area. The fireworks show was outstanding.
Of the five launching platforms we could see four, and were right
in front of the Battery Park show, with the Liberty Island show
at a 60 degree angle from there. After the show, I gave my crew
a wet dingy ride to shore where he picked up a train back to Milford.
I was on my own from then on. The harbor was so rough at that point
that I couldn't prep my dink for the early morning departure (6:30am
leave for the tide at Hell Gate), and I could hardly stand it below
deck, so I napped in the cockpit until it calmed down some. It may
have been more nerves than Mal de Mer considering all I had to do
in the AM before I was ready to solo up the East River. By 2am the
currents had swung my boat transom to the barge (which was planted
near us on Monday) to within one boat length of distance. Every
time my boat would slam in the waves I'd wake and see one of the
pilings anchoring the platform glaring at me thru the companionway,
I'd jump up only to find the boat was still a boatlength away from
the thing. Needless to say I didn't get much sleep that night.
As soon as the sun came up Wednesday morning I was up. The seas
were calm and it was a nice clear morning. I made coffee, storing
it in a thermos for use while traveling, had breakfast, cleared
the dingy for travel, and had a shower! Wow, maybe I was going to
have a good day! I'd gotten my anchor up early and was motoring
about waiting for the other cruisers to finish getting themselves
under way, when I noticed almost no water coming out my tail pipe.
NOW WHAT!! This was just as everyone else was pulling away. I was
able to track down one of the other single handers to stay with
me while I figured out what the problem was. I allowed myself to
drift (down the Hudson) while I cleaned my raw water strainer, but
that was not the solution, and I knew I needed to be set in one
place while I looked further into the problem. So I decided to sail
up the East River and thru Hell Gate and deal with the problem later.
I left the motor running at very slow speed for which I checked
regularly to make sure it was not overheating, this gave me a little
boost while sailing in the lulls. The winds were quite strong sailing
along Roosevelt Island, which allowed me to pass many boats motoring
and catch up with the rest of my group. I was easily able to sail
thru Hell Gate which was just starting to flow. Once out of the
river and into Long Island Sound where of course the wind died,
I was able to allow the boat to drift and solve my problem. It turned
out the hose between the thru-hull and the strainer was where the
clog was. With that cleared the motor worked fine.
That night we stayed in Cold Spring Harbor. A real nice place,
except for the shoaly anchorage, nine foot tide, and no speed limit
for power boaters going to the inner harbor. Some damage was sustained
to one of the other cruiser's boat, and everyone but myself had
to move at some point due to grounding. The town was very nice and
peaceful. They have springs flowing all over town (hence its name),
for which I filled some of my empty water containers. Some of the
best water I've ever had. The biggest loss of the trip came for
me here, I dropped my digital camera in the water in the back of
my dingy, and fried it. I took the thing completely apart once I'd
gotten home only to find major corrosion on the bottom row of pins
on the DSP chip, for which careful cleaning and reassembly provided
no solace.
The next day (Thursday) we checked out the rest of Oyster Bay,
then sailed (motored mostly) to Northport for shore power hookup
and a nice dinner ashore. The town orchestra did a concert on their
green right next to the dock where we were able to enjoy a nice
evening and night.
On Friday I decide I'd make for home. I left Northport at about
12:30pm, and was sailing by 1. The 24 mile trip took 5 hours sailing
into an opposing tide. I was doing 6.5 to 7.5 knots the whole way,
and actually passed two tall ships! As I got closer to Milford the
winds got stronger, and once I rounded Stratford Point I was hit
with 25-30 knots of wind. The offshore breeze was foaming the water.
At one point I was hit by a 38 knot gust which rounded the boat
up where I was carrying only 110% of my jib and the main fully dumped
(which I did as the gust hit). Once I got within shouting distance
of Charles Island I dropped the sails and motored the rest of the
way in. Enough was enough. The next tall ship event in NYC is in
2008, maybe I'll forget about this trip by then and want to go,
right now: fogedaboutit!
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