Made it to NYC

So far, so good.  We made it to NYC with little drama and have been hanging out at Liberty Harbor Marina in Jersey City right across from lower Manhattan and next to Liberty Park where the ferries depart for Ellis Island and Liberty Island.  It's a nice quiet spot with great access to the city.  But over the years I've had my fill of NYC so I've just been hanging out and catching up on boat chores.

As I mentioned, the trip down had little drama.  A little bit, but all-in-all very little.  My friend and former colleague, Jim Murphy, was crew and companion for the trip.  It was great to catch up on old corporate drama, and we've shared plenty.  Plus he's a great second mate.

The first leg was from Gloucester to Cuttyhunk, and was a bit rolly crossing Mass Bay with 4'-6' waves square on our beam.  But the stabilizers took out the worst of it and in a few hours we were at the Cape Cod Canal.   We timed the current well and had a nice smooth cruise through while we had lunch.  Then a couple of hours later we arrived at Cuttyhunk and grabbed a mooring inside since it was a 15-20kt wind the whole time.  If you have even been in Cuttyhunk you will know that the mooring field is VERY tight.  We were pulled snug up to the mooring we were on and when we would swing around the right way I could reach the mooring ball behind us.  The other challenge is that although the channel and anchorage are well dredged and marked, it ends abruptly and becomes just a few feet deep.

The first excitement was a good sized sail boat that came in shortly after us and promptly ventured beyond the mooring field and ran aground.  With wind against their beam holding them in shallow water, and the tide still going out, they were pretty stuck.  But they ran a line out to one of the moorings and by morning after the night high tide they were sitting pretty again.

Then, well after dark, two more pretty good sized sail boats came in and were hunting around trying to find moorings.  One of them got out of the channel too and ran aground.  But by leaning on their bow thruster and throttle for about 5 minutes they got free and finally picked up a mooring.

The next day we set out to cross Rhode Island Sound to Long Island Sound and found conditions better than expected.  The winds were still 15-20 kts and seas about the same, but now we had it all behind us so the ride was much more comfortable.  Skippy was working hard, but that's what he lives for.  So it wasn't a write-home day, but also wasn't bad at all.  We pulled into Westbrook, CT, topped up the fuel tanks, then had a nice dinner and relaxing evening.

Friday AM we departed and on the way out of the channel I activated the stabilizers and the port side started moving back and forth spastically shaking the whole boat.  I tried resetting them, cycling power, etc but it kept up.  So I just enabled the starboard stabilizer and kept going while placing a call to ABT to see what they thought.  They called back quickly as always and we talked through what I was seeing, but I didn't want to try too many experiments while underway.  The boat was running fine with one fin and I didn't want to risk that spazing out too, so we agreed to resume the experiments when I made it to our next port.

Originally I was going to stay at the Harlem Yacht Club or City Island Marina, but neither one was answering their phone so I ended up at Capri Marina across the sound in Port Washington.  Once secured I went and inspected the actuators for physical problems which was the tech's first suspicion, but everything was in place and secure with no signs of leaks or other distress.  So I fired up the engine and tested them and guess what?  Everything worked perfectly.  It's the classic story when you take your car to the mechanic and it stops doing whatever was bothering you.  We agreed to monitor it as we travel and see what happens.

Saturday we left Port Washington to catch the ebb current down the East River.  It was a picture perfect day to see the city from the water.  Since it was still early we took a run up the Hudson to the GW bridge, then I started calling marinas for a slip for a few nights.  There was no room at the inn at Liberty Landing so we ended up across the waterway at Liberty Harbor.  It seems everyone is staying over waiting for conditions along the Jersey coast to improve.

Public transportation is about 200 feet from the boat so Jim was able to easily catch a train.  Sunday (today) Lindy's boy friend, Zagy, joined me for the trip from here to Annapolis.  Today we just did a few boat chores and have been hanging out.  Looking at the forecasts, I think we might sit out tomorrow too.  The sea conditions are supposed to improve tomorrow, but still be kinda crappy, but by Tuesday it's supposed to be pretty nice.  We'll check again in the AM.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to comment down below.  It's always great to hear from readers.