Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-2021 (Day 13)

 Atlantic Highlands Municipal Harbor Anchorage, Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey:  September 16, 2020

Marc-  Today was an exercise in planning that went well.  I went over all of the weather forecast, swell reports and my favorite weather app.: PredictWind.  They all agreed that that the afternoon would be windy from the South and so we avoided this by leaving at 08:10 and aborted the trip out on the Atlantic Coast of New Jersey due to high swells warnings related to a passing hurricane. We opted the safer option of going to Atlantic Highlands (Inside of Sandy Hook).  We arrived at 11;30 and anchored inside the breakwater.  This town is very welcoming and friendly for boaters.  We took the dinghy into the dinghy pier (#7) and then headed for the main business street, 1st Avenue that begins at the Marina.  We found a vibrant downtown with the essential ice cream parlor and supermarket within walking distance.

Our friend Michael Gilmartin joined us with his tugboat Fidler's Green at about 16:00 and reported a rather rough ride once outside of the Narrows. Sue made a fantastic dinner for us aboard Lucy III.

Leaving New York Harbor.

Verrazano Narrows Bridge.

Atlantic Highlands, NJ.

Smoke from the Western wildfires has reached the East Coast.

Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-2021 (Day 12)

Liberty Landing Marina, Liberty State Park, Jersey City, New Jersey: September 15, 2020

Marc-  Yes we are still here exploring the NYC area for one more day.  It really feels like Fall has arrived with 54 degree temperatures in the morning and a high of 69 degrees today.  The plan today was to visit Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty and lower Manhattan.  I went to Sara's national park website and signed up for a tour.  See https://nationalparksnavigator.com/NewYork.html  We arrived at the old NJ Railroad station that is now a departure point for the ferry service to both Ellis and Liberty Islands early.  An airport type screening is done before loading.  Our visit was great even though the visitors were few today.  The Park Service has restored the Immigration Station where some 12 million immigrants passed through.  We follow in the footsteps of these immigrants through the process of various medical examinations and acceptance or sometimes rejection and deportation.  There is even a whole wing of the facility devoted to tracing family history (not open currently).  The food service was open and we enjoyed lunch beneath some eucalyptus trees while overlooking New York Harbor.

Next stop on the tour was the Statue of Liberty.  Unfortunately we were not allowed inside due to the Covid 19 epidemic.  We returned to the  Liberty State Park and then took a water taxi ferry to the World Trade Center Terminal.  We visited the 9/11 Memorial area next to the new Freedom Tower.  We then walked around lower Manhattan to St. Paul's Church, the Brooklyn Bridge and Wall Street.

A visit to Ellis Island and Liberty Island.

And then a visit to lower Manhattan.

Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-2021 (Day 11)

Liberty Landing Marina, Liberty State Park, Jersey City, New Jersey: September 14, 2020

Marc-  Today was an excellent sailing day with Northwest winds of 10-15 knots from morning to early afternoon.  We raised only our genoa and were able to maintain an average speed in excess of 6 knots helped along by the tidal river current for about half of the trip exceeding 8 knots at times.  I was a bit nervous in getting out of our rather tight slip in the Croton Marina with cross wind but we had no difficulty backing out of our slip and exiting the fairway.  There were some good sights along the way today including passing beneath the new Tappan Zee Bridge, sailing along the Palisades Interstate Park, passing beneath the George Washington Bridge, and finally seeing the splendor of New York City appear before us.  We had no difficulty in the Hudson and the Liberty Landing Marina staff were spot on with are needs at time of arrival.  This place has the most incredible view of lower Manhattan.  The Marina here has all of the amenities including a self serve laundry and excellent bath/showers.  After dinner we walked around Jersey City through several parks and streets altered for outdoor restaurants.  The City even put in a light rail trolley system.

The new Tappan Zee Bridge

The Palisades Interstate Park

Jersey City views

Views from Liberty State Park

Old Train Station now used for departures to tour Ellis Island and Liberty Island

Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-2021 (Day 10)

 Half Moon Bay Marina, Croton-On-Hudson, NY: September 13, 2020

Marc-  We did not move today to avoid Sunday traffic on the river and because our intended destination, Alpine Basin in New Jersey, was not taking transient boats.  We spent much of the day walking through the Croton Point Park which is run jointly by the National Park Service and the New York State Parks.  This is a well run place with a nice beach area, a campground for RV's, a campground for tents, as well as an area with rental cabins.  There is even an area set aside for model airplane flying.  We walked 8.2 miles to see most of the Park.  Tonight we had dinner at a local Greek restaurant with our friends, Michael & Doreen Gilmartin (we were the only patrons) and were treated very well.  I especially enjoyed the Baklava and took some back to the boat.  The Gilmartins will be buddy boating with us to Florida.

Fake Owl protector of the docks.

Great Blue Heron for real.

Plans for tomorrow.

Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-2021 (Day 9)

 Half Moon Bay Marina, Croton-On-Hudson, NY: September 12, 2020

Marc-  09:30 Departed Kingston City Marina on Rondout Creek and proceeded back to the Hudson.  The rowing shells were already out in force on the creek.  Once we got to the Hudson we continued to have some favorable Northerly wind so Sue raised the mainsail and I unfurled the genoa.  Unlike yesterday the wind was less than 10 knots and the tidal current had not turned in our favor so we used the motor as well.  This had us moving a respectable 5.2  knots.  Our trip today brought us down the most scenic part of the Hudson River from the Mansions of Hyde Park to the many high bridges and through the Appalachian Mountains around West Point Military Academy.  My favorite is the area around the Bear Mountain Bridge.  I called and made reservations for a slip at Half Moon Bay (also known as Haverstraw Bay)  We preferred the Croton-On-Hudson side for the many public park areas.  Being a Saturday the River was busy with groups of jet skiers buzzing about, loud cigarette boats moving at incredible speeds, and commercial boat traffic consisting mostly of tugboats pushing multiple barges.  

Steve the marina manager guided us into Half Moon Bay Marina by VHF to a nice slip.  We ate dinner at an excellent Greek restaurant nearby and then walked along the river park pathways to the 9/11 Memorial.

Esopus Lighthouse

Bannerman's Island Arsenal

West Point Military Academy

Bear Mountain Bridge

9/11 Memorial.

Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-2021 (Day 8)

 Kingston City Marina, Kingston, NY:  September 11, 2020

Marc-  This morning we awoke to higher winds out of the North than predicted (6-10 knots became 20-25 knots).  Luckily we were heading South so sailing downwind was easy enough except for the many genoa jibes due to the meandering river channel.  Before we left Catskill we raised all of the sails and double checked the standing rigging.  Sue and I verified that the new main mast antenna was working for the main cabin VHF.  No issues leaving Catskill Creek at 09:10.  The trip to Kingston was quiet only seeing three boats and two belonged to the Sheriff's Department. 

 We pulled into Rondout Creek at 12:40  behind a Schooner.  We tied up at the City Marina at 12:55.  The Kingston Waterfront is very nice from the numerous restaurants to the Museums.  We visited a large Iron Steam Tug named Mathilde that had been built in Sorel, Quebec in 1898 and had worked for many years on the St. Lawrence River before coming to work in New York.  The Trolley Museum even had a Boston MBTA trolley from the old Ashmont -Mattapan line.  Sue and I searched for a local market and Ice Cream.  We found a Family Mexican Market that had just what we needed.  The Ice Cream parlor was closed but the marina had some some of the prepackaged variety available.

Maritime Museum

Liberty and Victory ship lifeboat built here in Kingston in two hours during the war. My Dad was in the US Merchant Marine during the War and worked on both types of ships,

Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-2021 (Day 7)

Hop-O-Nose Marina, Catskill Creek, Catskill, NY:  September 10, 2020

Marc- Today we re-stepped the masts in the rain with lots of help from the marina staff.  Four men were assigned to help with the process.  It made the process easier but the owner (me) was essential to make sure that they understood the peculiarities of this yawl rig.  We ended up moving the boat twice; once for each mast. We started at 9:00 and finished the main work by 10:30.  I was left with tuning the rig, replacing the booms, some of the running rigging, and getting the sails back on. The facility here has a crane that looks like it was made at the time they made the Erie Canal in the early 19th century. In my down time I was able to mount a new antenna on top of the mainmast with new connections.  All of the electrical connections at the base of both masts need to be redone each time we do this except for the radar cable which is left connected per order of RayMarine.  Sue and I checked out the mizzen VHF radio and the mizzen lights and they both worked well. I have yet to check the new mainmast VHF radio.  The new masthead anchor light does work but needs to be jury rigged by a switch since the wires for the mainmast white running light shares the circuit at the present time (one connection is down for an unknown reason that I could not trace).  

We did take a break today to go for a walk after lunch.  We had light rain at the start so took our umbrellas.  The humidity was 96 % today so very uncomfortable even though the temperature was only 76 degrees.  The highlight of the walk was seeing a monarch butterfly feeding on a butterfly bush.