Mon Oct 11 18:04:58 EDT 2010, New York, NY, USA
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Thu Oct 7 9:38:09 EDT 2010, East River, New York City, NY, USA
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Wed Oct 6 10:08:14 EDT 2010, East River, New York City, NY, USA
The approach to Hell Gate, an area of fast tidal currents and two 90 degree turns that is best passed through at slack water.
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Be safe on the way south and fair winds.
I looked into leaving the boat in Newfoundland for the winter, but have a bunch of stuff to do to it and decided it was better to stay aboard for the winter.
Tue Oct 5 22:16:07 EDT 2010, East River, New York City, NY, USA
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Tue Oct 5 9:40:35 EDT 2010, East River, New York City, NY, USA
We had a pleasant motor thru the East River. The airplane in the picture is approaching the landing strip at La Guardia airport in Queens.
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Issuma is currently anchored in the Hudson River around 100th street.
Fri Oct 1 12:33:07 EDT 2010, Long Island Sound, USA
We sailed into the eastern end of Long Island Sound just ahead of strong southerly winds (a close-hauled course for us). We had just gotten around Orient Point (at the entrance to the sound) when the wind picked up, and the current started to turn against us. We continued for a few miles, then anchored off the beach for six hours until we had favorable current again. Then we sailed on until the current turned again, anchored and continued again when the current became favorable.
While underway, the forecast changed from merely strong southerly winds to a tornado watch, but fortunately we did not encounter anything more than a near gale and rain.
In Labrador, it seemed that people described almost any day as a Beautiful Day (it was more of a greeting than a description, though), so I thought that was an appropriate title for a day with wind that can be sailed in and enough rain to compensate for the otherwise overly warm temperature.
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I wonder what was in my mind at that moment because I cannot recall to have had neither painful nor scary moments while we sailed on Long Island Sound. Actually, the near Gale on Long Island Sound was more like a piece of cake comparing to the strong winds we (me and Richard) encountered crossing the Golf of Maine.
Correction on misspelled Gulf of Maine.
Actually as I recall now, my expression must have been the reaction to the pretty strong, nasty gust we had sailing on the L.I. S.
Well, Richard has been pretty subtle about this, but on August 4th, Chris had to get off in Hopedale. Since then, from Hopedale to Baffin Island and throughout most of our way back was only the three of us left; myself, Richard and Ted.
On September 20th, Ted had to get off in Shelburne Harbor so he can make it on time for a meeting he had to attend on September 23rd in New York.
Therefore we had the choice to wait for Ted to get back to the boat or else leave Nova Scotia and sail across the Gulf of Maine, only Richard and myself.
Of course, Richard thought we will be better off if we leave Shelburne Harbor before the bad weather may keep us there longer than we really wanted to be there.
Throughout this entire 4 months trip to the North, I think that crossing the Gulf of Mine was
the most challenging experience for me. Richard knew that there will be strong winds against our direction from the Hurricane Igor on our second day on the sea, but he also knew that we would get favorable winds after that. When we saw the clouds pointing toward the Hurricane Igor, I asked Richard:
âAre you sure this is a good decision?â
âI am not sureâ was his answer.
âGee! This is not very encouragingâŠâ I said. Nonetheless, we kept going.
Of course, we felt Igorâs presence in our vicinity very strongly during the second day on the sea. Because of the strong big waves and winds against us, we were not able to advance at all. We hove to the whole day.
I did not pray much throughout this trip, but on that second day on the Gulf of Maine, while I was on watch so Richard can
Mountains and hills of waves were rocking the boat up and down, and made the boat plunge its bow into the water while pools of foam as big as lakes were forming between the weaves.
Although, I love water and I love swimming, (I am a PiecesâŠâș) I would not have been happy to have to be swimming in that fury of water and winds.
When Richard got up few hours later, I said to him
âIf you will only know how much I pray for these winds and waves to calm downâŠ?â
âI can imagine you did, because you did not wake me upâ was his answer.
Anyway, I think that sharing this experience with you all might explain better why the winds and gusts we encountered on Long Island Sound did not scare me at all comparing to the fury of Hurricane Igorâs winds on the Gulf of Maine did.
Later Richard told me that the winds we encountered on Gulf of Maine were of force seve
Once we arrive on Long Island Sound I told Richard:
âNow I could swim home from here.â Except for the few strong gusts, we had a beautiful sail day.
This is why I thought that the 15 to 25 knots winds and 35 knots gusts we faced on L.I.S. (I hope that I am being very accurate here) were more like a piece of pie comparing to the winds we met on our sailing across the Gulf of Maine.
Mon Sep 27 10:00:00 EDT 2010
We had a pleasant motor through the pretty Cape Cod Canal, which links Cape Cod Bay with Buzzards Bay.
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- George
While South Georgia would be a fascinating place to visit, I don't have such exciting plans for this northern-hemisphere winter.
Sat Sep 25 6:09:00 EDT 2010
Sunrise along Port Manvers Run on the beautiful coast of Labrador, last month. We are far south of there now, waiting for a cold front to pass Cape Cod.
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Wed Sep 22 10:00:00 EDT 2010
After a careful (very careful!) study of all available weather information, we left Shelburne Harbor as Hurricane Igor was headed for Newfoundland, wanting to take advantage of the favorable winds that Igor would create for us in the Gulf of Maine. The clouds overhead all pointed to where Igor was (several hundred miles away) at the time.
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Tue Sep 21 10:00:00 EDT 2010, Shelburne, Nova Scotia, Canada
We sailed into the pretty and very-well protected harbor of Shelburne for a short visit. This pretty gaff schooner was sailing in the harbor as we entered.
I've only been to Shelburne once before, in my old schooner Orbit II. I had singlehanded from Provincetown (Cape Cod) and ran into Shelburne just ahead of a gale. Shelburne has a long harbor, offering excellent protection from storms. I had just gotten the anchor down and the sails all tied and gone below when the gale arrived. I was exhausted from the lack of sleep (it was my first singlehanded sail), and extremely glad to be down below where it was dry as the wind howled and the rain and hail pounded on the cabintop. So I have pleasant memories of Shelburne.
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