My week in the big city is quickly coming to a close. And, I have been able to cross off most of the items on my To-Do list.
Lasagna has been found; Artie's Delicatessen, with its great reubens has been visited; H & H bagels purchased: and all of the above and more consumed with great relish. It is time to reenter the real world of cruising. I made a batch of cole slaw this morning.
Most importantly, great times have been spent with Erik and Katy.
A notable failure, however, was that I was unable to get a ticket to see the taping of "Letterman". I was assured eight times while in line for my interview that the selection process was a "random lottery". By the 6th such statement, it was clear that it was anything but "random". "He who protesteth too much ..."
Bottom line is that I completely blew the interview. My penchant for complete honesty failed me. When asked my favorite parts of the show, I admitted that I live on a boat without a TV and haven't seen "Letterman" - or virtually and other TV show - for years. That was it - interview over!
It is a good thing that I am retired. Clearly, anyone who can't nail a 30 second interview to get a free ticket to "Letterman", would not do well in the challenging job search market today.
I visited the Intrepid one day. She had been out for refurbishing when I last visited NYC so this was my first chance to visit; very impressive in all regards. If they did cruises on aircraft carriers, I would definitely go (assuming, of course, that I didn't have to sign up for a 3 year hitch!).
Yesterday was a great day for rollerblading and I skated to Battery Park then over to (and over) the Brooklyn Bridge. The wood planking on the pedestrian walkway was not great for blading. My feet and legs got pretty buzzed. Cool bridge, though, and great views.
I'll have two more nights here. A good window for the sail down the Jersey coast is coming together for Sunday, Sunday night and Monday. It even looks like a SW pattern might fill in soon thereafter; perfect for the next leg of the journey - up the Delaware to Chesapeake City
Best to all.
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My new - if somewhat flighty - friend!
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I've been busy - that's my excuse and I am standing by it.
Clearly, some miles have passed under the keel since Provincetown and moving the boat always takes time and energy. More importantly, there has been great time spent creating memories with friends - which always takes precedence over creating blog posts.
Skiing friend from Colorado, Ted, drove over to Provincetown from Orleans (where he was visiting his parents) on Friday. It was a clear, bright blustery day. Our day sail together had KR's rail well buried at times and large amounts of (mostly) spray coming over the bow. She was a bit salty when we were done - as was the crew. A wine, cheese and fruit cocktail hour quickly cured all ills. We were still salty and the boat was a crusty mess but we no longer cared. I don't go out for day sails by myself often, getting plenty of sailing time when moving the boat from place to place. Thank you, Ted, for joining me for a great afternoon of sailing.
Rich and Tim, long term Denver friends (I hesitate to use the term "old friends" as they are my age and we all are getting sensitive about the word "old"), arrived that same afternoon. We enjoyed some touristy time together and a great lunch (complete with excellent flan) in town on Saturday afternoon. That night, new friends (and R &T's Ptown hosts) Paul and Tom, hosted a wonderful swordfish dinner at their home in the east side. They do swordfish the right way - thick steaks grilled - just like my Father used to do it.
The next day was perfect for our planned day sail together. The skies were crystal clear, the winds moderate (this was not a "rail down - salt spray in the face" type of crowd) and the seas calm. We had a lovely sail out to the outer beach where we anchored, swam and walked the beach. Cheeseburgers back on board helped refuel us after all of the very tiring cruising that we had done. We even had fair winds for a gennaker sail back into the harbor.
It was apparently my turn in the sailing world to be the entertainment that day. When I had rigged the lazy sheet on the gennaker, I had inadvertently wrapped it around a lifeline. I learned this the hard way while jibing around the buoy at the end of Long Point. The friction on the lazy sheet (which becomes the active one during a jibe) would not allow me to sheet in. The gennaker reacted by wrapping around itself and the headstay several times while I was figuring all of this out and dealing with it. All of this was accompanied by large amounts of noise, trauma and drama. Not my finest hour.
Monday I was under way at first light towards Onset. I woke up to almost fair winds (which the forecast had not predicted) for the 20 mile sail to the Cape Cod Canal. The winds did not quite get the job done, however, as they died when I was still 8 miles the canal entrance - unfortunate but at least I got to sail part of the distance.
As planned, Onset was mostly a blur of boat projects, laundry and provisioning. It is a great place for cruisers like myself. Onset Bay Marina is very capable and friendly - which can be very helpful when diving into repair projects. You never know exactly what you will find or what parts or support you will need to get things fixed and back together. The projects all got done, including repairing the knot meter which had decided not to work on the trip from Ptown. It had been working perfectly. The knot meter has been an on-going problem child throughout my cruising life.
The highlight of my Onset time, however, was the arrival of my oldest friends (I can say that because they are actually younger than me), Sue and her husband Chris. Our timing was perfect. They drove down (in my Jeep) and met me at the check out at the Stop and Shop just as I was completing my provisioning. I had taken the bus over from Onset but knew from prior experience that the bus drivers (and some fellow riders) are not always happy to see a boater show up for the trip back to the harbor with 25 bags of groceries. I was very happy to have a ride back.
We had lunch together (there was beer involved) before heading back to the boat for an afternoon on board spent "catching up" (there was beer involved in that too). It was great to see them. They are one of my many caretakers - cruisers are so needy. They brought my mail and all of the various packages that I had had /purchases that I had had shipped to them in the previous couple of weeks. I don't actually need to tell my friends that I will be visiting. They know that when mail and shipments start to arrive, I won't be far behind.
Thursday was mostly a motor-sail all the way to Cuttyhunk at the west end of Buzzard's Bay. I like Cuttyhunk, and did take the time for a walkabout, but was there primarily to stage for the next leg of the journey south. I spent the afternoon getting the dinghy on deck and rigging the boat for sea. A large Canadian high was to fill in after a front passage Thursday night. The forecast left no doubt that it would be potent with winds of 20-25 gusting to 30 predicted. More ominous was the note in the synopsis that "gusts could approach gale force". However, the winds were fair and should be on or behind the beam for the sail across Rhode Island and Block Island Sounds.
The question was whether to make landfall at Block Island or continue on to the Atlantic side of Long Island for the passage to NYC. I kept my options open.
Under way at first light, I motored the first mile directly into the NNW winds (already blowing 20) before falling off and setting sail. The forecast was dead right. The winds started on the beam and slowly clocked to a broad reach. The gusts did "approach gale force" with my wind gage showing 33k at one point. It was a fast and wet sail. By the time I was in the lee of Block Island, now on a broad reach with winds topping out at 20-23k, it was clear that my landfall should be in New York City.
The boat kept moving well although the winds clocked around, eventually becoming a run dead down wind under full prevented main and poled jib. Running before the wind is always rolly at times but I was happy to have fair winds and 6k of boat speed for most of the night.
My little bird friend showed up soon after first light, flying into the cockpit and landing on a bronze cleat under the dodger. He eyed me for a few minutes before stuffing his head under his wing and settling in for a nice rest. Apparently a bit of a ham, he pulled his head out just long enough for me to snap a picture before stuffing it back under his wing and going back to sleep. He flew away a couple of hours later as I was dealing with a back winded jib caused by an unexpected wind shift. I think my swearing offended him.
The last bit of the approach to New York harbor was rolly and slow with fluky, puffy winds. My Reed's told me that the currents under the Narrows Bridge would not be fair until after 11:00. The fast passage had gotten us there early. I now believe that the definitive "Chinese Water Torture" is to be approaching the Verranzano Narrows Bridge with 1.5k of foul current and flaky winds. I started the engine to warm it up just in case but with the dying ebb tide and a few good puffs was able to finally gain New York Harbor. I sailed up the harbor dodging sailboats, anchored barges (as well as the moving kind), the multitude of Staten Island Ferries, tour boats, Coasties roaring around looking important etc etc. All the while the winds would die then puff up to 15-20kn from a constantly changing direction. Those big buildings really mess up my sailing winds.
The engine wasn't started (and put in gear) until I was 50 yards the mooring. Nice.
Erik and Katy came over last night for Pizza Night on the boat. A relaxed and quiet night with my best friend (I've known him all of his life!) and his much better half was a perfect way to wind down from the passage. The pizza was good, the conversation fun and the wine (A nice Zin the kids had brought - it was in a bottle with a real cork. Amazing) excellent. I slept well last night.
I am settled in for a week here in the city (which may be a bit rainy for a couple of days). I see some good paddles, roller blade expeditions and general exploring in my plans. Needless to say boat projects are on the To-do list also.
Plans for the next leg of the journey south can wait.
Best to all.
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