Destiny Explores

Vessel Name: Destiny
Vessel Make/Model: Ericson 33
Hailing Port: Rochester, NY
Crew: Alicia & Bill Baum
16 August 2019 | Catskill, NY
15 August 2019
14 August 2019 | Behind the Statue of Liberty
12 August 2019
04 August 2019 | Cuttyhunk
01 August 2019 | Newport Rhode Island
30 July 2019 | Newport, RI
23 July 2019 | Newport, RI
22 July 2019 | Block Island
14 July 2019 | New London
11 July 2019
04 July 2019
03 July 2019 | NYC
02 July 2019 | Gravesend
29 June 2019 | Annapolis
22 June 2019 | Annapolis, MD
19 June 2019
15 June 2019 | Mill Creek, Chesapeake Bay
13 June 2019
12 June 2019 | Mobjack Bay
Recent Blog Posts
16 August 2019 | Catskill, NY

Getting Ready for the Canal

What does a container of moldy nuts have to do with getting ready for the canal?

15 August 2019

Kalmar Nyckel

Kalmar Nyckel is a seagoing replica of the Dutch-built armed merchant ship that founded New Sweden in present-day Delaware in 1638.

14 August 2019 | Behind the Statue of Liberty

New York, New York

A full moon rising over the Statue of Liberty, with the brilliant lights of Manhattan just out of this picture to the left. Even Lady Liberty watches this moon! We were anchored just behind Liberty Island, in the harbor of one of the biggest and busiest cities in the world- and we were completely alone! [...]

12 August 2019

Turning for home...

For the first time in over seven years, Destiny has turned for home. We're taking Destiny back to Rochester. Back for a refit after seven seasons of cruising, cruising from Rochester to Nantucket to Grenada, in the far Southern Caribbean, and back.

04 August 2019 | Cuttyhunk

Peaceful Cuttyhunk

We had five peaceful days at anchor in the outer harbor of Cuttyhunk. Bill and I were here once before 20 years ago on our J24 Canadian Yankee. Back then we anchored in the inner harbor. As long as you didn't get in the path of the seaplane anchoring was fine. Today the inner harbor is full of [...]

01 August 2019 | Newport Rhode Island

The Newport Gulls

Summer league baseball! This is great fun. The Newport Gulls play in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, with teams as far away as Montpelier, Vermont. This night was the New Bedford Westerners. The players live with host families for the summer and play at least three games a week.

Getting Ready for the Canal

16 August 2019 | Catskill, NY
Alicia Baum
What does a container of moldy nuts have to do with getting ready for the canal?

Well, it show what we found at the bottom of the mast when we pulled the mast out of Destiny. Our best guess is that some bird thought a hole in our mast was a great place to stash some nuts.

We spent two days making sure everything was loosened and able to be disconnected between the mast and the boat. We built structures out of 2×4s and 2×6s to cradle the mast. The mast pulled out easily (yea! It has been up for seven years) and then we tied and strapped the whole kit down to the deck.

We used Riverview Marine Services in Catskill, NY to unstep the mast. They were very professional, low key, and genuinely pleasant people to work with.

Tomorrow we motor up the Hudson to Lock One.

Kalmar Nyckel

15 August 2019
Alicia Baum
Kalmar Nyckel is a seagoing replica of the Dutch-built armed merchant ship that founded New Sweden in present-day Delaware in 1638.

The original ship was built in 1625 and this one was built in 1997. She is the official tall ship of Delaware.

New York, New York

14 August 2019 | Behind the Statue of Liberty
Bill
A full moon rising over the Statue of Liberty, with the brilliant lights of Manhattan just out of this picture to the left. Even Lady Liberty watches this moon! We were anchored just behind Liberty Island, in the harbor of one of the biggest and busiest cities in the world- and we were completely alone! Not a single other boat joined us for the night.

This was a spectacular evening! So special, so pretty, and so quiet! Yes, quiet and peaceful and beautiful, in the middle of the big city...

Oh, and I did a little checking. The famous poem about the Statue actually refers to her as "Mother of Exiles", and welcomes the tired and poor. It makes no specific mention of seeking out rich Norwegians...

Bill

Turning for home...

12 August 2019
Bill
For the first time in over seven years, Destiny has turned for home. We're taking Destiny back to Rochester. Back for a refit after seven seasons of cruising, cruising from Rochester to Nantucket to Grenada, in the far Southern Caribbean, and back.

At the end of six seasons we have stored Destiny where we finished the season- Florida, Puerto Rico, Grenada, Puerto Rico, Florida, and North Carolina. Now she will spend a winter in Rochester.

It is a big effort to bring the boat to Rochester- at least two weeks to transit from the ocean to Rochester by the Hudson River and the Erie Canal.

We simply have more refit work to do on the boat than we can manage- or want to attempt- at a remote boatyard.

We want to refinish all the interior teak, which is practically impossible while living on the boat.

The accumulated bottom paint needs to be all sanded off, which is a week's work in a bunny suit and respirator.

The mast has not been down in seven years, and there are painting and rigging tune-ups.

And it is time to replace through-hull and shaft fittings that keep the boat floating and the water out.

All of this work, and a long list of smaller jobs, will be so much easier if we can go home each night to our nice apartment.

We'll pass through New York City in a few days, head up the Hudson, and plan to be in Rochester by Labor Day.

Our plan is to have the boat hauled out as soon as we get home, and use September and October to get the vast majority of work done before the boat needs to be covered for the winter.

Next spring Destiny will be in the best shape she has ever been in, ready to cruise again to new destinations!

Peaceful Cuttyhunk

04 August 2019 | Cuttyhunk
Alicia Baum
We had five peaceful days at anchor in the outer harbor of Cuttyhunk. Bill and I were here once before 20 years ago on our J24 Canadian Yankee. Back then we anchored in the inner harbor. As long as you didn't get in the path of the seaplane anchoring was fine. Today the inner harbor is full of mooring balls, tightly packed. The seaplane business ended in 2004.


Inner Harbor - mooring balls on the right and private poles on the left

We anchored in the outer harbor. This is a popular anchorage well protected from the prevailing SW winds. We watched the daily parade of boats leaving every morning, a few boats would move from the anchorage to a mooring and then we'd wait for the long inbound parade. The motor boats started arriving just after lunch followed by the sailboats arriving just before dinner.


Outer Harbor (Destiny is the sailboat just "above" the jetty lighthouse. Her black mast is "stealthy")

The island has changed little in the past 20 years. That is the unique charm of this island. There are few paved roads and thus the primary transport for residents of this tiny island is the golf cart. There is no car ferry and no rental carts so, as a visitor, plan on walking the pathways and roads.


Path

The big attraction to Cuttyhunk is the simplicity. Fishing, boating, swimming, beach time, down time. That's what you find here.


Beach time

And cows. There are bovine creatures that come down the hill and go wading on the private beach.


"No Trespassing, No Landing, Private Property, No Hunting"

Finally, what's not to like on an island that raises money via raffles to have a grand fireworks display. The best one we've seen so far this year or perhaps just the closest.


More Fireworks!





The Newport Gulls

01 August 2019 | Newport Rhode Island
Bill
Summer league baseball! This is great fun. The Newport Gulls play in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, with teams as far away as Montpelier, Vermont. This night was the New Bedford Westerners. The players live with host families for the summer and play at least three games a week.

They play at Cardines Field, where baseball has been played since 1908. Most of the stadium is much more modern, having been updated by the Works Progress Administration crews during the Depression year of 1934! Capacity 3000- probably no more than 500 the night we were there.

As you can tell from the photo, we were pretty excited to get there early and get good seats! At 5 PM we were the first fans to arrive for the 6:30 game. No problem with seats.

We saw batting practice, fielding practice, and ground crew work. All while eating health food for dinner (!) as other fans trickled in.

This was great, like a live version of the movie "Field of dreams". Old stadium, enthusiastic young players, and seating so close to the field that you could hear the players talking to each other.

The baseball was great, but clearly the biggest star of the night was The Dog. In the bottom of the first inning all of a sudden there is a big dog running across the field. Stop the game. Chase the dog. The dog loves this game- and he can outrun all the people! The fans are cheering for the dog!

Finally the dog leaves through a gap in an outfield gate. They get ready to resume play ...

Then the dog reappears at full speed, chasing a rabbit!! A roar from the crowd! ( Hard to tell whether it is for the dog or the rabbit.)

What entertainment! You don't get this kind of thing at Yankee Stadium!

The rabbit flees through the outfield fence...and we are left again with The Dog.

After about 10 minutes, fifty or so human beings finally outsmarted one dog (hmmmm!). Every player and coach from both teams, every umpire, the entire grounds crew, and every stadium volunteer formed a human wall and forced another retreat of the dog through the outfield gate.

Play ball!

Destiny's Photos - Main
42 Photos
Created 25 May 2019
19 Photos
Created 13 April 2018
2017 Pictures
15 Photos
Created 17 January 2017
74 Photos
Created 12 January 2016
2015 Cruise
102 Photos
Created 12 January 2015
Destiny Explores 2014
74 Photos
Created 23 January 2014
15 Photos
Created 10 March 2013
3 Photos
Created 29 August 2012