On the Hudson
24 September 2017 | Hop O Nose Marina, Catskill, NY
Because of the activity of getting off the dock, unstepping the mast in Oswego, cruising the Oswego and Erie canal and re-stepping the mast at Hop-O-Nose Marina in Catskill, NY - I am waaaayyyyy behind in posting. So I think I will work backwards and forward from here.
It is a quiet Sunday morning. Yesterday 5 or 6 boats had their masts stepped. A couple of them headed off immediately to try to catch a brief opening between Jose and Maria along the Jersey coast. We are working towards the next window with no storms coming across the Atlantic - at all. Next Saturday (30th), Sunday and Monday have offshore winds for 3 days. Means waves will be down as well.
Big decision is whether to make the trip from New York to Cape May NJ in one overnight sail or do a 2-stop daytime only. My vote is the former. Mary has not voted yet, but with a 3rd crew coming on board on Wednesday, then the overnight is much more comfortable. We don't need as large a weather window.
Over the past 3 days, we motored down from Waterford, NY. There was one more lock to transit - the Federal Lock at Troy NY. After that, we were on the Hudson. It is hard to believe the tide comes up that far upriver, but the tide tables showed a 5-foot tide range as far up as Albany. We were on an ebb tide so the current worked in our favour increasing our Speed over Ground (SOG) by a knot. As we approached Catskill, NY where we are now, the tide turned and for the last 2 hours we lost a knot to a know and a half. If you are motoring all day, the gain and loss of actual speed over ground cancel each other out -so you just go. For shorter jaunts, watching the tide and current is important - like on the Delaware.
Our mast is up and we had time to do some other work that did not get done before leaving Cobourg. We are waiting here for a delivery on Monday, to pick our crew on Tuesday and then it is a purposeful trip to be in position for the weather window on Saturday - either just above New York Harbor or at Sandy Hook, NJ.
Today we have final stowing of equipment and then a major provisioning at the local Walmart. Once provisions are stowed, a fuel stop, pump out and then heading down the Hudson.
Our time here at Hop-o-Nose has been great! The team here is exceptional. Thanks to Tim, Brian and Sean. When we stopped here going north 7 years ago, I celebrated my 60th birthday at the Creekside Restaurant in the marina. This year we are celebrating one of Mary's milestone birthdays (I am not a liberty to say which one) and my retirement from corporate work in June and from the Yacht Club this week - with the last of the paperwork completed for the Sailing School.
We decided to pick a theme for the cruise. I chose "59th Street Bridge Song (Feeling Groovy)" by Simon and Garfunkel and Mary chose "I Hope You Dance" by Lee Anne Womack. So between "Slow down your moving too fast" and "And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance" the theme of the cruise is "Slow Dancing". It will be interesting to see how that all works out.
Over the next few days I will get back to filling 'how we got here'. Stay safe all, and in the words of Robert Fulghum - When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
Mary and Rob
s/v Sojourn