Filtering noise

In the summer of 2017 Salty Ginger covered just over 1700 nautical miles, so while far from a round-the-world journey, still quite respectable for a first voyage. That includes the passages and short sails exploring the coasts.

The approximate path with distances in statute miles.

As I was biking to work I was thinking of how different life aboard has been from life in NYC and I realized that one of the biggest adjustments is my reaction to noises. On Salty Ginger I had to be tuned into the boat. For example, when we were sailing I woke up when the genoa was flapping for too long. When we were at anchor and the chain made too much noise I woke up for fear of dragging anchor (we never did). Hearing the bilge pump running required checking if we were taking on water or if a sensor broke. Water pump running with nobody using fresh water indicated that either a faucet was open or we had a leak somewhere in the system. Changes in the sound of the diesel engine could mean trouble or someone accidentally hitting the throttle. All these "passive" sounds had the potential of triggering an active response and my brain got used to hearing them with appreciation for stability.

The city is pretty much the opposite as far as noises are concerned: cars are honking, filter that out; fans are running, filter them out. Motorcycle noises, airplanes, construction, loud conversations on the street, etc, etc. Even emergency vehicle sirens are too frequent to be meaningful. The majority of the noises that I hear now are annoying because they are largely useless for determining whether or not all is ok, and there are just too many of them. Something to get used to in the next few weeks.

Largely for my own benefit, I want to do a brief retrospective.

On the bright side, almost everything went well. There were no serious injuries: personal injuries included minor cuts, rope burn, minor fall down the companionway stairs, a few head bumps, minor sunburn, and that's pretty much it. The medical kit that we carried aboard was definitely coastal, although I had antibiotics that didn't end up getting used.

We were lucky with the weather. Over the two months we saw 3 or 4 days of 20+ knot winds, and I think less than 10 days of rain. While the weather in Nova Scotia and Maine is expected to be nice over July and August, I think it was drier than usual, and some of the strong winds from low pressure systems stayed 30 or 50 miles south of us (thank you, weather!). As far as direction of the wind, the old salts recommend setting aside twice as much time for going west as for going east. Indeed, on the way back we were frequently sailing closehauled, although some easterly and northerly winds did help on occasion. If I were doing a passage straight back to NYC from Nova Scotia or Maine, it would have been harder than the passage there, but not something that SG cannot handle.

Porta Bote overall gets a pretty high mark, and was noticed by a lot of cruisers. It was easy to stow for passages. Even when it was just Margot and I we got it aboard. I was not afraid to take it onto rocky beaches, and we had up to 4 adults and 2 kids in it with no problems. Rowing was not as easy as I expected, but still doable, especially in lighter winds. One of the oarlocks broke after 2 weeks of light use, and oar lock mechanism broke, but the former we replaced and the latter we taped which made it impossible to fold the oars. The company rep said he'll get me a new set. Hopefully, it'll be less flimsy.

Torqueedo engine worked well when it worked, but about 3 weeks into the journey the electrical connections started to be unreliable. I was able to wiggle them into submission, but need to get it fixed properly by the manufacturer. Not dealing with gasoline was nice, though, and while we didn't take super long trips, we never drained the battery below 60% and then it would recharge overnight to full capacity.

Of the most significant mistakes I made was incorrect setting of a trip line which resulted in SG floating away and could have been disastrous if it were not for fellow cruisers. The other significant mistake was running into a rock. The scratch on the keel will have to be repaired once the boat is out for the winter. A more minor issue was not tying the anchor off correctly in 20 knot winds. We didn't drag, but the load of the chain shifted onto the windlass. I didn't repeat this mistake the second time we anchored in 20+ knot winds.

While sailing we were lucky to catch a jib sheet that partially chafed through. We were going wing and wing with poled out genoa for about 12 hours, and when we tried to jibe we noticed the chafed part. Since it was right at the end of the line it was easy to reverse it, and the "rope condoms" that Viktor made prevented future issues with poling out the genoa.

At the same time when we noticed the chafed line we discovered badly bent pin that holds spinnaker pole in place. I knew that it was somewhat compromised at the beginning of the season, so I had a spare, and we replaced it right away. Had it broke while we were sailing, there would have been potential damage to the deck by the pole that would have inevitably crashed with lots of force. In hindsight, it should have been replaced before we set sail.

During a tack we ripped the cage that holds the pole off the mast. We tied it off temporarily and later I got a rivet gun and fixed it permanently. We think that happened because the knots that attached the sheets to the foresail were not compact enough. I also typically have spinnaker halyard and pole topping lift tied forward of the mast, but on that day one of them was attached at the mast base thus enabling a sheet to catch the cage. Luckily no severe damage was sustained.

That's it for things that could have gone really wrong. One snap shackle broke. Bilge pump water sensor was finicky, so we had to turn it on automatically, although it magically fixed itself towards the end of the journey.

One question to which I didn't know an answer before sailing off is whether or not the spinnaker would be useful. I think in the conditions that we had it would get used maybe 5 or 6 days of the two months. It would have been fun to have it aboard, but for this trip it wasn't particularly necessary.

This is likely to be the last post for 2017. Hopefully, we'll find time for day sails in the harbor, but no big trips are planned at this time.

Voyage is completed, but passage making continues

Salty Ginger is tied up at Gateway marina after an absence of 2 months and 2 days. As for me, I am sailing towards Atlantic City, NJ.

After a windless passage to Hugenot Yacht Club on Saturday we spent a wonerful evening in New Rochelle. Gabriel got to run around at a playground. Adults got to meet club members over some drinks and relax on terra firma.

One "issue" that we had was lack of potatoes. I was sure that we had some aboard, but couldn't find them anywhere, and fish soup without potatoes is just not right. A couple who listened to our voyaging stories and told stories of their own kindly agreed to drive me to a local Foodtown to get whatever we needed. It seemed almost silly, but fish soup was begging to be cooked. The supermarket was within 20 minute walk, but they insisted to give me a ride and bring me back. Thank you!

For dinner we had ceasar salad with grilled chicken, and fish soup was cooked to be eaten on the passage to Gateway. It started to rain, and we retired relatively early in order to get up at 7am to catch the tidal currents in the East River and Hell Gate.

When we woke up the rain stopped, but the wind was quite strong: 15-20 knots mostly along the dock but also pushing us off the dock. I removed the dingy engine from the support so that it doesn't get banged accidentally, we talked through responsibilities for Joao and Frank. Then a fellow club member came by, and we accepted his help to walk the stern out. He also reminded us to call the draw bridge. We left unscathed thanks to coordinated efforts.

It seemed rough going out of the harbor, but as soon as we pointed the bow towards Throgs Neck bridge the wind died down and my plan of sailing with just the genoa was foiled. We unrolled the mainsail, but then the wind died completely, so we turned on the engine.

Catching the tidal curent seems magic: for most of our journey we had 3-5 knots of current helping us. Under motor I prefer 6 knots of crusing speed when the engine consumes less fuel, so seeing 11 knots of speed over ground is fascinating.

Frank and Lena were thinking of jumping ship early. Frank had a long haul to get to East Hampton, and Lena wanted to take Gabriel home and check up on how their cats were doing. I thought that shouldn't be a problem: we will call Brooklyn ONE marina. They said it'll cost us $79 to drop people off. WHAT? I called North Cove marina on the tip of Manhattan and while I didn't ask for the price the guy on the phone made it seem as if we could drop off the crew without paying them. Not so: they wanted $110 when we called them on the VHF, but then relented to $66 when I said that sounds expensive. If they said $20, we would have swallowed it, but such prices for a 20-minute tie up seemed like highway robbery, so the entire crew sailed to Gateway.

Fish soup turned out very well! With some bread it was excellent lunch. Warm, filling, and yet light. Thank you, fish!

My friend Alex, the one who joined the trip at the end of August was in Gateway marina on Renewal right next to our normal docking spot. Alex and his friends got to meet Frank, Joao, Lena, and Gabi before they went to take a cab. Then Alex told me that he has a torn jib and has a few more practical questions, and he is planning to sail to Atlantic City later tonight. His only crew knows almost nothing about sailing.

I volunteered storm jib from Salty Ginger which is a little larger than the trysail on Renewal. Alex said that the forecast is 10-15 knot westerly winds with clear skies and almost full moon. Since Irina and the kids are not in NYC there was no reason why I couldn't join Alex. His friend was delighted at an opportunity not to do an overnight sail, and I'm bobbing off the coast of New Jersey without having really landed in Brooklyn.

Fish Friday

While we were in Montauk I stopped by a local bait and tackle shop to see if they had any recommendations on what we could do to improve our chances of catching a fish while trawling at 6-7 knots. The guy recommended I get a diamond-shaped metalic lure which should attract bass and bluefish. He also added that he always goes south to fish, and has no idea what we can find and where in Long Island South. "Watch the birds," he said, "and I know guys go to the Race to fish, so you might have a chance there."

Well, one fish got interested on the way, but we lost it. At anchorage near Kelsey point in Connecticut I caught one tiny fish that we let go (maybe should have used as live bait). So Friday morning as we started heading to Northport on Long Island we started trawling right away. One fish hooked the line totally taking us by surprise. We reeled it in, but in my excitement to get it out I lifted it out of the water and it went back in. To make matters worse, the other lures we were pulling behind us got caught on a lobster pot so we lost them. Sigh.

Our luck was with us that day and 15 minutes later we heard the line whizzing on the reel. This time we were ready. Joao hove to immediately, Frank started to work the fish closer to the boat from the cockpit. The fish ended up on the wrong side, so the line was going under the boat. I got amidships and helped pull the line in. By then Joao came with the net, Frank got closer as well and fish was ours.

It was a beautiful bluefish. We put it in the fridge since the wind was quite stiff and shifty, so we were preoccupied with sailing. And we let the line out again, just in case. Another fish took it but slipped off and then we had nothing. Sadly, as we were passing Port Jefferson inlet a motorboat went astern of us and caught the line in the prop, so the lucky lure is no more. But at least we now what to get for next time (and remember to take the line in if we see a boat going astern).

At 17:30 it was clear that shooting for Northport was a stretch. The wind was fickle and we still had 10 miles to go to the harbor entry, and then another 2 miles before the harbor. I didn't want to pull into the harbor at dusk, so took out the iPad to check out recommendations from Active Captain. 6.5 miles north were Norwalk islands which are part of a nature preserve and the wind was allowing us to go there directly. We dropped anchor in time to enjoy the sunset. Joao and Lena took Gabriel for a ride in the dingy while Frank and I cleaned our catch.

Grilled bass was absolutely lovely! We added cous cous, tomato salad, and white wine for a great meal that would have cost us $200 or more if we were to eat this in a restaurant. Fish head is still in the fridge ready to be cooked in a soup, and 2 fillets are ready to be eaten as well.

This morning we took Gabriel to Cockenoe island to let him walk off some energy. As we were walking along the beach I spotted trash here and there. Then I noticed a plastic bag. Fine, I will collect some trash. Joao and Lena joined in. We found 3 more plastic bags and within 20 minutes we had them full with plastic bottles, tennis balls, small bits of plastic, foam, baloons, and other garbage. It was rather sad to see so much trash in a nature preserve.

For the first time since leaving Newport we are motoring. The wind is in our back, but it's so light that as we make 5 knots towards New Rochelle we feel it coming from the forward quarter. Frank is a member of Huguenot Yacht Club and found a slip for Salty Ginger through his connections. That puts us close enough to Hell Gate to catch the morning current to Brooklyn.

Despite the cloudy weather visibility is excellent and we can make out Manhattan skyline from 25 nautical miles away. Civilization, here we come!