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.
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.
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