High Winds and Rain in Cape May

Thursday, September 25th

Up until now, we've been so fortunate with the weather. It's been warm, sometimes hot with a few crisp but sunny days - but now - here we sit with winds gusting to 37 even as high as 40 knots and driving rain. We're tied up to the dock (and how - we're tied and tied some more in every possible configuration) but still the boat feels as though it's being tossed about on high seas.

Bob has been out to check the lines several times and this afternoon, he added a snubber to one - that means he threaded the line through a rubber tube made for the purpose - the line goes in through and around the outside of the tube so when there's a lot of pull, the rubber and line provide some give and don't continually snap as the wind pushes the boat suddenly up and away from the dock.

In defense against the weather, Bob has put on a Stan Rogers CD and turned it up very high. He's singing along and tapping his foot. Nevertheless, I think that we'll both heave a sigh of relief when the winds are no longer howling and vibrating through the rigging.

Friday, September 26

When we woke this morning, it was warm again and the winds had fallen to a manageable 15 knots. Lines on a couple of the boats on the dock had pulled out metal bars attached to pilings next to them, and the boats were left rubbing up against the dock. Bob was out with a dock attendant yesterday afternoon devising a way to throw a new line from one of the boats over the top of the adjacent piling. The high winds made this a challenge. I was glad that we were on the boat and able to monitor our lines.

Reports for Sunday weather are encouraging and we hope to leave this dock and fair city! This morning Bob hoisted the measuring tape up the mast again so as to double check our height from the top of the mast to the water line. Since we have lost so much time waiting out the weather here, we would especially like to avoid the long trip around the outside of Cape May. Sea Change should be OK to clear the two bridges along the Cape May Canal especially since we will be careful to travel at low tide.

We're in town again today to connect electronically (again) and then we plan to visit a period home open to the public. Tonight or tomorrow night, we'll go to one of the local seafood restaurants for our first sampling of seafood from the area.

I don't expect to be writing any more blog posts until we're on the move. I've written enough about streets we've walked on and menus aboard Sea Change. Here's hoping we get away as planned.

Catch Up Time: Finally - Internet Access!

Along the Erie Canal

Entering the Waterford Flight: series of 5 locks between the Mohawk River to the Hudson Rivers

Gates Open: We're Done with this Lock!

Friday September 19th : Sandy Hook, New York

View from Our Boat at the 79th Street Marina
Walk in Central Park

We had a strange last night on our mooring buoy at the 79th Street marina. With wind blowing one way and the current flowing the other, we had our mooring ball sitting directly beside the boat and bouncing into the hull for the first part of the night - that is, banging into the bow right beside where we were trying to sleep.

In the morning, the current was flowing so strongly away from the boat that in order to get the dinghy in place to take the engine off, we had to take a line attached to the dinghy and wind it around the winch. I winched the dinghy (with Bob in it) up next to the boat. Using the pulley system on the rail, I was able to pull up the engine (all 90 lbs of it) and set it on the mount. Bob usually comes onto the boat to do the final winching up but we were bouncing around too much to let the motor hang, so this time I finished the job with Bob reaching up to guide and steady the motor. After a final pump-out and water top up, we followed Somewhere in Time past the Statue of Liberty and out under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge into our first salt water.
We are anchored now beside Somewhere in Time, inside the breakwater at Atlantic Highlands Marina in Sandy Hook. All outside surfaces on the boat are spattered with salt. The wind is blowing and we are rocking but we feel supremely more comfortable than we were last night on our mooring ball in the Hudson River.

Saturday, September 20, 2008: Sandy Hook, New York

The wind howled for much of the night. Before we went to bed, Bob went up top several times to let out more chain, eventually letting out all 90 feet. Since substantial wind and waves are forecast for today, we are staying put. I welcome the day to unwind a little, do some fun reading (a break from all my boat education reading), and also so to cook up some food to have for the next couple of nights after the coming long days sailing ---- on the ocean! (On the ocean?! - how did I get myself into this??)

Somewhere in Time Anchored at Sandy Hook

I'll use the pressure cooker tonight to cook a chicken and rice dinner that will do for tomorrow night as well. Last week, after our 12 hour run down the Hudson from Catskill to Terrytown, I cooked up quite a tasty stew in just over 30 minutes (I had prepared all the ingredients while we were on the water). The pressure cooker that I chose is quite safe and easy to use, and as advertised, saves time and is fuel efficient. I'm glad now that I bought it.

So today - Bob is doing boat maintenance and I'll have lots of time to cook and read. It's coolish but sunny and we are quite warm and comfortable.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

We weighed anchor just before 6 a.m. and set out for our ride over long rolling ocean swells down the New Jersey coast. In the early afternoon, continuing on until the early evening to make Atlantic City did not seem appealing and, at John's suggestion, we went into Barnegat Bay to anchor for the night. What a busy harbour - it was Sunday and there were all kinds of pleasure craft as well as huge fishing trawlers going every which way along the channel leading in and making our entrance into an unknown harbour challenging. However, as evening approached everyone disappeared and we settled down to a quiet night at anchor.

Monday morning we were up early again and had weighed anchor by 6:30. The wind was much stronger, coming from behind us and averaging 15 knots with frequent gusts to 22 knots or more. We sailed most of the day - using the whisker pole for the first couple of hours to go wing on wing and surfing down 3-6 foot waves with speeds sometimes approaching 8.4 knots and for one moment 8.9 (an unbelievable number to see on our knot metre). Eventually Bob decided that it would be easier to control the boat if we brought the head sail in so with only the main sail up, we made from 6 - 7.5 knots throughout the rest of the day until we pulled into a marina at Cape May about 4:30 - a fast sail indeed.

Sailing in the "Boiling Sea" Along the Coast of New Jersey

Our final hour was heart stopping as we turned the boat into the wind and bucked the waves while Bob went forward to pull down the last of the sail and then secure it. Then we turned again to go through the Cape May inlet going against the current and tossing about with waves hitting us on the beam. Once at dock, we went below to find the floor littered with books, clothes and other items which are been tossed off shelves and off the nav and dining tables.

Sea Change is beginning to look as though she's been through the wars. There's the area of the boot stripe rubbed off by the mooring ball at the 79th street marina and there are parts of the teak toe rail that have been scraped away after rubbing against pilings at diesel and pump out docks. Fenders are not much use at these docks as there is the danger of getting them caught between pilings as you come in or attempt to pull away. We are busy thinking of how we can devise some protection at docks like these. In strong winds with current pushing the boat as well, "fending off" is not really an option - certainly not for me.

The Woolseys left this morning as they have to have their boat near Norfolk by October 1st to have some work done. We are staying here for the day. Bob has washed the salt and anchor mud off of the boat and is busy doing repairs. We'll do the wash and go into town to sight see a little and grocery shop. There is no working WiFi at the dock, but the dockmaster has offered to let me hook up my computer in his office.

Tomorrow, we'll go out around Cape May, up the Deleware River and into the C & D (Chesapeake and Deleware) canal. Soon we'll be in "the Chesapeake". In preparation for this, and at the recommendation of other bloggers who have done this trip, I have begun reading the Pulitzer Prize winning book, Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay.

News from New York

We arrived at the 79th Street Marina in New York yesterday afternoon at about 3:30. We left our dock in Terrytown, NY about 12 so as to be able to ride the tide. Thankfully there was no wind when we picked up our mooring (the second last mooring available that day). Today the wind came up and after a wonderful day of walking in Central Park under a clear sunny sky, we returned to the waterfront and were totally surprised by heavy winds and white capped water. Our dinghy ride to the boat, and our successful boarding of Sea Change were full of heart stopping thrills. I said to Bob, people pay money at Wonderland for rides and thrills like this.

We are bouncing and bobbing on the mooring but it's not a lot of advantage to be tied to the dock as Eileen and John are bobbing around just about as much - and they don't have the fun of trying to get into and out of their dinghy while the water throws boat and dock every which way.

Our ride down the Hudson was great - Tuesday was a long day out - 12 hours on the water to take advantage of 2 high tides and currents going our way - but it was a warm and pleasant day and we took in all the sights: the huge and graceful bridges, the colourful tugs pushing gigantic barges, the large homes up on the hills and of course, eventually we could just make out the New York skyline in the distance.

We have had two very nice meals out with the Woolseys. Tomorrow our two boats may be on the move depending on the weather - certainly only if the winds fall off after tonight!

No Internet access for me at the marina - so I'm posting this from an Internet store. Even Starbucks charges now!

Cruising on the Hudson

Sunday, September 14th

(I forgot to transfer my pictures to the computer so I'll post my pictures at the next opportunity)

We are traveling down the Hudson River on our way to the Riverside Marina, Catskill, to have our mast put up again. There are 6 masts waiting there and six boats arriving soon, and we were told that if we could get there before the boats arrive, they'll put ours up - if it's not raining. Right now the skies are cloudy, it has rained and threatens more. We're keeping our fingers crossed and hope to be at the marina by noon.

Yesterday, when we left our overnight dock along the wall at Guy Park, near Amsterdam NY, it was raining lightly and we were both dressed warmly but as we cruised along the Mohawk River, the skies cleared, the sun came out and we began to peel off layers of clothes. The Mohawk is wide and meandering with trees leaning over the water's edge so that even on a misty day it is lovely to travel on.

By mid-afternoon the day had become warm and sunny - fortunate weather for our descent through the "The Waterford Flight" - a set of five locks strung one after the other with a combined drop of 150 ft. The waterways and holding ponds were glassy with all shades of green reflected and forested hills beyond. It was quite beautiful. Once "locked through" the Flight, we were on the Hudson River and had one last lock before a quick run to the marina that Bob had picked out for our night's stay.

Thankfully we arrived at the marina just before dark. Just as we were settling in, Eileen phoned to tell us that they had been stopped by the "Sheriff" as they were cruising down the Hudson and asked if they had phoned in to customs to announce their arrival. Since, like us, the Woolseys bought a cruising permit in Oswego which allows us to cruise in the US for a year without continually checking in, they had not phoned in. The Sheriff did not care about their cruising permit and reiterated the need to phone in at each "port of entry" (!!??). He also checked all of their safety equipment.

To be on the safe side, Bob called the number that Eileen had been given by the Sheriff. The customs officer he spoke to had no clue about any of the documentation required for cruisers since he dealt mostly with commercial ships. It was a long and frustrating conversation as no database that this fellow had access to contained any of the numbers that Bob could give him - boat decal, cruising permit, radio license, boat registration. Finally Bob phoned someone from the customs department that issued the cruising permit who assured him that the permit negated the necessity of having to check in. Bob recorded the call in his boat log (an official document) and will show this to anyone who might choose to question us. This kind of thing has happened to other cruisers. The US government has poor coordination between their agencies and it is difficult to comply with all of their various and conflicting requirements. Bob says - doesn't the sheriff have anything better to do than stopping a cruiser flying the Canadian flag. Are we really that much of a risk?

1:20 p.m. The sun is out and it's hot, hot. The mast is up - Bob will complete the rigging, put the radar back up, and then we'll add the sails tomorrow. The marina here is on a creek just off the Hudson - it's pretty and quiet. We'll stay the night and enjoy the change from last night's clanking dock directly on the Hudson. We're thinking we'll put the dinghy in the water and go up the creek to the Creek View Grill for dinner. The ship's stores are getting low, the heat in the boat has killed our enthusiasm for cooking, and it will be fun to see what else is further up this pretty waterway.

Monday, September 15th


Work on the boat is completed. We took a taxi to the Price Chopper in Catskill - what a nice store! - and as we were pulling out of the shopping centre, Bob saw an A T & T store so we went in and bought a SIM card for our phone. Both Sean and David M. had good suggestions for reasonable phone alternatives but we have found that we have very limited access to places of business - we're really in small town USA these days - if we happen to be near a town at all! Once we get to New York, we will of course have much better access but then we still have to locate and get to places that sell the SIM cards. We have purchased a pay as you go plan and the price per minute is not bad. I'll be sending our new phone number out by email in case any one needs to phone us.

We are going to stay here another night. This will be the first time that have been in one place more than one night. It's nice to slow down just a little! If we leave in the early part of the day tomorrow, we can catch the current going our way and make good time. We have two or three more days before joining the Woolseys in New York city.

How Bad is the Boat?

Sea Change at Night: Checking Charts for our Next Day's Cruise.

Friday, September 12th

Docked on the wall just outside Lock 14 (Amsterdam, NY)

In a recent email, someone (who will remain nameless) asked, "How bad is the boat?" - which could mean any number of things - "Are you going nuts yet?", "Have you had any disasters?", "How many disasters have you had?", "Are you still speaking to each other?"

The boat is good. It's basically pretty comfortable. Bob has added everything that he could think of to make the trip safer and easier. His job seemed to be boat equipment - research and installation - and mine - cooking equipment and supplies. Bob enjoys understanding and feeling in control of the functioning of the boat - and I seem to enjoy figuring out what food to have on hand, where to store it and what new ways I can prepare it to suit our days on the water (and the confines of a boat galley).

Today was pressure cooker day for me - I finally removed the label and washed our new pressure cooker and spent the day (between locks and relieving Bob at the wheel) studying the manual and the 2 pressure cooker cookbooks that I brought with me. By dinner time I was confident enough to try out a simple recipe. In the end it was pretty easy and the chicken with onions and rice was ready in about 12 minutes.

Any disasters? The challenges of boating - continual problem solving are really part of what a trip like this is all about. At the end of the day, it's pretty satisfying when you've managed to get from point A to point B without mishap - or if there were mishaps that you've come through them, learned how to manage better next time, and can sit comfortably in your docked or anchored boat and know you've survived, once again!

Are will still speaking to each other? Well most of the time, yes. Organization and getting into boat routines help a lot - a place for everything and everything in it's place. Today Bob was urging me to put on my water proof nylon pants as the rain had gone from light to heavy and we would soon be going through another lock and would have to stand out in the open. I looked and looked but couldn't figure out what I had done with them. Finally I gave up. There were only a few places where I could have put the pants and they were missing from all of them. As often happens, Bob decided to solve the problem. He went looking for the missing pants. Well - what he found were his pants safely stowed on "his side" of the cabin - and guess what he was wearing? - my rain pants.

A little laughter goes a long way toward making the boat good.

Note on Comments

We're now in Little Falls New York. The boat is tied up on a wall along the canal and I'm sitting in an ice cream shop that has WiFi while Bob is checking on the wash.

We've had a two lovely sunny fall days and successful lock entrances and exits. It's good to go through locks when the wind is light - so much easier.

We were operating Sea Change rescue service today - notified a marina of one boat that had lost their engine and were too far into the shallows for us to reach and then towed a second that was losing the charge in their little electric motor. We went back to help when after not hearing what they said to us - we continued on - and one of them gave us the "high sign" - so we figured they weren't impressed with our response to whatever they had said and that we should back up to find out what it was!

To friends who have kindly left comments on the blog site - please continue doing so. I have had to change the settings for comments so I'll be reviewing comments before they are posted to the site - I've had a couple of the usual weird type messages that can appear if comments are not "moderated". You can select "anonymous" for your comments and don't have to open a Google account. It's just that now, I'll be able to see the messages first before they appear on the blog.

I'm off to find Bob and the laundry - then it's the grocery store and a search to find a SIM card for the unlocked phone we bought before we left.

Moving Right Along

Saturday, September, 6th - Sodus Bay

It's 8 p.m. and dark. We have happened upon an outdoor wedding reception at the Sodus Bay Yacht club so when our there's a lull in our Andrew Lloyd Webber CD, we can hear a mix of rousing dance music. It's likely we'll be listening to the beat of whatever the DJ thinks will keep the crowd going until later than we'd like.

Yesterday we were wondering if we were going to make it away from the dock at Olcott. Our newly installed rebuilt starter motor didn't start. After repeated tries - Bob would go down into the cabin, lift the stairs to have a look at the engine - clank at something and then come up to try again. Following several rounds of this, the engine finally started - but we were afraid to turn it off again even when the winds came up and we could have made good time without it. Actually, we've never gone so fast. The winds were strong and with the engine running at low revs, to our great surprise, we were at times doing more than 8 knots (our hull speed is 7.3 knots).

Bob phoned ahead to a marina in Rochester and was able to book a mechanic for this morning to replace the current starter with our spare starting engine. The mechanic arrived promptly and after an hour of work, I am thankful to report that the engine now starts with one press of the button. At about noon, we set out for Sodus Bay where we are now - listening to loud wedding music.

Photo - Sunday Morning at Sodus Bay Yacht Club

Sunday, September 7th - Oswego

After a half day of motor sailing over bumpy seas (I was green by noon) we are here at Oswego Marina. The sails are off of the boat , the radar has been dismounted and we will soon walk over to John and Eileen's trawler, Somewhere in Time for a "celebratory dinner". Bob has the stand for the mast partially built - he'll finish it tomorrow morning and then in the early afternoon the mast comes down, will be laid across our deck and secured and then we will go through the first lock of the New York State Canal system.

Laying the mast across the "cradle".

Here's Sea Change at Winter Harbor on the Oneida River - part of the Erie Canal system.

We went through 8 locks today - 22 more locks to go. This was our initiation day - it was pouring rain on and off all day and we started through the first 3 locks with strong winds coming from behind us. It was quite something. I won't go through the gory details but it didn't go well. After the first 2 locks, we considered throwing in the towel for the day but since there was no place to tie up on that part of the canal, that wasn't an option. Eventually the wind began to drop and we got better at grabbing the ropes or cables running down the lock walls. Still we were glad to tie up at the end of today and to join Eileen and John for an "after action review" debrief and drink.


Tomorrow is supposed to be a beautiful day which should be great since this is a picturesque area - and we will be crossing Lake Oneida and then going on to more locks - 2 more with the water "going down" (as the locks so far have been) and all the rest "going up" adding a new dimension to our lock management learning. Onward and upward!

Docking Surprise

Posted from the hamlet of Olcott, part of the town of Newfane, NY
Photo: Bob repairing the damaged "S" in Sea Change.

Yesterday, after Sea Change hit the wood box encasing the steel rod at the end of our slip, climbed it and slid back down to finally come to a stop, I said to Bob, "I won't put this in the blog". News that the boat was for a few minutes moving dangerously in the wrong direction might scare some of the people who care about us as it certainly scared us. When Bob had tried to stop the boat by putting it into reverse as one does when docking, the boat continued forward and picked up speed. When the bow of our boat hit the wood box, it split open but cushioned the impact. Some of the gel coat on the bow was scraped and part of the S on the port side "Sea Change" is missing but that, surprisingly, is the extent of the damage.

This morning Bob put on his goggles and went under the boat to see if there was weed wrapped around the prop. Negative to that. The boat was shifting into reverse and forward but the shift was sticky - and inconsistent. Catherine, from New Bliss in the next slip to us, got on her bike and went to alert Marine Services that we were on our way over to have the boat pulled again and that we would be arriving with compromised stopping capabilities. It turned out that the longer screws that Bob had put into the zinc at the end of the prop yesterday (to ensure that we didn't lose it), had "bottomed out" and were preventing the prop from turning properly. The addition of an extra washer to each screw fixed the problem.

So - since, ignoring my oath of secrecy, I told everyone that I talked to throughout the day about our mishap, and also since, as it always seems to be with these experiences, once you have some distance from the event and especially once you can explain it, it doesn't seem so bad after all - I'm putting it in the blog.

What a Day...

Wednesday p.m.
We're at the boat - We made it out of the house and we're pooped. Sean picked us up at 4:30 and drove us to the launch - Bob raced to his meeting and I worked on completing the fridge defrost and cleanup - and then I very artfully managed to get everything that we'd brought in 2 cooler bags - all into the fridge. No mean feat I assure you. And now - its 10 at night but Bob hasn't stopped yet. He's on a roll or is it a tear? We had a slight problem with the boat this a.m. and Bob is concerned that we may not be able to set out tomorrow - well so am I. We do want to get on our way as our friends John and Eileen are meeting us in Oswego in a few days. The boat is not filled to the brim but it's pretty packed - and Bob wants everything as stowed away that can be. Apparently my yoga mat has to be put in the locker under our bed - it's quite possible I'll never remove it if it goes out of sight. For now I've promised to "take care of it" - so I'm going to have to get creative. Anyway - I've put off the yoga mat dilemma and Bob is not rumbling about in corners of the boat - so it's time to head for bed and see what develops tomorrow!

Thursday 10 a.m.
Propeller problem solved (details later) - the dinghy is on the davits; the outboard had been hoisted and fastened onto the boat rail. We're off!