Aboard Lady

Lady does New York City!

Oyster Bay 40 52.241N 073 30.887W

Sunday June 29th, 2008

Charlie's report:

Lady Cape May, NJ to Oyster Bay, NY 6/25/08 to 6/27/08.

This is one of the key legs of the trip which we had been planning for some time; through New York Harbor into Long Island Sound.  There are other routes, but this is the one we chose for the experience.

The first decision is when to leave Cape  May. Leave too early and you arrive in New York Harbor at night. Doable but not desirable.  It’s about 100 miles up the coast; more then we can do in a day dawn to dusk. And not many desirable stops on the way.  So we leave Cape May at 1120.

(Jenny off watch as we pass Atlantic City.)

The wind is light and from the south and is predicted  to strengthen and go to the southwest later in the day. We sail northeast to gain distance from the coast and put the wind on a beam reach. We could not maintain 6 knots under sail alone, so we motor sail (sail with the motor turning slowly).  About 1500 the wind increases and we can kill the engine. For the rest of the day and night, we had a great sail.  At times, we were making over 7 knots and I was concerned that we would arrive too early.

While we were in Annapolis, I had a new instrument installed on the boat, AIS. I won’t go into detail, but it shows commercial ships on my chart plotter and gives their position, range, speed, course and name.  About 2200, and while about 12 miles offshore, I start to see (on the AIS) one, then two then three 900 foot ships heading south while I’m going north. Now they were still 20 miles away, but they are going 20 knots plus, so we have a closing speed of 27 knots plus! We are going to cross in less than an hour.  After some calculation, I determined that if I tacked into shore, I would be turning into their course. So we continued northeast until they cleared, they we tacked back toward shore.  Now that I knew where they liked to run, I told Jenny to stay 3 to 6 miles off.

We arrive off New York entrance at dawn, about 0520. Light rain kills the wind, so we furl the sails and motor.  The maximum number of AIS targets that my instruments will track is 100. The maximum range is about 60 miles. If there are more then 100, it tracks the closest. By 0600, we were tracking 100 targets, the most distant one 9 miles away!  The big ships have to stay in the channel or they will run aground. So as long as I stay on the side of the channel, I’m safe, at least that’s what’s worked in the past.

New York and a new deal.  Remember ferry boats? Big, slow and taking the worker bees into Wall Street? Well, now they are going 30 knots plus and they don’t stay in the channel. Plus, sport fisher boats that seem to be on autopilot also not in the channel.  New York, don’t you love it?  We make our way into Great Kill Harbor, on Staten Island.  About 200 boats moored and another 400 docked, but room for us to anchor. Anchor down at 0915, naps all around, we never leave the boat, just recharge our batteries for the next inning.

Next morning, June 27, five months to the day after leaving Houston, we are up at 0530 and anchor up at 0645. Timing is determined by the current through the East River. We have to leave the Battery (south tip of Manhattan Island) at 1100 to 1130 to catch the current (up to 3 knots) up the East River into Long Island Sound. 

We fight a foul tide (that means flowing against us) from the lower bay to the middle bay and under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. Limited visibility, fog or haze.

Big ships all around us, some underway and some at anchor.  Tugs moving every direction. 

Coney Island in the fog to our right. 

Arrive at the Statue of Liberty at 0930 and sun breaks through, sort of. At least it’s enough for a photo opportunity.  

Then Ellis Island (some of my forefathers came through there) and then a sightseeing tour up the Hudson to midtown until time to head up the East River.

 

Jenny's note:  Charlie failed to mention anything about the four waterfalls created by Olafur Eliasson.  We overheard radio chatter where one professional mariner described them as "stupid!"  Someone else said that it looked like the Brooklyn Bridge was leaking.  I thought that they were pretty cool.  We did not understand the police boats in front of each waterfall.  We were practically the only water tourists there!

    

The guide book was right. We were at our normal cruise speed of 7.2 knots, but with the current we gained speed.  Finally, at the famous (to mariners) Hell Gate, we hit 9.8 knots. I would not have wanted to be one of the Dutch that sailed through here without motors! 

By 1244, we were in Long Island Sound.  Motored another 15 miles (no wind) and dropped anchor in Oyster Bay at 1615.

When we were in the Chesapeake, I posted something about seeing where all your tax dollars went. Now I know where all the fees from mutual funds go; the houses on Oyster Bay are 10 times the houses on the Chesapeake; sorry Chesapeake.

It was a great three days in every respect, sightseeing and navigational challenges. I don’t know if we will ever do this again, but I’m glad I had the opportunity to do it once.

Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and Cape May, New Jersey

June 25th, 2008  38 57.045N 074 54.304W Cape May, New Jersey

We said good-bye to Baltimore early Sunday morning (0615) and headed down the Patabsco River to the Chesapeake Bay.  The wind was light, and mostly on our nose, so we were under power all day.

There was a light fog, and we passed the Navy ship Antares as we entered the Bay.

We headed north, and on the Elk River the shore line views were very attractive.  Perhaps we'll come back and stay longer on another trip.

The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, originally opened in 1829, connects Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware River.  There are no locks on the canal, and it provides a short-cut for commercial traffic going from the Chesapeake to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  It was quite different from the Intra-coastal Waterway...yes we've seen barge and tow-boat traffic a lot, but big ships like this, so far inland was pretty amazing.

We carried the flood current up the river in to the canal.

 We had considered pulling in to Chesapeake City to drop anchor for the night, but the chart showed depths of five feet at the entrance to the harbor.  We draw 6 feet, and though we could have made it through there on a rising tide, our planes for departure the following morning would have us leaving on a falling tide, and we did not want to get stuck!

We pulled in to Summit North Marina about 1500. We tied up on the long pier on the south side of the marina at 39 32.788N 075 42.291W(Google earth's picture was taken before they added new docks).

This Great Blue Heron kept watch over us from his favorite perch.

We were up early again Monday morning, this time so that we would pick up the ebb current on the Delaware River as we headed south.

There was not much traffic.  This Alaska trawler reminded us of Anneke and Steve Fisher's Selene 53 Prime Time.

Again, there was light fog as we headed south.  As we passed a nuclear power plant on Artificial Island, Charlie pointed out that there was so much radioactivity going up that stack that it was flashing lights on the top.  Ha ha, I didn't believe that one.

As the Delaware River widened in to  Delaware Bay, we were surprised to see dolphins! We ended up spotting a dozen or so pods.  This was the first time we'd seen the beautiful mammals since we were offshore in North Carolina.  We guessed that there must be lots of fish in Delaware Bay.

Charlie talked on the radio with the captains on the Cape May to Lewes ferries that cross the entrance to the Bay.  The AIS system that was added to the electronic chart plotter provided him with the motor vessels' names, so he was able to easily contact them as we approached crossing situations.

We rounded the Cape, and entered the harbor, noting the Coast Guard training facility as we headed to Utsche's Marina.  Ted helped with our lines, we checked in and headed to the most beautiful marina showers.  Each of the eight showers is a private bathroom, and we recommend this marina and the friendly staff to any of our friends that might follow.

Yesterday we walked in into town, and enjoyed seeing the Victorian architecture of the old houses.  Doesn't this one look like the Cape May bordello?  Hydrangeas were coming in to full bloom -  made me miss my garden in Tulsa.

Last night in-laws, Elaine and James Maugham drove to Cape May from their home in Medford. We were very pleased to see them again, after they had spent a few days with us in St Michaels a month or so ago.  We had a lovely meal (lobsters!) together outside at The Pier House, and a very jolly time with them before they headed back to their home and we headed for bed.

Family news update: 

Elder son IV McNamara is headed for Bermuda today to help his friend Jeff Gentzen move Reindeer, a Morris 47 sailing yacht back to Providence, Maine.  Jeff was part of the crew on Reindeer competing in the Newport Bermuda yacht race.  I see that our friend Francis Rooney, who we last saw when we were in Naples, FL was also competing in that race.  Congratulations to all!

Younger son, Mike has taken a temporary position as a counselor at Camp Mishawaka in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.  He joins his cousins Libby and Patrick McNamara who are also counselors there this summer.  IV visited them last weekend to give Camp the e-Scow sailing boat that the boys no longer use.  Elaine reported to us last night that Stephanie had informed her Mike has has two colds and now has pink-eye in both eyes!  I guess he hasn't been around kids for a while!

Olivia and Stephanie are both working hard while their husbands are off having fun!

We will be leaving Cape May today, and sail offshore overnight, expecting to drop anchor off Sandy Hook, New Jersey tomorrow morning (Thursday), where we will rest up for a cruise of New York Harbor the following day.

We're back, and we're off again!

June 20th, 2008  39 16.55N 076 34.72W

Baltimore, MD

After spending a lovely time with both boys and their wives, a trip to Tulsa for Charlie and a trip to the UK for me, we are glad to be back aboard Lady, and we are getting ready to take off north again.

While IV and Olivia were here, one day I went to Washington DC with them, where we toured the Botanical Gardens, Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and the Natural History Museum, as well as wearing ourselves out with all the walking!

The  six of us went for an overnight cruise over the weekend, anchoring in Rocky Creek, just off the Patabsco River.  One the way we found the buoy that is a monument to Francis Scott Key, author of "The Star Spangle Banner".  He was a prisoner aboard a British barge, and watch the battle all night long, and say the stars and stripes flag still flying in the morning.

It was so great to have the family with us!

We'd like to thank all the good people who took care of us while we were gone.

  A BIG thank you to Stephanie McNamara for taking care of Sooty here in Baltimore.

Then, thanks to everyone who helped and entertained Charlie while he was in Tulsa:  Mary Kevin and Steve McNamara, Libby and Bob Gaddis, NeMar and Tom Noulles, Marcy and Bernard Robinowitz; Tom and Beverly Golden, David and Anne Sewell, Mary Ann and Bob Swain, Victoria Pederson and Dewey Bartlett, Nancy and John Pilkington...and any others he forgot to tell me about.  Another BIG thank you to IV and Olivia McNamara and Tom Engle for taking care of him on Father's Day! Charlie had a great time on the golf course, once he had finished with our tax returns!

Also thanks to family and friends in England: my mother, Mary Pain, Sandy Lane neighbors, cousin Kerry Hayward, his friends Kathy and John Legg.  I was there while the Isle of Wight Festival was going on, and Kerry, Kathy, John and I went up the Medina River by dinghies to listen to the Police and Sting Sunday night.  It was lovely to see Eileen and Jack Roberts again, too.

Charlie and I met up again in the Baltimore Airport last Wednesday and have since then been getting Lady organized for our departure tomorrow.  We will leave early in the morning, head north to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, spend Sunday night at a marina on the Canal,  finish the canal transit early Monday morning, then head south-east down the Delaware River to Cape May, where we will rest up ready for an offshore sail to New York City.

(Perhaps a future post will have a picture of the REAL statue of Liberty...this one is on one of the pilings here at the entrance to Balltimore City Marina.)

Baltimore - Inner Harbor

May 29th, 2008 to May 30th, 2008 39 16.555N 076 34.720W

Rather than walking (quite a hike along the lovely park all along the shore of the harbor here) or driving (parking downtown is impossible), we have taken the dinghy in to downtown Baltimore to be tourists.

On the advice of Craig (Charmed), who we saw picking up guests, we tied the dinghy up to a dock between the aquarium and the submarine Torsk.

There are all kinds of things to do here.  We went to Best Buy and purchased a new camera as we were afraid that the existing camera was failing.

We saw the tall ship Juan Sebastian de Elcano docked here...we had previously seen her when we were sailing over the Memorial Day holiday weekend.  Mike and I were thrilled that she was to be open for tours later in the day.

The former power plant had been updated:  It now contains an ESPN Zone restaurant, and Hard Rock Cafe, a Baners & Noble book store as well as other retail shops.

While we were there, fire trucks started arriving.  The aquarium was evacuated, and dozens of shool children were buzzing around. 

The fire boat even responded.  There did not seem to be a fire and Mike suggested that some 9th grader had set off the alarm at the aquarium.  The fish kept on swimming!

Mike and I toured Juan Sebastian de Elcano. They had awnings set up as the day was quite warm, and although the Midshipmen did not speak much English, it was interesting to see this Spanish Navy's sail training ship built in 1927.  We were particularly intrigued by the fact the each of the four masts has a special name: (from the stern) Nautilus is the jigger mast, Asturias the mizzen mast, the main mast is Almansa, and the foremast is Blanca.  There were few winches and electronics.  No autohelm.  Brass labels by belaying pins indicated the lines' names, but they were all in Spanish, so did not mean much to us.  Over 200 people live and work aboard her for about six months at a time.

The Constellation is also moored here in the harbor, and although we did not visit this maritime museum, we may do that on another trip.

Another day Charlie, Mike and I visited the Body Worlds 2 exhibit at the Maryland Science Museum.

There are also a lot of great restaurants in the area, so no need for anyone to go hungry or thirsty.  Loads of fun!

Take me out to the ball game...

Wednesday May 28th, 2008  39 16.55N 076 34.720W

We decided that since we were in a baseball major league city, we should go to a game.

The Orioles were playing at home this week, and the date that worked for the four of us was Wednesday...a match againt the New York Yankees.

A cab dropped us off at Camden Yards, and Charlie picked up the tickets he had pre-ordered.

Our seats were great...box seats, in field, about halfway between third and home.

Although there were a lot of Yankee fans in our area, we rooted for the O's.

Mike purchased us beers from the vendors that roamed up and down the aisles, and we managed to have a thouroughly great time. 

Dinner was hot dogs.  The only sad thing about the evening was that the O's lost 2-4.

Annapolis and Baltimore from Charlie!

Charlie's report

Lady, Annapolis (the second time) to Baltimore May 21 to June 3, 2008

After our great visit to St. Michael’s with James and Elaine Maugham, we sailed back to Annapolis. Well, actually, we took a slip at the same place we had Lady pulled the previous week, which is the next creek south of Annapolis.  It’s an easy walk to Annapolis, it’s cheaper, it’s closer to our electronic techs and, most importantly, Kim, the yard manager, is really cute.

It was also “commissioning week” at the Naval Academy and slips in Annapolis were hard to come by. “Commissioning  Week” at the Naval Academy is Navy talk for graduation, and it’s really a big deal. Lots of family in town and a lot of class reunions. Annapolis is very busy.

Phillip from Electronic Marine and I had had some telephone conversations over the last few days regarding our Autohelm problem. We had already replaced the circuit board with no lasting improvement. We decided to replace the flux gate electronic compass. He was able to do this in about an hour. Unfortunately, the wind was so strong that we could not calibrate the new compass, so we really didn’t know if this was a fix or not.

It was raining and cold Tuesday, so new stayed put. We walked into Annapolis. First priority was to get my glasses fixed (I had broken all three pairs).  We decided that since the Blue Angels were performing Wednesday, we would stick around and see the show (it’s free!).  Mike drove down from Baltimore and joined us.  It was the first time I had been on the Academy campus. Quite impressive.

We departed Eastport the next morning and finally found a creek out of the wind but wide enough to calibrate our new compass to the Autohelm. It worked, at least so far. For those of you that don’t know, an Autohelm is an electronic device that steers the boat. It will hold a compass course or a course relative to the wind or steer to a waypoint.  It’s like having at least two extra crew on board. Although one of us is always “on the helm”, with the Autohelm we can leave the helm to get something to drink or use the head. Without the Autohelm, we are a prisoner to the helm. It’s an important piece of equipment and one that we miss when it’s not working.

Baltimore is located off Chesapeake Bay up the Patapsco River. After a windy and wet sail Thursday from Annapolis, we found a good protected anchorage in Rock Creek, located off the Patapsco River and about 7 miles from Baltimore. Friday morning we motored up to the Baltimore Marine Center where we had reserved a slip for a month through June 23rd.

For you non cruisers, a slip that costs $100 per night would be discounted to $1000 per month or further discounted to $4,000 per year. Many cruisers rent for longer than they actually stay.  In addition to waiting for summer to arrive, Jenny wants to fly home to England to visit her mother, I need to travel to Tulsa to prepare our tax return and we both wanted to visit Mike and Stephanie (they live in Baltimore now).  So, renting the slip for a month made sense. Their house is less than a mile from our marina. The marina was recommended by our friends Larry and Pam Shelton, who had stayed here before.  It was good recommendation. The two basic necessities of life (grocery and liquor stores) are right across the street. Also, West Marine and a lot of good restaurants are close by.  

We went day sailing the Saturday and Monday of Memorial Day weekend with Mike and Stephanie. It was strange returning to the same slip we left; that’s never happened before on this trip!

We have been using the last few days to work on mostly preventative maintenance issues.  Replacing worn lines, changing oil, oil and fuel filters, cleaning saltwater strainers,  service generator, fix water leak, waterproof bimini top, repair running lights, inspect everything and tighten or replace missing screws, nuts etc.  Line up a good wax job while we are off the boat (some parts of the ocean can really be dirty).
Our son IV and his wife Olivia are on an east coast vacation and scheduled to arrive in Baltimore June 4. We are looking forward to spending some time with him.  I will return to Tulsa with them Sunday for about 10 days while Jenny is in England. While we are gone, Stephanie will check on Lady and feed Sooty.  So don’t expect any updates for the next couple of weeks while we are on vacation from vacation.

Jenny's note:  I hope to get a couple more posts done before I leave for the UK, but at this point it's Tuesday evening; IV and Olivia will be here tomorrow, and I will probably be quite busy with family.  If I don''t get more done, don't worry...I'll pick up the adventure when I return on June 19th!

Baltimore - Memorial Day weekend

Friday May 23rd to Monday May 26th, 2008 39 17.065N 076 36.653W

We were excited as we approached Baltimore, the Charm City, as it is known:  Mike and Stephanie live here; IV and Olivia are coming to visit on vacation; we plan to have Lady here for a month while we also take a little break from cruising.  The view of the city as we came under the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Friday afternoon was impressive!

We fueled up and pumped holding tanks at the fuel dock, and then found our way to Slip J-31 at the Baltimore Marine Center - our home for the next month.

Saturday morning, Mike and Steph arrive about 1000 and we decided that a tour of Baltimore by water was in order.

We saw beautiful marinas and gorgeous yachts.

We saw a relic from Hurricane Isabel in 2003.

We saw pirate ships, the downtown skyline, old seafaring vessels, old lighthouses, all the excitement of the Inner Harbor.

 

After passing all the exciting sights (doesn't Stephanie take good pictures? These are mostly hers!) we headed down the Patabsco River.  We passed Fort McHenry.  This is the place where "The Star Spangled Banner" flew.  Francis Scott Key, the composer of the US National Anthem, was imprisoned aboard a British barge in the river and our guide book indicated that there is a commemorative buoy in the river, close to the bridge bearing his name.  We did not find the buoy, (Stephaine later read that it is not deployed until June 1 each year) but we did have a great view of the fort and park.

Sooty even came out to see what was going on.

All the instruments worked as they are supposed to!

It was a great day...but just the start of the weekend.

Sunday Mike took us to provision and to a trip to the West Marine here at BMC.  In the afternoon, as we were about to head for the pool, Larry and Pam arrived on Southern Girl, another Catalina 470.  I guess there are no pictures of hanging around at the dock!  Mike and Stephanie launched the dinghy and went to explore on their own.  We had a great dinner cooked on the grill here on the boat.

Memorial Day Monday, Stephanie brought her friend Katrina to join us for a sail.  We did another tour of the inner harbor before heading our the river for a sail...it seems to typically be a beat out and a run back in.

As we approached the F. S. Key Bridge, we saw a huge square-rigged ship at anchor, with a fuel barge next to her. 

T he Tall Ship Juan Sebastian de Elcano was at anchor, and we circled her a couple of times, taking pictures and waving to her crew.  They looked pretty busy polishing and making her look good.

We had a great sail, and went to the Bay Cafe, here on the boardwalk for dinner.

Blue Angels at Annapolis

Eastport Yacht Center, Annapolis, MD  38 58.081N 076 28.599W

Monday May 19th to Thursday May 22nd

After saying goodbye to James and Elaine on Monday morning, we left St. Michaels and headed back to Annapolis.  Eastpost Yacht Center had room for us, and Phil came practically as soon as we were docked, and after discussion with Charlie, installed a new electronic flux-gate compass. 

Bad weather was forecast for Tuesday, so we stuck close to the dock, and then on Wednesday we decided to stay another day as the Navy's Blue Angels were to put on an air show in connection with the Navy Academy's Commissioning Week. 

Mike drove down from Annapolis, we packed a picnic lunch, and headed over to the Navy Academy.  After going through security, we walked around the beautiful campus, admiring the lovely homes, many of them decorated for visiting alums.

We were in time for the midshipmen's official gathering prior to going in to lunch, and it was exciting to see the young people assembling and marching together.

After that we eventually wandered down to the track field; we had been advised that this was to be the central location for the air show.  We perched on the pole-vault pit (you ever know if you might meet someone you know, and this seemed as likely a spot as any) and enjoyed our lunch, and watching all the other people enjoying the beautiful day. 

We walked around after lunch, and were particularly taken with this beautiful police dog.

The navy's rock group provided musical entertainment as we waited for the show to start.

Finally, it was time for the planes!

One of the Blue Angels provided informative commentary, and told us about the pilots and planes participating.  They start training in the early Spring, and then perform many times over the course of the year.  Exciting music played as the planes came in and swirled around us in different formations.

 

After the show was over, we admired the fleet of racing yachts before heading back to Lady.

The next day we left Annapolis and headed out the river, north under the huge Bay Bridge, then into the Patapsco River, where we anchored overnight in Rock Creek at 39 09.127N 076 30.640W