Treading Water

Monday
We began our journey back to Boston on Monday. The current at Hells Gate was scheduled to change at 1:59pm which would mean a late departure. Rather than sitting and twiddling thumbs we set of from Surfside 3 at 10am with the intention of arriving at Hells Gate at 1pm. Within minutes we realized that the current was with us as we were transiting the Hudson River towards the Statue of Liberty. the skipper had one of those oops moments where he thought he had left at least an hour early. However, after viewing the statue, we started our return to the East River. We had a steady 2kt head on current. Rather than push hard, we just tried to achieve 2 kts over ground which would get us to Hells gate at 1pm. We actually had no choice in the end as we were following a barge which was doing the same. As we arrived at Roosevelt island the barge stopped dead - or should we say maintained a constant GPS position by achieving the speed over water equivalent to the current. We did the same and waited.

You have heard it be said that patience is a virtue. in this case it was true. Because these large ships have Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) they know one an others positions, directions and speed of movement. We assume that the barge in front of us knew that there was another barge being pushed downstream and through VHF communications had arranged to wait for them to pass. After maintaining position for 10 minutes a barge came through Hells gate and passed us. The two barges were on the radio and one asked the other if there were any issues downstream. They answered that the weren't but that there were two sailboats waiting behind. Subsequently the upstream heading vessels set off through Hells gate and into Long Island Sound.

There was little wind all afternoon until about 4pm. At this time we got 4kts of true wi d and so we used it for sail school training and went through tacking and gybing instruction. Steadily the wind grew to 10kts and we ended up with a nice sail into Oyster Bay. On the way we landed two Blue fish.

Having not showered since Friday, the facilities were welcomed. Afterwards we went into town to taste taste the local catch.

this morning is overcast with a chance of late afternoon showers and storms. We will set off early to see if we can make some ground before we anchor/moor/dock.

So where will we go today? Please use the comment box, and how many fish will we land? We can have a boat cleaning party this weekend!