It's a good Friday

Yesterday was one of those days. We had pulled up late, the night before, next to a  gas dock at Hoffmans Marina and planned on fueling up and moving on. The gas dock guy arrived at six and started yelling at us for being parked at his gas dock and being in his way.He made it clear that he hated sailboats. He next demanded two dollars a foot dock rental and no we could not use the bathrooms or showers and get the F.... off his dock. We finally got and payed for fuel and shoved off at 6:00 am..
After we cleared the channel we were out in the ocean again and it was cool and windy with a south wind. After about 2 hours the wind and waves picked up to 6-8 foot rolling waves with the tops blown off. The temps were in the high 40s low 50s so it felt pretty cool, Around noon we herd a big noise and realized that the anchor had came loose and 100 feet of chain and 100 feet of rope went out. In 50 feet of water the anchor set and set hard. Next challenge was to get the anchor unset and all that line and chain back in the boat. Tom and George went on deck fighting the wind and waves to get it all sorted out. After about an hour it was all sorted out and Tom and George were safely back in the cockpit. Other than the wind and waves the day went well until we went into an anchorage in Barnegeat Bay. Any who has ever sailed into this harbor knows that it is full of shoals and sandbars. We ran aground going into the anchorage but got it out using the stay sail and the motor. The nice sunset and George's dinner made the end of the day seem a lot better.
We awoke this morning to a 51 degree temp with a wind chill of 38, but the sun is shining.There is still a small craft warning so we decided to wait it out and head out Saturday. As we are waiting out heavy winds and seas there is time to clean the boat and us. There was a Canadian boat that we saw on the Hudson acnhored next to us last night but they chose to brave the heavy seas and move on. We are going to try once more to get someone up the mast to get some lights working. We have been using temporary lights to be legal but we really need at least a steaming light. The anchor light will have to wait until somewhere quiet to fix that.I couldn't send any pictures today as we have really limited bandwidth on the Internet connection. The spell checker doesn't seem to be working so bear with me.

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday

As these three days were all on the Hudson I decided to combine the information.
After leaving Casteleton we motored until dark and anchored in a cove off the channel. The big tugs and barges that we had sailed with all day kept going all night. It was a great night to sit in the cockpit and watch the stars. We hit the hay pretty early.
TTuesday morning was grey, windy, and cold (somewhere around 30) so we just checked the boat and trudged off down the Hudson. The cold weather was kind of demoralizing but we all know that there is warmth at the end of the trip. The wind finally picked up from the west so we set the stay sail. That worked pretty good so we decided to bring out the jib...not so good. Coming around a bend in the river we hit steady 30 mph wind and we healed to about 45 degrees. Tom was in the galley and could see water rushing by the portholes. It only took a minute to get her back on the straight and narrow but it took about half an hour to pick up all the gear that had been flying around the boat. After that adrenalin rush we decided to skip the sails until the wind dropped a bit. As it got dark we decided to find a marina for fuel, a slip and to see if we could get the anchor light fixed. That had to be the worst marina in the planet. Very tiny lanes to maneuver the slips, dirty shower and in the morning they couldn't even fix the light.

Tuesday dawned bright and sunny. We motored and motor sailed all day. Still was pretty cold but the sun made it feel good. When we started seeing sight of NYC it really brightened our spirits. We took many pictures and will share some of them with you folks. We finished the day in Sandy Hook NJ in a real nice marina. George fixed us a nice meal of meatball subs and mixed veggies. Not sure but George is a vegetarian cooking for two carnivores. Somehow it all works. Now time for some sleep.

Saturday Morning

Saturday morning we awoke after being shook and jostled by the wind all night. The wind let off a bit and so we decided that it would be a good time to raise the mast. We are at the Caselton Boat Club were they offer a gin pole to raise your mast do it yourself for 50 bucks. We had no wind instruments so we had no idea what the wind was really blowing. After we got past the point of no return the wind started to really pick up but we still had no idea by how much. When we finished stepping (raising) the mast we checked the wind and it was blowing steady 30mph and gusts to 65mph.We had two different sailing family's ask us if we were crazy..maybe so. The boat is all rigged except for the sails so a pretty good  day. Everyone helps everyone here so we helped some people get out of their slip and they helped us move the boat back out of the mast stepping slip.We did some laundry and went and had some burgers at the bar next door. I think the rest of the day will be resting.
Sunday Deb and Lucy are coming  to pick up the mast crutches and bring some veggies. After the women leave  we will set sail toward NYC....

The rest of the week.

The rest of the week consisted  of going through the locks, eating and sleeping under very trying conditions. Most days the temps only got in the high forty's. In your house if you are cold you crank up the heat but on a sailboat underway you are outside in the wind and cold you have no protection. The canvas cover that could help you makes it hard to see so we forgo that. Friday was the hardest, the wind was heavy and the rain was coming down in sheets. When we got to the dock it was fantastic to plug in the electric heater and head to the showers. After those two improvements we all felt like new people. George cooked us a nice dinner of sausage and potatoes. With heater going inside we could walk around in t-shirts. The wind continued to build all night and by morning it was gusting to 60 mph.
Many people sent us pictures and we will try and post more but we wanted to get some out there and talk about what we are seeing and feeling. The crews spirits are good. Frank and Denise are a day or so behind us and are doing well. I think they are at lock 11 tonight. Please add comments or ask questions as we go along.

Day Three

Tuesday we were up and had the boat ready and running when Lockmaster Mark arrived at the lock. When those big doors opened we took off down the canal with no other boats in sight.. As the day progressed we saw more and more boats heading in the same direction that we were headed, some sailboats and some really big power boats. We made it through 3 locks. To give ourselves a good start for Wednesday we motored across  Onideia  Lake in the dark. The lake is very shallow and the navigation lights are not all that great. We finally motored into Sylvan beach at 10:15, a very long day. When driving a car you have bright lights and defined roadways, on a boat you have none of that, you depend on your night vision  and charts that could have been created 20 years.

Day Two

We spent Monday regrouping, planning, and going to a store for food and beer. The store was about a mile away so it made a nice walk. In the afternoon Mark told us to be ready to go at 7:00 am on Tuesday. The views from the lock were spectacular and if I get could windows 7 to talk to googgle I will post some more pictures. We had a pair of eagles nesting right across from the boat as well as spectacular sunsets...

First day

 First let me apoligize for the time it took to get these blogs updated We found wireless is not availible in most marinas.

The Sailing Vessel Packet Inn left Ithaca at 10 am on the tenth of October with Tom as Captain and Doug and George as able bodied seaman.  Day one was pretty cool we had about 20 people to see us off. The trip down Cayuga Lake was smooth and warm, just a beautiful fall day. The colors were spectacular. Our friends Greg, Jean, Ira followed us up the lake in thier renovated Cal 34. We arrived at lock CS1 at around 3:00 pm. The lockmaster Mark was very nice but told us we wouldn’t be leaving until Tuesday as the canals and rivers were still flooded by last week storms.

Until the first meal we had no idea the jewel we had in George, our sailing friend is a top notch cook. So instead of loosing weight like we asummed we would do we are eating like kings.

Taking down the mast

Today was a big day in getting ready for the trip. The guys at Johnsons and Tom got the mast down and stored on the mast crutches. After the mast was completley tied and strapped we put the dingy on the deck. Kevin was going to tune and check the ham radio antenna. Next door Frank and Denise are racing against time to fix thier reefer, water heater, and a bad piece of plywood down in the steering area. Saturday will be the final shop for food and loading clothes.