Hop-O-Nose is the place to go

August 21^st, it had rained on and off most of the night; we awoke and shoved off at 06:40. Everything was still wet but the rain had stopped. Not more than 5 minutes from dock, heavy rain and fog embraced us…we slowed down as the weather radar showed it would pass soon...by the time we arrived at our very last Lock (the Federal Lock in Troy, NY) the rain had stopped and we had a smooth introduction into the Hudson River…the big bad Hudson!

What a difference, 30 foot concrete walls, city bridges with morning traffic, big tug boats and much larger boats as we passed through Troy, NY. We rode the current with good speeds until the tidal currents worked against us and we slowed to only 4.0knts.

We were pushing against the current in order to make it 40 miles to Hop-O-Nose Marina in Catskill, NY where we would have our mast stepped (lifted off our deck to make BoomDeYada look like a sail boat again). For the last hour, the winds picked up and the wave chop was bigger than we had in Oneida Lake a few days previous. Just as the tide and current begun to change in our favour, we turned in to the Catskill River and then ¾ mile to Hop-O-Nose Marina. Sean, the proprietor, met us at the dock and instructed us to get the mast ready for stepping, they will start early the next morning.

Julie and I went for a few afternoon appetizers at the Creekside Restaurant (part of the Marina), then walked in to town to visit AT&T and Radio Shack. After this long day, we went back to relax at the Creekside restaurant for dinner. The place was packed for a private Republican party fund raiser. A few dropped by our boat that evening to chat and admire...we met Steve and Patti who invited us to stay at their club as we made it further down the Hudson.