Oswego bound

Early morning the winds picked up which woke me around 02:00. (The captain often thinks I'm still sleeping however, I too am wide awake to hear the winds but I know he has it all under control) It had turned 180 degrees and BoomDeYada was now turned around being blown towards the shore. I knew we had the depth but that concern of the anchor dragging had me reach for the hand-held GPS again. After about an hour I felt secure enough to go back to sleep. ..and the winds seemed to be calming down.

We woke at 06:15 to calm winds, lifted anchor and were underway by 06:30…we motored for 1.5 hours with only the main sail up until we rounded Stoney Point, NY. We can see the reactor and steam from 9 Mile Nuclear Plant, it makes for a good target since we can’t see the land where we are heading. The winds (10knots out of the south) were good for a close reach (cutting into the wind as close as possible). There were a few white caps so we pulled out the jib (big forward sail) two thirds (reefed); motor sailing at about 5.5knots/hour; waves were about 1-2ft. By 09:00, waves were 3ft , the winds increased and swinging around more out of the south forcing us to nudge further off course…now our heading is much further past Oswego…we may need to power into the wind for the last hour if this keeps up with this heading. These was the roughest seas Julie and I had seen with BoomDeYada, she handled it well while I kept rolling different scenarios in my mind as to what to do if the sail rips or if one of our new shrouds (one of the metal cables that helps hold up the mast) gives way….I keep reminding myself that the ship is stronger than the Captain...Julie comments how much she is enjoying the ride ... a fine first mate. Within the hour, the waves increase to 4ft and stronger winds…too late to turn back now. Two hours of that was enough for us this morning, around 10:00, the winds starts diminish from 15knots to 10knots and the direction starts to cooperate…we slowly start nudging back closer to our destination. At this point, almost half way from Stoney Point to Oswego and still 16nm out, we figured geographic’s of the lake and the off-shore winds helped us out…the Captain snoozed in the cockpit and the First Mate stood watch, adjusting our heading as the wind continued to correct and the winds reduced. The last hour the winds died and we took in the sails (for a sailor, that sounds a lot better than “we motored”). Our thoughts turn to the priorities for de-stepping the mast, translated: what needs to happen first for us to take down the big 50 foot pole that reaches up to the skies, in the middle of our boat.

We hailed Oswego Marina on VHF channel 16 as we entered the harbour, the lady directed us to slip 6 where she was waiting to help with docking…it was a good thing she did help, she had us on a dock downwind (the wind will blow us off the dock instead of on the dock and in a strong wind, which we had), so everything needed to run like clockwork because there was also a power boat next to us with one foot between our hulls…with some drama but no damage to either boat, we managed to secure BoomDeYada around 13:00. AC Power and unlimited water…yay! We jump right to preparing the boat for de-stepping; Julie helps me bring down the forward sail (jib) before grabbing a taxi to Walmart to get a Tracfone (cheap US cellular phone) and a new iPad (recommended by all cruisers who have gone south).

I start preparing to take down the Boom-Vang and Boom, and the wind generator. I will need Julie’s help for the final take down. We still have the horses (for the mast to lay on) to build, pull strings for all the wires that travel inside the mast (Anemometer-instrument for wind direction and speed, Garmin radar and 12Volt power, VHF Radio, Cable TV antenna, the anchor, steaming, running and deck lights), take down the cockpit enclosure, remove the fender covers from our fenders (big rubber sausages used to protect your hull from docks and lock walls), remove the BBQ off the stern rail and turn the dinghy motor to the inside of the rail. Weather for tomorrow - Rain tonight and tomorrow with high winds…we won’t be taking down our mast as planned…we will wait until Wednesday.

We both enjoy a warm shower onboard before heading to Alex’s, a nice restaurant next door on the water, for dinner. Then back to the boat where we caught up with Blog posts, emails and checking the weather…bed by 01:00 since we get to sleep in tomorrow.