August 26th, another beautiful sunny day, Steve
would be at the club for 09:30 to drive us to West Marine, so we timed it to go
ashore with enough time to shower…we also brought our garbage of course (the
trick to garbage I'm told is not to bring it on-board in the first place…we’re
getting there). The Nyack Boat Club (NBC) is just north of the Tappan Zee
Bridge;
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| Tappen Zee Bridge |
one of the largest infrastructure projects in America is the
replacement of this massive bridge that crosses the Hudson…the only other
bridge over the Hudson south of Tappan Zee is the George Washington Bridge
(GWB) – a double level bridge.
The boat traffic is far less than on the weekend…noticeable
because we have been on a mooring ball in the Hudson River so we get the wake
of all the pleasure boats and barges. There is very little wind today and very
humid again – we love it, we just wish we were in a clear water lagoon that we
could jump in to…definitely not the Hudson!
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| Steve and Julie |
Our new friend, Steve, was prompt. Steve is retired, smart, friendly,
and a generous man that has been so very helpful. He has two well established daughters
and hopes one day they would be able to sail south. He drove us to West Marine,
the grocery and then a liquor store. Steve dropped us back at the dock and we said
our good-byes with an invite to come join us in the Caribbean. Afterwards, Julie
and I talk about how good people, more than ever on this journey, will come
into our lives, make a lasting impression and then exit just as quickly. We’re
going to need more boat cards (a business card shared by cruisers with an image
of your boat, email, blog URL and other pertinent contact info – Skype, call
sign, cell number boat name and specs).
We lift and mount the dinghy motor, lift the dinghy and
secure it in the davits (cranes off the stern to lift the dinghy), start the
engine and electronics, drop the mooring ball lines and head towards the center
of the Tappan Zee Bridge. We timed our departure for just after high tide so we
would have the current helping us down river…it will move faster over the next
several hours as we make our way 22 miles downriver to the 79th
Street Boat Basin…we've been told it’s not the most comfortable stay with the
wake of all the city water taxis and been much closer to all the passing boats.
About 15 miles downriver, just before reaching the GWB, the
wind picked up; coming from the south the wind was on our nose blowing upriver,
the current was going downriver…
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| GW Bridge |
when you have opposing wind and current the waves
stand up! We were crashing into 3-4 waves, with 19knts of wind pushing us back
and at this point of the river we had 3 knts of current helping to move us
forward…waves were splashing over our bow with spray landing on our dodger
(front wind-shield)…we had already closed all hatches and portholes. We make our
approach to the 79th Street Boat Basin and their mooring field
looking for our reserved mooring ball – NW10. Most balls at the north end of
the field are empty; its about ½ mile from the actual boat basin where the office
is located. The very first ball has a large sail boat on it, as we come closer
it sure looks like NW10 to me…it is NW10. We are quickly moving down to the
next ball (clearly NW11) with current now moving us about 5knts (that’s just
current – it’s like being in a river; no, it is a river). The next couple balls
are not legible…I'm sure they screwed up and NW10 is not vacant (its the only
mooring ball they will allow us due to our size and weight), we have 5 knts of
current, strong winds and 3 foot waves…screw it, I yell to Julie who is
standing on the bow with boat hook in hand ready to reach over to haul up the
mooring lines that dangle in the water attached to the mooring ball (the
mooring ball is attached to a heavy concrete block usually by heavy chain), I
yell to her, “we’re taking that one”. I turn the boat around as I need to approach
the ball against the current…the boat now has the current hitting us on the
side pushing us further downriver with great force, other mooring balls are encroaching on our manoeuvre;
I jam it in to reverse and throttle up not wanting other mooring lines to
tangle in my prop, with the wheel turned hard left I jam it in forward and throttle
up, the boat makes its turn and I throttle up some more…we’re not making headway…we’re
sitting even with the boat next to us. I put the throttle right down, praying
the engine doesn't hiccup at this point. We slowly make our way to the mooring
ball, Julie reaches over the bow, extends the boat hook and pulls up one mooring line
of two while I try to hold the boat in position. She manages to get the
one line around our bow cleat and then goes for the next line…Julie gets both
lines on our cleats, she turns around, drops the boat hook and says, “That’s it,
I'm done…that wasn't fun”. She said her legs were pretty wobbly on the walk
back to the cockpit...so she sat down to regroup. I went up on deck, gave kudos
and a proud smile and confirmed the lines were secure. Yet still a little shaky,
we embrace our success! All this happened in a matter of a few minutes…we crack
open a bottle of 12 year Trinidadian rum and sit in the cockpit to unwind.
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| View from the Boat Basin |
Within moments…Julie’s fear was gone and replaced with pride and a beaming
smile of excitement at what had just transpired. Our drink isn't finished yet and
our good friend, Anand, calls, “I'm here, where can I park?” Anand, who lives
in Lorne Park, about 15 minutes from our old home in Canada, had a little time
off and jumped on his BMW RS1200 motorcycle to visit us for the night and then
on to another friend of his in Connecticut. We’re hoping it will take him a
while to park and make his way back to the Boat Basin as we wanted the current
and waves to die down before dropping the dinghy and motor for the ½ mile trip
to pick him up. He didn't take long enough but Julie and I manage with the
dinghy and I head in to register our arrival as well. I lied, “Yes, were on
NW10”, obviously they don’t keep good records. Although, it didn't help me
sleep thinking that we could float down the Hudson with a mooring ball attached
to our bow in the middle of the night. Anand arrives with a bottle of 15 year
old Eldorado (that's rum),
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| Anand & Dwayne |
we sit in the cockpit and get caught up on life and watch that we
are not dragging the concrete block below…by 01:00 we haven’t moved and retire
for the night.
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