20 May 15
We left Mt. Sinai just before 09:00 to catch the flood tide up Long Island Sound. Unfortunately, the wind was essentially right on the nose - WNW 10 - 15. After about an hour, the wind was WNW 15 - 20, with gusts to 24. With the wind against the tide, the 2-3’ seas were very short period (square waves, we in the business call them), and the Admiral, while not actually voicing a complaint, was giving me the “look”. So, we turned 90 degrees and sprinted 6.5 miles across Long Island Sound to the Connecticut side to get in the lee of the shore. This added 9 miles to the trip, but the last 3 hours were much more pleasant than they otherwise would have been. Once we got to the Connecticut side, entering at Cockenhoe Harbor, although the wind was still gusting up to 25 knots, the seas were flat enough that we were able to make lunch, and afterward, even got in a bit of a sail; at least, we unfurled the jib and motor-sailed for a couple of hours, making 8.5 - 9.0 knots over the ground. We tied up to Brewers Capri West Marina in Port Washington at 15:40; the dock master remembered us from last year and put us in exactly the same slip we stayed in last summer for a month. He also brought the shower drain pump repair kit (which had arrived from Defender) down to the boat. It felt like coming home. The Admiral tackled the laundry while I washed the salt off the boat and unlimbered the bikes for the first time since August last year; needless to say, there was a bit of rust to be sorted out, but they are now both more or less ambulatory again. During the day, I finalized details for unstepping and shipping the mast and boom from Catskill to Oswego, NY. An abbreviated “video” of the trips from Greenport to Mt. Sinai to Port Washington, NY can be viewed at the following link:
http://youtu.be/go09GriEvqA
40-50.127’N, 73-43.264’W
21 May 15
We are going to wait here in Port Washington through the Memorial Day weekend to reprovision, tidy up the boat, take on a couple of re-commissioning chores and wait for the tidal current at Hell Gate on the East River to be right at a convenient time of the day. That day happens to be next Tuesday, 26 May. So, today we slept in a bit and then went grocery shopping, with a side trip to Ace Hardware and West Marine for essential boat repair/maintenance stuff. Back at the boat, among other things, I cleaned off the teak toe-rails and applied the first (of many) coat of “Le Tonkinois” varnish. This is the “official” varnish of the French Navy, and if applied correctly and maintained, means I will never have to scrape varnish off again. We’ll see. The initial results look good. The weather took another retrograde step back today; high was 58 F. We had dinner aboard.
22 May 15
Although we were in bed early, it was still hard to get up - I know, too much repetition. After breakfast, I got another coat of Le Tonkinois on the port side rail. Then, we hopped on the bikes and road into town, stopping at West Marine (cotter rings), Alpers Hardware (industrial strength velcro roll), the bank (quarters - for the laundry), the train station (to buy a new bus pass) and finally, the grocery store (yogurt and chips). Got back to the boat just before a brief rain shower. After it passed, I got a third coat of varnish on the toe rail. Then, it was time for happy hour and dinner; and so, another day passes. It is the start of Memorial Day Weekend around here (whatever a weekend is), so all of the poor working stiffs started to show up at the marina about 16:00 to get their boats ready for the long weekend. Up until this afternoon, the marina has been essentially deserted. At least the weather looks good for them, poor sods.
23 May 15
The wind got up big time after we went to bed, so we had a bit of a restless night, even at the dock. After we got up - about 07:00 - I put on another coat of Le Tonkinois; I eventually got on coats 4, 5 and 6 on the port side, so that is all done. After lunch, we walked into town, via Ace Hardware (trash bags (for the fenders in the Erie Canal)), West Marine (oil absorbent pads) and on up to Finn MacCools for a beer (regular readers will recognize this as our “local” when we were here last summer). Well, we barely got in the door when the bartender - Keillan - looked at us and said “you were here last summer, on a boat?” Unbelievable that he would remember us from a year ago - apparently, we made quite an impression (hope it was a good one); sure, it was like coming home from a long trip. We ended up spending the afternoon - and an excellent afternoon it was - and having dinner there. We are regulars at Finn MacCools now. Not too sure about the rest of the evening, although I’m pretty sure we did walk all the way back to the boat and I put on the 6th (and final, for now) coat of Le Tonkinois on the port side rail after we returned. Hopefully, it will still look good in the morning.
24 May 15
After breakfast in a nice warm, sunny cockpit, we decided to turn the boat around to put the starboard side next to the dock to facilitate varnishing the starboard toe rail. Unfortunately, the tide had run out enough that we were aground and would have to wait 4 hours to float off. So, I started in on the starboard rail anyway, on hands and knees. We finally got the boat moved to the other side of the finger pier after lunch and I got two coats of Le Tonkinois on the starboard rail. After dinner, we had a long FaceTime call with John and Laurie in Vancouver to talk about rendezvous plans later in the summer. Dinner aboard.
25 May 15
Another beautiful day in paradise. I got another 3 coats of Le Tonkinois on the starboard rail and cleaned the boat up ready to cross through NYC and start up the Hudson early tomorrow. The final coat of varnish will have to wait until tomorrow or the next day. Don’t know why exactly, but we are both worn out from our 6 days here in Port Washington. As usual, the wind got up to about 25 knots in the afternoon, but that only helped to dry out the varnish. We had dinner at Riverfish on the Bay, tuna and salad; very nice. Early to bed to be ready for tomorrow’s 50+ miles. Hell Gate at 8:00.