Hiding from the weather
After getting bashed around in the Liberty State Park anchorage, and with our sights already focused on our passage south to Cape May, we decided to up anchor yesterday and move to Great Kills Harbor on Staten Island. The only thing holding us back from doing so though was the weather. The rain was coming down intermittently and the wind was blowing a good 20-25 knots. During one of the breaks in the rain, we took the opportunity to reinstall the dodger on our boat. Because of the nice weather we had had up to that point, we hadn’t required it, but once on the open water, there is no doubt that we would (an amazing bit of foresight here as you will read in a moment).
Anchored by Liberty State Park with Lady Liberty in the background.
Required “cheesecake” poses.
Follow that red line all around the perimeter. That is how far we walked to find a water taxi.
A small break in the dark clouds eventually appeared so we quickly retrieved our anchor and headed out into the harbor. Even though it was a Sunday morning, the traffic in the harbor was intense. There were water taxis, ferries, tour boats, freighters, tugs and other pleasure boats, all competing for a space on the water. And virtually every one of these vessels was going a lot faster than us!
Goodbye New York.
A tug, pushing a barge which is tied to a tanker.
It’s interesting for us to see just how long it takes to get somewhere in a sailboat. For example, the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which we could see from our anchorage, and see very clearly once we were in the harbor, still took what seemed like an hour to reach. By the time we crossed under that bridge we could really see just how ugly the water was becoming. The sky all around us was getting darker by the minute and the coast guard was passing on weather updates about fast-moving thunderstorms and gusts to 30 knots. Our run to Great Kills, which on a map looked like a pretty short run down the coast, would still take us about 2 hours. During that time, the east winds were helping the waves to build and build. At one point I said to Rebecca “Hey, look at these waves.” By the time I realized just how big they were (we were heading into them at this point) and reached for the throttles to power down a bit, the waves went completely over the boat! If we hadn’t had that dodger up, the inside of our boat would have been completely swamped (we had our sliding hatch open at this time too).
I will admit that both Rebecca and I took some time to get used to the big waves. Channel 16 on the VHF radio was non-stop with reports of overturned sailboats with people in the water and other vessels in distress, all very near us, so no doubt, that didn’t help. At one point, we were on a beam reach, motor sailing with just our jib up but we decided to even douse that when we could see dark lines of clouds just ahead of us.
Our route from Liberty Island to Great Kills.
Not pleasant looking clouds!
Because I am writing this now, you can correctly assume that yes, we did make it to Great Kills. We are safe here on a mooring, courtesy of the Richmond County Yacht Club. Don’t take my use of the word courtesy to imply that the mooring is free though. Of course it’s not. The mooring is 35 bucks per night but it does include a cool launch service. If we want to go in to shore to shop, shower or whatever, we just hail them on the VHF and they come right out. In fact, we already did that once yesterday, eager to re-provision with some fresh veggies before the next leg of our trip. We don’t want to be getting scurvy now!
A tiny portion of the mooring field at Great Kills.
Given the crappy weather, we were sure glad to able to get a mooring at the Richmond County Yacht Club.
And this little sailor went to the market… 🙂
Sadly, the weather here is bad right now, with high winds and big waves occurring and also forecasted to continue for the next several days. We might just have to hold up here for a while.
Glad you guys made it in safely. We were thinking of you yesterday with that downpour. An ugly day for sure. Going through NY harbor in a sailboat is quite the experience isn’t it.? Amazing how there aren’t more accidents with all the traffic.
We have made a mental note of the anchorage near Bannermans. That doesn’t sound like alot of fun.
The weather should be better in a couple of days – at least according to the forecast and you know how that goes.
Have fun and take care.
Dianne
The Pollepel Island anchorage was fine, if not for the weeds. It may have been a one-off thing. Who knows?
As for yesterday, and today, the weather is brutal!
Hearing about other sailboats turned over with people in the water would have really made me nervous. So glad to hear ya’ll made it okay, and hopefully the weather gets better soon.
We hope so too. Thank you.
Hey guys, just be glad, you dont have to transit through Hells Gate,up where, the East River meets the Sound, the current is treacherous there, no place to loose an engine.Used to transit through there ,when i worked on MORAN tugs, !, Keep a safe anchor watch! Mark
Hi Mark. Thanks. We are keeping an eye on our lines. If we break free from the mooring it won’t take long before we are on shore.
Now that you’re in it, how do you guys like salt water?
bob
It is…. umm…. salty. 🙂
Hey Guys –
Sounds like good planning got you through a tough time. This was a great post for us wannabes. I love it when you include little maps n stuff, helps me get a much better feel for what you are doing.
Jim from Nebraska
Hi Jim. Thanks for the comment. I’ll try to add stuff like that more often then.
Glad you are fine and staying put for a few days. Take a moment to go to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). Danielle is out there heading towards Bermuda and maybe northwest.
Stay safe and still have fun!!
Safe and fun… sounds like a good plan!
Sounds like a good idea. Typical late summer Northeaster with not too much rain but a lot of wind. It’s supposed to back into the North on Wednesday. Wait for the seas to go down a bit before heading out. New Jersey Inlets can be dicey.
Hope to see you in Manasquan. Check your e-mail for contact details.
Russ
Hi Russ
I received your message and I’ll call you tomorrow. We do hope to stop in and see you unless we get on a magic carpet ride to Cape May:)
Looks like we won’t have a chance at good weather until at least Wednesday and possibly not until Friday.
I bet all of the overturned boats were monohulls! MUCH safer to be on a cat! Glad you made the passage safely. Stay safe and keep writing and taking pictures! It helps my plan to follow you. 🙂
To tell the truth they were Hobie Cats (or some other beach cats). Three of them! I have no idea what they were doing off Sandy Hook in that weather. Apparently they were not young kids either from what we heard on the radio.
Good news you are safe and ‘dry”
In our attempt to turn lemons into lemonade we actually were out scrubbing the boat down during one of the downpours yesterday. At that point we were safe but definitely not dry.
Give some serious thought to by-passing Manasquan and going into Barnegat Inlet (the north end of Long Beach Island – LBI).
Manasquan is shown as a Type A inlet. IMO, the benefits of Manasquan end there. Once inside the inlet, there are few places to anchor (if any!), high currents and limited transient marina space. I hate to say NEVER, but we have written in our log that we will NEVER go back there.
Barnegat Inlet is much more friendly to the cruising sailboat. Friends on a PDQ 36 turned us on to it. There are good spots to anchor and with the Rocna we stayed put (dragged with our Delta knock-off). It can be a little confusing when you first come in, but every time we went in there was either a Sea Tow or TowBoat/US guy who would show you the way in for free (hail on VHF16). The cruising guides don’t like it because the sandbars move enough to prevent the markers from being published on the charts/GPS, but the channel is actually well-maintained by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Arrive in daylight and you will be fine.
The lighthouse (Old Barney) is the second tallest lighthouse in the US. The town of Harvey Cedars about mid-way down LBI has some pretty neat modern architecture too and a great deli.
Fair Winds,
Mike
Hi Mike
As always, your detailed advice is much appreciated. We wanted to go to Manasquan primarily to meet up with someone. Once out on the water we’ll assess the conditions and make a decision. If we are making great time and not getting bashed, we may just keep right on going.
Thanks again!