Shower Time

We have been having problems with our knot meter for nearly 2 years now and are on our third paddle wheel in less than 3 years. The paddle wheel contains a magnet in one of it's 4 blades which enables the knot meter to count the revolutions and thus figure out the speed of the vessel through the water.

When our first one quit working in less than a year, I pulled the knotmeter out of the hull, left the blank plug in the hole, took the wheel off the knotmeter, then left it on the nav table. After several days out of the water, the magnet busted out of it's hard plastic housing making the problem obvious. Somehow saltwater got inside the paddle wheel and caused the magnet to rust, which then caused it to break out.

Our second one didn't work very well either. It always read slow then it got to where it wouldn't read at all. While in the Bahamas, I visually inspected it many times with snorkel and my fish killing fake feet, and all seemed well. We bought our third one when we got up north but were not able to get it to read while under way. With it laying in the bilge, we could flick it with a finger and speed would register, but got nothing underway. Plenty of water would come in through the hull when installing, so that wasn't the problem. I got in the dinghy with my long handled brush and would swipe in it's general direction, and Lisa would see speed readings on the instrument panel.

We decided to wait on buying a whole new knot meter until after our haulout--just in case we saw something obvious obstructing the flow of water in front of the paddle wheel.

Hold off on lunch for a second.


This is not the armpit of an East German female Olympic shot putter, but rather the marlon thru-hole (with blank installed) for our knotmeter. We are hoping our problem is solved, but no guarantees. Word is, NYC had a significant sewage spill--that may kill some things but it makes other things grow rapidly.


Underneath all that "hair" is a bronze strut. At least the strut won't get cold.


Another disgusting shot of the prop, strut, shaft and zincs. Man, I hate global warming. Or is it cooling...I can't keep it straight. Oh now I remember...it's global fluctuation.


Mike pressure washing the bottom.


Backing up the hill to her parking spot. I wish she backed up this nicely while in the water.

I've spent a couple of days getting the last of the barnacles off, sanding part of the bottom, polishing the prop, and acid washing the tannin stains off the topsides. She's not ready for the prom, but she's getting there. We've had rain the last couple of days, but the next step is a very light compound polish and then a wax job. Our new bottom paint should be here by Monday, but we won't apply that quite yet.

So far we like the boat yard here very much. The folks are very accommodating and friendly. Our fridge/freezer is being used as an ice box (ie buying ice every other day) since it is keel cooled and we are not in the water. There is a washer and dryer here as well as restrooms/showers. It's a bit primitive but better than camping. We have unlimited water for boat projects, but it is not really potable, so we have to use our good water sparingly. They will lone us a truck to get good water from the local fire station.

Port Washington to Deltaville

After constant consulting with her Kindle, the Weather Babe declared that we had a window to start our journey South. The plan was to go from Port Washington to Atlantic Highlands on Friday, then head down the Jersey coast Monday or Tuesday when the swells from Katia would die down. Because we were concerned about excess debris from Irene and regional flooding, we decided to bypass the Delaware Bay route and enter the Chesapeake from the south end.

The forecast predicted too little wind for sailing, but we were anxious to leave the New York City area before 9/11, and arrive in the Chesapeake before the effects of Maria appeared (she ended up staying well to the east).

We had a beautiful day running with the tide through NYC. The East River was quite busy. Before leaving, Lisa had checked Local Notice to Mariners to make sure the authorities didn't shut down the river because of the fast approaching 9/11. It would be a bummer if they made us turn around into a current that is nearly as fast as our maximum speed.

It wasn't long before we saw some of the effect of the flooding in the Northeast. As soon as we passed the Harlem River, which runs between the Hudson River and the East River, the water turned cafe latte brown.

Although the East River was quite congested, the Lower Bay of New York Harbor was nearly vacant. That, along with the brown water gave us an eerie feeling. As Lisa said, it felt like we were in one of those 1970s movies depicting life after a nuke war. We started to wonder if we had missed something on the news. The nearly empty harbor is still a mystery to us.


A very muddy New York Harbor. 

After anchoring in Atlantic Highlands, I had just enough time to run up to the hardware store to fill our propane tanks. We don't like leaving the boat too soon after anchoring, so Lisa stayed with her just to be safe. This is one of the easier locations for us to get propane, so we didn't want to miss that opportunity. There was a chance we would leave the following morning if Weather Underground downgraded the swell alert.

We ended up leaving just before one pm the following day. Our goal was to pass the mouth of the Delaware Bay in daylight the following morning in case there were trees floating around. We also wanted to arrive at the mouth of the Chesapeake at the start of the flood tide.

The water along the New Jersey coast didn't look too good so we decided not to run our watermaker this time around. We saw no trees or debris anywhere near the Delaware.

Our first day and night were very pleasant. We had some pretty decent swells, but they were wide, rounded and far apart--not the washing machine variety. The following day was pleasant as well. Although it was on the nose, we had enough wind to sail slowly. This meant tacking back and forth. In the process we had another bird bum a ride from us. I guess he didn't get the memo.

By this time we were getting Coastguard reports of trees, a telephone pole, and a runaway dock near the entrance to the Chesapeake. At 11 pm the winds picked up to the mid 20s and still on the nose. This made things very uncomfortable the rest of the way to the Chesapeake.

A bridge and tunnel system runs across the mouth of the Chesapeake. There are 3 places for boats larger than small fishing boats to enter/exit. On the western side a small section of the bridge rises to 75 feet. At the other two spots the bridge turns into a tunnel allowing marine traffic to go over instead of under.

We were originally going to drop anchor in the Poquoson River, but decided to carry on to Fishing Bay in Delatville, Va. We dropped anchor, rested up for a day and then headed to Chesapeake Boat Works--a whopping 100 yards from the spot of our anchor. Nicki May was in much need of some out of the water TLC.

We tied up for the night at the dock near the travel lift.


The following morning we guided her around some very sharp steel corners.

Don't eat breakfast just yet.

The keel cooler for our Frigoboat not looking too good.


The same keel cooler after being pressure washed. The sacrificial zincs are in decent shape, but we'll change them before she is splashed.

Girl Invasion

With the hurricane threat come and gone, I woke up one day to the news that something else was about to hit us--company. Lisa and I took a train to NYC to met Karen and Jessea, saw some city sights, then we all boarded another train and returned to our boat.

We didn't have much time, but we hit Penn Station, Grand Central Station, Times Square, Ground Zero and the highlight of the day-- a stop at a bead store.


I was amused as I watched NYC pedestrians bounce off the sidewalk as the backpack brigade plowed through the city.

Give me another month as their tour guide and I think I could convince them not to say hi to everyone they pass on the sidewalk--or maybe not. You can take the girl out of the South, but you can't take the South out of the girl.


Karen, Lisa and Jessea at Times Square. 

As I said before, it was Jessie, then Jessi, then Jessie again. Now I am informed it is Jessea, but that is not official at this time. So from here on I will use Jess until further confirmation.


The ladies couldn't figure out what a cowboy was doing in the middle of New York City.


Jess and her Aunt Lisa gracing a landing at Grand Central Station.

We took the scenic route on the subway to Ground Zero. Karen wanted to see Harlem right? Something about getting on the northbound instead of the southbound.


Lots of construction going on around Ground Zero.


Hmmm. Karen says this is from a wet dinghy ride. Out of respect, we will take her word for it. The chop was up, and she was the only one sitting on the windward side--somebody had to.