Building my dinghy

   So we have been in need of a dinghy for a while now. I must have looked at 20 different

designs,all of them have been very expensive, or poorly built. the ones that are nice, are expensive, and very good targets for theft.
So I have come to the conclusion, after falling in love with a dingy, just to find out it cost almost $20,000, that i need to build my own.
It will not be perfect. I am aiming for function. I am thinking about 13-14' in length, 5-6' wide, removable centerboard, removable rudder, with an outboard mount. When I am done with my creation, I doubt anyone will want to steal it. I will paint it bright pink, with a big breast cancer ribbon down the side. I want it to be a sailing dinghy, because what fun it will be in a bay, to sail about and explore using just the wind. When the wind dies, i fire up the outboard, or row.

In the mean time I have done a repair to our current dinghy. The board on the transom were rotted. tomorrow I will finish it, but for now, I went out and had a blast!

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http://youtu.be/qkh5JwgoAZ0

All about ice, and snow

   Well I ran to New York, took the train actually. We needed a bit of financing for our trip, and we really would like an exotic location. So off I went. The first week went well, the weather was a bit of a bear, but I managed to get things done, made a few deliveries and some pickups. All was going well until Tuesday morning.
   I was heading down a very steep and curvy hill. I knew it was going to be bad, when 100' down the hill i had gone from 5MPH to 20MPH. I was hard on the brakes, pumping like mad. If the brake peddle was a bilge pump I could have saved the "All is Lost" ship from going under, in the first hundred feet. Anytime I touched the brakes, they would all instantly lock up. i tried to keep my speed down, but 1000' down the hill it was not looking good. Up ahead I saw a plow truck, sideways in the road. He was plowing the opening to the town building, and was completely in the road. I tried like mad to stop, and once my truck went past 35 degrees to my trailer, I knew all was lost. I just held all the brakes, the truck, the trailer, and waited. At this point I could not see, as the snow was being blown everywhere. The impact was quite brutal, and as I slid, I could see the sides of the truck closing into the cab. Here is how I ended up.

   What a nasty trip, and it reminded me how much I hate New York.

   What was accomplished on this trip was spending one on one time with Pastor Jesse. He helped me out a bunch, and saw that I could take a shower, and get to church. We went out to eat, and I got Dana's gift. I cannot say that I hated the trip itself, just that I disliked what happened.

   The best part of the trip of course was getting home. Glad to be floating again. Glad to be spending quality time with my wife. Glad to have silly dogs to make me smile. Glad to be back. Its now boat repair time.

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ICW the good times, and the good people.

   I have problems taking photos of random people. This is actually an issue now, as many times, some of the best pars of the trip are the people you meet. I wish I had photos of the crazy hyper woman at the buffet. Her accent was so adorable. She was so much fun to spend 30 min with, that it made me want to not leave that town! So I promise, I will take more candid photos of the people I run into from now on. We will keep the DSLR with us, and snap away!
   That has been one of the great parts of this trip. We have met some wonderful people. I would say the first nice person, on the ICW was the lock keeper at the great bridge lock. She was WONDERFUL! I woke up super early that morning, because i knew there were lock issues. I had to keep trying to call, because 3/4 of a ring and the phone went dead on her end. On the 3rd try, success! I asked, "when can we get thru the lock" she said, "you have 30 min, can you be here then? I said, "sure can." Waking Dana at 4AM, and raising the dead, are both quite the chore. Before i had even gotten the engine started, i was on the radio to the bridge, asking for passage. Pushed the button on the engine, hoping it would start, and it did. Wiping the goop from my eyes, peering thru the fog bank, we left.

   It was pitch black. Dana was still learning to use the HID spotlight, so she went on the bow, with the light, to spot. There is a learning curve to this, and i do my best to be patient. But i am bad at that. I make the assumption many times that because i know the intricate details of nearly every aspect of a task, others do not. So she was shining it back behind us 20% of the time, showing me channel markers we had passed. That in itself would not be a big deal, but each time i loose my night vision. We had a nice talk that day about what to spot, and what to never spot. No problem. We made slow progress, our GPS has a rough idea on the ICW where the channel is most of the time, here it did not.

 

     The lock keeper, she was awesome, provided us with so much information about the local waterway, I forgot most of it. This was our first great person.

  The second great person was the man from the marina. The marina in the little town I loved.
River forest manor marina. The man who tied us up knew exactly what to do. It amazes me how many times we have been to a marina and the rope catchers know nothing about tying up a boat. I understand cheep labor, but at what expense? This whole town of, Belhaven, NC was very nice to us. Not even one person laughed at the two fat folks, riding thru town, in a golf cart. When we got to the Food Lion, it was clear why. Cars i had not seen in a junk yard in 8 years were being driven. The entire town was dirt poor, with the exception of the road the marina was on. I think money brings with it a level of piety that can be achieved no other way. Some of the nicest folk i have met in my life, have been poor, or low income. What makes them so happy? Well many of them, I knew for a fact, Had a relationship with Jesus Christ. It is easier for a camel to go on his knees under a low doorway, then it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. 

   Matthew.

Matthews Point Marina

   I was seeking a warm place for us to spend the night, as we have no good heat on the boat. So i found a 
place with a low rate. Matthew answered the phone. He told us his rate, $1 a foot, but told us the bad 
news of the very low water, and how a 6.5 draft would be very hard to get in. Very hard it was. That we
were welcome to try, and that he would be closed. He said don't worry about paying, as it was just for the 
night, but because of him, the wife had her warm shower, and we had a warm bed. 

 

He was not joking. It was shallow. I felt like i was back in NY, using a bulldozer, as we went thru the silt. I could not even get sideways to the dock. so i parked nose in, and tied up. This was our free night. It took us no less then 30min in the morning to reach the channel, at 3/4 throttle. During the night, the water level had dropped. The moral is, if you draw more then 5' this is not the place for you.

One last stop, and we were out of the ICW.

Back in the ocean again!

   Its about time! Finally we our out of the, old mans trip, ICW.  Frankly, they can keep it. The ditch reminds me of a trip i did to Saratoga raceway. I went in to the diner and was served beef. I asked about the lack of any taste, and was told, "We cater to an older, less refined pallet". Well that is how i feel. When i am 80, and do not care about much, i may enjoy the leisurely pace of the ICW.

   The Atlantic ocean!

We left the dock in the early AM. The tide was slack, and then started to run with us. We exited the dreadful ICW at Cape Fear.

The tide was with us, and we were motoring at about 7-8konts over ground. The wind was south, but only about 4-5KTS not enough to sail on. We like to motor at about 2000RPM, that puts us between 1GPH and 1.2GPH depending on wind. We passed someone flying a spinnaker doing about 3KTS, and then he passed us under motor a few hours later. Too slow to make any serious headway. So we settled in for a 24-28 hour passage. Wow were we wrong.
  

I have taken a liking to red pizza. The ingrediants are all stable at room temperature.
1 packet of crust premix (we prefer Betty Crocker)
and 1/2 cup water
thats it! We used canned pizza sauce and we sprinkle grated cheese (the dry kind) on the pizza, as well as red pepper and garlic powder. This will be one of our primary at anchor foods. I want to add about 20-30 ready mix packets to our supplies. For our passage to Patagonia, it should be about 100.
   We are slowly learning what we like to eat when under way. I prefer Pizza mostly, followed by PB&J, and then chicken noodle soup.

   Seas were 3-5 when we left, and of course on the port starboard quarter. It always makes it uncomfortable. because there was little wind, there was no way to stop the rolling twisting we experienced on the first 10 hours of the trip.

   At about 6AM we arrived at the first marker leading into Charleston, SC. It was still dark when we arrived, so we killed some time. We also had to wait for the tide to run slower. We hung out, out there for  few hours, and followed a tug, with 2 barges in.

To be technical.....

   On the topic of batteries...

On the hunt for lowest cost per AH battery? I think I have a winner.
The Interstate SRM-4D.

First some numbers. 116#, 390AH at 25 amp rate, 6 month free, 30 month pro-rated, cost $200 plus tax.

Why do I think this is a true deep cycle?

1: In speaking with a dealer of interstate, he has mentioned he has taken them apart, and the plates are only thinner compared to the 6-volt industrial batteries he sells. He also said they are nothing like the starting 4D, as those plates are very thin.

2: The weight of a standard 4D battery is 99.20#, VS 116.8# for the SRM-4D. 20# of extra lead? sounds about right.....
The SRM-4D is actually smaller in physical size, about 3%

3: Tife. I just replaced a completely abused SRM-4D from 2008. when I say abused, I mean run to 0% many times, left sitting dead, left sitting uncharged for 8+ months at anchor....
5 years of punishment. much harder then a 50% DOD, daily.

4: The dealer quoted a realistic life. he said 6-10 years, with 10 year being a well maintained, no more then 50% DOD (depth of discharge) this is the life he sees in the cores that come back.

So I would say, if your looking for a nice, heavy, long life, cheap battery, this is the unit for you.

 

   On the topic of bilge pumps.

We have a diaphragm type pump. Its made by PAR.
The other type is centrifugal.
This is the more common type, and unless you know that you have a  diaphragm pump, this is what you have.
Each has pluses and minuses.

The centrifugal pumps are quiet, low power, move a lot of water (in the larger units), and are cheap. 

On the dark side, they do not last long, are prone to burn out, cannot be heard when running. How would you know when they stop running if you have no high water alarm. Cannot get all the water out, the best leave about 1" of water, and if they need replaced, your reaching into a bilge full of water, and trying to work in there.

The diaphragm pumps are noisy, use a lot of power, flow less water, cost much more.
They will outlast a centrifugal pup by about 20 years (vs 1-3 years).
Are not prone to burn out, as the motor is out of the water and cooled by air.
They are 100% rebuildable, as all the moving parts can be replaced.
They are outside the bilge, can be repaired without getting wet.
They are mounted forever. No re-gluing.
You can carry almost every part of the pump with you.
They can remove all the water from the bilge, leaving the bilge only wet.

So what is the optimal, safe, ideal setup for a cruiser?
Its a multi-phase approach. 

First, you need a diaphragm pump. You connect this to a float switch on the bilge floor.
This will be your primary pump. This will do the lions share of the work, and if everything is working correctly, this is the only pump that you will ever need. This is wired to a momentary on - off - auto switch.

Second you need a float switch, wired to an alarm. This will be your high water alarm (VS 3" of water on the cabin floor) This float will be mounted to kick on 1-2" above the kick on point of the primary pump float switch. This will be wired to an on-off switch.

Third, you need an emergency pump. This unit will be mounted barely above the primary pump's kick on point, on the float switch. The float switch of this will be mounted to kick on 1/2" above the high water alarm float switch kick on point.
I recommend 1000GPH of actual flow per 10' of boat.
These are sold as GPH with no hose attached. Not realistic, and this is also false advertisement.
Look further into the specs. Find the numbers for 6' of head. This is what you base the 1000GPH on.
For our boat this is 4500GPH@6'. we will need an 8000GPH unit.
The switch for this will be on - off - auto. The reason for the ON and not momentary ON is because if this unit is used, it will be used for one of two reasons. Either the primary pump is broken or not working, or because your leaking, very badly.
I hope you never use this pump. BUT if you ever have to you will be glad you can turn it on, and leave it on, while you see to getting the leak stopped.
The final setup will be, dewatering pump, alarm, emergency pump.
Make sure they all have their own connection to the battery, and their own circuit breaker.

DOLPHINS! and why i hate the ICW.

   The nasty ICW. Home of shallows, unmarked shoals. Bridges, that open slower then the last finisher of the Boston marathon. Marinas that are either, free, or overpriced. Food that is very iffy. Barges at night. Markers that are meaningless. I HATE IT!!!
   I shall not return.

   We have struck ground, hard, more times then i care to count. Each time, in a place, with the exception of one, that were marked as the channel. It is very slow going too.
   We have been having a charging issue. I think another battery is now dead. So now we have another project.

   This yacht is designed, by nature, to be outside. To go thru the rough, to be on a tack for a week.

DOLPHINS!!!!

   They are like a plague here, the good kind.

 Sorry for the short update. I feel like we have been on a major highway here, not much to discuss.
Eating has been mostly on the boat, but we ordered pizza tonight. a splurge now and then is ok.

12, 12, 12, 6!!!

   The ICW is known for having shallow spots. You must stay alert. We were tidying up the deck after departure, so i set the autopilot and went to help. We had been out in the sun for about 30 min, then Dana returned to the cockpit. I thought she had bumped the throttle, but alas, no. We had stopped without her help.

This was actually the second time we had hit bottom. The first was when i was sailing on the ICW the wind dropped to 5kts, we dropped to 3. The wind blew us sideways after the rudder stalled, and i had to start the engine to get off. Sailing in a 200' wide canal in a 48' boat is hard to do well.

   Our poor alpha auxiliary control station has seen better days. In fact it does not work correctly anymore.
I contacted Alpha by email, and they are Johnny On The Spot with a reply. We trouble shot by email, and determined the station needs a rebuild.... oh well. They said it will come back with a new faceplate too, no price yet.
Headed south.

   Sometimes we really suffer with food on the boat, Here is the suffering we face.

Southerly

   Heading down the ICW route, we happen into our lunch stop. Alligator river marina. Ok, so here is why this stop should be avoided. We called ahead, and they told us no problem they would meet us at the dock, and we could enjoy our meal. Typically if someone meets you at the dock they know how to handle lines. Not here.
   We were moving at about 2 kts still when he asked for our spring line. Dana handed it to him, and he instantly cleated it off. Sending our boat bowsprit smashing into the pier..... wow. IDIOT. Whatever no damage done, he goes inside while we tie up. I hook up the power and we go inside. For a gas station, the food was OK. Alligator bites, fried chicken. We had been at anchor for two days, so Dana wanted to shower before we left. Once we returned to the boat she started to shower, as we now had hot water.
   About 5 min later the man who has no idea how to get a boat into a dock, stood outside shouting. He said, you cannot have power here, you need to leave if not staying for the night! and with this, he shut off the breaker. wow, a $30 meal is not enough for 15 min docked, waiting for your stomach to settle?

Moving on. We anchored out again this night. During the night our boat wanted to tour the lower alligator river. Being asleep, who were we to say no. I am not sure what caused the anchor to drag. All i know is we were about 9/10th of a mile from where we started, and the anchor, with more chain out did not hold well.
Alas, it was light. we raised the anchor, and motored on. It turns out the anchor drug due to a combination of 35knot winds, and a crab pot. We had the wire mesh from he pot still clinging to the anchor when it was raised. Woops.

This day was frigid. We were both freezing, and we stopped early at River Forest Marina. $1.50 a foot.
the line handler was professional, and knew exactly what needed to be done. He put us into a slip that was 6'3" deep. our draft is 6'6" deep.... it makes it easy to dock when your on the bottom, honest it does.
Very nice marina, short fingers, but not bad.

They gave us a free golf cart to use, so we went to food lion to provision. However not until we had stopped at the friendliest restaurant we had ever been to. On The Hook. The waitress was super nice, and went out of her way for me. I was jonesing for a desert after i ate my fried chicken (fried chicken, a new trend?) She went back to find cake for us, and afterword i asked for more, she went back in search again, and came back with two more pieces!!! It was closing time, so we loaded back into the golf cart and off we went.
   What a great stop. It will be on our list for a second visit.

Refried Chicken?

   This requires a special mention. So i am making this post just to say, Avoid Coinjack Marina, and Restaurant.

   Me and the wife had heard that the prime rib here was awesome. When we arrived we were greeted and got assistance mooring. Kinda cold, but oh well. Our goal was food, not dockage. At $2 a foot, it was overpriced.
   We headed over to the restaurant, and we noticed a few unhygienic things right away. our water cups were handled by the tops.
   While looking at the menu we noticed that prime rib was listed as "market price" when we asked, it was $2 an ounce. $32 a pound??? woah. We decided to forgo the recommended meal, wife got the fried chicken, me chicken fingers. So she started to eat it, and some were cold inside. We gave it to a waitress and told her it was cold inside, expecting a replacement.


Ah, no.

   This is my wife's half eaten, re-fried chicken.
So they took her chicken, that was covered in saliva, and put it back in the frier.
If thats ok with you....

Needless to say, disgusting. and most likely illegal. 

IC(dubbihyaa)

    Whats with people all pronouncing "W" differently? Its (doubleU people)
Anyway here we are, in the ditch.
   Last time i said that, i was in a Honda Accord after the parking brake failed....
So why the ditch? The decision was a multifaceted one. The first one was lack of bail-out points.
If we started round the cape, and the forecast was wrong (they never are, right) we would have to ride it out.
The yacht can take a lot, Prisanna II was in 35' breaking waves, and survived with just a chute on a rode.
We however feel uneasy right now in anything over 6' waves. Another thing was i kinda wanted to see this IC(dubbaya) for myself. You hear boaters chatting about it all the time, and how its the "bees knees". My first day on it left an impression of hurry up and wait... and wait...

   It took 3 hours to get thru gate one. It was a simple train bridge.

   Further down we stopped at Top Rack Marina. A marina that promised if you buy food, you stay the night free. Not a bad deal right? Well before i complain, the fuel was the cheapest i have seen thus far. I am thankful for cheap fuel, and a nights stay. I could have done without the slight rudeness, and more so the food.....
   I typically get  filet, and fries. Not here, they do not serve fries. Why? no idea. the filet was delivered undercooked, and without sides, as they had nothing i wanted. I had even offered to have penne pasta in lue of sides. They refused.
   I waited the night, and i am an early riser, so i called the lock up ahead. I had 30 min to get there, then they were done for maybe a day. They needed to repair a valve, and required low tide. I made it thru.

   The lock keeper was a super nice, super helpful woman. she told us to tie up the the free dock, south about 1/2 mile, and stay until 8AM, as the second bridge would not open before that. We ran into a few more Canadians, ran with them for a bit, before they got away and we saw them again at the marina.
   One was very odd. he was swerving, side to side, in the canal. He passed us, and before he had passed, far too close, he swerved in front of us, nearly clipping our bow..... Anyway......

Ocean City, and sailing beasts.

   We had a very nice stay in Ocean City, MD. When i say very nice, i mean it was OK. A lot of things did not work as we would have liked, and food was so-so. Starting into the inlet was the first issue. We were basically blind. As seen in the previous post, we came in, in a fog bank. So i called the marina, and asked if they could send a skiff out to meet us. She told me she was the only one there, and she could not. OK, whatever, i can find a 200 slip marina, right? So i peeked at google, stared at the chart plotter, and saw a 100' wide, by 15' deep channel. No problem. so i called the woman from the marina a second time, told her i was by a restaurant. She say's, in a snooty voice, "Well your in the wrong channel, so you might as well stay there. I sent someone out to the dock to find you and you never showed up"..... Wow, does this person want my $70 a night, or not? So we turned around.
   I have become quite proficient at U-turns at this point. I remember my first day on the yacht, i though i had to do a 3 point turn, to turn about in a 300' channel. It has been a major change from the 50' my powerboat required. At this point i can do it, in the yacht, in less then 70'.
   So we got back to the fog bank entrance. We passed the signs a second time, before i turned back and made it in. All i can say is i am glad i am a pilot. I did this entire inter-harbor journey by instrument alone. As i said to my crew, after the lines are tied up, the fog will lift. Within 10 min of arrival, it had.

   We had arrived, and the search for good food had started.
I thought in a town like this, good food should be an easy find. I had visions of 48oz steaks, bacon and cheese covered fries, funnel cake!!! What we found was a far cry from any of that.
   The first place we ate was the sunset grill (or whatever it was called) the over priced marina restaurant.
I ordered the scallops. After the awesome ones we had at Babes in Haverstraw ny, i thought these must be divine. Actually they were grease balls. The prices were, insane. $48 for about a 6 oz filet, stupid stuff like that. The second place we went felt like a health food joint, Sharks Grill. I had the bison burger, they overcooked it, the wife loved her tuna. She said it was the best she had ever had. She was one for two, i was zero for two.
   Monday we tried to find a new place. Everyplace was closed, almost. we found a place called Station 7.
It was a firehouse theme, with a nice waitress, and ok food. we saw a sign that said mon, tue, half price entrees, so we went in and i had an inside out chicken cordon bleu. The food was, good. i pulled out a $20 bill and asked for the bill. $35.... The waitress told me the entrees were full price until 4, and the sign said this. I simply said, no, it does not. She walked outside, saw that the sign was wrong, and marked the price down after calling her district manager. lol. well, not a bad day. We went to West Marine, i further contemplated getting the 18"x32" fenders, got a few bolts and left.
   The manager had told us about a free taxi, that was full of volunteers, and operated fully on tips, and donations. We were in. We called the number, and got no answer. About 2 min later someone called me back asking if we were looking for a taxi. What service, thought I. So after a little while a GMC van pulled up running on about 1/2 its cylinders. What i expected of a free taxi. The driver was filthy. I thought to myself, "AH! community service i bet!" he was unpleasant, the radio was so loud i had to repeat the destination 3 times. Off we went, on our first free taxi ride. He started a meter....
   So i tried to strike a convo with him about the free taxi, after we had traveled about 3 miles, and he says, "oh, they don't do that no more. No money in it, the drivers were all broke"..... our free taxi meter was at $6.... so i said, ok, drop us off right up here please. We debarked the taxi, walked to the boardwalk, and instantly found my sister in law. Great timing.

   We walked the boardwalk, stopped in the two open shops, then we started looking for food. We walked 5 miles, everything we saw was closed. Being the thinker, i decided to call the Holiday Inn. I am a returns member, and know that if anyone knows anything about town, it was them. HE told us the two places, and we went to the one i had been to 3 years prior.
   I believe it was called, Crab Bag. I asked to see the difference between a medium large, and a large. He was awesome and brought out live crab, and let me play with them. Dana had never tried blue crab, and when she had one she agreed, it was more work then food. The food here was the best we had in the entire Ocean City.

   11-18-2013 It has been two months now since our son has died. It has had a lasting impact on my happy-go-lucky spirit. Thou i can manage to have fun, smile, and laugh, i find the times between the laughter much harder. I have been more grouchy, lower energy, and more rude.
   I decided to make a personal change, to maybe help myself come out of my depressed tone.
So i shaved.

   I gave myself a wolverine. The best i could manage with a mirror. I actually asked my wife if i could get heterochromia. One eye blue, and one brown, as i have two brown now. She still declines.... maybe someday....

   Overall our visit to Ocean City, MD, was nice. One of our traveling crew decided she did not have the finances to keep up the trip, so she headed home, and will be missed, we had fun Liz!
At 10am, me and Dana, left port.

Onto the beasts!

   We have 3 pets aboard. Two dogs, and a cat.
They have been adjusting to life on a moving, rocking, slamming, noisy, odd smelling (to a dog or cat) yacht.
They get credit. Only one puke each so far. with my crazy sailing... that is not bad.
here are photos of them coping with rough seas.

  Iif you want, we have a donate button on our blog, help keep us sailing!!!

Day 7, Ocean City, MD

   Ocean city, MD. We arrived about 6am. The tide was still coming in. We were about to enter, and we made our security call as it was lightly foggy, viz about 400'. A motoryacht saw us about to go in, and let us know of the 6kt current. Thank goodness. I called the local marina, and they were closed. So i called the coast guard for information on currents, tides, ect. He informed us that the local tide was an hour behind the tide schedule. So we waited and bobbed. As we waited, the fog thickened.
   We had about a 30 min window to get in. I have never boated in conditions where i could not see past my own bow. Missing the window meant a 8 hour wait, in increasing seas. So i made the decision to go in. Creeping so slowly into the channel, i kept spinning. I would try to maintain course, and look for markers, but would end up facing east.... so i went to my pilot training. Instrument flight.
  I navigated by heading, and GPS. We could see channel markers, once they were about 150' away.
I knew where they should be, and that made it easier. The current was still strong, and i had to try hard to maintain direction.

   With Liz on one side, Dana on the other, we kept moving. Somehow people think its a great idea to fish inside the channel. I came upon 2 fishing boats, fishing, in the fog, in the channel. This was a nightmare. The marina we were headed to was not on the GPS, but i thought the channel i found was it. I motored about 2 miles total in the fog, going down the wrong channel, until it ended. Turning around, we motored back to the proper entrance, and went in. here is our view of the docks as we approached.

As i said to the girls, as soon as the dock lines are on, the fog will lift. It did. So here we are in Ocean City, MD.

Day 6, woops

   The evening went well, the wind calmed, the main went up.

     About 8PM the autopilot disengaged. We did an abrupt tack, before i got it under control. We tested our securements, the fridge was found wanting, and so was the computer. Both went flying. With that under control, i set the auto pilot again, locked it, and started the engine, as we were now under 3kts. I started my 30 min sleep cycles. About 12AM the engine quit. Restarting was easy, but once in gear i knew the issue.
We had fowled the prop.
No problem, we had seatow, so I called them while the girls slept. They decided to send out the coast guard.
bouncing up and down in 6' swells i got the tow lines hooked up, and we were towed in at 7kts. To the rip off haven of NJ. Barneget Bay. $2.50 a foot. What a joke. for $2.50 we got power. no wifi, no showers, no bathrooms, no laundry. Why was it $2.50? Because we were stuck there. I hate rackets like this. Taking advantage of people. Disgusting. Anyway, we had a diver out the next day.

   Great guy, named Diver Don. highly recommend. He charged $75 to free the prop, bang the cutlass holder back into pace, and replace the zinc. He also cleaned the prop. Super nice guy. When he was done, we paid the ripoff artists as we went to get fuel. $266 of fuel burned so far. Off we went into the ocean again.

   Nearly windless, we set the motor and autopilot, and motored the entire night. Quite uneventful. 20 hours later we decided to stop in Ocean city, MD.

Day 5, My name is Barf, I'm a mog, I'm my own best friend.

    Nyc departure day!  We booked out super early in the AM, riding the tide, again. Another hair raising departure, as the wind was blowing into the dock from the side, and stern. At this point, the women on the boat are not questioning my docking ability as much, and i made it look easy as we slipped off the dock.

  We did a quick jib change, as the 150% was still on the furler, and we wanted the 75%, or 90%. I have to measure some day.... We motored outside the shipping lane, making all the big ships happy. When we finally were out by Sandy Hook NJ, we unfurled the jib and off we went! We had a strong west wind, and were booking at about 8 kts, on the jib alone. Engine off, and settle into the groove.

   It was a rough sea this day. 6-8', with a small craft advisory in effect. Liz went below to take some seasick pills, and accidentally OD'ed. Of course we didn't realize at the time. i guess she doubled the maximum daily dose.... woops. So she was toast, and slept almost 30 hours.

   After the sail change, we had a mess of the large jib. I had hem take the sail below to fold it.

Day 3, snowy owl.

   This day has been the coldest so far! We are all bundled up like little Eskimos. Today's goal is NYC! New York, New York! We departed Haverstraw very early, about 6am, to start our trip. We had about 35-40 miles to go. Again, we had no favorable wind, just a very frigid one. We left about 45 min before high tide, so we could make the city by riding the tide. I do not motor into a tide. It's a waste of fuel. Then it hit us.

We were snowed on for about 3 hours. It's hard to photograph, but it was actually sticking to the deck a bit!
Cold, Snowy, Bundled.

We arrived in NYC about 2PM. after calling about 6 marinas, we settled on one for $100 a night on the NJ side. We told them about draft, length, and asked where to dock. With all the current it was very difficult to get into the mouth of the marina. Again, my docking skills came into play. No problem, we got into the mouth of the marina, and started into the slip..... then nothing.

    Apparently at this marina, they do not know their own depth. after trying to get in for an hour, we gave up. Now came the tricky part. We had to back into the rushing 2 knot current. Once everyone was back on board, we took off. More screaming, "were going to crash, AAAHHHHH!!!!!!!", and we were in the channel. We settled on the overpriced 79th street boat basin. It is a state owned park, and docking is stupid expensive. We went into town for the night.

   AN owl, a penguin, and a dog walk into a pinkberry.... you finish this joke!