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!

Day two of the epic journey

   Another freezing cold day. I wish this cold front would have come later, after we had left. Today we did a bit of sail training in the morning. Teaching the first mate and crew the names of the line, parts of a sail, how to tack, and what it feels like to be under sail.

So with that training completed, and the 150% Genoa on the fuller, we pushed on under motor after 30 min of sail. Let me tell you, sailing on the Hudson, on a large yacht, is a chore.
Our goal today was Samalot marine. Another 6 hours downstream, and we arrived. As we pulled into the dock the girls started shouting "your going to slam into the dock!!!! AAAHHHHH!!!!! " Needless to say i did not. i guess i should have filled them in on docking in a wind that is pushing you away from the dock. Approach angles can be quite intimidating.

   After we arrived we went to a restaurant called "Babes"  George gave us a ride there, and we enjoyed the food, was a nice little place! We walking the 2 miles back to the marina, and met with George Samalot. George, as many people in the sail boat industry, has a history of racing. He runs a sail loft, and a rigging shop. So i had been in contact with him for awhile, i asked him to come inspect our rigging. He spent about 45 min going over all the terminals. He explained to us someone was smart when they rigged this yacht, and filled the terminals with bee's wax. This keeps the salt water out, and prevents corrosion. I am glad the PO did something right on this yacht. He also informed me my jackline was far too weak to even stop one person from going over, and i should replace it. Up to his shop we went, and talked politics while he went about sewing loops on the ends of the new jackline.
   He made some recommendations, including one to size our jib down to a #3 Genoa. Thats all for day two! 

Departure day

With a good nights sleep under our belts, our first adventure begins. We pulled away from the dock on the catskill creek at about 10am, high tide, and headed south. Wind on the Hudson is useless, so we motored, only a short hop, to Poughkeepsie. 32 miles for the day. We had a fantastic dinner at Shadows on the Hudson. This was actually a place i had stopped before.

A fender came untied, so we sent Liz to go get it back.

I was an overall calm day, no real issues, and everyone has been settling into the groove. There is a lot of teaching to be done, from sail handling to tying dock lines, and knowing how to shove off from a dock.

Now Boarding

   Wow, so today is the big day! Everything has come together. We finally have our coast guard paperwork, so we are 100% legal, woohoo! Now we can go anywhere! A bunch of projects have been completed. First one was of course the battery.

Here it is, in its new home. Me and the Interstate man had about a 3 hour talk. About the state of America, the future of America, and batteries.  The highlight is that this battery, srm-4D is just about as good as a forklift battery. He said properly taken care of i can expect 5-6 year life, with constant, daily use. So now its hooked in, and fully charged!

   The second project of the day was the main traveler.

   IT was a simple matter of putting in the new block, and as fortune would have it, a brand new block popped up on ebay, just in time, and now its mine, and installed.

   The next project was the jackline. This line will keep us from separating from the yacht, in case we lose our footing, and fall overboard. It would not be a fun ride, but we should be able to get the person back on board without delay.

   We had gone to retrieve the shackle at the top of the mast, and while we were there we picked up our 3rd crew member. Welcome to the boat Liz! After carrying on what seemed to be about 400# of personal possessions, she was moved in, and her hubby was gone.  So we now had 3 crew to move the yacht back to the other marina, to retrieve the dingy,  and get some photos!

Departing today!

Every day, a little bit closer

   Very close now.

Started off the day with a man, on a crane, up our mast. For $80 they went up and retrieved the main halyard, ran the spinnaker halyard, and inspected the mast top. The good news is everything up there is in great shape. no lose strands, no bird-caging, everything looked great he said. The wind was blowing nasty, so we decided to night over here. They will un-step the masts for $350 next year they said. AWESOME.

   Before the sun came up, and before anyone else was up i installed the battery selector switch.

I removed the dead battery, and got a new 200AH deep cycle. At 100# its not light, but i got it out of the boat without help. Carried the new one to the boat, and stopped at the cockpit. Tomorrow, we will have two house battery's, 400AH. Translates to roughly 2 KWH of power we can use without damaging the batteries.


   Tomorrows projects? Install the clutch for the jib furler, move the radio to the cockpit, move the new battery from the cockpit to the bilge.

The final countdown

   I still cannot honestly tell you what day we are leaving. All i can tell you is, its not today. Why? projects.
I have a list, i have the parts, i need to do them, then we will leave. Here is just a sample of the list:

Install jackline
Install new battery
Install new wiring for battery
Install new switch for house bank
Install fire extinguisher number 4
Change engine oil
Repair the sail
Retrieve the halyard

   Why would i have to retrieve the halyard? I was climbing the mast, using the main halyard for safety, when i lost my grip on it. it went the entire way to the top of the mast, and there it sits. I will send crew member number 3 up to get it. Who is crew member number 3?

   The person who tried to mutiny on her first visit. Dana's sister Liz.
She will help with the trip south, then, i have no idea. She could stay a month, or a year. lol

   I promised more photos will come, of the prep work, and there will be hundreds from the trip. It has been so hectic the past week, i have forgotten to take any.

Only 5 days???

   We have made a choice for safety. one that will make us leave a bit early, but will make sure we are safe.
On friday, we will see a rigger. They will be doing a full inspection on our standing rigging. What is standing rigging? Well if you know engines like i do, then i will give this analogy. If the sails are the pistons, the mast the block, the rigging are the bolts, that hold everything together.

   I have done a bit of inspecting myself, but i cannot see everything. A rigger, has done this before, many times. So they will send a man up on a crane, to inspect the top, while someone else inspects below, all for $100 an hour, GASP!!!!! He estimates, it will take 3 hours. So $300 to inspect something our life depends on? yeah, i will accept that.

   On other fronts i have replaced the cables for the steering, installed the GPS, moved the dogs to the boat, cut myself 12 times, and found a small engine oil leak. yeah, i cant wait to have time, and a good internet connection, to post photos. Sorry if this update is a bit dry and lacking, but its getting too close, not to post anything.


WE shall not be DOCK LOVERS, for long.