It’s been about a week since I’ve been able to post so here’s the story.

September 24th and 25th Port Washington, NY

Captain and crew lounged around in Port Washington and got in some R&R. We had a good meal at a local seafood restaurant (Fish On Main), did some shopping, and walked all over the place. Lynne and I also kept an eye on the whole United Nations thing so we could figure out when we could get down the East River.

September 26th Port Washington,NY to Atlantic Highlands, NJ

We left Long Island Sound for the East River. The first of many bridges to go under is the Throgs Neck bridge.

New York City (bathed in smog)

I didn’t get a picture of the infamous Hell Gate as I was busy. It wasn’t that bad. Woods Hole is worse. We were going very fast, for us.

The guide book says to take the West passage around Roosevelt Island. The East passage has the Roosevelt Island Lift Bridge. The bridge would have to be raised so that a sailboat mast could go under it. While raising the bridge one would have to fight the strong East River current.

So we took the East Passage. We couldn’t traverse the West side as it was blocked off by NYPD and Coast Guard boats (UN security zone). Lynne called the bridge and I fought the current for a while.

Roosevelt Island Bridge- UP

Amazing City view with the UN building in the center.

Empire State Building (one of my favorites) in the background.

What happened here?

After going under the Williamsburg bridge. We were intercepted by NYPD. A very nice officer, repeat- nice, told us the next part of the river was just shut down for an hour due to security restrictions around the Wall Street Heliport. Back to fighting against the current for an hour.

Eventually we got down to the Brooklyn Bridge.

Then on past Governors Island to New York Harbor and Lady Liberty.

The Bayonne Bridge. They somehow raised the roadway higher on the arch several years ago. I was born in Bayonne. Maybe someday we’ll go down the Kill Van Kull and get a closer look.

I wrote down a list of bridges as we went under each one.

• Throgs Neck
• Whitestone
• Hell Gate (rail)
• Triborough
• Roosevelt Island Lift Bridge
• Queensboro
• Williamsburg (The Willy B)
• Manhattan
• Brooklyn
• Verrazzano – Narrows

Problems

After going under the Verrazzano bridge we ran into some tall waves due to the wind opposing the current exiting the Narrows. We’ve done this kind of work before so it should have been no problem. At some point the bow of Catalpa was plowing into the waves. This forced the anchor (on the bow sprit) back, untensioned the chain, the “chain stopper plate” flew up from the water pressure, and 150 feet of anchor gear and steel flew off the front of the boat in an instant. We were now anchored in a big current with large waves bouncing the boat around. Lynne took over the helm to try to get control of the situation. I clipped in with harness/ jack lines and proceeded to ride the mechanical bull until I cranked all the anchor gear in. I lashed everything down and we proceeded on to Atlantic Highlands. In the ensuing mayhem the anchor locker (forepeak?) cap was damaged (since repaired) and the offending chain stopper plate was lost to the ocean (looking for a new one).

We pulled into Atlantic Highlands later in the day. Some day we’ll come back to explore. I have relatives around these parts. We stopped briefly and were off before dawn the next day due to a favorable wind. ONWARD

September 27th Atlantic Highlands, NJ to Barnegat Bay, NJ

We traveled from the Highlands to Barnegat Bay. It’s around 50 nautical miles, a long day for us. The winds were light so we motor sailed all day. The guide book says “only enter Barnegat Inlet with local knowledge “. Lynne called the Coast Guard and got some local knowledge. We made it in without issue. The anchorage was ideal. Oliver got some good play time in on the nice Sandy beaches surrounding us.

Our view Barnegat Light

September 28th Barnegat Bay, NJ to Atlantic City, NJ

This was supposed to be a short 28nm day. There was supposed to be light southerly winds, not ideal but doable. Well the winds fired up out of the southwest (The direction we were traveling in) and the day turned into a long upwind slog. What was supposed to take 5 or 6 hours took us 12. We picked out Atlantic City harbor (Absecon inlet) in the dark (a first for us). I’m reading a book about U-Boats and the battle for the Atlantic- it felt like a military operation. We glided in the dark to an anchorage area (on diesel fumes) and finally stopped for the night. I spyed the shore line for a landing. Then Oliver and I went on a commando raid to find a poop spot.

September 29th Atlantic City

We’re going to stay here for a few days to rest, dry out the boat, and reprovision. AC is a different place. Lots of casino lights at night. We’re thinking about renting a slip at the Golden Nugget. I don’t gamble but they have real showers and a laundromat.