I woke up this morning, looked out, and there it was. Who knew?
Sorry for the poor picture. I was a bit groggy and in a hurry this morning.
I woke up yesterday morning in the pond at Brigantine, NJ unsure about what to do. I’d seen just a few inches of water under the keel on the way in and didn’t know if I had gotten too far to one side or if the bar extended clear across the channel. Prospecting for draft with a rising stern wind didn’t appeal even if the tide was flooding.
My deliberations were interrupted by friend Jonathan who was anchored nearby. He said there was no problem getting out as he remembered where the channel marker stakes had been from previous visits. Twenty minutes later, I was following him out. Sure enough, he took a much wider turn than I had.
I ran across to Atlantic City for fuel and then headed out into the brisk northeast wind that has been blowing for days and built up quite a sea. Conditions weren’t actually too bad with only an occasional body slam and very little spray flying. There was a lot of motion and it was clearly going to be a long 80 odd nautical miles to New York. Only predictions of conditions improving with time and northward progress kept me going.
Sure enough, things began to calm down when I was off Barnegat. A few hours later, I had enough of a slant to roll out the jib and motor sail close hauled with the steadying sail giving blessed relief from the rolling. For once, I was sorry to see a head wind continue dropping because I had to roll up the sail a few hours later and the rolling kept me company all the way to New York.
Watching New York City come up over the horizon at night and then turning into one of its little known places at 0120 in the morning and finding church like stillness after sixteen hours singlehanded is one of cruising’s great experiences.
The creek is a great and convenient spot and easy to get into even on a dark night. My new tablet computer takes panorama photos.
Use this link to view the full size image which you can blow up on many viewers and pan back and forth:
http://www.cruisingonstrider.us/images/SBO/ConeyIslandCreek.jpg
Oh yes, the sub. You can see it in the panorama as well mixed in with the other wrecks. The conning tower is just visible in the picture above. Neither image captures the row of holes that I think let water out of the deck superstructure. It appears to be a research or tourist sub. Anyway, a submarine is the very last thing I expected to great my eyes first thing this morning.
I was shortly underway for the trip up the East River through Hell Gate which I enjoy every time as much as if I had never done it before. I’m now anchored at City Island in a great spot to wait out a couple days of cold and strong winds. After all my impatient waiting in New Jersey, it’s odd to be looking forward so much to not going anywhere for a while.
Oh yes, what did we ever do before Facebook? One of my friends posted a link to the story of the sub while I was writing this:
http://forgotten-ny.com/2006/09/the-yellow-submarine-of-coney-island-creek-part-1/
Sorry for the poor picture. I was a bit groggy and in a hurry this morning.
I woke up yesterday morning in the pond at Brigantine, NJ unsure about what to do. I’d seen just a few inches of water under the keel on the way in and didn’t know if I had gotten too far to one side or if the bar extended clear across the channel. Prospecting for draft with a rising stern wind didn’t appeal even if the tide was flooding.
My deliberations were interrupted by friend Jonathan who was anchored nearby. He said there was no problem getting out as he remembered where the channel marker stakes had been from previous visits. Twenty minutes later, I was following him out. Sure enough, he took a much wider turn than I had.
I ran across to Atlantic City for fuel and then headed out into the brisk northeast wind that has been blowing for days and built up quite a sea. Conditions weren’t actually too bad with only an occasional body slam and very little spray flying. There was a lot of motion and it was clearly going to be a long 80 odd nautical miles to New York. Only predictions of conditions improving with time and northward progress kept me going.
Sure enough, things began to calm down when I was off Barnegat. A few hours later, I had enough of a slant to roll out the jib and motor sail close hauled with the steadying sail giving blessed relief from the rolling. For once, I was sorry to see a head wind continue dropping because I had to roll up the sail a few hours later and the rolling kept me company all the way to New York.
Watching New York City come up over the horizon at night and then turning into one of its little known places at 0120 in the morning and finding church like stillness after sixteen hours singlehanded is one of cruising’s great experiences.
The creek is a great and convenient spot and easy to get into even on a dark night. My new tablet computer takes panorama photos.
Use this link to view the full size image which you can blow up on many viewers and pan back and forth:
http://www.cruisingonstrider.us/images/SBO/ConeyIslandCreek.jpg
Oh yes, the sub. You can see it in the panorama as well mixed in with the other wrecks. The conning tower is just visible in the picture above. Neither image captures the row of holes that I think let water out of the deck superstructure. It appears to be a research or tourist sub. Anyway, a submarine is the very last thing I expected to great my eyes first thing this morning.
I was shortly underway for the trip up the East River through Hell Gate which I enjoy every time as much as if I had never done it before. I’m now anchored at City Island in a great spot to wait out a couple days of cold and strong winds. After all my impatient waiting in New Jersey, it’s odd to be looking forward so much to not going anywhere for a while.
Oh yes, what did we ever do before Facebook? One of my friends posted a link to the story of the sub while I was writing this:
http://forgotten-ny.com/2006/09/the-yellow-submarine-of-coney-island-creek-part-1/
