East River
- Thread starter All U Get
- Start date
When I went down the East river, I'd programmed in my draft and air height into Navionics and when I went through Hells Gate, Navionics still tried to send me down the East side of Roosevelt Island... Sure glad I caught it before it was too late! It was the first time for me coming down the East River - I had never realized how close Roosevelt Island is to Hells Gate!
dj
dj
Never trust the auto-routing features. They are only useful for quickly estimating distances.
Absolutely! Boy I sure learned that one on that trip!
Coming through Hells Gate I had to jump down below to my nav station to turn off my autopilot as I've a under-deck piston and when the autopilot is on - you aren't turning the wheel! I've since learned I have a switch right next to the helm that turns it off, but didn't know that at the time.
dj
Last summer when I went down the East River in each direction did at max current. No way would I let the AP steer. It was fun and reminded me of my old days in a white water kayak, standing waves, eddies, current, upwellings. I got lucky on the east bound passage, the next day while motoring across LI Sound my transmission failed, glad it wasn't on the East River when that happened. 
I hit Hells Gate at exactly slack high tide - as in - to the minute!. It was smooth as silk. I wasn't exactly letting the AP steer. I was hand holding the AP remote so that I could steer the boat and move around the cock pit getting excellent visibility. My boat has a dodger and visibility is better standing up where you can see over it. That takes you away from the wheel. But the handheld does not allow a full rudder hard over as fast as doing it at the wheel. When I realized that the top of the Island was right there, I had to do a full hard starboard rudder. As I was standing right at the companionway looking over the dodger I jumped below, hit the stand-by and ran back to the wheel. Had I realized at that point I had a switch at the wheel, I'd have saved myself probably two seconds. At slack high tide - nothing there as you describe above. It was flat smooth, no current water. Now, going down the East river I was amazed at how fast that tide changed and the currents were just ripping down the East River - it was a fun ride!Last summer when I went down the East River in each direction did at max current. No way would I let the AP steer. It was fun and reminded me of my old days in a white water kayak, standing waves, eddies, current, upwellings. I got lucky on the east bound passage, the next day while motoring across LI Sound my transmission failed, glad it wasn't on the East River when that happened.
dj
Running with a full current through Hell's Gate, we made the mistake of leaving our forward hatch open ... It was like running rapids and we did take water over the bow 
. At least we knew which way to pass Roosevelt Island!
. At least we knew which way to pass Roosevelt Island!
A few years ago there was a catamaran stored on the hard next to my boat that had been dismasted there. Very common.
I can't imagine running through Hells Gate at full current! I've heard you can get thrown around totally uncontrollably.Running with a full current through Hell's Gate, we made the mistake of leaving our forward hatch open ... It was like running rapids and we did take water over the bow
I knew which way to pass Roosevelt Island - Navionics didn't! Go figure!
This summer Navionics tried to run me under the bay bridge far to one side of the main span. I don't think Navionics knows how to handle air clearance properly. It does handle depth of water draft well. (I actually just checked again, I've got my air draft properly input into the program... )
If the captain of the boat in the picture was running Navionics for route planning and had not looked at the charts ahead of time, that program would have directed him down the East side of Roosevelt Island...
dj
In a really small light boat, it would be more of an adventure, in a larger heavier boat it wasn't bad at all. In those conditions it is best to keep the speed and power up, leaving a little reserve and most importantly don't fight the current especially by turning hard up stream. A lesson learned early in whitewater canoeing, as it will flip the canoe. In a lot of ways it is like sailing down wind in good breeze with waves, keep the boat vertical and pointed down wind.
The current and eddies are not random, they are developed by the bottom and shore contours and have recognizable patterns. Standing waves will form a short distance after the bottom gets deeper. Upwellings will occur when the bottom rises. Eddies form around the edges where shoreline blocks the current and diverts it or where another current enters the main flow. The best course is down the middle. Crossing an eddy line can be abrupt as the current one side is flowing downstream and on the other side the current is flowing up stream. When a boat crosses an eddy line it will turn sharply upstream making for a wild few seconds.
In the end, it is about working with the current and not against.
Over the ground at 11 knots is fun!
I think we were right around 12 knots SOG, do you remember @Ward H ? We basically headed straight down the center of the river and nobody else was around us. I don't remember it as being particularly rough and we didn't even notice we had water over the bow until Ward found all the water in the v-berth!
Actually it was a very enjoyable ride! We had the current with us all the way from LIS to V Narrows bridge. We made one small diversion heading north on the Hudson but with the current against us, it soon became too tedious, so we turned around to visit the Jersey City waterfront.
Actually it was a very enjoyable ride! We had the current with us all the way from LIS to V Narrows bridge. We made one small diversion heading north on the Hudson but with the current against us, it soon became too tedious, so we turned around to visit the Jersey City waterfront.
Attachments
Last edited:
I thought we saw 13 flash on the screen for a few seconds.
That was an exciting ride. Nothing like running rapids on a 32 ft boat. And we did take on quite a bit of water. We were enjoying the ride so much we never gave the open hatches a thought. Whoops!
What was really amazing was the very light traffic. This trip was the last week of June 2020. No ferries were running, very few boats and very few people out and about on the shore.
That was a great trip.
@lehighsail and I are planning to do a similar trip when the weather breaks.
That's interesting. I went through at the end of September. Beginning under the Throgs neck Bridge. through Hells Gate, all the way down the East river and out the New York Harbor was definitely busy. We went through Hells Gate behind 3 or 4 boats, all large ships. The East river was very busy, I was being crisscrossed by high speed ferries and all sorts of other commercial boats. The New York Harbor was fascinating with tugs, barges, container ships, various work boats, a few recreational boats. Leaving we were behind one of the largest container ships I'd seen. I had to take a photo (sorry, poor quality) as from where I was watching it looked like it was too large to go under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge (clearly just perspective)...
dj
Ominous clouds over the city and this was about mid-day! It was an ominous time indeed ...
Staten Island Ferry was active, but I recall that a Park Ranger swung by us as we approached the Statue of Liberty. There were no tourists anywhere around. I suspected that the Park Ranger was checking us out closely just to be sure of our intentions and to let us know he was watching ....
Marinette Wisconsin for those in the photo. There are 3 new ones now, which were built in Florida, I suppose.
The Staten Island Ferry
Staten Island Ferry Information. Staten Island Ferry Schedules, Staten Island Ferry Parking, Staten Island Ferry Directions, Staten Island Ferry Transportation, Staten Island Ferry Special Events, Staten Island Ferry Photos, Staten Island Ferry Past and Present Ferries, Staten Island Ferry...
www.siferry.com