Oh that we could! As they say, youth is wasted on the young.
Anyway, I’ve been running up the Hudson realizing again that this perhaps the most spectacularly scenic cruising ground I have seen between Halifax, NS and central Florida. There is something about moving a boat between mountains and hills that speaks to my soul the way open horizons did when I was younger.
Strider is cleaving waters where ice floated less than a month ago. Marina’s are closed and docks are piled on shore. Look closely though and there is the bustle of a boating world about to begin another season. Yet, I woke in a beautiful anchorage and went on deck to bag the jib before the wind comes up to prepare for running the final hour up to the boatyard where Strider will be hauled. The bottom needs to be painted and there are things going on in May that will make it a lot more convenient (and cheaper) to have her secure on shore while I am away.
The high point of this passage up the river was a visit to Kingston where I berthed next to the Clearwater, re-connected with old friend and her former master Greg Swanzey, and made some initial contacts about possibly becoming involved with the boatbuilding school being organized there.
What comes next? Well, if I can get to the great amount of refit work she needs after three years and thousands of miles of almost continuous cruising, just some daysailing on the Hudson and perhaps a short cruise to Cape Cod. The primary focus of the summer will be enjoying our cottages in the Berkshires.
In the fall? We’re going to be talking about that a lot in the next few weeks. We’ve been talking about it for months, mostly in circles. We love cruising, there is no better way to travel. However, when you get to a certain age, the concept of enriching your life with a variety of experiences begins to overtake the more youthful impulse to do what you like most. Boats may be the way we like to travel best but they don’t go to the places we are most interested in seeing now. It’s not beyond the bounds of possibility that Strider will leave the Coeymans Marina under different ownership.
However, there may be at least one great cruise still ahead of us. Forumites BobT and RonRelyea , prominent among the best friends I have met on this long cruise, are both planning their first cruises down the waterway next fall and love the idea of having an experienced leader. We know that we would not be making the trip alone again but three couples in three boats with three semi-professional musicians and a Dreameagle, a banjo player (and former radio DJ), could be a moveable feast too enticing to pass up.
So, I’m going to bid all of you, my readers, good by and ask that this fourm be archived and converted to reverse order as was “Book 1”. I want to thank you all for so enriching my cruising by giving me a reason to write about it. Enjoy your boating season everyone. I’m going to greatly enjoy being a landlubber again, at least for a while.
Anyway, I’ve been running up the Hudson realizing again that this perhaps the most spectacularly scenic cruising ground I have seen between Halifax, NS and central Florida. There is something about moving a boat between mountains and hills that speaks to my soul the way open horizons did when I was younger.
Strider is cleaving waters where ice floated less than a month ago. Marina’s are closed and docks are piled on shore. Look closely though and there is the bustle of a boating world about to begin another season. Yet, I woke in a beautiful anchorage and went on deck to bag the jib before the wind comes up to prepare for running the final hour up to the boatyard where Strider will be hauled. The bottom needs to be painted and there are things going on in May that will make it a lot more convenient (and cheaper) to have her secure on shore while I am away.
The high point of this passage up the river was a visit to Kingston where I berthed next to the Clearwater, re-connected with old friend and her former master Greg Swanzey, and made some initial contacts about possibly becoming involved with the boatbuilding school being organized there.
What comes next? Well, if I can get to the great amount of refit work she needs after three years and thousands of miles of almost continuous cruising, just some daysailing on the Hudson and perhaps a short cruise to Cape Cod. The primary focus of the summer will be enjoying our cottages in the Berkshires.
In the fall? We’re going to be talking about that a lot in the next few weeks. We’ve been talking about it for months, mostly in circles. We love cruising, there is no better way to travel. However, when you get to a certain age, the concept of enriching your life with a variety of experiences begins to overtake the more youthful impulse to do what you like most. Boats may be the way we like to travel best but they don’t go to the places we are most interested in seeing now. It’s not beyond the bounds of possibility that Strider will leave the Coeymans Marina under different ownership.
However, there may be at least one great cruise still ahead of us. Forumites BobT and RonRelyea , prominent among the best friends I have met on this long cruise, are both planning their first cruises down the waterway next fall and love the idea of having an experienced leader. We know that we would not be making the trip alone again but three couples in three boats with three semi-professional musicians and a Dreameagle, a banjo player (and former radio DJ), could be a moveable feast too enticing to pass up.
So, I’m going to bid all of you, my readers, good by and ask that this fourm be archived and converted to reverse order as was “Book 1”. I want to thank you all for so enriching my cruising by giving me a reason to write about it. Enjoy your boating season everyone. I’m going to greatly enjoy being a landlubber again, at least for a while.
