Thanks, Scott. Very cool voyage. Just curious, did you guys have a current Eldridge on hand, and if not, what did you use for current predictions? Also, what did you use for pilot info, like bridge heights, etc.?
I did purchase Eldridge and used it for all the planning so we knew what to expect. Otherwise, we had Navionics, which provided current information. I have a Garmin chart plotter at the helm and between the cp and Navionics on phone and tablet, we had all the info that we needed. The only bridges we passed under were through NYC and I knew that all on our route had plenty of clearance, so bridges were not an issue.
We only had a couple of close encounters with the huge freighters that we saw. The first, we gave plenty of room to him before we passed under the Throgs Neck Bridge. The other freighter was on a very odd channel that aims right at the end of Sandy Hook, where there is an elbow that takes it out to sea. We were watching it for quite a while, wondering why it was on such an odd course, until I recognized the channel outline on the chart. When they are so large, they don't really look like they are moving, they just seem to grow larger. For a long time, I figured that we were going to cross the channel in front of it with plenty of time. However, at one point, I figured I may as well speed up just to make it a more comfortable crossing. That is, until I realized … "Damn, that thing is closing on us a lot faster than I thought!". Just before reaching the edge of the channel, I cut the throttle and turned sharply to starboard and told
@Ward H "Let's just wait this one out". I think he made a big sigh of relief!
That's when we realized that a patrol boat that lurks around the Earle Naval Weapons Station came out to give the freighter an escort out to sea. There was also a small boat anchored next to the channel (fishing). They might have figured there could be a little too much activity in that tight squeeze of a channel. We didn't hear any radio chatter (other than the freighter thanking the patrol boat for the escort), but I wasn't really paying attention to the radio as I made the last minute decision to turn away. I think we would have cleared, but at the last minute it seemed silly to even think about it!