Rip van Winkle Bridge, just north of Catskill. This was a quick passage with favorable tide except for the first hour. We left earlier than high tide to be sure to arrive at Shadows on the Hudson Marina by 5 pm -- to have the assistance of its friendly manager with the handling our dock lines. We sailed under reefed main and small jib in big winds from the west for that first hour for a thrilling sail at excellent speed. But then, when the tide turned favorable, the wind subsided so we motor sailed the rest of the way. Averaging 6.7 knots overall. We passed long stretches of the river lined by forest on both sides, without signs of humanity save the occasional buoy. When the river bends, the same forests seem to close the "end" of the river as well. Beautiful!
We met some interesting folks along the outside of the long dock, parallel to the river's currents where we were tied.
And an extended family on a 46 foot catamaran that lives here in the summer invited us over for wine and cheese and what turned into an hour and half of excellent conversation. Vassar is here in Poughkeepsie and so it has the vibe of a "college town." "Destiny" sails to the Caribbean each winter so lots of sharing of sea stories too.
The marina has three heads with showers all located in a trailer ashore. Not the most luxurious accommodations. It is at the foot of a large expensive restaurant/catering hall but breakfast is available only by delivery by the manager from Dunkin or a coffee shop, which we declined in favor of Lene's excellent omelettes. The $1.50 per foot fee is reasonable and includes free electricity though we did not use it. Big, clean, newish docks. We did use the water to give ILENE a bath and took walks north to the railroad station next day and had a bite and coffee at a local storefront eatery on Main Street.
ILENE is the tall mast at the right.
Hanna handled the helm.
Their son had soccer practice. and did not join us until dinner at their home after the sailing. I failed in my photographer duties and hence no pictures of Eve or Hadami either.
The sail started well, with motoring upstream about five miles. The building I had thought might have been FDR's Hyde Park, was actually one of the Vanderbilt's mansions. Bruce pointed out the Culinary Institute, which is huge. My plan was to sail back, with the current and into the light winds, which by adding our current produced boat speed would provide enough apparent wind. But the wind was too light, at first, so we turned the engine back on. And a minute later, the engine turned itself off. After I removed the cabin sole, Bruce helped me pour the five gallons of diesel from the yellow reserve jug into the aft tank. (The forward fuel tank was later proved empty.) But without bleeding the engine, she would not start. Lene was afraid we would hit the rocks at the shore but we did not and once we put the small jib out again to supplement the main we gained steerage. Bruce is an able sailor, albeit inexperienced, and a quick learner. The wind got a bit stronger and we were able to tack back and forth across the width of the river, almost to our Marina. But sailing onto a dock in current, while possible, is not something we wanted to try so SeaTow met us near the marina towed us the last bit and took us "on the port hip" to push us to the dock under control. Lene was fearful but not our guests. A lovely day all in all, followed by a delicious home cooked meal, with the bleeding of the engine deferred until the morrow.
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