Reunion with Teepee and white water rafting

Teepee, with whom we had sailed both winters in the Caribbean, arrived in the US after a rough passage from Bermuda. Rough, as in a wave ripped the canister containing their life raft from their deck! Michelle and Manu were joined on this this passage by Marie Elena and Manu's sister, Aurora, who is studying medicine in Montreal and had to take the train there the next day.

We had looked up the NY location at which boaters clear into the US upon arrival in this nation. It is an office on a pier in the Hudson River at about 50th Street, a convenient walk from the 79th Street Boat Basin where they moored.

We met them and tried to show them our city. We did the Highline and a long walk through midtown including the Library, Ford Foundation, UN, St Pat's, Rockefeller Center, and Times Square, before walking home to Tenth St. down Fifth Avenue with stops at many shops including the Westmarine store at 37th St. (where they got solar powered vents and I got a shackle to attach the mainsail at the gooseneck, a replacement for the one that had gone missing during the Race to Louie's.

Next day it was an auto tour of attractions north and south of midtown, including lunch at the Harlem. M & M on the launch:

They were not pleased with the accommodations at the Boat Basin and I hope they will moor at the Harlem on their way back south this fall to the Caribbean from Lake Champlain, where they are summering and having work done on Teepee.

Then it was time for us to fly to Portland Oregon for our daughter's wedding and the girls remained in our apartment sitting with Whitty, both girls and cats having sailed the Caribbean.

In Portland we met up with Meridel and Judy, our companions in Turks and Caicos, for lunch and they gave us an album of photos of our week together. Judy is an excellent photographer.

The wedding was outdoors, at a historic inn overlooking the mighty Columbia River in its section called The Gorge. The wedding was lovely and I gave the bride away to Mario, who Lene and I have come to admire and love. Alexandra, our nine year old granddaughter, was the maid of honor and Mario's seven year old nephew, from Quebec, was the best man. A lovely wedding and next day we visited their new house in suburban Portland.

But this blog is not about wedding reviews. This stretch of the Columbia is known as the sailboarding capital because the prevailing westerlies whistle through the gorge, kicking up waves while opposing the western flow of the river to the sea, about 100 navigable miles west of us. Hundreds of sailboards and kiteboards skimmed below us and there are several schools offering instruction.

One of the pre-wedding activities was a white water rafting trip on the White-Salmon River. This is a category three river meaning bigger rapids than I have ever done. We wore wetsuits and booties and hoods as defense against the cold water, partly glacial melt! And many gallons of water came into the six person, bright blue, inflatables. The seventh person is the guide, in the stern, who urges the others to paddle as we approach rapids to gain way through the water to give "bite" for his paddle, used as a rudder. The rafts have an ingenious self bailing mechanism through the inflatable floor so what came in over the top was able to get out through the bottom. Our actual time on the water was two hours during which we travelled ten miles south through Washington State toward the Columbia, and 500 feet down in altitude. Photos will follow.

You can't keep a sailor away from sailboats for very long; I took advantage of a few hours while ladies had their hair done to visit the Hood River Marina. The river flows north from the majestic snow covered Mt. Hood, in Oregon, to the Columbia and is not navigable, but gives its name to the town where the hotel is located. The same wind and waves that attract the kite boarders attract racers of boats up to about 30 feet. I saw some pretty boats and talked with some of the sailors. One guy had just flown back from helping a friend sail a 40 footer from Oregon to Hawaii.

Back home we learned that M & M had made good use of the passes to free admission to some of NY's museums, visiting the Met, Gugenheim and Natural History. While with us they dined at Katz' Deli, and on salad bar, Indian and Ukranian cuisine.
 
We packed their stuff -- both what they brought from Teepee (laundered) and what they purchased in NY, into the car, stopped at Fairway so they could provision the boat and unloaded all at the Boat Basin for dinghy transport to Teepee.

Final stop was at the computer terminal to give them Dean and Susan's email address aboard Autumn Borne and vice versa, because one of Teepee's planned stops along the Hudson was Hop-O-Nose Marina in Catskill, NY and I figured the crews of the two boats would enjoy each other.