Day 285, May 25th, 2010
Off again at 7:00 and back onto the Hudson. It was overcast but warm. Today we were heading for Castleton-on-Hudson, where the Boat Club has a crane they will rent out for $50.00 for 2 hours to transients to either put your mast up or down. If you going down the East coast and back up the same way, you can even leave all your support lumber there, behind the building, and it will be there when you get back! We did that the last trip!
Anyway, there was very little traffic early in the morning, but the river is wide and deep and we were motoring along outside the channel. There was lots of grass in the river and old logs too, but we didn't think much of it. Then around 8:00 the engine seemed to be laboring. The rpm had dropped and we were only g oing about 4.2 knots with the current in our favour. We reckoned we should have been bombing along. John put the boat in reverse several times thinking the prop. was fouled with grass but it didn't seem to help. (The anxiety was beginning to build, yet again - What now?) Finally we decided to drop the anchor and have a look. John donned his wet suit and snorkel gear. We tied a line around his middle as it was clear the current was strong. I stayed on the deck and held onto the line and he dove on the boat - sure enough he found grass wrapped tightly around the shaft. It was difficult getting it off what with the strong current and the poor visibility but he got quite a bit off and climbed aboard again. Perfect! He was the hero of the day!!! Off we went - all sounded much smoother and we were zipping along well over 6 knots, even up to 7 at times. Ahhhh!!!!!!
We got into Castleton around 2:30, pulling in behind another sailboat with its mast down. It was so hot, we went straight inside to register and sure enough there were these two guys having a long cold drink chatting with the dockmaster, Ron. (We recognised each other from before!) Wayne and his son, Matt, were on their way to Belize, where Matt was going to live on the boat for a bit. We agreed to help each other with the masts. They had some work to do on their electrics yet, and we had to get the rig ready and build the supports.
It was scorching hot but no wind. Really perfect for taking the sails off. We've carried the lumber with us all these miles under the mattress in the quarter berth. Everything had to come out and then get repacked. While I did the packing job, John built the supports again. We were dripping in sweat - the showers felt so good when we were finally done around 9:00 p.m.
Wayne and Matt had taken their boat over to a mooring buoy on the other side of the river but agreed to be back at 7:00 am to work the crane.
Off again at 7:00 and back onto the Hudson. It was overcast but warm. Today we were heading for Castleton-on-Hudson, where the Boat Club has a crane they will rent out for $50.00 for 2 hours to transients to either put your mast up or down. If you going down the East coast and back up the same way, you can even leave all your support lumber there, behind the building, and it will be there when you get back! We did that the last trip!
Anyway, there was very little traffic early in the morning, but the river is wide and deep and we were motoring along outside the channel. There was lots of grass in the river and old logs too, but we didn't think much of it. Then around 8:00 the engine seemed to be laboring. The rpm had dropped and we were only g oing about 4.2 knots with the current in our favour. We reckoned we should have been bombing along. John put the boat in reverse several times thinking the prop. was fouled with grass but it didn't seem to help. (The anxiety was beginning to build, yet again - What now?) Finally we decided to drop the anchor and have a look. John donned his wet suit and snorkel gear. We tied a line around his middle as it was clear the current was strong. I stayed on the deck and held onto the line and he dove on the boat - sure enough he found grass wrapped tightly around the shaft. It was difficult getting it off what with the strong current and the poor visibility but he got quite a bit off and climbed aboard again. Perfect! He was the hero of the day!!! Off we went - all sounded much smoother and we were zipping along well over 6 knots, even up to 7 at times. Ahhhh!!!!!!
We got into Castleton around 2:30, pulling in behind another sailboat with its mast down. It was so hot, we went straight inside to register and sure enough there were these two guys having a long cold drink chatting with the dockmaster, Ron. (We recognised each other from before!) Wayne and his son, Matt, were on their way to Belize, where Matt was going to live on the boat for a bit. We agreed to help each other with the masts. They had some work to do on their electrics yet, and we had to get the rig ready and build the supports.
It was scorching hot but no wind. Really perfect for taking the sails off. We've carried the lumber with us all these miles under the mattress in the quarter berth. Everything had to come out and then get repacked. While I did the packing job, John built the supports again. We were dripping in sweat - the showers felt so good when we were finally done around 9:00 p.m.
Wayne and Matt had taken their boat over to a mooring buoy on the other side of the river but agreed to be back at 7:00 am to work the crane.
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