USA

Sunday 1 July: New York to Plum Island
A surprisingly peaceful night, or maybe we were too tired to hear or feel anything. We do occasionally wake up with severe lapping on the stern though, due to passing boats. At 5am Glen pokes his head to check our position to the dock as the tide turns. And he is surprised to see hundreds of people on the river bank, all taking part in a triathlon which takes place here every Sunday morning. There are also several police boats around, protecting the stretch of river they use for the swimming. He decides not to join in, and heads back to bed!
Today we head for Cape Code via Long Island Sound. We access this inland water to the north of Long Island via the East River which runs up the east side of Manhattan separating it from Brooklyn.
We have a very tight departure schedule. We must leave this so called marina at 11am sharp, to make it for the tide change at the Devil’s Gate on East river. Best to be there around slack tide to avoid the 5-6 knot current and swirling eddies … hence the name. Many a ship wreck there apparently.
Glen gives the fenders a good wash and the side of the boat before all the slime gets too hard to clean. What a mess. Then we are off to Broadway for quick provisioning. As fortune would have it, the first supermarket we come across is the New York famous Zabar’s, an amazing deli. It is food paradise, with so many tempting freshly cooked dishes, bakery and the most impressive cheese selection we probably ever seen. A little bit of everything. Luckily, we didn’t have much time to shop, and we left the deli with only what we needed, and then some. But we will definitely pay another visit when we return in September. Later we read the history of it – a family run shop focusing on quality since 1934.
Our timing is perfect and we manage to leave the so called marina spot on 11am, and luckily with no damage to the boat. We make a mental note to write about our experience here on Noonsite, for other sailors to know what to expect if they venture to moor here.
We will have a very scenic route today, so we put the spray top down, to allow us full view of the surroundings. It feels great not to have the view obstructed and not to worry about rain…long may that last! We haven’t sailed like this since the Med!
We motor close to the piers, and the very fancy marina next to One World Trade Center to see how the other half live, as Glen jokes. The far more expensive marina is certainly more solidly built if nothing else, but we can’t help thinking there is even more wash in this area than it was higher on the river, as all the ferries seem to be crossing through here. And the tour helicopters take off and land nearby, so the noise is worse too.
We round the southern tip of Manhattan and enter East River. The skyline as we pass under the famous Brooklyn Bridge and passed the United Nations HQ is breathtaking. But as we motor further, passed midtown Manhattan, the buildings turn less neat and from the glamorous city it all turns gradually into an industrial zone. So much for the scenic route, we thought. But then as we approach uptown we get very good views of the Emire State and Chrysler Buildings.
After several more bridges we pass La Guardia airport and finally into Long Island Sound as we pass City Island. We motor close to Long Island’s shoreline so we can admire some amazing residences on the foreshore, classic Long Island luxury houses. Some look like mansions, with splendid gardens and lawns right down to the shore. There is no wind, the sea is mirror calm with lots of pleasure boats out and about on this red hot Sunday.
By 6pm a gentle wind kicks in on the starboard beam, enough to be able to sail. Perfect timing, as we are going away from the speeding boats. Gentle sailing on flat sea, blue sky…it feels wonderful. And it reminds us why we like being on a passage, just how peaceful it is in the middle of the sea, away from the noise and the crowds.
Since it is so beautiful, we want to capture the moment, so out comes the drone. First take off, from the top of the solar panel, nearly ends in disaster. 20cm up it cuts out and bounces back down onto the very edge of the solar panel …. just inches from dropping into the sea. It had decided that it needs calibrating. Oooph it could have told us that before take-off, Glen nearly had a heart attack! After calibration and a second successful take off, we have a lovely flight around Cloudy Bay as she gracefully slips through the calm water in the setting sun. But then landing is again a drama. There is a warning audio message: “battery low, returning automatically to home point”. OMG, home-point is where we took off from, which is now 1 mile back! Glen manages to cancel the action before it’s too late, only just. But then another heart racing moment: as it comes into land on the stern, it decides it’s not going to fly as fast as the boat is moving forward … and starts to slip backwards relative to us! As an emergency measure Glen starts Cloudy Bay’s engine full in reverse to slow us down so the drone can catch up. Then finally Oana manages to do her job and catch it on the stern. Phew! This flying from the moving boat sure is nerve-wracking! The video footage had better be worth it.
After a cup of tea to revive the pilot, it’s all very peaceful as we glide silently through the water at 6 knots…. except we start hearing the steady thud-thud of music coming from land on our port side. 12nm away! What sort of speakers do they have??
We are treated to a beautiful sunset, a movie perfect one in fact. But we don’t dare fly the drone again. It is no doubt the nicest sunset sail we’ve had, the calm sea making all the difference. It feels like sailing on a lake.
After sunset we think we can hear thunder. But it turns out to be fireworks going off all the way along Connecticut shoreline. Do they celebrate 4th of July 3 days earlier here for some reason?
By 10pm the gentle wind disappears so we furl away the quiet sails and motor comes back on. By midnight we are level with Plum Island, heading back out into the Atlantic Ocean again, bracing ourselves for more rock and roll!