East River to Long Island Sound

Neil and I got up at 4 am in order to be able to catch a favorable current in the East River. We weighed anchor and departed Sandy Hook about 4:30 am.

The sun was rising as we left Sandy Hook. 

No wind to sail so we motored. Coming into NY by boat is always interesting and being the first time for Neil and Carol, it was extra special for them. They were glad we had not passed by NY outside one the direct route to Block Island.

We took the slight detour to pass close to the statue of liberty which is always a great photo op. Then it was across the harbor and up the East River in favorable current.  We entered the East River at the battery about 01:15 hours after time of slack before flood at hell gate.

We had favorable current all the way through the river with top speed of about 12.5 knots.Just before hell gate we had to slow so as not to be passing a slow moving tug pushing a barge while making the turns of hell gate.

I would not want to be traveling against that current!

The wind did not show up until we had tied up to a mooring at Mt. Sinai Yacht Club.  We motored all day without taking the sail cover off.

After we got on the mooring ball, the pump out boat came by and pumped out both tanks at no charge. The boat was manned by 3 young guys who we tipped well.

There is no launch service at MSYC so we launched the dinghy to go ashore.  The new lines I got for the dinghy and motor lift worked great.

We also stopped at MSYC last summer.  They are a casual, welcoming club. Club rules are no bathing suits, no bare feet, and no bare chests...not your typical yacht club dress code. They were serving dinner so we decided to eat there as cooking aboard was the only other option. They had some delicious vegetarian options.

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Salt on the hose clamp is evidence that the leak is still happening...slow enough for the water to evaporate from the heat of the engine before it reaches the bilge.

Change of Plans

We left Atlantic City this morning at 8:20, heading for Block Island. The wind was NE at 10 knots, coming right down the rhumb line. It was forecast to move east and swells were out of the east...kicked up by hurricane Chris as it went by. This is not the typical conditions for this time of year, we should have southerly winds.

Motoring into the wind and waves did not seem like a fun option so we raised sails and started off on port tack to give us some distance from the shore. Neil pointed out that we were not heading towards Block Island...we were heading at a right angle to the rhumb line. After sailing out into the ocean for a bit, we tacked over to port and were making a better angle towards Block Island, but not great. Owl Moon tacks through about 105 degrees so making a windward destination is slow...after two hours we were about 10 miles from Atlantic City.

I suggested that we might rather go into New York Harbor, up the East River, and then up the Long Island Sound. This will be longer, but more enjoyable. Neil and Carol have not been up that way and it is quite an interesting route. The crew all agreed that this sounded good. By now we were pretty much on starboard tack layline for motorsailing to Sandy Hook.

We timed rounding the top of Sandy Hook perfectly for a sunset photo op.

Sunrise watch is the best! The overnight from Annapolis to Atlantic City, NJ was hot but wonderful when the sun went down...and spectacular when the sun rose. It is the start of being relaxed!

What happens in Atlantic City stays in Atlantic City!

Dealing with a leak

The bilge pump went on as we stepped aboard after going out for dinner last night. If the float switch is near its activation point, rocking the boat can cause it to trigger. There was no good reason I could think of for that much water being in the bilge. I checked the counter and it indicated the pump had gone off 3 times since we had docked. Pulling up the floorboards, Neil helped identify that there seemed to be water entering from the aft part of the boat. I lifted the engine cover and saw a slow trickle of water coming down the intake hose of the raw water pump.

We had been discussing our departure plans for Block Island and expected winds at dinner. Now we had an issue to address before any of that mattered. Very frustrating!

Tightening hose clamps didn't help. On removing the hose, we saw that the ridge on the metal intake of the pump to secure the hose did not encircle the entire pipe...very poor construction.

This is the fitting for the hose.

Neil thought to reverse the hose to see if the other part of the hose might clamp better. That seemed to work, except now seemed to leak much more slowly and the water was following a different path. The drip was now coming off the underside of the pump. It seems to be coming from the pump, probably the shaft seal in the back of the impeller housing. The only way to fix that is to rebuild or replace the pump.

Drip is visible on the pump housing. 

I ran the engine to observe what would happen to the engine running. The leak seemed to stop when the engine was running and only existed when the engine was off. It would have been more likely to be worse with the engine running...very odd. That's a mystery yet to be solved.

Atlantic City is not a place where we wanted to hang out waiting for a pump to be delivered and the pump seemed fully operational. So, we decided to stick with our plan to head to Block Island. A drop of water every 3-4 seconds is not a concern.  We will monitor the pump and hose connection during our travel.

Morning off Atlantic City

We arrived early with enough of a NW wind for a peaceful sail while we eat breakfast and relaxed.

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Night Sailing

We are motorsailing down the Delaware Bay. It was slow going in the Delaware River much of the time with an adverse current. That is fading now. We are close hauled, just making our course. I think if I shut the motor off, we won't point as high and we are constrained by the channel (keepiing west of it).  Besides that, we are making up time.  So,the drone of the motor continues.

Passing Turkey Point at 3 pm. We're only 20 minutes behind schedule...had quite a bit of adverse current some of the time coming up the Bay.