Boston Adventures: Celebrating 71

Sunday was my birthday and Diana' was 8 days ago.  We both turned 71.  Unfortunately, I was bringing the Pershing 64 north and could not be there to celebrate hers.  Fortunately, the owner of the 64 called it quits in Albany (opting to have a delivery captain and crew finish the journey to Chicago) thus allowing us to be together for my birthday.

We deemed this our birthday weekend and began the celebration on Sunday with a visit to the Boston Ballet to experience the performance of Jewels, a ballet choreographed by George Balanchine.  My sister, Myrna, is a season ticket holder and she was planning to attend with a friend.  We decided to join her.

The ballet itself is unique in that George Balanchine, who died in 1983, is credited as the choreographer. The George Balanchine Trust licenced the Boston Ballet to perform Jewels under the condition that it adhere strictly to the George Balanchine Technique and Method, both licensed trademarks.

Jewels, created for the New York City Ballet in 1967, is unique in that it is considered the first full length abstract ballet (i.e., it is not connected to a story).  There are three movements, Emerald, Rubies and Diamonds.  The dancers are dressed like jewels.  It was spectacular, especially the grand finale..

From the Rubies movement

From the Emeralds movement

The ballet is performed at the Boston Opera House, a venerable old theater that was originally built by Edward Albee in 1928 as a memorial to his partner Benjamin Franklin Keith, the father of American vaudeville.  Interestingly, the theater, designed for vaudeville, was completed as vaudeville went out of fashion.  Joseph P. Kennedy later bought the theater from Edward Albee and renamed it RKO (Radio Keith Orpheum).  It was restored in 2004 at a cost of $38,000,000.

The trip to Boston via the ferry from Hingham Shipyard and getting tickets to the ballet both proved to be an adventure.

Guided Discovery is docked approximately 1/8th of a mile from the ferry.  Making a long story short, we made the ferry with zero minutes to spare.  Actually, they held the ferry for Diana at my request. You might say I cut it a little close.

Ferries docked at Hingham Shipyard Marnina

Ferry offloading in Boston at Long Wharf

Getting tickets to the ballet was also a bit challenging.  Diana went on line no less than 50 times and was unable to land two decent seats.  So, we decided to go to the theater and see if any seats were turned in at the last minute or if there were people outside trying to sell their tickets.  Forget the outside sellers, there were none.  The strategy to go to the box office worked.  Not only did we land great seats but the seats we got were right next to my sister's.  You should have seen her face when we sat down next to her and her friend, Elaine.

Diana & Les at the Boston Opera House

After the ballet we had drinks and hors d'oeuvres with Myrna and Elaine at Legal X, a lovely restaurant immediately across from the opera house.  My sister, who is very involved in Boston commercial real estate and Boston restaurants, told a great story about the "X" in the restaurant's name.  The owners wanted to name it Legal XXX because of its location in what was known as the "combat zone," which years ago was in the seedy part of Boston with strip clubs and pornograpghic movies.  The locals raised a big stink and the two of the Xs were dropped.

The family outside City Crossing

Sunday we returned to Boston, again on the ferry ($4.00 for seniors and 35 minutes - except on weekends when it's 55 minutes allowing for a stop at George's Island and Fort Mason).  We met this time a City Crossing (2 minutes from the ferry dock on Long Wharf) for a birthday celebration lunch with Myrna, Lesley, Scott and, of course, Amelia.

Scott, Amelia and Lesley

Diana and Myrna at City Landing

Lesley and Amelia "reading" a new book

Amelia is really cute

Following a leisurely lunch we crossed the street and walked on what is now called the "Rose Kennedy Greenway."  A little Boston history.  Prior to the "Big Dig," the waterfront was separated from the city by an ugly elevated highway, called the Southeast Expressway, that transported vehicles heading north across the Mystic River Bridge and east to Logan through the Callahan and Sumner Tunnels through Boston.  The Big Dig depressed the Southeast Expressway thus eliminating the ugly elevated highway.  The city turned the space into a park that stretches one and a half miles from Chinatown through the financial district and up to the North End (great Italian restaurants).  The cost of the Big Dig was $22 billion dollars.  Read about the Greenway with the link below.

http://www.rosekennedygreenway.org/about-us/greenway-history/

Amelia had a great time.  Now 19 months she is fully mobile and starting to talk.  She rode the Rose Kennedy Memorial Carousel and walked in the park.

Lesley, Amelia and Myrna on the Carousel

Playing in the park

Incidentally, the park itself is also unique.  Each section was created by a different architect and the funding for the park was a 50/50 combination of private and public money.  Boston created a jewel from what was once an eyesore.

Here are some views of Boston's Rose Kennedy Greenway and the waterfront.  For perspective, Boston is a big city.  These views are just the tip of the iceberg.

Rose Kennedy Memorial Carousel

Fountain

Looking north

Looking south.  Harbor Fog, a user activated responsive sculpture
Go near it and it provides a cooling mist

In the background of the above photo is the Rowes Wharf, a mixed use complex consisting of offices, a hotel and condominiums.  My sister was involved in the building of this beautiful complex that now provides an anchor for the waterfront and park (it's also a ferry stop0.  The building was built during the period from 1983 to 1987.  Note the spectacular arch at the center of the building.  In 1987, when the building was completed the arch faced the elevated highway.  The Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) required the developer to build in an arch that allowed the harbor to be visible from two streets to the west.  When the building was completed the elevated highway obscured the view.  It wasn't until years later, when the Big Dig eliminated the elevated highway was the promise of the arch finally realized.  But years before, the BRA had already envisioned the elimination of the elevated highway.  Sometimes government does good work.

View through the arch looking west across the park

The Odyssey (which once sailed the Chicago Lake Front)

Boston Aquarium at Long Wharf

Care to take a harbor tour on a WWII DKW?

Over the next five months we plan to make frequent visits to Boston via the ferry.  Stay tuned for more adventures as we explore this VERY historic city.

Written by Les.

Life in the Fast Lane: Race Called???

Thursday morning we assessed our situation with regard to the remaining 1,119 nautical miles to Chicago. We considered the following:

• We had an expectation that the ECU Governor would be installed late Thursday afternoon (3:00 PM best case)
• We would not hit the Erie Canal's first lock until 4:00 or 5:00 PM
• The first six locks would require at least 3 hours
• The locks close at 6:00 PM
• We had 23 locks on the Erie Canal (minimum 12 hours plus 327 statute miles)
• We had 6 locks on the Oswego Canal (minimum 3 hours plus 24 statute miles)
• Risk of debris on the Erie and Oswego canals restricting our speed
• We needed to cover 122 NM from Oswego to the Welland Canal
• We needed a full day to traverse the 8 locks on Welland Canal
• After the Welland Canal, we had 722 NM on Lakes Erie, St Clair, Huron, & Michigan
• Our ability to traverse the Great Lakes is highly weather dependent 
• The owner had been away from home for 10 days

All of this translated into the following time frames assuming no weather or mechanical issues.

• 3 days on the Erie and Oswego Canals
• 1 day on the Lake Ontario and the Welland Canal
• 2 to 4 days on Lakes Erie, St Clair, Huron, & Michigan
• Total: 6 to 8 days

The 2 to 4 day calculation on Lakes Erie, St Clair, Huron, & Michigan is dependent on the number of runs per day as shown below.  Essentially, we needed to cover 362 nautical miles each day.  At 33 knots that's better than 10 hours of running plus at least an hour for a fuel stop.

Buffalo	Detroit	231
Detroit	Alpena, MI	197
Alpena, MI	Charlevoix	170
Charlevoix	Chicago	245

Weather, the wild card, could easily extend the trip's length to 10 days.  All of these factor caused my friend to throw in the towel at around 1:30 PM.  He announced that he was having a delivery captain and crew take the boat the remainder of the way.  Fine with me.

I was able to rent a car (Enterprise to the rescue) and by 2:30 PM I was on the road headed for Hingham. Traffic was easy until I got to route 128 and then it slowed to a crawl.  Still, I was able to make it home to the boat by 7:00 PM. The greetings for Diana and Kodi were memorable.  Diana and I had an excellent dinner at the Union Oyster House at Hinghan Shipyard.

Final numbers:

Date	From	To	N Miles	Cum NM	Fuel Burn	Cum Fuel
13-May	Fort Lauderdale	Fernandina	300	300	1183	1183
14-May	Fernandina	Charleston	212	512	851	2034
15-May	Charleston	Wrightsville	162	674	611	2645
16-May	Wrightsville	Norfolk	251	925	856	3501
17-May	Norfolk	Atlantic City	201	1126	750	4251
18-May	Atlantic City	Albany	215	1341	774	5025

So bottom line. I added 1,341 nautical miles (1542 SM) to my resume and while we did not set a world's record, making it from Fort Lauderdale to Albany in five days is still pretty impressive.

Total distance on the water so far this year: Over 3,300 miles  Total since starting the Great Loop in October of 2010: Over 10,000 miles.

Written by Les.

Hingham Adventures: Connecting & Reconnecting

Seems I'm always playing catch-up.  This article was written in Albany (actually Rensselear on the east side of the Hudson) on Wednesday while we were waiting for parts (an ECU and a SAM) to get the Pershing 64 moving.

Context: This article covers the short period between our arrival in Hingham on Monday afternoon and my departure on Sunday (5/12) to join my friends David and Sophocles to bring David's new boat north.

I arrived in Hingham on Monday at 2:00 PM on Guided Discovery accompanied by my friends and fellow crew members, Dick Singer and Phil Fuoco.  We had been on the water non-stop for 57 hours.  Diana arrived by car with Kodi just prior to our arrival and was on the dock to greet us.  We had accomplished our goal to have the family, the boat and the car in Hingham Massachusetts.

Here's some views of our "home" for the summer:

Looking Southeast at the marina and adjacent buildings

From the flybridge looking east

Boat deck west into the cove on the Weymouth Back River

Kodi at Stodder's Neck with the Hingham Shipyard in the background

Looking northeast from Stodder's Neck
Oasis is on the left Guided Discovery is to the right

Hinghan Shipyard is an amazing place and part of World War II history.  Here they built 227 warships between 1942 and 1944.  Today it is a shopping center, a 500 slip marina and the ferry dock to Boston.

There are two grocery stores, Fresh Market and Trader Joe's, seven restaurants, a multi-screen stadium-seat movie theater, a Bed Bath and Beyond, an Old Navy and lots of shops.  We had dinner with Cliff and Rob from Oasis at Alma Nove on Thursday evening.  It was excellent.  No surprise. Tripadvisor rates them #2 in Hingham.

Hingham is also an amazing place. Settled in 1633 it is, today, a bedroom suburb of Boston that can be reached in 35 minutes on the ferry that docks at Hingham Shipyard.  By car it's a little more challenging especially at rush hour. Citydata's website tells you a lot about this city with a population of 22,157.  Median Household income is $96,000 as compared to Massachusetts at $63,000.  Median home value is $631,000 as compared to Mass at $326,000.  This is a lovely place to live. It's also just a short car or dingy ride to Hull Massachusetts where I spent my summers growing up.  My cousin Myrna, one of the last four of our generation, and her husband, Kenny live in Hull.  We plan to reconnect with them as soon as I get back.

Lesley and my granddaughter, Amelia, drove up from Rhode Island to visit us on Tuesday.  This was the first time I saw them since they joined us at the end of the Miami Boat Show in February.  Lesley cooked a lovely steak dinner for us (Diana, Phil and myself).  Phil had stayed aboard to do a little Boston sightseeing.

We dined "formally" in the salon for the first time.  We can easily have six people around the table comfortably using the deck chairs.  Amelia and Kodi both cooperated for this photo.

Amelia, Lesley, Diana, Kodi, Phil and an empty seat for me

Amelia, who was just days short of 19 months, had fun reading with Diana while Lesley reconnected with the Furry Kid.  Unfortunately, Wednesday was a school day and Lesley left shortly after dinner.

Amelia loves books

She really LOVES books.  She's being raised "no TV"

On Thursday evening, Cliff and Rob arrived on Oasis (70 Delta) to join us for the evening on their way to Boston.  They are eventually headed to Newfoundland and the Saint Lawrence Seaway.

Oasis arriving in Hingham with Cliff at the port side controls

Kodi reconnected with her friend Sarina.  Later in the afternoon we took the dogs to Stodder's Neck Park, which is immediately east of Hingham Shipyard and less than a 10 minute walk.  Stodder's Neck is a dog park where dogs are "unofficially" allowed off leash.  Yelp rates it 4.5 stars. The park used to be an artillery battery protecting Hingham and Quincy Shipyards during WWII.  It's lovely and well maintained.

On Friday, I joined Cliff and Rob on Oasis for an early morning cruise to Boston.  Oasis is an amazing boat. While only being 7 feet longer the Guided Discovery, she sports a beam of 22 feet.  This boat in extremely roomy.  Cliff built her 20 years ago at the Northern Marine Shipyard.  She is a singe engine trawler capable of crossing the Atlantic Ocean.  She is the best equipped trawler I've ever seen and she is in absolutely pristine condition.  We met Cliff in February at Marina Bay Marina while we were commissioning and outfitting Guided Discovery.

Oasis on Friday morning

Guided Discovery viewed from Oasis

Boston at 7:00 AM on a very cloudy Friday morning

Fan Pier.  The largest development project in Boston
My sister, Myrna, is the developers's Chief Legal Officer

Rowes Wharf - Another of my sister's projects

Rob, Cliff and Sarina at Boston Waterboat Marina

Oasis as viewed from the ferry leaving Boston enroute to Hingham Shipyard

I returned home of the 9:10 ferry.  The trip took 35 minutes and cost $4.00 one way.  While enroute the visibility dropped to 1/32nd of a mile.  Welcome to New England weather.  Diana and Kodi met me at the ferry dock.

Ferry dock at Hingham Shipyard

Speaking of my sister.  We reconnected with Myrna who drove down from Cambridge on Friday night.  We had a spectacular dinner in Hingham at the Square Cafe (#3 in Hingham).  Myrna had also joined us for the christening ceremony at the Miami Boat Show.

I left Diana, Kodi, Lesley, Myrna, Guided Discovery, Stodder's Neck, Hingham and Hingham Shipyard on Sunday afternoon to start a 2,460 nautical mile (2,829 SM) cruising adventure from Fort Lauderdale to Chicago. It was not easy to leave.

Written by Les.

Life in the Fast Lane: Pit Stop at Albany

Reader Note: I published two articles today. You will want to read "Yellow Flag on the Hudson" before reading this one.

This was an article that I had hoped that I would not have to write.  As of Tuesday at 11:00 PM, we have been down for maintenance for two days.  That said, we would have been down anyhow as much of the lock system on the Erie and Oswego Canals are closed due to high waters from last week's storm.

Here's the facts about the 64.  At 6:35 PM the starboard engine threw off a "Combined Failure Yellow Alarm."  We immediately contacted Justine at Pershing who put us in touch with an MTU engineer.  He gave us approval to continue with no speed restrictions.  We ran for three more hours to Castleton-on-Hudson. However, during that entire period we were plagued by a loud alarm.

Here's the facts about the Erie Canal as of Monday morning:

• Erie Locks 1- 6: Open
• Erie Locks 7 - 23: Closed due to high water for 4 to 5 days
• Oswego Locks 1-6: Closed due to high water for 4 to 5 days

Monday was spent arranging for diagnosis and repairs.  Lunch was a Teagan's just a few blocks from the yacht club.  Diana and I had eaten there in 2012.  Nothing had changed and it was still very good.  Following lunch, my fellow crew mates went to the market to reprovision while I returned to the boat to catch up on my blog. I spent a lovely half hour sitting on the yacht club's deck talking with Diana.  Then I returned to the boat to get down to blogging.

Just after getting on the boat I noticed a gentlemen standing by the swim platform.  I walked over and he asked if I was the captain.  He introduced himself as Gus and then proceeded to tell me that he had hit the 64.  He profusely apologized and handed me his insurance information.  What happened?  Gus explained that he was positioning his boat to turn into the fairway just north of Estremo when he lost control. Conditions at the time involved a northwest wind blowing him toward the boat as he headed north before turning east into the fairway.  The current was running south.  We later looked at his boat, a 32 foot Carver (circa 1980), and noticed the 64's gelcoat on the 32's starboard rub rail at the transom edge.  Without more information it's hard judge what happened.  My hat's off the Gus for his integrity.

Meanwhile the damage is superficial.  Some of it is just residue from the rubber rub rail and some may be a scratch.  Annoying but not a big deal and very easily repaired.

Chateau Talbot Saint- Julien 2000

Our wine was Chateau Talbot Saint Julien 2000.  Dinner was a Teagan's and it was exceptionally good.

The MTU technician, mike, from Atlantic Power Systems arrived at 8:30 on Tuesday morning and worked until 3:00 PM diagnosing the cause of the problem.

Downloading computer recorded faults

The rocker cover removed to get to the injector on the back cylinder

Part of the engine computer controls

Mike determined that an Engine Control Unit Governor on the starboard engine had gone bad causing one cylinder to intermittently not fire.  It took a series of tests and inspections to essentially eliminate all possible repairs that could be done ASAP.

The $5,000 Engine Control Unit Governor (under warranty of course)

The good news is that we now know exactly what is wrong.  The bad news is that, as of this writing, it is unclear as to whether the MTU can supply the part (which has a value of $5,000).  We think the part may be available in the US but will not know until 10:00 AM tomorrow.  Pershing is also working to get the part from Europe if necessary.

Tuesday night's wine was Chateau Margaux 1988, Premier Grand Cru, which is one of the five first growths in Bordeaux.  It was very good.

Chateau Margaux 1988

Dinner was at Capital American Eatery and Lounge over the bridge in Albany.  We ate alfresco.  It was very good.

Pearl Street in Albany

The restaurant.  We ate outside

Update as of Wednesday noon: The ECU is in stock and being shipped.  We expect installation tomorrow (Thursday).

Written by Les.

Life in the Fast Lane: Yellow Flag on the Hudson

A yellow flag, or caution flag in NASCAR racing, requires the driver to slow down (due to an accident or hazards of the track).  We got a yellow flag in the form of a yellow engine alarm late in the day that slowed us down and required a pit stop.  Read on.

The forecasted weather for Sunday was nothing short of perfect for a long distance run on the ocean. Northwest winds 10 to 15 with seas 2 to 3 feet close to shore, 4 to 6 near shore along with a residual swell from the southeast with a 10 second period.  That provided an opportunity to cover 400 nautical miles from Norfolk to Troy New York with a mid way fuel stop.

Explanatory Note: The words "close" and "near" are key to understanding the forecast and what we experienced.  The weather people at NOAA were taking into consideration the fact that a northwest wind coming off the land would mute the wave heights close to shore.  Waves form and grow as wind blows over open water (known as fetch) and increase in size with wind velocity. Hence the forecast for smaller seas "close" to shore and 4 to 6 near shore in the "Near Shore Forecast."  Seas were even higher in the "Offshore Forecast."  Wave "period" refers to the distance between the wave crests.  The longer the period the calmer the seas.  A period of 4 seconds suggests wind driven waves and rough seas.

We departed Norfolk at 6:33 AM (despite protests from the captain and the co-first mate) and headed north past the container ports and naval ships (either in mothballs or being repaired).  At 7:25 we we passed Old Point Comfort and headed northeast across the shipping lanes by shortcutting through Thimble Shoals to the open water over the tunnel portion of the Chesapeake Bridge and Tunnel.  We were running on flat water at 2000 RPM which yielded 36 knots (41 MPH) and a 102 GPH fuel burn.

We encountered a warship as we crossed over the tunnel under the Chesapeake

At 8:02 AM we turned northeast on our planned route.  It took us 3 to 4 miles off shore.  By 8:30 we were seeing white caps.  The northwest winds appeared to be more to the northeast creating a head sea and a bumpy ride.  The seas were also building quickly to 2 to 3s.  Not a problem except in a head sea for a boat traveling at 40 MPH.

Explanatory Note: Despite the 64's 80,000 pound displacement she is still a planning hull.  Planning hulls by definition rise up and "skim" over the water.  The result is pounding that can be both annoying and hard on the boat's equipment.  Imagine subjecting your TV or refrigerator to massive pounding forces.

At 9:00 AM we altered course to run "close" to shore to take advantage of the shelter provided by the shore (which mutes the velocity of the wind).  How close you ask?  We were easily, at times, less than 1/4 mile off shore.  It worked, we were able to run the shoreline in relatively flat water (1 foot head sea).  The "captain" and crew had to work extra hard to avoid shallow water and crab trap buoys.

At 10:36, we passed Ocean City Maryland flying along at 43.4 MPH in one foot seas.  The closeness to shore muted the effect of fetch and wind velocity.

Up close and personal with Ocean City Amusement Park

We continued north along the Maryland Shore to Cape Henry and then crossed the Delaware Bay.  As we crossed the bay we lost the shelter of the lee shore and seas began to build to 2 to 3 with waves going in different direction (a confused sea).  We reduced speed.  As we approached Cape May we regained the shelter of land and our speed increased as the waves quickly diminished.  Off Cape May inlet we were running at 1950 RPM and 42 MPH.  We had used 600 gallons.

While enroute I consulted Waterways Guide's fuel price website.   Beach Haven was charging $3.60 per gallon while Belmar was at $3.66.  We flirted with running an additional 55 miles north to Belmar but quickly abandoned that idea when we found it cut into our fuel reserve.  We also abandoned Beach Haven, which was 8 miles into the New Jersey ICW, when Sea Tow provided local knowledge on how to enter a very tricky inlet.   At 1:14 we pulled into Atlantic City's Frank Farley State Marina and took on 750 gallons (at $4.29 gallon including a 20 cent discount).

This confirmed that we made the right decision not to proceed north to Belmar.  The extra 55 miles to get there used another 165 gallons for a total 915, which clearly eliminated our entire reserve.

Leaving Atlantic City

Fueling took 45 minutes and at 1:59 PM we were on our way.  Running at 2000 RPM we were traveling at 36.8 knots (42.6 MPH) on 1 foot head seas (easy bump bump bump).  At 4:15 we passed Sandy Hook leaving New Jersey behind.  We had made 73 nautical miles.  Now we had a magnificent view of the Staten Island Bridge and the Manhattan skyline.

Staten Island Bridge

Manhattan skyline 

At 4:43 PM we passed the Statue of Liberty and slowed for a Kodak Moment.  Then back to speed quickly leaving Manhattan in our wake.  We passed under the George Washington Bridge at 5:11 PM still making 38 MPH against a 3 to 4 knot current.

Manhattan disappears in Estremo's wake

45 minutes later at 5:46 we passed Croton-on-Hudson running at 42 MPH.  I recorded TTG (Time To Go) as 2 hours which gave us an ETA of 7:46 for Troy New York.  Time to call ahead for marina reservations. Small glitch. The Troy City Dock had no fuel or power.  No problem, we called Albany Yacht Club and arranged dockage and fuel.  They also had two 50 AMPS, which was fine as Estremo carries a 50 to 100 AMP "Y" connector.

The farther we traveled up river the more debris (floating sticks, logs and deadheads) we encountered. Running at 40 plus MPH we now ran the risk of a propeller strike, which if severe could put an end to our adventure - just like that!  We all kept a sharp lookout.

Side Note: Diana and I stopped at Croton-on-Hudson for four days on July 7, 2012.  We were 7 days out of Branford Connecticut in the second "phase" of the Great loop (i.e., after Diana had recovered from the accident in Mystic with the Wolfie, the 95 lb doberman - Kodi's friend and room mate for a month).  We enjoyed the four days we spent at Half Moon Bay (except for the part where Steve, the owner, tried to nickel and dime us to death).  While at Half Moon Bay we visited Roosevelt's home in Hyde Park, the Rockefeller estate and West Point.  Click on the link below to see what we missed by running fast to Chicago.

West Point

www.mvguideddiscovery.com/2012/07/croton-on-hudson-adventures.html

Wrecked Ferry along the Hudson - Portending problems?

At 6:35 PM, we experienced an engine alarm ("Combined Failure Yellow Alarm")  The alarm is extremely loud.   There is an alarm override button on the control panel.  We slowed down.  A quick call to Justine at Pershing got us in contact with an engineer who advised us to continue with no restrictions on speed.  We resumed cruising at 6:51 PM.  However, we had to put up with an alarm that could only be silenced for a few seconds.

The scenery is spectacular on the northern part of the Hudon

At 7:02 PM we passed Roger's Boat Club.  With the alarm driving us "crazy" we decided it might be advantageous to stop.  Roger's also had diesel.  Problem was they wanted $4.49 per gallon and had only 30 AMP power.  The "good old boys" hoped we stay but we got back on the river.  Note: one of the guys had a scotch in one hand as he reached for our lines.

At 7:38 PM I recorded 162 NM made with 49 remaining.  That yielded an ETA to Albany of 8:56 PM.  Oops! Sunset was 8:13 PM.  No problem.  We had about 20 minutes of nautical twilight.  With a clear sky we had good visibility on the river for that period.

Nightfall (around 9:00 PM and very dark)!  We ran on the river for another 30 minutes navigating with the buoys and the route I had programmed on the chart plotter (at 1:00 AM the night before in Norfolk).  The Hudson as it is heavily used for commercial traffic is well marked with lighted buoy's marking the channel. We ran the buoys at 10 MPH using a combination of the route on the chart plotter and spotting and confirming the lighted and non-lighted buoys.  Except for the ever present annoying and very loud alarm, the process was fun and challenging.

Explanatory Note: I've avoided running at night in unfamiliar waters and can count the number of approaches to harbors on one hand.  The trickiest was the approach to Branford Harbor the night of Diana's accident (October 10, 2011), which involved negotiating a twisting route into the harbor with buoys marking ROCKS.

Explanatory Note: Running the buoys on the Hudson helped me understand the different lighting patterns (CF - quick flash, 2.5 seconds, etc.)  By picking up the light patterns you are able to confirm a buoy's location in relation to others and therefore the channel.

At 9:30 with the alarm continually blasting and 7 miles to go (close to an hour at 8 knots) and with the Castleton-on-Hudson Marina to starboard we decided to call it quits.   We had covered 409.5 NM (471 SM) in 13.5 hours.  There was no power on the dock (at least for us) so we ran the generator all night.

There were no restaurants open at that hour so we ate on board.  I had bagels with cream cheese and nova with our wine, a bottle of Berringer Reserve 1990.  It is rare to have a 24 year old California Cabernet Sauvignon (and with bagels and nova - oh well.)

Estremo at Castleton -on-Hudson Monday Morning

Debris.  Hitting a submerged could bend a propeller

At 8:44 we departed Castleton-on-Hudson and 56 minutes later running slow due to fisherman and no wake zones, we arrived at the Albany Yacht Club (little did we know it wuld be home sweet home for UNKNOWN AT THIS TIME.  Total distance since Atlantic City was 215 NM.  Fuel burn was 715 gallons.  We added 53 gallons for 21 hours of generator use (at 2.5 GPH) and predicted 768 gallons.  We took on 774 gallons.  Our prediction was accurate to 6 gallons or .001%.  WOW!

Total distance covered in 14.5 hours of running:  416 NM (478 SM)

Final numbers for five days of running:

Runs:

• Wednesday: Fort Lauderdale to Fernandina Beach: 300 NM (345 SM)
• Thursday: Fernandina to Charleston: 212 NM (243 SM)
• Friday: Charleston to Wrightsville Beach: 162 NM (186 SM)
• Saturday: Wrightsville Beach to Norfolk: 251 NM (288 SM)
• Sunday AM: Norfolk to Atlantic City: 201 NM (216 SM)
• Sunday PM (and Monday AM) Atlantic City to Albany: 215 NM (247)

Data:

• Total Distance Traveled: 1,341 NM (1,541 SM)
• Total Fuel Used: 4,414 gallons
• Total Time on the Water: 56.5 hours
• Miles To Chicago: 1,119 NM (1,288 SM)

The next article is entitle Pit Stop at Albany.  I plan to keep this one rather short to cover the two long days we spent down for maintenance.

Written by Les.