.....
Don Boyd (your correspondent)
Don Cudmore (Scurvy Dog #1 and head chart changer)
Miles travelled - 150 (aprox)
Engine hours - 62
Sailing hours -4
Money spent: Food / beer / ice / snacks on board - $50.00
Diesel / gas / marina fees / lock fees - $ 82.00
Charts / guides / port fees - $ 0.00
Eating out / drinking out / touring - $80.00
Aprox. total this leg -
The greatest place in the world, on Saturday September 6th, 1997 was the Castelton Yacht Club just south of Albany. It was there that a "London Broil" roast beef dinner was served, with desert and all the trimmings, for only $ 4.50!!!! To a cruising sailor this is a dream come true. When combined with free mooring and .75¢ draught beer, it's heaven!
Scurvy Dog #1 was beside himself when, after we'd re-stepped the mast, I instructed the boat to head towards New York. In fact, he even suggested that we attach a line to the Club and tow it behind us for the balance of the trip. When he became violent, I brought out another secret weapon for the casual skipper. "The Crew Whacking 2 x 4"
Cleverly disguised as a fender board, a 2x4 normal used to protect the hull of the boat from nasty docks or canal walls, "The Crew Whacking 2x4" measuring in at over six feet in length rarely fails to get the crew's attention, and obedience.
A trip down the Hudson,
with plenty of chart changes, calmed Scurvy Dog #1 down, and by the time we'd arrived at Pougkeepsie Yacht Club, (after a brief lunch stop in Kingston, where you can tie up at the City Dock for $ 2.00 an hour...one hour max for us), and another warm welcome.
I was glad to be on a mooring ball, rather than just at the hook, the $ 15.00 charge buying us good news as the wind generator whined on, because it was a breezy night. We slept well knowing that we were safe and sound.
The Next stop was at the "Irving Washington Yacht Club" almost attached to the Tappan Zee Bridge. An extra tour of the Times Square area and it's colourful wild life was capped off when Scurvy Dog and I attended (by invitation) a taping of the popular "Late Night with David Letterman" television show.
The show was interesting, but had nothing to do with boating, crew discipline, nor did it teach a single knot. But it was free and we were served a "Snickers" candy bar, and as any sailor on a budget knows, "free is good!!!"
Sailing past Manhattan is a lot like High School Sex. Everyone talks about it, few ever get to actually do it. Leaving on a falling tide, the towers and confusion of the largest city in the USA unfolded before us like a dinner plate before a starving man. We had been "Beer'd all the way to the Sea"! A satisfying feeling it is, when the regular crew abuse and chart changes end for the common purpose to soak in a major successful passage. We even took tourist shots
of the city so nice, they had to name it twice", passing off our port side.
Soon, before a nasty chop and 25 knot wind, we arrived at "Kill Harbor", on Staten Island New York's South East corner. We picked up a mooring at the new holder of the Greatest Place In The World, the "Richmond County Yacht Club" Here we were treated to a safe mooring, with fabulous water taxi to and from the club. The members are exceptionally friendly to fellow yachties from near and far. Their reputation is know far and wide, but until you get here you can not know what a place it is.
Okay, I'm getting soapy, and it's time for a crew change. Scurvy Dog #1 is leaving, and Peter "The Friend of all fish" Hallberg should arrive tomorrow (Thursday the 11th) to become "Scurvy Dog #2". Till then!!!
