East River excitement

After a relaxing night at Eatons, we pushed on to Manhasset Bay for two nights. We haven’t run since before we went to the wedding last weekend and have been looking for an opportunity. When we arrived in Manhasset we went for a walk to get our bearings, then provisioned at the Stop & Shop. The store is directly across the street from the town dock, making it without a doubt the most convenient provisioning we’ve experienced while on a boat. That activity, however left us too tired to run. “Tomorrow,” we said.

Alas, the next day was windy and rainy…Ellen didn’t even leave the boat. I went ashore to collect Cousins Jason, Rachel, Ian, and Reese in the dinghy so they could have a bagel brunch with us. Best part was seeing them, second best part was eating delicious Long Island bagels.

The kids clambered all over the boat like monkeys while we hade a super visit with the Grups. I was teased when I suited up in my foulies, but it all made much more sense to them once we got onto the dinghy in the rain. They were all excellent sports, but it was not a day to make a sane person long for life on a boat.

Because she was warm and dry, I told Ellen I would get the dinghy strapped up on the roof by myself…she took this glamor shot of boat life.

This morning we got underway without dilly-dallying so we could catch the current for the run down the East River. Anchor was up by 6:55am and we rode the tide all the way from City Island, down the river past the UN, Roosevelt Island, Governor’s Island, out into New York Harbor, past the Statue of Liberty, across the big-ship anchorage, and under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge where we turned to starboard and anchored down in Great Kills Harbor on Staten Island.

We passed under so very many bridges today.

The big tugs pushing these big barges fit their bows into a big notch at the back of the barges. Very clever.

The day got increasingly windy, by the time we got back from a run on the beach it was gusting to nearly 30 knots. The anchor is holding fast.

When we arrived in the anchorage, I called the one marine parts store around. They told me there was one anchor light left in stock, and they closed in an hour. Ellen and I hot-footed it to shore and got the light.

The base needed to come off because the tube fit perfectly in the spot at the top of our radar mast. Such good fortune!

The installation was a multidiscipline event. We used all sorts of skills and tools including but not limited to the vice, the heat gun, the drill, the Dremel, crimpers, strippers, and even the tap and die set. Yahoo! (Oh, and now we have a working anchor light. It integrated pretty well. Now I need to get it an LED bulb and figure out a way to make it an automatic dusk to dawn setup.)

The dinghy light worked well in a pinch but was consuming three batteries every night. That’s a lot of waste. I’m thinking of dissecting the failed light to see if I can harvest its photocell and use it on the new light. Stay tuned. (Also note: I wore the safety glasses while using the Dremel and drill.)

Special thanks to our friend Randy who let me know it is not completely crazy to carry a complete tap and die set on a boat. One month aboard and I got to use it.

The picture doesn’t show the wind gusting and trying to blow all the tools off the roof.

This evening we are trying to decide whether or not we should head to Atlantic City tomorrow. It’s an 86 mile run and is not to be taken lightly. It is now after dark, but we are going outside to put Giggle Monster on the roof in case we do in fact head out before dawn.