Nice First Sail

This was great, our friends Schyler and Laure came up this Memorial day and went sailing with us. Schyler who knows a hell of a lot more than us about sailing(owns The Sailboat Shop) came out and gave us some wonderful pointers on the boat and Laure Lillie who is a Professional Photographer From Skaneateles (She loves to travel ) took some photos for us. The sun was shining and we had a nice breeze, we headed north out of the bay and as we got farther away from shore you would have thought we were headed for Alaska, it was very chilly but we had a wonderful day sailing and a great time with friends.

Now having Kasidah here we are starting the projects. We figure we put about 100 hours on the engine and at this point we found lots of things that need to be repaired or things that failed on the way (if you own a boat you know what we mean and we are just stating these thing not complaining in anyway). Jon has removed the holding tank and had to have it repaired which the shop told Jon to buy another one by next season. The engine pick up tube was so clogged that when the engine stopped running on the water and he started narrowing what the problem was down he could just barely blow through it. We changed the bathroom fixture and shower hose and replaced gaskets on kitchen sink. We are in the process of finding some leaks in the front berth(this might be hard). Changed rug on floor but might change again when upholstery is done because I don’t thing they will match. Knot meter stopped working some where in New York city, Jon took a cold dip this weekend to see if it was jammed but it was moving freely so we will need to replace that. Autopilot had a bad wire inside the unit but Jon took it apart and fixed it. Jon pulled lots of wire out and wanted to figure it all out to start working on putting new stuff in(Electricians do that kind of stuff). Put netting up and screens on gates for the dogs safety (actually for Jons tools that seem to slip out of his hands). Tightened cable for steering, polished brass clocks (Jon is very proud of these). Replaced hose to tank. Still trying to find a problem with the check valve on the hot water tank, it comes and goes so this will be a hard one. Ect….
Next projects unless something else comes up is, Cetol on wood, caulk and clean any old stuff up from the fiberglass. Shelves under head sink and aft locker. Clean and wax outside of boat as soon as dinghy decides to meet Kasidah….

Long Island to Lake Ontario

I Know Jon has put in his short version
of some of the same stuff on the Hudson but this is from beginnig to end from my point of view.

Well all is well in Fair Haven, New York. We made it to the Marina on May 18th around 5:00. I am putting some photos up of New York City and the Beginning of the Hudson River and will add more this week some time. This was a blast for both Jon and I. It is one of those adventures that will last a lifetime. We left April 27th from Norwalk Ct. “Long Island Sound” at 5:00 in the morning, the weather was perfect with the sun on our port side and not even a ripple to be seen anywhere in the sound. This was the most perfect sunrise you could ask for. We made it just to the east side of New York City around 2:00 pm and decided to do some exploring and a little sailing, then we anchored in Manhasset bay for the night so we could catch the incoming tide through Hells Gate the next morning. New York City was great we ended up there on a record-breaking day of 83 degrees (on the water was a little chilly but the warmest of the whole trip). When we rounded Manhattan there she was!!! “The Statue of Liberty” wow this is something everyone should see. What a wonderful feeling of pride. If you get a chance go even just for this.
We headed up the Hudson and decided to find a drop off point for Rick so His Wife Pam could come and pick him up. We decided on Half Moon Bay Marina, which was just north of the Tappan Zee Bridge. The fee for dockage overnight was $90.00 and that was half price because it was early in the season “WOW’. The next morning Jon and I left around 9:00 and had a good time checking out all the buildings, boat yards and wildlife on the river. We went past West Point Academy, which is a spectacular piece of architecture, the Building facing the water appears to have been built right in the rock.. Beside a little cold and one period of rain the trip up to Roger’s Point boating club was nice and relaxing, we where going to get Diesel and look for a good anchorage. They told us we could Dock for $40.00 so we took them up on it. The Bar tender could not get the pumps to work so we thought maybe we would have to find some the next day, we ask if they had Wi-fi but he thought it was a type of fuel. By the end of the night we ended up with fuel and we did get Internet excess. They all were very nice and helpful there.
We got up bright and early the next morning in hopes to reach Troy by dark. This part of the trip the river narrows in quite a bit, and you have to watch your depth a little more and when those HUGE tankers pass you by it is definitely intimidating…(at least for me). We made it to Castleton Boat Club late afternoon and had time to walk around and arrange for the boat to stay there for a week because the Erie Canal was still not open.. Our good friend Schyler came up and helped unstep the mast and then off we went leaving Kasidah for a week while we checked on how everything was doing back home.
We headed back down on May 3rd to start our trip on the Erie canal Friday morning. We had found out the canal was now open. The first lock is the Federal lock in Troy. I was very nervous but excited at the same time. The Lock master was great he helped us throught and explained things to us and let us know what to expect at the other locks.(He also told us that if the other lock masters were not helpful just to call him and he would take care of them. That made me feel better) The next set of locks is referred to as the Waterford Flight! It is a remarkable engineering marvel, this gateway to the Erie Canal combines a series of five locks, where boats are lifted and lowered the greatest height in the shortest distance of any canal in the world. WOW! When you are in a lock you either grab onto a rope that they have on the walls or you take one of your lines and wrap it around a pipe that is hanging up and down on the wall, one person in the front of the boat and another in the back. Some of the locks went real smooth and others were a little tricky. This time of year locks are only open from 7 am to 5 pm so the day can end a little short if the next lock is closed. Our first overnight stop was at the Schenectady Yacht club. Nice open facility and the dogs could get out and really run around. Meet a family there that I think the husband and wife had way too much to drink but the parents were very nice and we talk to them for quite awhile. We made it out at just after 8 in the morning and traveled almost till 6 pm to St. Johnsville Municipal Marina. This place was at a wall and one other large boat came to dock with us that night. We walked to a store that was just a short distance over a bridge and got to see a little of the small town. The next morning I made sure we were up and going just before 7, it was a cold one the deck had some frost on it, which made walking very interesting. Everything was going to plan and we thought we might make Oneida Lake that night. NOT A CHANCE. At lock number 18 the lockmaster said that they had a problem with not enough depth at marker number 551 and to stay far over to the right when approaching it. So when we got close to it we started to stay to the right side of the channel and Jon said it did not look right and he was going to head to the other side but the time he was in the center of the channel we hit bottom but good. We figure there was about 3 ft of water under us and we draw 6 feet, over the right side there was about 22 feet. The water is very brown so you cannot see a change in the color so that was not of any help. We ended up calling the lockmaster ho in return got one of the New York tug to pull us off. Well this meant one more night on the canal (which was fine with me). We ended up staying on the east side of lock number 21. This was a nice and quiet lock wall to spend the night. The dogs and I took a long walk on the trail next to the canal and to our surprise some friend (Schyler and Laure) were traveling in the area and ended up having dinner with us.
We got up bright and early to a great warm sunny morning and headed out to Oneida Lake crossed over and went to Ess-Kay Yards to leave Kasidah once again for a week while waiting for the Oswego canal to open and the following weekend our Daughter was graduating from Syracuse University so we knew this was a good break in the trip.
May 17th we came back and picked Kasidah up and finish the final leg of our trip. The Oswego canal was very pretty and of course the weather was much nicer. Now we would be going down in all the locks instead of up as we did at the beginning of the Erie. In One of the locks there was a died fish floating between the boat and lock wall and on top was a snake just coiled up sitting there, Jon made sure that guy was not hitching a ride on our boat. We came out on Lake Ontario at Oswego New York and stayed at the town dock but it was way to noisy and rough so we tucked in at Oswego Marina where the mast was to be stepped first thing in the morning any how. They were very friendly and helpful there. The next morning our mast was stepped with no problems and as we started put on sails and cleaning up a wall of fog moved in, so we took our time getting ready as we were just about finish the fog started to lift so we figured was a good sign. We headed out and headed west to Kasidahs new home under sail…..yes finally we were sailing her. It was sunny but freezing cold on the lake, it took about 3 hours to get over to Fair Haven but we did go off course to get a little sailing in. The Fair Point Marina is a wonderful place everyone is so nice there I keep wondering whats up…. We are so glad we found a place like this for our summer and wish them lots of luck. If you are near there you should come in and check them out and say Hello to us….J

Up the Hudson

Well this is it, we are all the way up the Hudson river to Castleton-on Hudson, NY. Where the mast will come down. It was a long and enjoyable trip. We have put some photos in and will write more later about our trip. So please look at photos for now.

We cast off from the previous owners deck Near Stamford, CT., at 5:00 am on Monday April 23 to be with a high tide, which was the only way to leave his little bay. We motored on a very calm day toward New York City. We couldn't believe it we were on our way. The sun came up behind up as a ball of fire and feed the day with such warmth that NYC had a record high this day of 70 something. We arrived at City Island 2 hours early and thought about doing the east river on this day, but after a quick look at the Eldridge book of tides we knew we couldn't do it with out being stuck in the middle of New York Harbor at dusk and now where to go.

We motored around City island looking at different places that we might moor for the night, and then the wind picked up. I thought it would be a good idea to do some sailing for two reasons:

1-Arline had never been on the boat with the sails up. She had worked her tail off in making the boat look great and added her little touches of home to the boat (teddy bears), she really needed to feel what the boat was going to be like under sail.

2-The previous owner Rick was with us and could show us some pointers about any question we might have on the boat.

So we sailed at the entrance to the Throgsneck Bridge and sailed up into Manhasette Bay where we found nobody. We sailed around a bit and had all the sails out, it was a thing of beauty. The boat is everything we taught it would be. We set anchor, took a nap, did some small chores to the boat, had dinner and crashed.

We weighed anchor to be under way by 8:30 to be with an ebbing tide though the East River and Hell Gate. Again it was nice and sunny, yet just a bit cool from the water. we made the Throgsneck Bridge, Hell gate; which was a piece of cake. We could see where the Harlem river and the East river come together and could feel it on the rudder and wheel but it was very minimal because we timed it just right. We went by the UN Building. Under the Brooklyn Bridge and there was the Statue of Liberty. WOW. We had been planning this for about 6 months and how do you stop the time to let it all last just a bite longer. We noticed the wind had picked up and the water was as brown as a Fridays' mudslide drink. We turned North and we were on the Hudson. The city of Manhattan was very impressive. Rick makes frequent business trips to the city and pointed out all the sites the whole way. We couldn't help ourselves from searching for where the WTC and towers should have been and found some feelings that are just way too hard to put into words. As we made our way north the wind came on our port beam and was just screaming for motor sailing. We pulled the Genny out and our hull speed jumped up to just over 7 knots over ground. Oh this is funny, in the East river the impeller that drives our speed indicator must have picked up some debris as it stopped working. I hope it's only a bag or something, there was LOTS of crap in the river and we were always on the look out for more crap. So we only had our GPS chart plotter for SOG (Speed Over Ground). We were motor sailing along nicely, healed over to about 15 degrees,...and then the motor stopped. Oh Crap! After a little thinking I realized the engine had been sucking air since the pick up tube in the tank was on the up hill side while healed like we were. So we pulled some sail in to flatten us, ran down stairs to turn "The Filter Boss" on to bleed the system and the engine fired right up. Arline was very impressed as was I. "The Filter Boss" was a new member of our Family. Thanks KTI Systems. Check them out at http://www.ktisystems.com/ .

Well we made it up to the Tappenze Bridge and pulled into the Half Moon Bay Yacth Club and went for my first docking with our new boat. No problems, the big rudder on the back makes the boat very easy to handle. Pam came for dinner, and Rick and Pam left the boat,.....to us. (Thanks for all your help guys)

The next morning we met some guys in a steel 37 ft custom pilot house boat "My Thyme"? We left about 8:30 and went for my first "with the new boat" backing out of a dock. Arline and I talked about everything that could go wrong, and what we would do. Well I hope I get a crowd watching someday when it goes as perfect as this did. So We where on the river all by ourselves. So we motored all day past West Point, World End, narrow spot were it looks like the river ends, but goes around a corner. We met and where passed by a few barges and tugs. So cool, we were out there and taking shifts, loving it. We had Rogers Point and took on fuel. We asked the guys ar the bar if they had WiFi,... "What the hell kind of fuel is that?" No it's computer connection,..." Oh you know Paul had his computer thing in here and does something with it, is that what he's doing,...FiWi,. cool we are with it." Thanks for every thing guys.

We got under way at 6 am on thursday and again motored all day taking shifts and made Castelton-On Hudson by 3:30. We checked in and did things around the boat, and talked with other people waiting for the canal to open.

Our good friend Schlyer, owner of The Sail Boat Shop in Skaneateles NY came up Saturaday afternoon to help us unstep the mast and build a craddle for the mast. Well Saturday was clean up day at the Castleton Yacht Club. Everybody was raking, cleaning, painting and putting docks in. We were some of the first transiants for the season. We moved Kasidah into position to pick the mast and I swear there was about 30 people starting to gather at the club house. Just watching and waiting. Well 2 minutes into the pick and they all disappeared. Schlyer had the perfect balance point on the mast Arline had the up and down on the crane working. Perfect as perfect could be. After dinner we had drinks at the bar with some of the clud members and they said they get some really good shows there with mast disasters. Well we are now just waiting for the NY Canal to open. More Later, thanks for stopping by and sharing interest in our story.

Jon

Kasidah Unwrapped

What the heck is up with this weather……….Well over the weekend we managed to get a lot of work done on the boat. Rick and Pam helped us with a lot of it. “Thanks guys”….We finished the FilterBoss, painting some lockers, fitting new propane tank in locker with new wood, took canvas off Kasidah, put new valve on for head and hoses, cleaned water tanks and cleaned down below deck. When we left the boat on Sunday they were braising for the northeaster to hit with flooding and high winds, we left when it was getting very windy and raining very hard. When we got home in Tully, New York we were welcomed with about a foot and a half of heavy snow. Lots of tree limbs down and down right miserable. Needless to say last week I picked up all the fallen branches and raked stones out of the yard…. well looks like that will be done again this year. I WILL NOT MISS THIS WEATHER…

"Now thats a treat"

Now this is pretty funny. While working on our boat in Connecticut, Pam went shopping with her dog Molly (Wonderful “small” dog). She stopped and picked up a foot long sub with all the fixins and put it in the back seat. She made one more stop and when she came back to the car Molly had decided that the sub was hers and ate the whole thing, well she did leave a little lettuce. Man that sub was bigger than her. Thank goodness Molly is fine. However she must have called to our house and told Sara and Blue because when we got home the next day and started unpacking they found my leftover turkey sandwich and ate it all, it was no where near as much as Molly ate…..way to go Molly…….