Didik.com
A
nine day adventure on the Hudson River
By
Frank X. Didik,
August
28-September
5, 2010
|
Key points and adventures:
|
Please scroll down to see various captioned photographs.
Day 1, Saturday, August 28, 2010
I left home at 4:30AM in Downtown Brooklyn/Dumbo and rode my micro bicycle in the dark, about 1 mile to where I keep the boat. After making final preparations, I left the dock at 5:30am. The morning glow was just starting and the entire New York Harbor still had very little activity. The sun made its first appearance as I passed the Statue of liberty and continued up the Hudson River passing Battery Park City, Tribeca, and all of Manhattan's west side. The only people that I could see on shore were a few joggers and people walking their dogs. I reached upper Manhattan and the sun was now shining with its full intensity and I traveled under the George Washington Bridge. It is amazing that as soon as I passed the bridge, both sides of the Hudson River looked pristine and rural. It was a beautiful day. I continued at a leisurely pace up the Hudson though as I approached the Tappan Zee Bridge, I endured rather choppy water. After passing the bridge, the water was even rougher. This area is the widest part of Hudson River and as such, it allows the wind to build up wave action. After a few hours, I went across Havastraw Bay and decided to stop at Ossining Harbor Park near the town of Croton on the Hudson, since it had been recommended to me by the editor of the magazine "Boating on the Hudson". When I arrived, there were many pleasure boats anchored in the shallow water off the beach. Sailboats tend to require deeper water than power boats, however my sailboat has "slip" or movable keel so that by raising the keel, I am able to float in water as shallow as 1 foot (35cm). I anchored and being exhausted from waking up so early, I slept from 2:30pm till 6pm. Then, on recommendation of another boater, I crossed river (which is about 7 miles/12km wide at this point) and spent night at Patsy's Marina. After docking, I walked to the Chelsea marina, which had a restaurant, and ate beer battered fish and chips and clam chowder soup. The view from the restaurant was very nice. The atmosphere among yacht owners was pleasant and in fact, very enjoyable. I also noticed an interesting phenomena. Because I had been on the boat so long, everything seemed to be swaying, even though I was on dry solid ground,. Apparently, from what one boater told me, this is a common effect and that after an extended boat journey, ones equilibrium is effected for a few days.
To
enlarge, click on any photograph below. Use the return key on your
browser to return to this menu
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
Day 2, Sunday, August 29, 2010
I waited for the tide to be more favorable and then left the marina at about 10:30am and cruised past the stunning hills and cliffs around West Point, Cold Spring and on to the Newburg / Beacon area where I anchored off shore, about 5 miles north of Beacon, and rowed to shore with my micro bicycle on raft. Peddled about 3 miles to nearest store. I had a conversation with the store owner and after I explained what I was doing, he insisted on driving me back to my boat. He had just purchased a new turbo-charged Range Rover and I think that he also wanted to show me his car, accelerating as fast has he could on the open hilly roads. He seemed a little surprised when he saw my boat anchored in the bay and me climbing with the bike, into the life raft! The sunset from the boat was very beautiful and the colors of the sky were spectacular. Interestingly, I also saw fish jumping out of the water trying to catch insects and I was serenaded that evening my a multitude of singing creatures, including frogs, crickets and nightingales.
To
enlarge, click on any photograph below. Use the return key on your
browser to return to this menu
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
Day 3, Monday, August 30, 2010
The next morning I woke up to find that the Hudson River was covered in morning mist, which quickly disappeared as the sun rose. I went for a morning swim in the warm Hudson river (over 70F) and then continued my journey up the river passing more beautiful scenery and eventually I stopped at Rogers Point to buy gas and talk to the other Yacht owners. I was so impressed by the charming view from the Rogers Point building and enjoyed speaking with one boat owner who had traveled around the world. After an hour or so, I continued up the River, but since it was getting dark and the tide was beginning to change, I decided to anchor somewhere for the evening. I chose a very nice bay that had one other yacht, attached to a mooring (permanent anchor). The bay itself was relatively shallow, being about 10feet/3 meters, however just beyond the bay, the river is about 70feet/22meters (7 stories!) deep. I cooked dinner on board and then about 4 hours later, I fell asleep. Then...DANGER! .... see next day/morning below....
To
enlarge, click on any photograph below. Use the return key on your
browser to return to this menu
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
Day 4, Tuesday, August 31, 2010
....continued...DANGER!: Around 4 hours later, at about 3AM, I woke up to discover that I was no longer in the bay, but rather somehow, my boat had pulled the anchor and I was now in the very deep water drifting with the tide at a high speed. I felt that any second I could crash onto the rocks or perhaps be hit by a passing ship. Even worse, because of the mist, I could hardly see any lights and had only minimum moon light. My old Russian nightscope did not help very much. I started the motor and tried to determine where I was. Gradually I did see lights, here and there and determined that I had drifted about 1 mile up river. In front of me was Esopus Island and its very rocky shoreline, which I estimate that had I not woken up when I did, I would have probably hit within 30 minutes. Shocking. I then tried to find a place to anchor or dock but because of the depth and speed of the water, I could not locate a place. I turned around and went into the tide that was moving around 4 miles per hour into me and gradually went down the Hudson. I felt that going in the direction of the tide in the dark, was too dangerous, because of the numerous rocks and submerged obstacles. About 1.5 hours later, I noticed an unused boat mooring towards the shore and quickly sailed to it and grabbed it with my boat hook. The tide was so strong that it was very difficult to tie up to it. Eventually I did and after I was convinced that it was strong enough...I went back to sleep, with the water speeding by me! About 3 hours later I heard knocking on the boat, opened the hatch and discovered that the mooring owner had come out to greet me in a row boat and demanded payment for the use of his mooring ball. I paid him $30 for the few hours of use and then left, proceeding on my journey north on the Hudson. It is interesting to note that the location of the mooring ball was Hyde Park /Vanderbilt, which was the home town of depression and wartime President Franklin D. Roosevelt. His presidential library is located there.
I was extremely tired by I continued cruising up the river, passing light houses, beautiful homes and eventually, at about 3PM, I arrived at Kingston, NY in the Rondout district and decided to stay for the evening. As I pulled into the marina, an attractive girl, who was working at the marina, ran out to the dock and told me to throw my rope to her and then she tied my boat to the dock. She gave me an excellent spot that was formerly used by the local Police department harbor patrol. The Kingston Town Marina is great since it is in the center of the restaurant and museum area of the Rondout district. I enjoyed this location very much.
To
enlarge, click on any photograph below. Use the return key on your
browser to return to this menu
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
Day 5, Wednesday September 1 , 2010
I waited for the tide to change and then left Kingston around 11:30AM, destined for Athens. I reached Athens, just as the sun was setting. An advertisement in Boating on the Hudson stated that the town was a charming, historic town with antique stores. As it turned out, Athens is ok, but it is not as charming as I had expected. It is a rather sleepy little town. The waterfront itself is not extensive, though it does have a few nice places. It is across the Hudson river from Hudson, NY, which is also interesting. I had an excellent dinner at the Athens Hotel restaurant and stayed there till about 11pm and then went back to the boat and slept. It was so peaceful.
To
enlarge, click on any photograph below. Use the return key on your
browser to return to this menu
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
Day 6, Thursday, September 2 , 2010
I woke up in Athens about 6:30am to one of the most peaceful mornings that you can imagine. The birds, the glassy smooth Hudson, the morning mist and the country aroma was wonderful. I walked a few blocks to Stewart's (which is a general store-gas station chain that has a very good reputation for treating its customers and employees fairly) and bought breakfast and gasoline ($2.66/Gallon) and left Athens around 7:30am, headed back to Kingston. The journey was wonderful and in fact, I was the only boat on the river for over an hour. At one point, about 10 miles south of Athens, I anchored next to a small island in the middle of the Hudson and relaxed, enjoying the beautiful surroundings. During the 45 minutes that I was there, I did not see a single boat on the Hudson. The only sign of human activity was the railroad train that I could hear in the distance, every 15 minutes or so.
After, I continued my journey south. Though the Hudson River is about one mile/1.6km wide at this point, the actual area in which a boat can safely travel is only about 300feet/100meters wide. The problem is that most of the Hudson in that area has obstacles, such as submerged rocks, remnants of boats that sunk long ago and other issues, such as sand bars. The scenery here, as is the case throughout the Hudson valley, is very beautiful. Much nature. Ducks, geese, raccoons, and turtles are everywhere. There are so many large fish. Every 30 seconds or so, I would see a fish jumping out of the water, apparently trying to catch bugs on the surface. I proceeded with my journey south without incident to the Kingston Town Marina. In Kingston, I used my micro folding bicycle and traveled around the town and went shopping. I came upon the colonial district of Kingston, including the first NY State senate building and an interesting restaurant called the Hoffman House from ca1703 or the 1680's, depending on whom you speak to. After, I returned to the boat at about 5pm and slept to around 8pm. Soon after, a lovely singer and her group, started to sing on shore, a combination of Brazil66 and early Cole Porter tunes. The setting was just perfect. I woke up around 8pm, showered and went to a local restaurant.
To
enlarge, click on any photograph below. Use the return key on your
browser to return to this menu
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
Day
7, Friday, September 3 , 2010
Left Kingston at about 11:30AM, so that I could catch the tide flowing south. My destination was Cold Spring, but because of the distance and the time factor, I was not sure that I could reach Cold Spring before dark and I did not want to be boating in the dark because of the very limited visibility and the danger from rocks and other obstacles on the river.
To
enlarge, click on any photograph below. Use the return key on your
browser to return to this menu
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
My Cold Spring Drama: After an excellent sea food dinner, at a local restaurant, I went back to the boat to sleep at around 10:30pm. At 2am, the boat seemed to be rocking a little more than usual and I woke up and looked out of the hatch. I was surprised to see how fast the tide was moving, perhaps at 5 or 6 miles per hour, but I felt that I was well tied up to the floating dock and besides, I thought that this might be normal for this part of the river. I was exhausted so I went back to sleep. Ten minutes later, it hit. I felt and heard a powerful wind, which I was later was told had gusts of 65 to 70 miles per hour and the water was rushing at a very fast rate of speed and the surface was completely white with foam and fast moving waves. My floating dock was bouncing around and was completely wet and covered by a film of fast moving water. I felt that the situation was critical and I grabbed a shirt, a life preserver, shoes and my bag and with difficulty, got onto and walked along the floating, bouncing wet dock, concerned that with either a mis step or a slip, I might slide or be blown into the deep rough water. I quickly reached the shore, and as I did, the wind seemed to increase in intensity. Looking at my boat and the other boats being thrown around, I felt that there was a good chance that a few boats would sink. My boat kept hitting the dock and at times even sliding a bit on top of the floating dock and then sliding off. The immediate shoreline did not seem safe since small branches were falling off of the trees, so I walked about a block to an open area. There was no around and all of the stores and restaurants were closed, though it did not really matter since I doubt that there was anything that anyone could do to secure the boats. I put the life jacket on to keep warm and walked about 10 blocks to a 24 hour gas station where I had something warm to drink. After 20 minutes, I walked back to the yacht club and could see that the situation was still dangerous. About an hour and a half later, the wind was not as strong, but the situation was still not good. I found a protected area and went to sleep for a while. At 5:30 in the morning, with the first glow of the morning light, the wind died down and within a half an hour, the Hudson River was calm. At the same time, people started coming out to run, walk their dogs and so on. It was as if the storm never happened. I went onto my boat and discovered that my inflatable dingy, had been destroyed and that anything that was not secure on the deck, had been washed away. Also, two of my "boat bumpers" had been lost since as the ropes were cut where the boat had kept jumping on the floating dock. The side of my boat had extensive scratches, but none of this effected its sea worthiness. The inside of the boat was completely dry. The yacht club commandant came over and said that he had been aware of the storm and that he has seen similar storms in the past, in the area. When I evacuated the boat, the night before, I did not have very much time and sadly left my camera and other things on board. I tried to take photographs with my cell phone camera, but it was too dark.
|
|
|
|
|
Day 8, Saturday, September 4 , 2010
After a night of intense wind and sleeping outside, the wind died down and by morning, the water was much calmer. Though I was exhausted, I decided that the tide and water was now in my favor and decided to continue my journey south, in the direction of New York City. At first, the going was just fine, but as expected, once I reached Havestraw bay, which is one of the wider parts of the Hudson River, the water became significantly rougher, with waves, from time to time, splashing me in the cockpit. I expected that the next part of the Hudson, that is the area around the Tappan Zee bridge was going to be even rougher. My expectations were not in vain... it was much rougher. The river here is about 7miles/12km wide. However, after I passed the Tappan Zee Bridge, I had expected the water to calm down but instead, it seemed to get rougher and rougher. Then, after I passed the wide area, to my surprise, the wind picked up and for the next 2 1/2 hours, I endured gusts of wind up to 35 miles per hour and constant waves pounding on the boat. I actually wanted to find a safe harbor to anchor or dock at, but there were none. The worse area was just north of Yonkers, New York and the pounding waves were terrible from there, all the way to Spuyten Duyvil in upper Manhattan, when suddenly, the water became much calmer. In the distance, I saw the boat gas station in Fort Lee and headed towards it, where I stopped briefly and fueled up and then cruised south, under the George Washington Bridge and since it was getting late and the wind was picking up again, I decided to spend the night in Edgewater, New Jersey at the municipal marina. It was just amazing how calm the water was there, when just a few miles north the waves and wind were so powerful. As I was tieing up at the dock, I could see a huge amount of smoke coming from one of the docks in Manhattan across the River. One follow yacht owner said that it reminded him of 9-11. As it turns out, it was an oil fire on a City owned dock. I used my micro bicycle and rode to the Japanese Mall Mitsua. Later a friend of mine visited me at the Marina and we drove in his car to a nice local restaurant. My trip was almost over.
To
enlarge, click on any photograph below. Use the return key on your
browser to return to this menu
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
Day 9, Sunday, September 5, 2010
Left Edgewater Marina at 8AM and surprisingly, very few boats were on the Hudson. It was a little windy, and people were probably still concerned about the after effects of Hurricane Earl. The sky was wonderfully clear and sunny and the river was relatively smooth.
Once I reached the Battery, in southern Manhattan, Upper New York Harbor was a bit choppy with 2 foot waves and in fact it was a little difficult to cruise in the water, however it was nothing to what I had experienced the day before.
I reached my canal destination and as expected, the tide from the canal was going against me at about 2mph/3kmh, thus I continued at a slower speed. I anchored and tied up at my chosen spot without incident, happy to be back but also looking forward to my next adventure. Perhaps I will try to buy a significantly larger boat to do long range cruises, but this is still in the future. Based on my nautical charts and basic GPS, the entire trip was about 340 miles, averaging 6 miles per hour, though at times I averaged 7.5 miles per hour over a 2 hour period and at one time, I hit 11 miles per hour. The higher speed is strictly because the tide was pushing the water itself at about 3 or 4 miles per hour. My theoretical hull speed is 5.6knots (Nautical Miles per hour) or 6.5 Status Miles (regular miles) or 11.4km an hour. It is a curious formula in that the longer the boat, the faster the maximum theoretical speed of the boat. Additional motors, the width of the boat or the wight of the boat, surprisingly has little effect on the maximum speed of a non-planing boat. I did come up with several novel ideas including a method to exceed the theoretical hull speed, and and also a technique to make an existing fiberglass hulled boat more resistant to blunt impacts. I plan to test my ideas, though is still in the future. Most importantly...Home at last!
To
enlarge, click on any photograph below. Use the return key on your
browser to return to this menu
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
This page: http://www.didik.com/hudson_river2010
www.DIDIK.com
Copyright©2010
by Frank X. Didik
All
Rights Reserved
