Through Hell (Gate) Together

Monday, Sept 16, 2013 -- We woke up this morning with a great feeling of anticipation.  Hell Gate Day!  Hell Gate is a narrow tidal strait in the East River in NYC, where the current can be quite strong.  For us, southbound, we would be traveling the chart segment below from upper right to lower left.  You come under a railroad bridge and the Triborough Bridge, then bear right and then left, keeping Mill Rock (that frying pan shape in the water) to starboard (right), then staying to the right around Roosevelt Island:

Hell Gate

You certainly don't want to be traveling against the current in Hell Gate, and as for being with it at peak flow, people have described it as like driving on black ice.  Here is a youtube video to give you an idea what the water can be like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58jLwiBYI20

Most recommendations are to hit Hell Gate at slack water turning to ebb, which provides current in your favor all the way through NYC and south past the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.  For us that meant hitting Hell Gate at about 7:53 am, very manageable, and riding the current all the way to Sandy Hook, taking pictures of NYC sights along the way.  Never mind a little drizzle!!

We were both thrilled that the engine started.  For me, this was reminiscent of when I was a little girl, and got strep throat over and over again.  Each time I took antibiotics and the agony of swallowing abated, I was so filled with joy that I could simply swallow without pain.  Fred and I are still in that stage with the engine starting!!  Losing and recovering something you otherwise take for granted is sure a reminder that seemingly little things are really amazingly awesome.

Anyway ... here was an early view of NYC.  It was exciting seeing the skyline, but we also had to keep focused on the close-at-hand, as exemplified by this ship going the other direction.

View of NYC Skyline

Soon things started to get quite busy.  Planes were landing and taking off over our heads to/from LaGuardia airport.  Barges and ships were on the move.

Plane landing at LaGuardia.  I missed one that went RIGHT over us.

Share the road -- you betcha!

Riker's condominium complex, occupancy by invitation only.

Our traversal through the Gate was without incident.  BTW we did NOT put up sail -- we motored through, for maximum maneuverability.  After we traversed the Gate, Fred took the helm so I could take photos.

Along East Side Hwy, we were moving faster than the cars at times.

Park on south end of Roosevelt Island.

United Nations building.

Fred at the helm in NYC.

After Hell Gate and up to the Statue of Liberty, the water was abuzz with fast-moving ferries of various sizes (but all much bigger than us!).  Their mission is getting across the river in a hurry, and you'd best stay out of their way.  Fred did a great job!  Here is the front of one, and also a helicopter landing at the hospital.  Emergency medical rescue?  Nope, delivering execs.  We saw four helicopters land there during the time it took us to traverse that area.

Helicopters and ferries -- busy busy!

This is a photo of the Staten Island Ferry going in the same direction we were, a fairly relaxed scenario.  I'm afraid I did not get any photos of the ones coming straight at us!

Watch out for the fast-moving and very large Staten Island Ferry!

Ellis Island Immigration Museum

Lady Liberty herself

I have been to the Statue of Liberty, but sailing by her was an incredible experience!  Shortly after this, I took the helm again, taking us under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and down to Atlantic Highlands, at the base of Sandy Hook.

Going under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge

Below is a ship we passed en route.  Those are tractor trailer containers, which is an indication of the size of this ship.

More sharing the road.  

As we got close to our destination for the day, Atlantic Highlands, at the base of Sandy Hook, we saw this fishing boat with a sail deployed in an interesting way.  We'd not seen this before.  There were two such boats there.

Fishing boat with sail.

After anchoring, we went to work on the GPS, our outstanding critical issue.  We have a hand-held GPS, but without the boat's GPS feeding to the other systems, we have no auto-pilot, chart plotter, true wind speed, or speed over ground (this meant that we did not know, as we traversed Hell Gate and the East River, how much of a speed boost we got due to the current). 

Fred in an aft lazarette trouble-shooting.

Fred had made a call to a local Raymarine certified repair technician, but had not heard back.  We had tried a number of things, unsuccessfully, and were considering whether we could make an overnight offshore passage without autopilot.  In the late afternoon, we got a callback, and Kemal Goksel took the marina launch out to us, with a few tools, working autopilot, and a meter.  Kemal had had surgery on Thursday on severed fingers, and bore enormous bandages.  He was supposed to be taking it easy.  Still, he hoped he could help.  He knew Seatalk systems backwards and forwards.  In fact, we learned that he additionally has a PhD in electrical engineering!!  He found that the GPS signal was coming out of the GPS unit fine, so another component had to be corrupting the signal.  Soon he found the culprit, the resolution of which was to remove and reattach the connections.  We went ahead and did that for all the instruments.  Now we have GPS going to all the instruments as it should -- and like with the engine starting, we are euphoric to have have our electronics working!!!  We recommend Kemal Goksel (732-291-3199) to anyone with a Raymarine / Seatalk issue -- he knows his stuff!!!  

Kemal Goksel heading off into the sunset after resolving our GPS issue.

Sunset at Atlantic Highlands, Sandy Hook

Here are our last 7 days of travel up to the present:

Spot messenger, last 7 days

You can look at the last 7 days of Spot messages yourself, anytime, at the following link:  http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0pjBgdOoUaGM0ecc8yG2gxG0gE9D5nNi9

Tuesday, September 17 -- As soon as Kemal left last night, we re-stowed the hogged-out lazarettes, then moved the dinghy from the davits to the foredeck, in preparation for an overnight passage to Cape May.  Doing that in the dark was better than in the heavier winds (small craft advisory) predicted for this morning.  Here is how the dinghy gets secured for passage:

Dinghy engine on engine mount

Dinghy on the foredeck

Writing at about noon, we are planning a 2 pm departure for an approximately 23-hour passage to Cape May.  We have been watching the weather carefully, and have held off leaving for conditions to moderate.  We should arrive in Cape May mid-day tomorrow.  We'll keep you posted!

PS I was unable to post this on Tuesday before heading out, and now we are actually in Cape May!  More on the passage in the next blog post!