Saturday 27 October 2012

Twas two nights before Sandy
and all through the marina,
all of the creatures were stirring, even the mice!

Early this morning there was much scurrying.
People were arriving with dock lines in hand and heading to the boats to get them secured.
Special tie-down instructions have been distributed to everyone.
Some boats are covered in tarps and otherwise prepared for whatever may come.

"Batten down the hatches," is the mantra around here.

We got some great news this morning: we can stay here!!!
As  Pasquale was waiting in the office for our destiny, the staff were clearly answering many phone calls and turning all newcomers/hopefuls away.  Talk about luck!
Our lucky streak continued, as we got moved to a new slip.  Our original one was near the mouth of the harbour and Hammertime "rocked" whenever any other boat came or went.  The storm would have done worse. We are now centered in a double slip with dock-lines spider-webbed all around.  We should be good as long as the docks hold.  Looking at the (floating) docks makes one a little wary since it is evident that a lot of the welds holding everything together have already cracked.  Hmmmm.....

The other good news is that Hammertime is once again a sailboat.  We rented a car today and headed into New York to pick up the sails.  Getting to the marina was quite the adventure.
First, we knew that there was going to be a toll to get across the George Washington Bridge.  In anticipation, Pasquale and I were fishing through our pockets to see how many quarters we had.  Ha!  Quarters? The toll to get across the bridge was $12 !!!  The next segment of our trip was trying to figure out how to get to the 79th St. Marina.  Turns out that you need to go underground through an opening that is for authorized vehicles only and then snake your way through all manner of construction, vehicles, forklifts etc. until there are a couple of parking spaces under some subterranean tents.  We assumed the tents were to keep rabble from the dungeon from falling onto the cars.  The walk out of the dungeon brought an amazing sight.  We were on a walking/running/biking trail along the Hudson River.  There were lots of people out enjoying the day.  We got the sails and then had lunch at the cafe above.  Even though we were a bit down on the marina for how they treated us WRT the sails, this is definitely a place to go back to.  What a location.

When we got back to the boat, we found out that the Erie Canal is now closed.  In anticipation of Sandy, they closed the locks and started to lower the water levels.  We were told that high tide on the Hudson came two hours early yesterday - all due to the extra water they dumped down the canal.  Clearly people are taking the storm very seriously.  Not sure what will happen to the boats that are stranded somewhere in the canal, but I guess we are lucky to be where we are.  (I withhold the right to retract that last statement in a couple of days!)

We heard that there may be a run on food and other supplies.  We will still have our car tomorrow, so, hopefully we can get into town to get some provisions.  Will let you know how that goes.  The adventure continues.
.... and to all a good night!





2 comments:

  1. Great post! You are the CNN of the lower Hudson.

    I have no clue, but does it make any sense to take your mast down? The windage on the rig in 60mph winds will cause a lot of rocking etc. and amplify the risk, no?


    Pasquale, you probably remember the Shelburne guys follow Crown Weather on the web. Their Sandy page puts it all in one place. http://www.crownweather.com/?page_id=7139

    Keep us posted!

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  2. We'll be keeping our fingers crossed for you guys, Rob! It's been a bit more of an adventure than anticipated, I'm guessing! ;)

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