Poughkeepsie Yacht Club - At home on my dock, last post until 9/15/2017

This looks very big when passing close by!

It was a long day. The lousy weather continues but at least it didn't rain today. The high was only 61, really cold for the end of May. We got off our anchor by 7:17 am and started north. We had looked at the current tables and have learned that a favorable current is always later than predicted. We were supposed to hit a slack tide at the Verrazano-Narrows bridge but it took another two hours up to the George Washington bridge before the adverse current stopped.

The boat at the left edge got my attention!

We had intended stopping at Haverstraw Bay but when then we finally got a favorable current and started hitting 9 kts so we decided to soldier on. Beside, the next day's forecast was even worse than today, lots of rain.

Along the way we passed three naval vessels that were apparently in town for the Memorial Day weekend. One was an aircraft carrier, very impressive when so close. I can also vouch for the effectiveness of having AIS displayed on your chartplotter. At a glance you can see which very large boats are anchored and which are moving, very important when running through New York harbor. All the ferries have AIS too. Most chartplotters will give you a choice on how to display other boats on AIS. For me I chose the option of projecting a line where I will be in 10 minutes and the same option for other boats. If the two lines intersect, then you have a problem to solve to avoid a collision. Furthermore, there are two types of AIS. Class A just receives signals, Class B will not only let you see other  boats AIS signal but it will also transmit your own position so you're visible on their AIS displays. I have Class B, everyone should. If you want to use your VHF antenna at the top of your mast (for maximum range) then you will also need an active splitter which automatically switches between the AIS transponder and your VHF radio with no signal loss.

I was a great cruise, now it's time to get ready for the fall and our next trip down the ICW

We are now securely tied up at our home for the next 3.5 months. I have a long list of todo's that include publishing the 2017 version of the ICW Cruising Guide. It will  be greatly expanded with many new sections.

So this is my last blog post until 9/15 when I hope you will join me again for another trip down the ICW to Key West Florida. There may be a vew interim posts when we take our four grandkids for a Long Island cruise, we are looking forward to that as are the kids. Thanks for reading the blog, it's been fun.