Back at Poughkeepsie YC - That's All Folks!

The rising moon at Atlantic Highlands

I went up top last night to check on the anchor and found the rising moon so I tried a shot with my Canon point and shoot. It was a beautiful night and calm too. It was a good thing since when we looked at the tides, we saw that it would be a flood tide in the morning. With an early morning (5:00 am, off the anchor by 6:00 am) it was possible to get all the way to PYC, 90 miles north. As I've related in the past, you can ride a flood tide if you can maintain 7 kts which is just what we did. We caught the tide at the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and it was with us all the way north until we were within 5 miles of PYC.

West Point on the Hudson River is always an impressive sight

However, going through New York Harbor was interesting. We had a dense fog and there were lots of big boats moving around. What saved the day was AIS. I could see all the big boats and ferries (there are a LOT of ferries) complete with a vector of where each one would be in 10 minutes. Comparing that vector to a similar one projected out from my bow on the screen, I could tell if there was any chance of a meeting. We had radar too but AIS is much better. The radar was useful for small boats but almost all the sailboats and cruisers over 30 ft broadcast AIS. I looked at the radar but the AIS screen told the real story.

The Clearwater sailing on the Hudson. 

The fog cleared and the sun came out, a great welcome back to PYC. We really have mixed feeling about leaving the boat. It's been our home for 9 months of the year. Our house in Lagrangeville is really just our temporary home, our real home is on Fleetwing.

Our two resident eagles at our club

Now it's a whirlwind of doctor appointments, vet visits for Hoolie, getting a new dinghy, visits with family, PYC functions, a two week cruise with our grandkids on Long Island Sound, one week with all families at Ocean City, hauling Fleetwing for the prep for returning to the ICW in September, and writing the 2018 edition of my ICW Cruising Guide. It's going to be a busy, busy, busy time. I'm sure I left out a few things.

Fleetwing needs a cleaning but we're back safe and sound

This entry concludes the blog for my ICW trip in the spring of 2018. Mark your calendars for a resumption of the blog on September 15 for our next trip down the coast to Key West. There will probably be a few entries here and there, especially when we sail to Long Island Sound with four grandkids so you might want to check in from time to time. Otherwise, I'll see you in September. I hope you enjoyed the blog, I sure did in writing it!