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Atlantic Highlands- just hanging out

Saturday Oct 15: When I last left you hanging I’m sure you (ok, I hope maybe you were) were wondering if the shredded sail belonged to Ortolan. Lucky us, no. Unlucky owner of the Catalina 36, yes.

The wind howled last night and while it backed down in the morning, it picked up again during the day, topping out at 37 mph. Behind the protection of the breakwater sits Atlantic Highlands Marina and AHYC. The yacht club runs the moorings and roughly half the slips. They operate a launch, two in season, and the guys are terrific. Polite, prompt and even with the boats swinging around they come up neatly alongside like the pros they clearly are.

From our mooring we could see out into the Lower Bay and except for the fishing boats- mostly commercial- not many were crazy enough to be out in 25mph plus, winds.

We  (Ok, I hogged the laptop for most of the day) caught up on stuff while listening to VHF chatter and watching what little boat activity was happening. Checked weather sources- NOAA, Sailflow.con and PassageWeather- about a zillion times trying to find a 36 hour window to run down to Norfolk.

We heard about the disabled Catalina before we saw the sorry sight. Tow Boat U.S. went to assist a boat who’d lost steering and suffered a shredded jib, just outside Sandy Hook.  Tow Boat wouldn’t take him anywhere under a bridge in the near gale winds, so they called the AHYC for a mooring. Guess where? Oh, that new camera is coming in handy. The mooring next to us was the assigned spot. The skipper had a cell, but no, or no working VHF.  uhn, uh. Couple no-nos there.

Limping in to mooring field with costly assistance

Sunday Oct 15: Sunny again and not quite as windy. We took the launch in and walked around and to a Super FoodTown for a backpack’s worth of groceries. More weather checking, then lo and behold we find a window Monday and Tuesday.  Just have to “pull an Indigo” and leave at very dark thirty to have a chance of arriving at Point Comfort by 6pm Tues.

A Humpback whale was spotted off Asbury Park, about 25 miles south of us. Hope we don’t bump into any of those guys.

Prepped for the overnight- oh yippy! run. Can not wait until we are anchored in Point Comfort. Don’t think it will live up to its name though. Winds are forecast to get nasty again off Norfolk by Wed morning.

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Year 2: weather, weather be our friend

Looking out past the Atlantic Highlands toward Sandy Hook

Today, as I write this post we are waiting for weather. For the most part we’ve traveled in good weather, managing to miss the ugly. We are sitting on a mooring in Atlantic Highlands, NJ (a few miles in from Sandy Hook) behind a breakwater. Arrived 5pm Friday after pounding through some nasty water in The Lower Bay (waters south of The Verranzano Bridge toward Sandy Hook), an eight mile stretch that leads to Sandy Hook Bay.

Our trip so far in brief:

Tues 10/11 Day One: departed that sticky dock around 2:30, making record time down the CT River. Enjoyed a nice sail all the way to Westbrook- a total of 16nm for the day! Yes folks, that was it. All we had planned, so as to get a jump on getting to Oyster Bay, NJ.

Wed 10/12 Day Two: hung out at the marina as planned, the wind forecast more than we cared to be anchored in that night. Why not use the free nights we have on our Brewer’s Card?

Thurs 10/13 Day Three: Our wait was rewarded by a great sail west down LIS, averaging over 8 kts with a brief visit to 14 kts in 20kts wind.  Oyster Bay Harbor was calm and quiet. Along the way in we spotted a number of stakes with small triangular flags near the top. Approximately 200 yds apart, they were not floats, but stuck in the bottom. Our first thought was that they marked a danger area, but I decided perhaps they marked oyster beds; weren’t we in OYSTER Bay?

Oyster dragger in guess where?

Fri 10/14 Day Four: well- I just lost everything I typed for this day – so if you think I am going to re-type it.. ok you are partially right. Here’s the key words for the day and you can let your imaginations fill in the blanks. Oyster Dragger, Sail, LIS wavelets, through The Gate, breaks of sun, windy in Lower Bay, pounding, T-storms ,crossing channel, avoid big container, AHYC, mooring, cocktail hour, Captain Ron.  Some photos to help your imagination…

Photo of chart showing Hell Gate and the site of the Quidditch World Cup (upper right)

Hail me a taxi- either blue or yellow is fine!

Sunset over New Jersey

Saturday is another day and another story to share of high winds and tattered sails…..