Mile Zero

Being out on the ocean has given me a new appreciation of the sky. It is so vast and colourful, both in the day and the night. I love seeing the sunrise and set everyday and seeing how it makes the ocean pink. Last night we were the only boat in our anchorage and we lay on the back of the boat under the milky way and watched shooting stars. I’m becoming so fascinated with clouds - the patterns, textures, and colours are beautiful.  

Since our last blog post we have travelled through the Chesapeake, the Delaware Canal, Virginia, North Carolina, a large part of the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) and are in South Carolina. We have encountered some very interesting anchorages. Several of the most memorable were: in Cape May outside a Coast Guard training base where they yell military-style songs ALL night long, a military base in NC where you are not allowed off your vessel and where you can hear them detonating explosives after dark and a small creek in South Carolina where a massive casino sails past several times a night taking people off shore to legally gamble. This was the same anchorage where a shrimping boat screamed at the boats anchored there to "get out of the channel" everytime he sailed past despite no boats being near the channel and there being plenty of room to sail past us all. There is definitely some animosity towards pleasure craft vessels. 

Norfolk Military Base, Virginia

We’re doing better with breakdowns - I can’t tell if they’re happening less or if we’re just becoming more adept at dealing with them but either way they feel less dramatic. I basically don’t expect our engine to turn on in the morning so when it does I’m quite pleasantly surprised. I think our starter will need replacing or the solanoid cleaning (not sure if this is a thing??) as there are surely only so many times one can hit it with the end of a screwdriver and be successful.  But for now that seems to do the trick to start her up! 

We continue to meet the most incredible people. A couple of weeks ago we were in Maryland - which I think has been my favourite state - near Annapolis and we met Paul and Rosemary. We had anchored our boat in Harness Creek and were aching to get off the boat for a bit. We went for a dingy ride around the creek - it was so peaceful and the trees were changing to beautiful fall colours. The houses were stunning - it looked like a magazine spread from Architectural Digest. Each house had a private dock with at least two boats. There we were putting around in our “vintage” dingy with old smokey our engine making a lot of noise and smoke. This man kayaks over to us and I thought “oh here we go, we’re getting kicked out”. I was sure we were going to be told that our boat was too big for the little creek or that we weren’t supposed to be using our engine there so I pretended to be utterly absorbed in taking photos. Boy was I wrong - the guy was inviting us over for dinner!! He comes over to the dingy and starts chatting with us about our boat and where we were from and says why don’t you come over for a drink later or just come for dinner? And we said oh that would be great but we really need to go grocery shopping and don’t want to walk home in the dark. So he says “oh no problem we can take you”!  We said bye to Paul and went over the State park for a trail walk. Later on we got cleaned up (as best we could) and headed to Paul’s house for a drink. We met his lovely wife Rosemary and their best friends who were visiting from Scotland - Joan and Gordon, as well as their son and his girlfriend. We chatted over drinks and snacks and then Rosemary announces dinner was ready and they had already set places for us at the table! We stayed for fish and shrimp and fresh vegetables (these are gold when you live on a boat). By the end of dinner it felt like we had known them for years. They told us to come back in the morning and they would drive us to the grocery store, as well as to bring our laundry! We went back the next morning and they made us coffee and breakfast and were very disappointed that we hadn’t brought our laundry (we felt like we would have been taking advantage) and they offered us showers! They took us to the grocery store and offered to take us to some sailing stores if we needed anything. When we got back to their house they gave us beach towels and started brainstorming of who they knew along the East Coast who we could “mooch off of”! They said they were coming to Charleston and their son lives in Savananah so if there was anything we think that we need to just let them know and they could bring it to us. Before we left Rosemary said to me “well you’re family now whether you like it or not” - I like it very much! We were both quite sad to say goodbye to them. We’re really hoping to catch up with them again.

The Dismal Swamp

Harness Creek, Anapolis

From there we headed to the Chesapeake Bay. For a novice, sailing the Chesapeake in 20-25knots of wind was done with my heart in my throat for most of it! But James was insistent that I could do it and stood back. It was exhilarating. The world famous Annapolis Boat Show was just ending and there was more than one person sailing their shiny new $500,000 boats home. We looked completely out of place with our ripped falling apart bimmini and shabby dingy hanging off the back. We crossed the Delaware Chesapeake Canal and over to Virgina. There is one crazy big military base in Norfolk! It’s so strange to hear on the VHF “This is US War Ship …”. Once the Railroad bridge in Norfolk Virginia opened we were at Mile 0 on the ICW!! 

There are so many bridges and locks in the ICW. The first lock we came to the bridge tender was such a friendly character - he told us a brief history of the ICW and he played a conch shell like a trumpet - notes and all! The first night in North Carolina was spent rafted to another boat as there was no more room for docking - we woke up the next morning and there was ice on our boat - not impressed. Happily the days of layering in everything you own and dressing up like Bonhomme seem to be behind us! 

In the ICW we took the “Dismal Swamp” route which is a little slower and windier than the “Virginia Cut” route but apparently more scenic and lots more wildlife - sadly we only saw one turtle but it was very scenic. While we were motoring through the swamp, which is very shallow (5.5ft in places) and narrow, James comes up to the cockpit to tell me something is leaking and our bilge is full and our bilge pump isn’t working.  He then yells “shit watch the mast” - in my panic over the full bilge and no working bilge pump I neglected to see an overhanging branch and hit it!! It made a god awful crack and branches came flying down into the water and all over the boat. For a dreadful second I thought it was our mast falling into the water. Other than a very dirty, messy, buggy boat we came out unscathed.  I worked at throwing the tree pieces overboard and James discovered the source of our leak - the boot on our heat exchanger had split and was spraying sea water into the bilge. The split was caused by the pipe being too short and the tension eventually was too much and pulled the boot until it split. We wedged an empty soup can under the pipe to change it’s angle and lesson the pull on the split. I then went to work on gorilla taping the hell out of the boot and the pipe and was able to stop the leak. James was most impressed with my taping skills and I informed him it was from trying to tape IVs in place on furious 3 year olds. We then set about bailing out our bilge! We coasted into Elizabeth City, NC “The Harbour of Hospitality” held together with duct tape, gorilla tape and an old can in classic Highland Shite style. 

In Elizabeth City you are met by Gus - an old guy who spends everyday in the park and greets all the boats arriving with the noon bridge opening. The city offers free two day docking! So we lassoed (like actually lassoed) ourselves to piling and settled in for 48hours. First things first - we had long hot showers - it was heaven. We met up with our friends Larry and Shannon who have the same brand of engine as us and were able to tell us where we could order a replacement boot cap. We called the company who had the part sent to the public dock the next day! Now nothing on our boat is simple so of course replacing it was a right pain in the arse but at least that leak was fixed. Turns out there was another leak contributing to our full bilge. Our sea water pump was leaking like a hose on full power. We realized we couldn’t leave with a leak and no functioning bilge pump so we said bye to Larry and Shannon but our friends The Joyces arrived that day. It was so great to catch up with people. The Joyce’s made us dinner and got us rather drunk as they said it would make us “forget about our engine trouble”.

The Harbour of Hospitality is an odd place. It was an incredibly smart business move to provide somewhere with free docks and clean hot showers along the ICW. Boaters stay the 2 days and eat in the restaurants, do laundry in the laundromat, buy groceries, go out for coffee, and buy supplies at the hardware stores. The city has a “Rose Ceremony” where the retired mayor comes and does a little schpeal on the city and encourages you spend money while the tourism beaureau plies you with free beer and wine and presents you with a rose. Meanwhile the city is a complete food desert (over an hour each way on foot to anywhere to buy food) where you walk through “the other side of the tracks”; A completely segregated black public housing area where I tripped over an insulin syringe that may or may not have been used for insulin. Not sure the tourism dollars were trickling down there. 

Again though a town with super nice people. James and I were walking to the laundromat bogged down with almost everything we owned. A lady reverses through four lanes of traffic to ask us if she can drive us anywhere! After dropping all our stuff at the laundromat James headed back to the boat as our part was being delivered. I hung out with the old dudes who worked at the laundromat and bought them breakfast as they gave me the tips for the best consignment stores in the city - $9 got me a rash guard, a denim shirt, a handwoven angora blanket from Scotland, a JCrew t-shirt, a fitted sheet for our bed, and a long sleeved local baseball t-shirt. The laundromat guys were bang on!  On my way back to the boat with all our clothes a man pulled over and said "Darlin' I just can't watch you struggle with all that, can I please help?" Southern manners are impeccable. 

While in Elizabeth City we met Al, a high school shop teacher from Bathurst, NB who is my new hero. The leaking saltwater pump was completely seized and we could not get it off - like a pro he used a hammer and a screwdriver and got it off in no time and had a workshop on his boat that allowed us to clamp the part down to open it. There is no way we would have been going anywhere with out this man! He helped us get the old seal out and reassemble it with new seals and impeller. Getting it off and reassembled and back on took the entire day. James then took the automatic bilge pump apart and it decided to work. We left the next morning! 

We had some bad weather a few days ago and rode it out in Wrightsville, NC. A fun friendly beach surf town. Coming into Wrightsville you have to wait for a bridge to open but the distance between two bridges and their opening times is too far to make in a sailboat so you have to wait almost an hour for the next bridge to open. The current is so strong that we turned off our engine and drifted down the river towards the bridge - we still went too fast so us and about eight other boats spent a harrowing 40mins dodging each other in 2+ knot current waiting for the bridge to open. Once the Wrightsville bridge opened there was a Sheriff boat waiting. It followed us for a while then turned it’s lights on and “pulled us over”. Getting pulled over entails their boat matching our speed with three heavily armed United States Coast Guard agents actually running and jumping onto your vessel. We were nervous about getting boarded since our vessel is registered but we haven’t yet changed the name or the port on the stern of the boat. The coast guard didn’t care about that at all. They were very nice chatty guys who did a full safety inspection and advised us where to anchor for the night! 

We had read a lot and heard a lot about how your personal hygiene really slips while living on a boat and man is it ever true. It feels impossible to keep everything clean and using potable water to shower is a real sacrifice. Plus it's been too damn cold to shower in cold water! We also have a tempramental water pump and often just don’t have enough water pressure for a shower, which is shocking since everything else on the boat is in perfect working order ;). We have become experts at “showering” naked on deck after dark in a lifejacket with the salt water anchor wash down - we like to keep things classy.  So we were desperate for a freshwater shower but the marinas in Wrightsville don’t let non members use the showers so desperate times as they say… we showered on the beach! You know the showers put in to rinse sand and salt off your surfboards or off your feet before you put your shoes on? Yeah we showered there shampoo and all! We got some dirty looks. When we were leaving Wrightsville a dolphin came right up to our boat and swam along side us for at least five minutes! It was incredible, it just kept going from starboard to port so close we could have touched it. It was a massive dolphin with a curly fluke. A definite highlight for me! 

Yesterday we decided we needed a break from the ICW and made our way back out the ocean. The ICW is an incredible thing - a waterway that essentially links the country top to bottom. However, it is busy and narrow and shallow and private sport fishing vessels really like to do Top Gun style flybys that generate a lot of uncomfortable wake. It’s also impossible and illegal to sail in portions of it so you basically motor day after day waiting for bridges to open. We’re on the Atlantic again today planning on Halloween in Charleston - shrimp and grits here I come! 

The Tow of Shame

Okay, first things first ... we have LEFT Port Washington!!! We are finally in a different State from where we purchased this beast - we're in NJ!

Cigarette Boat Race - Port Washington

A bunch of boats, who were all stranded in Port Washington waiting on weather, went out one evening a couple of weeks ago to a raw bar for drinks. It was great to meet some more people and have an evening out. Some of those same boats we have continued to see on the way and there is a real sense of camaraderie amongst us.      

The reason for the lengthy hiatus between posts is that we have been dealing with an awful lot of shit - both figuratively and literally. I honestly can't even remember all the things that have gone wrong so I'll just give you the highlights. 

Let's start with Hurricane Joaquin, who at least had the good grace to bugger off into the Atlantic Ocean. For a while we were directly in his path and as we sat studying our "Hurricane Plan", previously mandated by our insurance company, we thought "you have got to be kidding me - we haven't even had the boat a month and we might be hit by a hurricane  W...T...F?!" It was surreal to be obsessively tracing the hurricane's path on numerous websites. Little did we think in August sitting in my mum's living room writing out our "Hurricane Plan" that we might need to use it in September! While we were very thankful that Joaquin left us alone we did have some incredibly nasty weather with Gale Force winds gusting well into the high 40 knot range. I wish I could say our boat came out unscathed.  At 4am on October 2 we were laying on the setee in our living room (we slept in the living room because the bedroom hatch still leaks like a faucet and because the waves and wind was so intense we thought the center of the boat would be a little smoother) neither of had slept much due to the crazy weather - the boat was being rocked around and the noise of the bridal ropes on the mooring ball sounded like the soundtrack of Titanic when it was sinking (creepy creaking and cracking noises).  Then I heard another noise - a very distinct noise - the noise a sail makes in the wind. I shot up and looked out the hatch praying I was wrong - I wasn't - our storm jib had been pulled loose in the wind and I could see the top of it ballooning out of it's furling. I thought I was going to throw up. James and I put on our PFDs and went on deck, it was terrifying. We were freezing within seconds as our PJs got soaked and were plastered against our skin. While sliding around on the slick deck in the intense wind we tried to no avail to refurl the sail. It was so twisted we couldn't get it in and the wind was far to strong to let it out and start again. Our boat was heeled far over and the bridal was pulled to it's max - we both feared we were going to get ripped from our mooring ball. We tried to turn on the engine incase we did break free - it wouldn't start. It felt like a scene from the "Perfect Storm" - I was honestly terrified. We looked around and a few of our neighbours had heard what was going on and were on deck with flashlights - it felt so good to know someone was watching us. Then the jib shredded in the wind. While it sucked to lose a three thousand dollar sail, the ripping relieved the pressure on the boat and we felt much safer which is really all either of us cared about.  

After a terrifying night of no sleep in a wet cold boat (it was only 13 degrees inside) with no sign of the weather letting up we abandoned ship. We spent the night of October 2 in the Holiday Inn - it was the BEST decision we ever made! We had hot showers, cranked the heat, drank coffee in bed and binge watched Law and Order. We slept 10hours and woke up to a buffet breakfast. We felt like we had hit the reset button and felt much better heading back to the boat. 

In hindsight we probably should have tightened our sail lines before we went to bed that fateful night but something had utterly usurped our attention that day... we had raw sewage leaking into our cabin. Now everyone who knows me knows I don't do well with bad smells so there was a lot of gagging. We had tried to get the "Pump Out" boat to come for two days but discovered he just randomly takes days off. We couldn't deal with the smell anymore and the fact that we had zero operational toilets (peeing in a bucket on deck in a storm takes an awful lot of balance FYI, thank you yoga).  So we braved an incredibly difficult docking maneuver. We have a 42' boat and the pump out dock was maybe 25' with a mooring field full of boats about 30' away. We had to wait to go at high tide but the water was very rough. James brought us in like a champ! We were at the dock for ages while we tried to figure out why our tank wouldn't pump out - we cleared the vent and finally got it to work. By this time the weather had dramatically declined. The wind speed picked up and the direction did a complete 180 and was driving us into the dock. Not the best conditions for someone who has never reversed the boat to take us out. However, I wasn't strong enough in that weather to get the dock lines off in time to jump back on. I totally crashed the boat - into both a mooring ball and the dock - the wind and lack of space was just way too much to get a boat that big out. I gave the all the people at the dock one hell of a show! Minus a few minor scrapes the boat is fine. And most importantly we have one working toilet! 

So after our little hotel hiatus we still couldn't get our boat to start. One of the captains from another boat came over and confirmed our suspicion that it was an electrical issue. Our starter battery was too low to start the engine and the house batteries were too low to jump the starter. There had been no sun on our solar panel for days and the wind was so strong that we had to tie up our wind generator so nothing had been charging our batteries. Once the wind died down a little and we could let the wind turbine run it charged our starter battery enough to start the engine! We were back in business - or were we??

We planned to finally sail the East River on October 6 with a couple of other boats. However, the day before departure our friends Larry and Shannon came over with an update from BoatUs. Apparently BoatUs were advising people to wait at least one day to head south as there were still over 10ft swells and that some of the buoys on the New Jersey coast couldn't be trusted as the shoals had moved with the weather. They also said they "were busy cleaning up shipwrecks and some areas were impassable" - that was all we needed to hear to hold off one more day. What the hell, we waited this long! So on October 7 a convoy headed out at 6am for Hell Gate. What an incredible day!! We crossed just after slack tide and still had 7-8 knots of current and some white caps - what a ride! Even crazier than the current is all the visual and auditory stimuli flying at you. We passed Riker's Island, The UN building, almost every bridge in NY (well not really), The Empire State Building, Coney Island, Staten Island and much more. As soon as our boat neared the city center all the noise of a downtown core hit us - sirens, yelling, honking, engines idling. There were numerous helicopters flying overhead, a plane leaving La Guardia every 30seconds, a man ROWING in the river, NYU Ferry, the Wallstreet Ferry, Staten Island Ferry and others. There are cruise ships, tug boats, pilot boats, barges, and other mammoth sailing vessels all over. There was even a gondola overhead passing from one side of the river to the other.  It was amazing seeing NYC from New York Harbour and sailing past the Statue of Liberty. 

That evening we anchored at Sandy Hook, NJ. It was such a peaceful area with a secluded little beach. We went for a walk on the beach with Scott and Lynn who had been keeping an eye on us during the storm and on our boat when we headed for the Holiday Inn. We wandered along and helped Lynn collect Sea Glass then drank brandy on our boat and watched the sunset.  We got up at 4:30 the next morning and after trying our engine a couple of times set off for Atlantic City - about a 12-13 hour trip. We were feeling great - we had made some headway, got our first sailing in the dark and on the open ocean under our belt, anchored, and found out our windlass (i.e. electric anchor raiser) worked (always a surprise when something works on this boat). We motor sailed for about 8 hours when the gauges on our console that have never moved all started climbing. James and I just looked at each other and both knew our engine was going to die. So we just calmly sat in the cockpit and waited for the inevitable and sure enough all of a sudden - silence. The engine just cut out. I sailed for about an hour and half while James trouble shot the engine. He changed the fuel filter which was very dirty. I tried the engine and we were back to "click, click, click" - dead batteries. Our friend Larry had very wisely suggested getting a membership to BoatUs so we called them. They came and towed us

The Tow

to "Little Egg Inlet" and into Beach Haven Yacht Club. If you are ever in New Jersey you have to come to Long Beach Island - it is beautiful and if you are sailing here this is the marina to come to. We were greeted by Jim who I have come to discover is the kindest man. He tied up our boat, advised us to grab a hot shower and recommended a restaurant for dinner. He told us he would be back at 7am and would call the mechanics at the neighbouring marina first thing so that they would fit us in before they started their day. He said they try to get people who have broken down and are in transit seen to so they can be on their way. He then said "let me know if you need anything at all, I'll bend over backwards to help you". I could have cried. And he has bent over backwards ... discounted our marina stay, lent us HIS car to go grocery shopping, and advised us where to see in Beach Haven. Last night some rather nasty weather moved in - the tow boat driver knocked on our boat to make sure we knew the weather was going to be bad and checked our dock lines. Jim then says "I live just there I'll leave the back door open in case it gets too rough or if you get scared you can just come in and there are couches you can sleep on". Where are we??? The kindness is incredible. The boating community is just that, a community, and it looks out for each other. 

We had a diesel mechanic, Mike, look at our engine yesterday and it was dirty fuel that made the engine cut out - there was  also some water in the fuel tank so he made a new plate to cover our tank. So when James changed the fuel filter when the engine cut out we should have been on our way. It was the batteries that prevented us restarting. The mechanic tested our batteries (like we had done) and said they were fine. He tested our alternator and that too was good (huge relief). So why weren't our batteries charging properly? Some f*#k monkey hadn't wired the starter battery to the alternator - yup the starter battery never charged when the engine was running. No wonder we were having so much trouble. Mike also tightened the belt on our alternator so hopefully the house batteries also charge better. 

We had hoped to set out today but Little Egg Inlet is shallow and has incredible currents. Coming here we got towed through waves I wouldn't even surf in so when we saw how rough it was this morning we decided trying to make our way back to the Atlantic wasn't smart. Two other boats we had been moored with and had travelled to Sandy Hook with had gotten stuck and one had to be towed twice yesterday. This weather is nuts! So today we made a nice breakfast (with the shore power of the marina we have a cold fridge again!) and went for a beach walk. The beach here is beautiful - warm soft powdery sand for miles. The seagulls here however are predatory - I had a hard time defending my bagel sandwich while getting dive bombed by seagulls that have evolved to hunt as a pack.

Long Beach Island, NJ

While this was an expensive detour (next career move for me might be a marine diesel mechanic at $115/hr no nights or holidays)  we are feeling much more positive and relieved that a professional we trusted looked at our engine and has sorted out our batteries. We feel like we are finally getting to know our boat and are once again excited to get going! Next stop Cape May (so someone can fix our depth sounder)! Hoping that means I can say bye to balancing on the pulpit with a handheld depth sounder Gorilla taped to a flag pole dragging through the water while I yell out readings to James. Man our boat is ghetto! Maybe we should have gone with one of our ghetto fabulous boat names? "Yeah Buoy" "Gybe Yo" "Where My Beaches At"

Lighthouse en route to the East River

Sunrise heading towards the East River

Sailing under the Brooklyn Bridge

Riker's Island

Stuck in Port Washington

Well since our last post we have moved about 200 meters - we were at mooring ball 12 now we're at mooring ball 5 - I believe this is what they call "moving on up in the world". We had hoped/planned to be well on our way by now but something always seems to thwart us! First it was all the breakages on the boat, then it was strong wind, then it was Putin, now it's "Tropical Storm 11". How did Putin affect our trip? Well we had a good weather window that would have allowed us to leave yesterday and make it to the Delaware Bay for shelter before the storm hit. However, the East River was closed yesterday for what I assume was Putin's visit to the UN - man that guy can't stop screwing people over!! I guess this is why they say an agenda is one of the most dangerous things to have on a boat - you get so fixated on your plan and wanting to make headway and it's crushing when you can't leave!

So now we're waiting out the bad weather system at our cozy little mooring ball in Port Washington and there are far worse places to be stranded. It's a half an hour train ride to Penn Station, there are lots of restaurants, a movie theatre, three hardware stores (this is key when you have an old boat), a laundromat, a huge grocery store and two liquor stores (this is also key when you have a boat - old or otherwise).  The people here are genuinely friendly and helpful - like go out of your way helpful - I really love New Yorkers.  Being out on the water was also a great place to see the Supermoon Eclipse.

We took advantage of our elongated stay in New York and went into the city again this weekend. We got to hang out with our friend Corey again and she took us to see the Picasso Sculpture exhibit at MoMA - it was beautiful. Hard to imagine one person having so much talent. We also stumbled upon a street festival and had a delicious gyoza lunch! We all wanted to see "Hamilton" on Broadway but it's sold out until January!!! So we lined up for the "lottery" - if you win you get two front row seats for $10 a piece. We didn't win. But we did go to see Les Mis - I have been waiting more than 20 years to see it - it always seemed to be just about to arrive or have just left whatever city I was visiting. The wait was so worth it!! The costumes, the actors, the choreography were fantastic.

We also made friends!! We were working on the boat last week and another 1985 Endeavour 42 pulled in and the guy yells "Nice Boat" and as the stern passes us we see that the boat was from Halifax, NS! So we yell out "we're from Halifax too". We've been over to the Joyce's a couple of nights for drinks (they have a fridge that works) and some much needed boat commiserating and laughs. They also have a little kitten so I got my cat fix ;) Gary and Heather are also headed to the Bahamas so I'm sure we'll be seeing them along the way.

Things I have learned so far being on the boat: There is a reason sailors have enormous biceps - it's hard bloody work and there is a lot of hoisting. The expression "swear like a sailor" is grounded in reality- when everything feels like it's slightly broken, you feel like you're living in what smells like a port-o-potty, the weather just won't cooperate, and you hit your head, your toe, your elbow just one last time - the only thing that makes you feel better is a very colourful, creative, plethora of very bad language.  The above stands true for why sailors drink so much.

 

"In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of...

... there's nothing you can't do, now you're in New York. These streets will make you feel brand new...".  I have seriously had "Empire State of Mind" in my head since I got here!!

Where has the time gone? How have we been living on a boat for 10 days already!?! Well I'll tell you where the time has gone ... into fixing things! So far we have sorted out our water tanks, our wind generator, fixed 2 faucets, a shower, 2 toilets, 1 outboard two-stroke motor, and have trouble shot countless other things on our boat.  The Raymarine Depth Sounder is still winning - why won't you work!?!?! I thought there was going to be more relaxing - when does that part start ;)

I'll be honest, I didn't really know what a two-stroke motor was 11 days ago but I can proudly say I at least vaguely know how it works and know where to look when it stops working! Thank you SO much to my brother for his MANY patient texts and chats talking us through how to fix our little 18hp motor! It works!!

How did we know our engine wasn't working properly? I'd say when it died and left us stranded at sea :( We decided to take the dingy out for a spin to make sure everything was working before we left the marina. We didn't want to leave the marina without an operational dingy because it meant no way of getting ashore. So one evening after dinner we took her out - everything was going great - it started on the first pull and we were having a blast motoring around in some fairly decent swell, then it just stopped and wouldn't start! That fairly decent swell that was so much fun with a motor was now a little rough and started smacking us into moored boats. At least the current was taking us to shore - I suppose the one time leeshore is a good thing! We did have our life jackets but we did not have a radio or a paddle (lesson learned). Thankfully a lovely man out for an evening ride saw our situation and towed us back to our slip- I'm sure just one of many times we'll rely on the kindness of strangers.

It's not all work and no play, we met up with friends and went to a New York Yankees vs Toronto Blue Jays Double Header on Sept 12 - the Jays won both games and we were on TV!! Who knew 9 hours of baseball could be so much fun!

After fixing the outboard motor we left Glen Cove and motored the boat to Port Washington - about 2 hours west. It's much quieter here but still very convenient to get ashore and get supplies.

It's also only a half an hour train ride to Penn Station! We spent the day yesterday taking in the sights of the Big Apple - breakfast in Central Park, a little shopping along 5th Avenue, lunch in Eataly, and some sightseeing along the Brookyln Bridge. In addition to the amazing views of the city skyline, the view from Brooklyn Bridge also gave me some insight into just how busy New York Harbour is and also the strength of the current along the East River we aim be sailing this weekend - I guess they don't call it the "Hell Gate" for nothing!