We have a mast, but we are still motoring. September 21, 2012

We arrived in Catskill, NY on Monday September, 17 with a plan of stepping the mast Tuesday and taking off later that afternoon or Wednesday morning. We woke up Tuesday to a hard rain, that continued ALL DAY LONG AND INTO THE NIGHT. No work got done that day so we hung out on the boat reading and playing cribbage. The marina we were at is on a creek and when we got up Wednesday, the water in the creek had turned a chocolate brown and the current was roaring. It looked like we were not going to be able to put the mast up that day, until later in the afternoon when the tide had risen and the current had slowed, the marina guy said, "I think we can do this."






This marina uses a process to raise the mast that I have never seen before. Another boater described it as, "a Huck Finn operation." They lift the mast off a set of sawhorses with the Travel Lift, then lower the mast on to another set of saw horses on a floating section of dock. Then a guy on the dock poles it into position under a hand operated crane and they lift the mast off the floating dock. Then they had me move the boat under the crane and into position.


One of the guys cranks and cranks until the mast is upright, then they lower it into position and we secured the shrouds to hold it in place. I had a few nervous moments. It all worked fine and the guys were friendly and very careful.

Laurie and I worked until past dark to get the sails on and all the other rigging taken care of, then left the dock at first light to take advantage of the tide and headed to the Poughkeepsie Yacht Club. We got hooked up to a mooring ball and went ashore. The YC is in the middle of nowhere and we were disappointed to learn that it was too far from Hyde Park to walk. We had wanted to see the home of FDR and the Eleanor Roosevelt Museum, but have added this to our list of things to do on our return trip.

We left our mooring before sunrise and rode a favorable tide all the way to Nyack.








On the way we passed West Point. It is an incredible sight from the water.




We also saw this boat with a bunch of kids out for a sail in Haverstraw Bay.

Tonight we are hooked to a mooring ball at the Nyack Boat Club, in the shadows of the Tappan Zee Bridge. The people here are very friendly. A woman came out to our boat and welcomed us, then later loaned us her car so we could go pick up a package the we had mailed to another marina.

The forecast for tomorrow calls for rain and thunderstorms, so I think we will stay put and head to NYC on Sunday.

Oh yeah, since we got the mast back on, we have had either no wind, or wind right on the nose so we have not sailed.

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Location:Nyack, NY