It was with sadness that we left our home for the past four days.
And it really felt like a home.
Such great people that treated us like family.
We have a deal with John,
Great Kills Yacht Club’s National Treasure,
that when we close the loop
on our Great Loop Adventure,
he will meet us in NYC
and take a picture of us aboard R.E.D.
in front of the Statue of Liberty
holding up our Gold Loop burgee.
A gentle breeze made sailing into New York harbour really pleasant.
We sat in the cockpit and discussed things in general,
places we wanted to visit,
working on a plan after we ran out of plans.
I even connected with my son through a video Skype call
and chatted away with my grandkids
and daughter-in-law,
showing them the beautiful Manhattan skyline.
(this all will be significant later in our day, so pay attention)
We even made a little detour briefly down the wrong channel
of the East River, by accident,
but thought this building was photo-worthy…
like a scene out of Mad Max…
The view of Manhattan
is as impressive from the East River side…
…so many different architectural styles…
Aside from the Freedom Tower,
there were things we hoped we could see from the water…
…the Empire State Building…
…the Chrysler Building…
…and my favourite,
the Brooklyn Bridge…
there were many other bridges we passed under
on our journey down the East River.
…many cruises boats
with tourists enjoying a leisurely Sunday on the water…
…and this one that really made François’ day…
At this point our leisurely trip took a turn.
Remember when I mentioned earlier about that leisurely sail?
It kind of threw off our well-planned tide calculations.
We had reached Hell Gate,
the confluence of three bodies of water.
We had passed the tide’s slack time
so hit the full force of the tide going to the sea at this juncture.
It was a good 45 minute battle with motor at 4000 RPM
and barely progressing 3 knots.
There was so much turbulence,
it looked like the water was boiling.
You’re just going to have to believe what I am describing
because honestly, that camera wasn’t coming out for any photo op.
It was life vests on and grabbing the lifelines.
Past La Guardia airport
we located a safe anchorage for the night at
Little Neck Bay,
lessons learned
and thankful for calm waters.
