{"id":16795,"date":"2011-07-17T00:01:13","date_gmt":"2011-07-17T05:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/?p=16795"},"modified":"2011-07-16T20:44:20","modified_gmt":"2011-07-17T01:44:20","slug":"current-events-east-river-cruising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/current-events-east-river-cruising\/","title":{"rendered":"Current Events – East River Cruising"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Untitled<\/p>\n

So far this season tidal currents have had minimal impact on our planning. But from the entrance to New York harbor and north this changes. The channel that starts off Sandy Hook, New Jersey can give you three+ knots of help, or hindrance. Picking the best times used to entail laborious calculations. But now we just look at the current atlas data on any of numerous navigation computer programs, check waypoint ETA, and adjust accordingly. Sometimes this works and others it is like hitting all the red lights on your way home.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"NYC<\/p>\n

A trip along New York’s East River goes by quickly with the current assisting. In our case, with engines barely ticking over, we are making 12 knots. The last time we were here, September 4, 2001, the skyline was different.<\/p>\n

\"NYC<\/p>\n

Whenever we are in the City a visit to South Street Seaport is guaranteed.<\/p>\n

\"NYC<\/p>\n

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of weekday traffic, just a couple of small ships working against the current.<\/p>\n

\"Untitled<\/p>\n

The level of visual decay is less than in previous visits, and “tagging” almost non-existent.<\/p>\n

\"Untitled<\/p>\n

As you reach the northern section of the East River the currents accelerate, reaching a peak around Hell’s Gate.<\/p>\n

\"Untitled<\/p>\n

We record 16 knots on the GPS (SOG) with engines turning 1200 RPM. We shoot through the Gate and into Long Island Sound. This time, from Sandy Hook onwards, we hit all green lights.<\/p>\n

\"Wind<\/p>\n

The East River opens into Long Island Sound, where it is significantly cooler than where we have just been. A blanket is called for on our bunk and long sleeve shirts when the sun sets. It feels wonderful!<\/p>\n

\"Port<\/p>\n

The anchorages are filled with sailboats and stinkpots are definitely in the minority.<\/p>\n

\"Port<\/p>\n

Along with catching up with long time friends and family, there are a few avians to observe.<\/p>\n

\"NYC<\/p>\n

They seem less concerned with their private space than the inhabitants further south, a trait perhaps assimilated from the human population.<\/p>\n

\"Port<\/p>\n

The sunsets are dramatic, the one advantage of a polluted atmosphere.<\/p>\n

\"Wind<\/p>\n

There’s a traveling moon and we are off to even cooler environs.<\/p>\n

Post script:<\/p>\n

\"Dreamer<\/p>\n

We are writing this blog as we head north on Long Island Sound. Having just had a clear example of why most sailors loath powerboats we thought a few photos might prove illuminating. To set the scene, we are in a wide open section of the Sound, with no navigational constraints and deep water all around. The yacht above is picked up on radar and AIS, the intercept plots show a closest point of approach of under 100 meters, much too tight for comfort. The AIS shows the yacht’s course and speed, but MMSI number and name are not programmed, so we cannot hail them by name on VHF.<\/p>\n

We are in their danger zone, i.e. \u00a0they are the burdened yacht and we are the stand on. They are traveling at 15.5 knots SOG.<\/p>\n

\"Dreamer<\/p>\n

They pass within the predicted 100 meters in an abnormal starboard to starboard orientation rather than port to port.<\/p>\n

\"Dreamer<\/p>\n

And they are throwing a huge wake. This has little impact on Wind Horse<\/em>, but any normal yacht would be bounced around with a high degree of unpleasantness not to mention risk of bodily harm.<\/p>\n

The other yacht could have slowed down to pass, and should have altered course so we were port to port with a much wider separation. Their behavior was unseamanlike, rude, and with a smaller yacht in our position, potentially dangerous.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So far this season tidal currents have had minimal impact on our planning. But from the entrance to New York …Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dashew-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16795"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16795\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}