Half Moon Bay and a trip home to South Carolina

56 Days Looping
1,003.5 Nautical Miles Total (1,154.8 Statute Miles)
0.0 Nautical Miles This Week
0.0 Hours Underway This Week
0.0 NMph Average Speed
0 Locks This Week, 2 Total Locks

Monday – June 3rd to Friday, June 7th – 0 NM – In: Croton-on-Hudson, NY
We left the boat in New York and took a rental car home to Murrells Inlet, SC to check on the house, get haircuts, and do some errands. It was a long, but uneventful drive down, about 12 hours.

It was great to visit our friends in Murrells Inlet and check out the neighborhood. No major changes, but we found out that Becca who ran the office at our home marina was no longer there. Very sad.

We did some visiting, bought some parts to make a mast holder, and did the rough cutting with power tools at home. Got haircuts (which we both needed) and did some maintenance on the plants.

We drove back on Friday, and aside from some rain, and a GPS system in the car that wanted to give us a tour of inner-city Washington, DC, it was an uneventful drive back. We left a bit later to try to miss the Friday traffic exiting Washington and New York, and by and large, the plan worked. It took us 13 hours to get back and we got in around 11:30 pm.

Saturday – June 8th – 0 NM – In: Croton-on-Hudson, NY
Saturday was a beautiful day, and after sleeping in a bit, we decided to do some sightseeing. We’d heard some of our fellow Loopers talking about the Croton Dam, so while we still had the rental car, we drove to the dam.

The dam is part of the New York City water system. Water from the dam runs through an aqueduct to the city. It was started in 1892 and finished in 1906. It’s a beautiful dam, all cut stone, and rather than just a straight waterfall, they have steps for the water to go through. This area has had some heavy rains recently, and the dam spillway was open and passing 1000’s of gallons a second! At the bottom of the dam is a city park and there were many larger groups picnicking. We walked around taking some photos, then drove about a mile to the top of the dam.

There is a road that crosses the top of the dam (now closed to vehicles) that you can walk & bike across. We walked across the dam, and then back. From there, we just drove around the reservoir that the dam makes, and discovered some beautiful bridges that cross the reservoir and give access to the entrance to the aqueduct spillway.

From there we drove to the grocery store to do some re-provisioning, then back to the boat. On Saturday evening, we hosted docktails for the 8 Looper boats that were here at the marina with us.

Sunday – June 9th – 0 NM – In: Croton-on-Hudson, NY
On Sunday we did projects. There were a few electrical fixes we needed to do that required us to get under the flybridge, which involves removing 16 screws that hold in the footrest. After getting underneath, I fixed a non-working navigation light, replaced a USB port on the dash, installed our new hard-wired NEBO tracker (see http://Nebo.global), and hooked up a louder alarm beeper for the low water alarm. (Thanks to Charlie McVey on The Lower Place for giving me a spare beeper! It works great!)

After buttoning up the flybridge, we turned our attention to the mast. For the next several weeks, we’ll be in the Erie Canal. The bridges on the Erie Canal range in height from 18 ft to 30 ft clearance, with most being right around 21 ft and they are not drawbridges. Our mast is 22 ft tall so, we need to drop our mast in order to fit. When we were home we bought some PVC pipe and connectors to make a holder for the mast.

The mast has a hinge pin, so it’s fairly easy to drop it. Two guy wires, and the holding bolt. We had dropped the mast when we first got the boat to replace the anchor and running light at the top of the mast. When we did it then, I had help from Geoff Gow, our training captain. It was a pretty easy job. This time with just Brenda and I, it was a bit more of a struggle. The mast weighs in about 300 lbs, and we had to struggle to get it down. It caught on the dinghy, the boom arm was wobbling around. I blame myself for poor planning. In the end, we got it down and spent a few hours building a mast holder. After a quick test, we decided that we’d need to take the dinghy off the boat before we dropped the mast for the trip through the Erie in case we needed it while anchoring out. So, we pushed the mast back up, which was a real struggle given the weight (glad I’ve been weight lifting at the gym!), and got it back in place. Next time I’m going to invest in a 6 pack of really good beer, and invite 2 or 3 of our fellow Loopers to a Docktail/Mast-raising party!!

In the evening, we met some “pseudo-Loopers” who came in on a Ranger Tug. I say pseudo because they are sailboaters who are moving the boat from Boston MA to St. Louis, MO for a relative. The relative bought the boat in Boston, and planned to bring it to New York City, and start the loop there. Unfortunately, due to some unexpected medical issues, they were not able to Loop this year, so their family members are moving the boat for them. We still had the rental car so went to dinner with them, then took them to the grocery store to do some shopping.

Next Week: We are staying in Croton-on-Hudson on Monday as the weather is predicted to be rainy. Tuesday, we cast off again and head toward the Erie Canal!


Kiss Some Frogs To Find Your Prince

Thanks For Visiting! – Tom & Brenda

Write A Comment