More adventures as Trefoil heads home!

Trefoil is now at the town dock in Waterford, always a nice spot to be, whether headed north or south. We have provisioned, done laundry, cleaned the decks, had dinner with our friend Larry, and chatted with lots of nice boat people, most of whom are headed south. This is our third day here, and we will head out in the morning to travel through the Champlain Canal back to Port Henry, where Trefoil will be stored for the winter.

Some highlights since the last post: from Mystic we returned to the Old Lyme Dock Co in the Connecticut River, then on to Milford, CT. Milford is a very pretty harbor, and we had spent time here at the beginning of our cruise. This time we arrived on Sunday night of Labor Day weekend, and finally found dock space at the Milford Yacht Club. It was a party weekend, a band was playing, and we were invited to a wine tasting party on the 52' motor yacht "Enuff." All was good until we departed in the morning. We waited just a bit too long after slack tide, and as we backed out of our slip, the tide pushed us against the boat next to us and our dinghy davits became entangled with the bow, breaking their bow light! Ouch! We finally got off without further damage, but not a great start to the day. We have contacted the owner and will pay for the damage. Milford is probably not a spot we would return to, as we also had difficulty here the first time we visited. No major damage, however. Especially in tight quarters, as at this location, is is very important to pay close attention to tidal flow. Also, we had not paid careful enough attention to the the sun and moon; in addition to a full moon, the sun and moon were within 45 degrees of each other, creating an extra strong tide, both low and high.

On to Oyster Bay, where we picked up a mooring, and then Manhassett Bay, where we also were on a mooring for two nights, due to weather. While there we did careful calculations so that we could arrive at Hell Gate at slack tide. Actually, we were a bit early, so we motored along at 1.5 knots for a while! Then into Liberty Landing Marina for an overnight before starting up the Hudson River. Nice to be back on the Hudson again! The first night on the Hudson we anchored at Croton on Hudson, a great anchorage. Jonah played for over an hour with Major, a Czech shephard..the most fun he had had in a long time!

The next morning, we knew a storm was coming, but NOAA said it would arrive late afternoon or early evening. We went across the bay to Haverstraw Marina for fuel and ice, planning to travel up the river a ways. But by the time we were finished with our purchases (the dock hand put gasoline in one of our diesel jerry jugs, so it took a bit longer to get that taken care of), the sky was already getting very dark, the wind speed was increasing, and now we were hearing the storm was going to arrive much sooner than expected. So we decided to take a slip at the marina to ride out the upcoming storm, and we are glad we did. Within an hour, there were severe thunderstorm warnings and a tornado watch. It rained on and off all day, gusty winds from the south and then suddenly, a big blow from the west with heavy rain. Then all was quiet. Apparently, two fronts collided. Later we learned that a tornado had actually touched down in Queens.

Off again the next morning with blue skies and a light breeze, we motored to Hyde Park, where we picked up a mooring. We had stopped here two years ago, and Pete, the owner, remembered us. As we chatted, it turned out that he had gone to Clarkson and was a classmate of Dick's best friend from high school! Another front passed through that evening, but it quieted down at dark, just in time for Jonah's last "shore call" of the day. We were underway by 7:45 the next morning, headed for Riverview Marina in Catskill. Winds were forecast to increase throughout the day...the first 3 hours were very calm, and then suddenly the wind came up and for 2 1/2 hours we motored through 30 knots gusts from the north. We were very glad to arrive in Catskill Creek and to have assistance getting into our dock space! Here we met Matt and Jessica, from Michigan, on their Sabre 34, a young couple who are starting out on an extended cruise, no schedule, destination Venezuela or places beyond! Sails off, bimini down, and once Matt and Jessica's mast was up, we moved into the crane bay, and our mast came down. We decided to stay another night so that we could travel with the tide instead of against it for our trip to Waterford. In tidal waters, with a 5 knot boat, we have learned to pay careful attention to the tide tables. So tomorrow morning, we will take on crew for a day, our friend Noah, as we begin the trip back to Lake Champlain.