Long Island Sound to Hudson River Cruise

[merttan]

Try to get a copy of Maptech's embassy cruising guides... Really helpful about common currents and known dangers along the way...

[martsmth]

Letting you all know...boat is almost ours; my friend and co-captain will be leaving early saturday morning for our maiden voyage. Thanks for all your advice, we've got our eldridge, charts, and a gps; I think we'll be fine. Can't wait I only hope that the weather holds, even though I'm sure we'll probably go anyway! We'll let you all know how it goes.

[JimsCAL]

A little bit of rain in the forecast from Saturday evening on. Shouldn't be a problem as long as you have good foul weather gear.

[CalebD]

Bring foulies just in case.
You are going to want to come up with a loose itinerary but if it were me:
Rough calculation: 18 nm Stamford CT to Throgg's Neck Bridge at 5 knots/hour should take about 3 1/2 hours.

High tide at the Battery: 04/26/2008 Sat 01:22PM, which means that by 2 hours after this time (Eldridge current charts) the current in the East River will start flowing SW, so by around 3:20PM you will want to be in the East River.

Working this backward to Stamford you will want to get underway on Sat 4/26 around 10:00 AM to leave a margin of safety and if you want to sail for a bit, here and there, wind permitting. Leave even earlier if you want to try and sail all the way (I once sailed all the way to Hell Gate before firing up the motor). It is a bit like a flume ride by Roosevelt Island so you will want to power up before this so you can have some steerage way.

Spend the night at Liberty Landing or wherever.

On Sunday 4/27, the current in the Hudson starts flowing north 4 hours after low water at the Battery (Eldridge) which is predicted at 08:04AM, which means that the current will start going your way (north) at 12:00PM. So, leave before noon using the engine to fight the current and by noon or so you will be pushed up the river. You will want this following current when passing the Palisades which mostly block the usual SW wind. Nyack is about 25 miles upriver while Haverstraw is another 10 miles farther up, both decent places to stop for the night or just push on all the way to Poughkeepsie and pray you get there before dark. This could be a pretty long day but not impossible.
Watch out for barge/tug traffic on the Hudson.

It is a good idea to monitor ch. 13 in the East and Hudson rivers as mentioned.

Sounds like fun. Let us know how you make out.

[martsmth]

So the trip was made....almost all the way. My friend Alan and I (co-captains of the as yet unnamed bristol 26 ended up stopping in Haverstraw Marina this afternoon because our last weather report we recieved called for heavy rain and thunderstorms later tonight and all day tommorrow. So we decided to leave the boat in Haverstraw until Thursday or Friday when we can finish bringing it the rest of the way up and make another weekend out of it!

The trip itself was great although we got some (what seemed to us) pretty good sized waves in the sound...maybe 5-10 feet; we did sail for a fair bit in the sound and hit Hells Gate right at the perfect time and it was a cakewalk, seriously; almost a "what was the big deal" kinda thing but I guess that's what we're supposed to pay attention to the tides. Going down Manhattan was fun/interesting while rounding the Battery was real interesting with the Staten Island Ferry leaving as well as several other sizable ships, water taxis, etc all over the place. Spent the night at Liberty no problem, refueled and r/r'd for the night. Cruised/crawled up the hudson this morning; basically stared at the George Washington Bridge all morning...lol.

GREAT TRIP! Thanks for all the advice and encouragement, I'll post some pics in a day or two.

[GeneKinney]

Ride the incoming tide from Stamford to Kings Point. The Eldridge gives the High tide times for Kings Point. If you arrive at Kings Pont at the high tide time, then you can continue on down the East River and Hell Gate will be going your way. It's a piece of cake. Monitor Channel 16 and 13 (for Commercial Water traffic) . Ypu can hil the captains to let them know what you are doing if yoou like. If they need to they will contact you as well on 16 or 13.
Then wait at Liberty Landing for the incoming tide to ride to Poughkeepsie.
Good Luck

Gene Kinney
S/V Kin-Ship
C380

[BarryL]

Hello,

Congratulations on your delivery trip. You had a good weekend for traveling west. With a good easterly wind, you can get some big waves in the sound. As long as the waves are going the same way as you are they aren't too bad.

Enjoy your new boat.

Barry

[camaraderie]

Good for you Mart...Perfect planning makes for safe trips!
Funny...you are in the marina where I bought Camaraderie and I had to sail DOWN the Hudson to get her home...and give her her first taste of salt water!

[fabsterfab]

Marty and I had a great trip! A little rough out in the sound, but things became much more calm as we approached the throgs neck! Thanks for all the advice!

[chef2sail]

Great you made it safe. How was Liberty marina. We are stopping there this summer on our trip from Naltimore, MD to Mystic Conn