Hudson River Trip - Day 2

I woke up this morning to a wee bit of light coming in the front hatch... decided that I'd like to catch the sunrise while finishing my blog entry from yesterday.   The light was indeed creamy as various hues came up over the Freedom Tower.

After finishing my blog, I went back to bed until the Statue of Liberty boats started their idling.

From there we did some more cleaning and maintenance before meeting my son and his girlfriend for brunch at Maritime Parc.

As the food arrived, everyone reached for their cell phones and I realized that we now have a new pre-meal ritual in America. 

So Liberty Landing Marina's policy over the 4th of July holiday is a mandatory 3 day stay.  They pointed out that we don't have to actually stay the three days, but we will be billed for them.

I decided to use the extra two nights to make Liberty Landing our base for the two days.  Many people have asked about sailing to see the Statue of Liberty from our mooring ball in Keyport Harbor, and while some people are used to tour boats that leave our area, see the statue, and return within a reasonable amount of time, I have to let our friends know that a trip to the statue is a 10 hour ordeal.

So while we were staying at Liberty (30 min from our dock to the front of the statue), we used these two days to invite some friends to sail with us.

The first was with my brother, his son, his girlfriend and her daughter along with my son and his girlfriend.

We set out a little after 1:00 PM.

New York Harbor was still very choppy.  There's this section around the front of the statue that always seems to have a lot of chop... roughly where the Hudson, and East rivers mix.  Still for everyone, being in front of the statue is kind of cool.

 My nephew choose not to have his photo taken.  Above is Camri (I'm guessing at the spelling).

John and Gabby posed for a photo...

Then I went forward to catch Robert and Jennifer.  I somehow think there's something more going on here than just a portrait...

After all that, we motored for a while against the current to try and get to the Brooklyn bridge, but our SOG was reduced to around 3kts and people tired of sitting in the same space.

As we turned around, we were carried by the current a fair bit and the USCG helpfully came out to us and noted that we should stay 100 yds from ferry terminals.  I do remember reading that, but I have no idea how far 100 yds is on the water.  Given the size of the gun on the front, I decided to take their measurement.

So we got back, had another brunch - this one more celebratory - and I started working up photos when Vicky called for me.  Right next to us on the dock is a 72' sailing vessel that's part of the UK Armed Forces Sailing program.  This crew was departing and wondered if I'd be willing to take a group shot of them.  I agreed provided that I get to take one of my own.

I later learned from their captain, Shane (I hope I remember that right), that this is a month-long adventure based training program for officers in the UK's military.  The new crew comes in later tonight and after a few days working with the boat will take off on their next adventure.