Memorial Day Weekend NYC Trip

For Memorial Day weekend, we took Vicky's cousin, Mango and her husband, Fei, on a sailing adventure into NY harbor for the weekend.  We've done this excursion a couple of times before and it's always memorable (and frequently unpredictable).

Editor's note... Fei is an accomplished photographer as well. So for this trip I concentrated on providing safe sailing and let my photography take a back seat.  Not to mention that everyone had a smartphone and these were being passed around a lot.  So I'm not going to try to attribute photo credit... the three shots I took with my good camera are maked with my copyright, and I'll try to point out a few special ones that Fei shared.

Day 1 - Travel to NY Harbor

So the trip started with a launch ride from Keyport Yacht Club out to Seas The Day and from there we settled in for the trip across the Raritan Bay.  We had a late start and the wind was directly behind us so since everyone wanted a turn at the weel, I decided that the sails would stay in and gun it for the Verazzano Narrow's Bridge.

Turning north, we crossed NY Harbor towards lower Manhattan.

It's always a rush for me to sail right in front of the Statue of Liberty.

Each time we're here I try to grab my good camera and take a good shot.  But traffic right in front of the Statue is ALWAYS hectic - the statue ferries, tour boats, speed boats, tour speed boats and the occasional pirate ship are all converging (not to mention USCG and NYPD boats as well) - all are creating wakes and I'm never satisfied with my images.  Still, I keep trying.

So after passing the statue and Ellis Island, we rounded into the Morris Canal and docked at Liberty Landing Marina.  A quick tie up and we were ready for dinner at Maritime Parc, a standard stop for us (it's in our marina building) with fabulous views of everything we just sailed by.

Following dinner, Fei and I grabbed our cameras and I took Fei and Mango down along the Morris Canal to my favorite point for photographs.  Then Mango and Fei took off to explore Liberty State Park at dusk.

Day 2 - Boat Chores, Heat Stroke (almost) and Touring NYC

While we're docked, it's easier to do some of the boat chores than it is when bobbing on the mooring ball, so on Saturday I let the guests take the ferry into Manhattan and I set about filling and checking the propane tank for the season...

 Sprucing up the head...

Checking and topping off the batteries...

And making sure the fire extinguishers are all in order...

Normally, I'd try to do these tasks before taking off for NY Harbor, but Vicky is only with me for a few weeks and we wanted to get this trip in this weekend.

Side note... it was HOT.  Seas The Day doesn't have AC  and today I truly regretted not having that included when we purchased her.  No I didn't get heat stroke, but I drank a ton of water and stopped a couple of times to go searching for some shade or AC (I spent significant time browsing in the marina store).

While I was busy with the boat, Vicky took Mango and Fei across the Hudson and they did some sightseeing in Manhattan.  The two main stops were the Intrepid and Central Park, but they also seemed (from the WeChat texts) to hit Trump Tower and St. Patrick's.

 Fei's photo

Fei's photo

Clouds started to develop over the marina and I sent a text encouraging them to come back before the rain.  They stopped to get some provisions before coming back and I'm told at the last minute, Vicky ran and grabbed a bottle of "wine" with a nice drawing on it, but it turned out to be some raspberry something beer which...

... was NOT a hit.  Fortunately, I had a bottle of Merlot on board and we saved dinner.

During the afternoon, two families (brothers - each with a shiny red boat) moved into the slip across the dock.  The many many kids brought some life to our side of D Dock.  They returned while we were eating and a few minutes later I heard the one mother exclaim that she never has seen a cloud this intense (looking over our boat).

It was something else... this seething boiling cloud constantly being lit up from internal lighting.  My guess was it was 75 miles away or so and radar indicated that the Asbury Park area was getting clobbered at that moment.   I was able to catch a strike or two.

Day 3 - Rain, Hypothermia (almost) and The Cloisters

We awoke to the sound of rain coming down in buckets.  We were originally going to leave today and sail home, but as much as I wanted to, I couldn't do it... it was miserable.  After a few trips to the marina store for their free coffee (I hadn't had time to set up my coffee stash for the season yet), I was wet and shivering, so we called it off for plan B.

Plan B was to take the Liberty Landing Ferry across to the World Financial Center, and then Uber up to see The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Plan B was quickly replaced by plan C when we saw the sheer number of people lined up to visit the Met today.  We found an accessible entrance with somewhat shorter lines but decided that even if we did get in, it wouldn't be that nice and we made Plan C to head up to The Cloisters.  

This was successful and we became members of The Met through the Cloisters.  I'll see if I get to the museum itself in the next year.

They had some sort of weird "Catholic Fashion" exhibit going on... that was a bit distracting, but all the other famous artwork (especially the Unicorn Tapestries) was still there.

So we returned, and tonight it was so cold outside that we cleared off the salon table and had our feast indoors.

Day 4 - Sailing home

So on Memorial Day, it was cold, but at least we were dry.  So we buttoned up Seas The Day and headed home... first passing the Statue again, then continuing on through NY Harbor.

Around 11:00 AM, we were treated to fighter jets flying south.  I'm guessing that was part of  the Fleet Week/Memorial Day celebration taking part in the city.

We had thought about heading home via the Arthur Kill for a change of scenery, but there were several large container ships going through the harbor and aiming in that same direction.  We decided not to play chicken with the big boys and headed south for the bridge.

From there, we headed west across the Raritan Bay... eating sandwiches, cleaning some of the brightwork, catching up on messages and enjoying the 2 hour trip until we finally reached the Keyport #1 buoy.

We found and picked up our mooring ball (noting some twisting still going on - have to talk to Dan about that), then battened down the hatches and headed into KYC for some beer, wine and items from Keyport Fishery.

Launch Day!

Supposedly, this month (May, 2018) has been the wettest May on record.  After a few aborted launch dates, and checking the Windy app, we confirmed that Seas The Day would launch on Monday with perfect temperatures and winds.  It seemed like a perfect reason to take a day off from work.

Vicky's cousin Mango, and her Husband, Fei, are visiting, so we all piled into the car for a trip up the NJ Turnpike.

 We arrived to find Seas The Day already in the water next to the boatyard.  Unfortunately, we missed the splash. But the tide was perfect for just passing all the gear over onto the deck.  We had to wait a final bit (they had to flush a through-hull to get proper water circulation in the engine) before we could board, but within a few minutes we were on board for Fei's first trip (around yard to the fuel dock).

(Note for the Log - they had to repack the stuffing box again.  We just had it repacked last year.  I'll have to keep an eye on that.)

We had to wait a bit at the fuel dock (for Vicky of course... she decided my car wasn't up to her cleanliness standards and took it to a car wash).  Then we headed out for a quick shakedown cruise.  

We spent a few hours putting Seas The Day through her paces.  Pulling out the mainsail and genoa, tacking, playing with the engine, etc.  Nothing fancy.  I doubt we ever got more than a couple miles away from Keyport #1

I was told that I'm too stern looking while coaching Mango on the helm.

Vicky was told that she really doesn't have to redo all the Velcro on the new life vests, that perhaps a better choice of sailing attire would be something other than a fine sweater.  (After suggesting that, I then waited while she finished making sure all the "hooks" on the Velcro were in the proper place.)

As we got back, Fei and Vicky picked up the stick and I gave a quick lesson on how to secure the pennants using the little blue lines attached to it.

Then (as always) sailing ends at the KYC bar where we had a couple of drinks before John joined us for some Keyport Fishery fare.  We didn't have any tools to use on the lobster, so Fei had to improvise...

So we're reasonably ready for a Friday trip to Liberty Landing.  Stay tuned...

Slowly She Awakes...

It's always fun to visit the boatyard in the spring as things slowly come to life.  Today John and I met at Seas The Day and checked out how she fared over the winter.  It always looks like there was an accident but that's because we leave all the compartments open so that air circulates and we avoid mold.  So here's what we found.

Everything looks in order... no sign of water infiltration or mold, so we set about removing the winter cover.

While I was waiting for John, I untied all the lines that go under the hull, letting them dangle from the Starboard rail. Then John wend around the edges and snipped off all the wire ties, we folded the cover segments, threw them overboard (onto the ground) and stuffed them in my Forrester.

It usually takes less than an hour.  That's the easy part and the only part we really do.  Next is to call Hans Pedersen & Sons and start writing checks.  They take great care of anything requiring actual knowledge.

So, a day on your boat - even if it's in the cradle - is better than a day off your boat!

The Cost of Owning a Boat - "Seas The Day" (Catalina 315) 4th Season Costs

(Image Credit:  Wealthmanagement.com)

I'm a little late for this post which I typically do at the end of the year, but since I'm starting to get bills for the upcoming season, I better get this update in.

First, some references to our First Year Costs, our 2nd Season Costs, and our 3rd Season Costs for those who want the full picture of the costs of owning and using a new 30ft sailboat.  This is going to be a simple and matter-of-fact post... read the earlier ones for more explanation.  Sorry if this is getting boring, but this is more about sharing numbers than riveting narrative.

Again, there are no "startup costs" so we have "Seasonal Costs" (the cost of owning the boat for a year) and "Excursion Costs" (an estimate of the cost of using the boat).


SEASONAL COSTS

- Mortgage was $12,000 (we round the mortgage payment up to $1000/month).
- Insurance was $1,263
- Maintenance was $2,346 (mostly cleaning, waxing, and bottom cleaning plus one repair)
- Mooring & Storage was $3,984 (Haul out, winterizing, new mooring, etc.)
- Safety equipment was $90 (I'm guessing we have most of the stuff now.)
- Accessories were $30 (ditto)
- Yacht Club expenses were $2,330 (dues, launch service, coupons, events, etc.)

That's a total of $22,121 (be nice... I'm rounding), which is a little more than last year.  We still don't have much in the way of maintenance other than cleaning.  I hope that keeps going for a bit longer.


EXCURSION COSTS

For excursion costs, I try to estimate the cost of the typical excursion be it a day out and back from the mooring in Keyport, or a longer endeavor.  I try to include actual marina costs, any special provisioning, a guess at fuel and any tips to the launch drivers.  We basically had two types of trips this year.

First is a 4 hour day on the water - starting and ending at Keyport, NJ.  A rough guess for this trip is about $40 it's really not that expensive beyond the cost of ownership.  Note that I do NOT count the costs of meals consumed on land in Keyport (or drinks at KYC).  We had 16 days like this for a total cost of about $640 (again, these are guesses) one more than last year.

The second type of trip was our seven day vacation on the Hudson River.  This was our second time doing something like this and yes, it was a bit expensive including marina costs, provisions and lots of eating in restaurants (we took a couple of day trips into NYC).  Unfortunately, I didn't record exact spending (it was vacation, after all), but my best guess is it was about a $2500 trip.


So all in all, it continues to average out to about $2K per month.


So what did we get for all this money?  A great week-long vacation, 23 days on the water total, and sharing sailing and Seas The Day with 14 people (not to mention friendships and great times at KYC, etc.). My knee issues that from last year were largely healed, but I did suffer a setback in October after the season, so we're still working on getting it back for this year.

Finally, some have asked "why post this?"  That continues to be a fair question and I do it each year because back when we were thinking about purchasing Seas The Day, there was little information about what it actually costs to own a new boat.  So I share this in that spirit.  Is this exhaustive?  Probably not... I'm sure I'm missing $20 spent at West Marine or at the fuel dock here and there, but I think I'm getting many of the costs.  So how would I gauge the costs of cruising on a new sailboat?  I'd look at the mortgage payment and double it.  It may not work in all cases - and it certainly depends on how you keep it, etc., - but it would get you close enough to ensure your budget can handle a new boat.  If you get a used boat and use it at KYC, my best guess is the minimum costs would be about $1k/month but of course, you'd have repairs as well.

I'll see you in the spring!

PS - I realized I forgot to post the traditional "hauling and covering" post.  I'll tell you it basically looked the same as other years.