Great post. What kind of boat?
Mike

"SkitchNYC" wrote in message
...
Departed Saturday, 0900 Bay Head, NJ, arrived Monday 1530 Sag Harbor, NY.

After the canal and rivers and bridges, got into the Atlantic at 1000.
Debated
the offshore or LIS route, and chose LIS based on iffy forecasted
conditions.
Had a beautiful sail up the NJ coast Saturday and into Raritan Bay. In
squally
conditions with the ebb making progress difficult, we entered Fresh Kills
harbor on Staten Island. This is a hidden gem of a safe harbor just
outside
the Narrows. Just stay in the channel on the way in as it shoals from 10'
to
3' in a heartbeat and is poorly bouyed. A friendly local club (Richmond
County
YC) gave us a mooring for the night and capt and crew (younger brother)
had a
steak dinner and a good rest. Up at sunup and into the bay to make the
last
hour of the ebb current at the Narrows. Overcast and rainy, there were no
other pleasure boats out and we had the harbor to ourselves as the work
boats
were idly anchored. Pretty odd to see NY so still. Got the current our
way at
the bottom of Governor's island and rode it up the East River through Hell
Gate
and into the sound lickety split. We had the current for the first part
of the
sound, although the wind was on the nose. A million boats were out in
Boobs'
neighborhood, but we did not stop in to gawk at Alien's ladder and
thimbles as
we were already behind.

A little further on the crew notices a large amount of diesel fuel in the
pan
below the diesel. Worried like ****, we pulled into Manhasset bay as the
cruising guide says all sorts of services are available. Well, it was
pretty
slim pickins. We filled up on fuel, because we are basically a slow
powerboat
with our schedule and the wind on the nose. Filled up and went to work on
the
engine. We noticed that the fuel was spurting from the secondary filter
bleed
screw, and after tightening it down the leak (and my panic) stopped. Must
have
left if too loose after replacing the filter. Anyway, after a 2 hour stop
we
were back into the sound and motoring.

Several hours later the wind turns somewhat fair and we give the motor a
rest
and have a beautiful sail until a nasty thunderstorm crept up on me. Crew
was
asleep at the time and I was enjoying a peaceful sail until the sun behind
me
went out. I turned to see the sky one giant black cloud rolling on top
with
long fingers reaching down below it. Lightening was flashing out of it.
I
turned on NOAA and they were all a flutter about marine warnings and flash
floods. So we turned into Oyster Bay to wait it out and made it in on its
fresh winds with the engine ticking just in case and a reef in each sail,
doing
8-9 kn. Just as the real rain starts we grabbed a mooring at the Oyster
Bay
yacht club, but wouldn't you know it the mooring's boat came back and in
the
maelstrom screamed at us to leave. So we moved over one mooring. Some
people
are just too uncool.

Waited a couple of hours to let the storm blow over and have dinner,
before
taking off again at 2000 to make way up the sound. Not another boat was
out
and we had a beautiful moon filled night with 15-20 kn of fair wind making
good
time direct for the eastern end. Saw a couple tows but no one else until
sunrise when the wind fell and shifted East. Eventually we turned the
motor on
to make Plum Gut before the current got too bad and motorsailed into
Gardiners
Bay on a beautiful day. Ghosted down to Sag Harbor and picked up our
mooring
at the boat's new home inside the breakwater with the wife waiting on the
dock.
Looking forward to exploring these waters.

Sk