Late this morning I jumped onto a Catalina 320 with a friend. She had
decided to take it a short distance, from Port Washington to Whitestone
for land storage.
Winds were around 17 knots. Not much wave action...just whitecaps and
chop. Then we turned under the Throgsneck and WOMP!!!
Wind was dead on the nose. We were fighting some current, but strong
currents start further up. At several points we were only making 1.5
knots at full throttle and when the wind shifted we heeled to 10
degrees. There was no boom on the boat, but the headsail was on the
furler. When spray hit my face it hurt. Later I heard it was blowing
past 30 knots for a while steady and gusted to near 40. Once we got
closer to the Whitestone bridge the funnel eased and we were making 3
knots against a very stiff wind. An hour earlier her friend had come
through on a Tartan 30 and experienced the same weather there.
It's a good thing I was wearing my way expensive foul weather jacket
that I'm SO proud of!



RB
35s5
NY