In article 0dd8221a-8021-4784-819f-36b3b222c166@
17g2000prr.googlegroups.com, says...

On Jun 10, 10:37*am, Wayne B wrote:
On Thu, 9 Jun 2011 18:39:38 -0700 (PDT), Hoges in WA





wrote:
On Jun 9, 5:25 am, Wayne B wrote:
For about 3 or 4 months of the year some of the finest cruising and
boating to be found anywhere is in the north eastern United States:
Southern New York state; parts of the New Jersey shore; Connecticut;
Rhode Island; Massachusetts and Maine. We've brought the trawler
north from Florida for the summer with the plan of revisiting some of
our old favorite places here and perhaps finding some new ones.

For the last two days we've been anchored near the north end of City
Island, literally within a few hundred yards of where I purchased my
first real sailboat in the fall of 1971. City Island is an
interesting place. It is within the far north eastern limits of New
York City but has an ambience more reminiscent of New England. At one
time it was a major boat building center. As recently as the late
1970s it was possible to drive down the main street and observe large
sailing yachts under construction. There are also a large number of
sea food restaurants, some of which come and go, and some that have
been around for a lifetime. A restaurant called the Lobster Box has
been here just about forever and their menu offers lobster served in
23 different ways. Plan to arrive early on Friday and Saturday nights.
A lot of the old shipyards have been replaced by condo developments
but there are still large marinas and yacht clubs on both sides of the
island. Literally hundreds of boats are moored nearby and there is a
lot of water activity, even on week days.

Where we are anchored is particularly scenic, literally surrounded by
little rocky out croppings, tree covered islands and fine homes on the
distant hazy shoreline of Westchester County. It would be easy to
spend an entire summer in this one place but we'll be moving farther
east soon. Long Island Sound beckons with fine harbors on both the NY
and Connecticut shores. We spent many years living near the Sound in
the New Rochelle and Larchmont areas, both beautiful shore side
communities. Our boats were moored a few miles east in Stamford, CT
which is a major center of sail boat racing in Western LIS. It was a
good place to spend our working and child raising years offering easy
access to the water, good schools and a relatively easy commute into
New York City.

Moving east beyond Long Island Sound are other major boating venues:
Newport, Rhode Island; Block Island; Marthas Vineyard; Nantucket; Cape
Cod; Buzzards Bay; the Elizabeth Islands and more. Much more, too
much to discuss today but I'll post some updates from time to time as
we move east over the summer.

Anyone interested in following along can see our current location and
where we've been recently:

http://tinyurl.com/waynebspottrack

Thought you might call in to Annapolis on the way? *Apart from the
heat, it's been nice out on the water the past few days.

We had originally planned a stop in Annaplolis but about half way up
the bay my wife decided that she really wanted to be in NY, so that of
course is what we did.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

As you do.
We're off to have a look at a boat today. Looks to be very
promising. Will let you know if it progresses to purchase.

Yeah Wayne, that tracker is pretty cool.. I was just looking at maps of
NYC a year or so back wondering if you could cut right through. I
thought I heard years ago (probably around 9/11, that the routes through
were closed.

Are there any locks or gates to go through as you enter LIS?

--
Team Rowdy Mouse, Banned from the Mall for life!

In article ,
says...

In article ,
says...
In article 0dd8221a-8021-4784-819f-36b3b222c166@
17g2000prr.googlegroups.com, says...


Yeah Wayne, that tracker is pretty cool.. I was just looking at maps of
NYC a year or so back wondering if you could cut right through. I
thought I heard years ago (probably around 9/11, that the routes through
were closed.

Are there any locks or gates to go through as you enter LIS?

If I read you correctly, it's a straight shot from The Narrows opposite Sandy
Hook to City Island via New York Harbor and the East River. No locks or low
bridges or gates. Stay to the west of Roosevelt Avenue and choose your time to
ride the flood up the river through Hellgate. Hang a right at Flushing Bay and
take a slip at World's Fair Marina hard by the Citi Field baseball stadium and
the No. 7 subway line direct to Times Square. The marina monitors VHF 71.

The passage was limited but not closed long after 9/11. You had to leave
Roosevelt Island to the east through a low-span drawbridge.

Cool... It's been a lifelong dream to make a trip down the CT River and
down to the city. Unfortunately right now I only have a 16 foot work
skiff so it may be a while before I ever make that trip

--
Team Rowdy Mouse, Banned from the Mall for life!

In article ,
says...

Nice comments. But you forgot to mention the beautiful vista of Co-op
City and the huge landfill in front of it and the ever noisy police
firing range close by and Boom Box City aka Johnny's Reef at the end of
the island.

He probably wanted to keep all the fun to himself... Somehow you can
remove yourself from all that when you are in a boat from my limited
experience.

--
Team Rowdy Mouse, Banned from the Mall for life!

On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 09:49:32 -0400, Gogarty
wrote:

Nice comments. But you forgot to mention the beautiful vista of Co-op
City and the huge landfill in front of it and the ever noisy police
firing range close by and Boom Box City aka Johnny's Reef at the end of
the island.

We were anchored far enough north from Johnny's Reef that it didn't
bother us. The NYPD firing range at Rodman's Neck is very much a
part of the City Island experience however, as are the low flying jets
on final approach to Laguardia Airport. The firing range would start
to warm up in late afternoon and sounded like strings of Chinese
firecrackers going off in the distance. On some days very late in the
afternoon, they would practice with automatic weapons and you'd hear
entire clips of ammo going off within a few seconds.

On Sun, 12 Jun 2011 13:57:31 -0400, Gogarty
wrote:

Steve Colegate's Offfshore Sailing School used to be located on City
Island but they moved to New Jersey under the Colgate clock. They now use
a boat designed as the Colgate something but originally used Solings. This
is akin to learning to drive in a Ferrari. Sent my wife there second year
we had our boat. First week in April, it was. Brutal. Great for learing.
The most important fact she learned was that her husband sometimes knows
what he is talking about.

Yes, we are somewhat familiar with the history of Offshore Sailing
School. In August 1971 we took our first real vacation together and
went to the OSS at Edgartown, Marthas Vineyard where they were
teaching in Solings. At that time Steve and Doris were operating out
of Manhattan and we were living on West 85th just off Riverside Drive.
We used to see them at the New York Boat Show and they advertised
heavily in the sailing magazines.

About a month after getting back from the Vineyard we took a ride out
to City Island one weekend for no particular reason other than it
looked interesting on the map. Along the way we ran across an
operation on the north end of CI run by a fellow named Bob Taylor.
Bob had suposedly been partners with Steve in the early days of OSS,
or so the story goes. At any rate they had parted ways and Bob
renamed his operation on City Island to Offshore Yacht Club or some
such. He had a brand new Abbott Soling sitting on a trailer in the
driveway so we stopped in to take a look having enjoyed sailing them
at the Vineyard. One thing led to another and Taylor ended up
offering to sell us the Soling for $100 over factory invoice and let
us have the use of a mooring for the rest of the season.

The Colgates now live in Ft Myers, Florida not too far from us and
have their headquarters there. One of our fellow club members in Ft
Myers works for them as a part time instructor at their Ft Myers Beach
school.