Ossining to Newburgh- Dodging Logs

In my previous post, I wrote about the starboard engine quitting just north of the George Washington Bridge.  I spent the next three hours changing filters and cracking bleed screws in the 110 degree engine room to no avail.   We limped into Westerly Marina in Ossining on the port engine and yesterday morning a young mechanic named Greg looked the situation over.  In no time, he discovered that the fuel tank pick up tube for the starboard engine was above the fuel level in the tank.  He bent it down and the problem was solved.  I marked my fuel tank dip stick at that level and marked it "empty" so that I'll know when I'm getting critically low.  Greg also opened and closed the gate valve that opens and closes the pipe between the two tanks.   I think what I'll do the next time I get diesel is to fill the tanks and then close the valve, keeping the aft tank as a reserve.

We left Ossining about 3:30 yesterday after taking on 200 gallons of fuel. Heading north up the Hudson, the only marina that could accomodate a boat our size would be in Newburgh (besides Haverstraw which was only five miles above Ossining).  We had three hours of daylight left, and about a half hour of twilight to make the 25 mile trip so we revved the Ford Lehmans up to 1800 RPM to beat feet.  

As we pulled out of Ossining, we saw the Java Sea, a tug that passed us in the East River.

Check out these fenders!

The Java Sea was going the exact same speed as Drift Away, so I kicked the RPMs up to 2000 to get by her.   It took forever but we finally did.  

The Bear Mountain Bridge is always a beautiful sight to see, except for all the debris in the river this trip.

The Java Sea was now about a half a mile behind us.   As we rounded a sharp bend in the river, we saw this coming our way.   Pam headed for the east side of the channel.   This barge and the Java Sea would meet at the bend.

The two tugs met at the bend and there was much revving of engines and each turning hard to starboard.   I can only imagine the language in the pilot houses.   Dang it!  Cripe!  Stuff like that.

Pam is doing a great job dodging all but the smallest stuff.  The debris fields come in big ribbons. I think what happens is that the debris winds up on the banks when the tide drops, and when the tide rises it all floats off at the same time. Pam basically runs parallel to each debris field, looks for an opening between logs, and then cuts through.  There are also numerous stray logs to avoid.

The light was fading fast, but the scenery was beautiful.

The last five miles was tough because of the fading light.  You can almost see Newburgh five miles in the distance in the above pic.  The island in the middle of the channel is Pollepel Island, home of Bannerman Castle.  It has an interesting history which you can read about at this link- http://www.bannermancastle.org/history.html

The last few miles in twilight made it difficult to see the flotsam.   We arrived in total darkness with logs floating all around the marina. I used reflections from lights at the marina and the restaurant next door to see the bigger logs. I went in dead slow pushing the flotsam aside and shifting into neutral when I figured the bigger stuff was close to the props.  With an audience at Billy Joe's Ribworks watching, we went in right towards the restaurant, executed a 180 degree turn (port engine forward, starboard engine reverse, full right rudder), and made a perfect Captain Ron landing at the dock.

We leave today for our first leisurely cruise, going as far as we can go before stopping for the night.   We're now awaiting the pea soup fog to lift so we can get underway.  We could leave now and use the chartplotter with radar overlay to find our way, but we'd miss the scenery.   Where we wind up today isn't that important.  Pam's father, Ted, will drive down to meet us where ever we wind up, and tomorrow Pam will drive north for a couple of appointments and Ted will crew on the final leg to Castleton, and Pam will meet us there tomorrow night.