Log 160; Day 440; August 4, 2009; Great Kills Yacht Club; Staten Island, NY

This is a cool shot of all the work boats in the habor at Manasquan Inlet

Here are a couple of pictures of the waves we saw as we were leaving the Manasquan Inlet on Monday morning
This is not fun to go out of an inlet when this is happening


This is an area in NJ they call the Highlands...it is on the very tip of NJ (Sandy Hook)...just before you enter the New York harbor area

This is our first look at Great Kills Harbor

Problem #1...how were we going to fit HQ on the same dock as this boat is sitting

Problem #1 solved...we just put our anchor "inches" from their back deck

Problem #2...we needed 50 amp power...they only had 30 amp, so it took us a while to solve this one

In this picture I have been working on power for over an hour, and I decide to tear the end of my new power cord off to see if something may be wrong. The guy on my left, did not know anything about electrical (according to him) but that did not keep him from telling me what I was doing wrong

With the power finally fixed...our neighbor on this boat came and sat on his back deck. We had a nice conversation...and then came problem #3

This is John...our host...and the guy who set up this slip for us. He is here to ask us what we told our boat neighbor, when he asked what yacht club we belong to. We told him we don't belong to any yacht club...big problem...without belonging to a yacht club, we should not be here

This is the piecefull scene I am seeing as I write this log this morning...and wondering if they'll kick us out today?

Log 160
Day 440
Tuesday, August 04, 2009

7:30 AM EDT
Location: Great Kills Yacht Club; Great Kills Harbor; Staten Island, NY
Weather: 71 degrees with calm winds...heading for 92 today

I’m looking out the boat this morning at a flat calm Great Kills Harbor. If you click (here) you can see on Google Maps exactly where we are. We are about 12 miles to the SW from downtown NYC. We are in an area called Raritan Bay, and just to the west of Sand Hook, NJ (which is a little island that is the northern most tip of NJ that is on the Atlantic Ocean). I have heard of Staten Island, NY, but I never knew where it was, and I never knew it was this big.

Getting here...from the Manasquan Inlet meant dealing with some fairly large (at least to us) rollers (big waves) the were coming out of the SSE. Getting out of the inlet itself was the toughest part, because these big waves were breaking at the inlet, and we had to go out for a ways, in order to make a turn to the north without getting “breeched” in one of these waves. Once we made the turn, it was not a big deal, but every now and then, a BIG roller would pick us up and turn us somewhat sideways. The good news was that our heading was 22 degrees, so the waves were mostly on our stern. Boats coming the other way were having an interesting time of it. Again...not dangerous...just not fun. For folks who boat in the Atlantic every day, this probably was a wonderful day. For us river boaters, it was just “not fun”.

Once we rounded Sandy Hook, the waves were almost zero, and it was beautiful. The only issue we had was an outgoing tide, and that slowed us down a bit, but we were in no hurry, so it was fine. From Sandy Hook to the Great Kills Harbor is about 10 miles, and it was FULL of boats of all shapes and sizes. Most of them were out fishing. It made me wonder what they were fishing for, and (later this week), if I should think about getting my license, and go out in the dinghy and join them.

Side note: We are going to Great Kills Yacht Club for a few reasons. 1...the price of Liberty Landing Marina (the best, and closest marina to NYC) is $4 @ foot, so we did not want to get to New York before we needed to. 2...Jeannie and Terry will arrive on Saturday afternoon, so we need to be at Liberty Landing when they arrive. 3...because the Atlantic will decide when you travel, I wanted to be close to NYC, so we could make the final few miles the day they arrive. 4...a fellow Looper (John...who made the loop in 2003) belongs to the Great Kills Yacht Club, and was so impressed how folks helped him when he made the loop, he talked his yacht club into offering Loopers $1 @ foot to stay at his yacht club. So...that is why we are here.

Once we arrived at Great Kills Yacht Club, the fun (not) began. The first issue we had is that we did not fit on the dock where they had planned to put us. There was another 45 foot boat here, and between the two of us, we stuck out on both ends of the dock. Something that John said would really upset the members of the yacht club. We tied, and re-tied, our boats to the point where they almost are touching, but, still they stick out. John asked me (if the world comes to an end) would I consider taking off my dinghy (which hangs off the back of our boat) and tying it along side my boat. I told him that we did not have bottom paint on our dingy, so I did not want to let it sit in the water for several days, and he understood, so he just said “well...if they get mad, they’ll just get mad”, and we left the boats where they were.

The next issue was power. We need 50 amp power for HQ, but he only had 30 amp at the dock (the first time we have had this issue on the entire trip). The good news was we have a “smart Y” power cord that converts 2 30 amp power outlets to the 50 amp power we need. So, there should not be a problem. But...when we hooked our cords up, we did not have the power we needed. The short version of the story is, it took 2 hours of sweating, and swearing, for us to figure out that our “smart Y” was not so smart. It made no sense, but for some reason, the smart y adaptor had gone bad. So after another while John found another one, and as soon as we hooked that one up...everything was back on track.

Issue 3, was a little more interesting. After all the work, I took a shower, and was relaxing on the back deck, when the guy who owns the boat next to us (a member of the yacht club) came on his boat and was enjoying some ice cream with his granddaughter. He seemed like a real nice guy, and we were having a short conversation back and forth while we both sat on our back decks. At one point during the conversation he asked us “so...what yacht club do you belong to” to which we said “none...we are traveling too much to belong to any club...and besides, we would not want to belong to any club who would have us as members”. We all laughed, and the conversation ended shortly after that. So...about 1 hour later, John comes back to our boat, and asks us “did that guy next door ask you if you were a member of a yacht club”? We said “yes” and then he asked “so what did you tell him” to which I told him exactly what I said. “That’s a problem” he said, “because the way I got this special rate set up for Loopers is that they must also belong to a yacht club, and I assumed you belonged to one”. Big problem. So...again, after a few tense moments, and me agreeing to leave if he wanted us to, John said “don’t worry about it...every club has a few folks who want to cause problems, and his problem is that you are blocking his view of the harbor, so any excuse he can find to not have someone in that slip is good by him”. He asked us (in every way possible) if we belonged to a yacht club; had “ever” belonged to a yacht club; or knew someone who could “say” we were a member of a yacht club. Bingo...option 3 was something we could think about. So...after some more conversation, John, again, said don’t worry, and left the boat. He called 30 minutes later to say “send me an email, saying you would like to come to our dock, and that you belong to the AGLCA, and what yacht club you are a member of...I’ll print that out, and have it just in case someone asks”. So I did...and we are now a member of Shoreline Yacht Club, but I did not list any town, so they will have trouble tracking it down. Also...I’m not sure one exists. There is a boat club in Ottawa, IL, that many of our friends and family belong to, called Shoreline Boat Club...by the way, no affiliation.

So, today, as I type this I am waiting for someone to knock on the boat and tell us to show proof of our yacht club affiliation...or leave. We’ll see what happens.

I’ll keep you posted.

Bob