Half Moon Bay Revisited

PM's Perspective

Velomer rests at the outer dock at Half Moon Bay Marina in Croton-on-Hudson after a week's journey from Lake Champlain.  Our longest travel day extended 63 miles and 8.5 hours from 10:30 AM when we left Shady Harbor Marina in New Baltimore to 7:00 PM when we arrived at Riverfront Marina in Newbourgh.   The day was long, the weather quite variable (very strong winds from about 3 to 4 PM), and the water choppy.  We were fortunate to have the tide going with us for the bulk of our day.  Both of us agree that we just are not the long travel day type of boaters.  A 5-6 hour day is much more to our liking getting safely anchored, moored or docked well before 4 PM.  Our travel south on the Hudson River was a bit more hurried than our journey north as we wanted to get to NYC in time to cross paths with our son and his beloved while they are in town for a wedding.  However, the southerly journey was no less intriguing.  Two themes have emerged as we visit this area -- transportation and his-story.

Hudson River lighthouse

Before the automobile and the Eisenhower era interstate highway system, before the railroad and air travel, there was the waterway system.  This was the means by which people, raw materials, foodstuffs, manufactured goods, and even information moved from one place to another.  The Hudson River, canals and Lake Champlain were integral elements of this system.  Much of the evidence lies in ruins along the shore and even submerged in the water.  The skeletons of former mills, brick factories, and long abandoned stone warehouses hide behind the now mature trees that saw their infancy in the cracks of the mortar, their roots slowly chiseling away at the glue that held the building materials together.  The wrecks of barges and steamboats most assuredly litter the bottom, but the only real evidence of these are broken circles on the navigation chart labeled "snag" when in less than 20 feet of water.  The bonafide evidence is the surviving lighthouses scattered along the route warning mariners of impending danger posed by shallow water, jagged rocks.  The saddest reminder of the past glory of the waterway transportation system are the tired towns with more vacant than occupied storefronts, neglected buildings with weeds taking hold in the seams along the roof line, once filled parking lots slowly making the transition to open field with each passing season.  Even the citizens of the town seem tired in their demeanor, by the way they walk down the street, how they sit at the lunch counter.  Are they resigned, defeated?  Do they have no other place to go?  I just read above and decided I've been reading too many Toni Morrison novels!

Fort Ticonderoga from Champlain Canal

Now for the second theme -- his-story.  The Hudson River has West Point, that bastion of military greatness. Whitehall at the northern tip of the Champlain Canal is the birthplace of the US Navy.  Lake Champlain has Fort Ticonderoga and Valcour Island where Benedict Arnold with 2,000 troops fought the British with the first American naval fleet of 12 ships.  He lost the battle but he delayed the British army's move to New York City by a year -- a maneuver credited with turning the tide in the American Revolution.  The Erie Canal has Fort Stanwyck in Rome.  The Champlain Canal has Saratoga Battlefield, Fort Ann and Fort Edwards.  Notice a common thread here?  Western Civilization has a way of remembering its past, of telling its story through conflict, military action, struggle, triumph.  That's not the whole story at all.  What's missing here is her-story and their-story.  How were the troops supported?  How did they get their supplies?  What did they eat?  Who was back at the farm taking care of the crops, children, farm animals?  Who was running the businesses?  What were the Indians doing during that time?  Who were the soldiers and where did they come from?  What did they do before becoming involved in conflict?  What did they do after?  But all we have are forts and plaques on fields telling of conflict, of battles won and battles lost.  Maybe its time to expand some of our history to tell the full story.


Bob's View:

Now we are back in familiar waters and it feels like this summer cruise has few adventures left to gather. Tuesday morning we depart Half Moon Bay Marina, really a great place despite the scatter brainedness of the manager due to a new baby in his life.  We have been waiting here over the Labor Day weekend to avoid the crazies on the Hudson River getting in their last hurrah before the simmer's end.  So far we have not seen too much of that.  Last evening three Donzis raced down the river at twilight at close to 80 knts.  I was wondering what we would hear if one of them ran into one of the many deadheads we have seen on the river.  All we heard though was the high number of decibels these craft seem to revel in producing.  What I cannot understand is the headset of a boat owner who gets thrills from going that fast and being that loud on the water for the exorbitant cost in fuel and ownership.  I am sure the insurance on the craft is in at rarefied level too. Admittedly, the 26' Boston Whaler, UXOR MARIS, we used to own did 40 knts but that speed was rarely attained on the ocean.  Swells and chop made travel at more than 20 knts too dangerous.

VELOMER has enjoyed a stately speed of 7-8 knts this trip and while we take longer to get places than just about any other craft we have seen, I think the world is much more enjoyable at this pace.  It is all about the journey, unlike the attitude most people seem to have on boats where they act out the pace of land life, going really fast to get somewhere else.  Some aspects of human behavior defy my understanding. I suppose that the pace we go allows for a great number of hours of reflection and that is not comfortable for most.  This trip has been something like a summer's long therapy session.  We feel better each day about ourselves as we gain new skills and confidence managing VELOMER and meeting the unusual challenges of a boating life. We have increased clarity of purpose, we have lessened angst in general and specifically regarding former work issues and have made this time of passage along the waterways of the past a time for renewed love, respect and care for each other in the present.   And all this for the price of fuel, less than $5/hour: a real bargain for psychotherapy.

Tuesday will see us back at Liberty Landing Marina across from Manhattan and Wednesday we cross into Long Island Sound through Hells Gate.  Reading the tide and current tables in our 2013 edition of Eldridge, high tide at the Battery (the southern tip of Manhattan) is at 8:18 AM and low tide at 2:24 PM.  New York Bay current schematics indicate a 1.3 knt flow against our direction of travel north and east on the East River, increasing to over 5 knts 5 hours after high water.  So at 1:18 PM we would need to go at full speed of 8 knts bucking the current and waves to achieve a 2 knt progress up the river.  Friday afternoon while on a walk with Phil in New York, we witnessed the enormous waves set up by the afternoon ferries on the East River going against the water flow so we would be nuts to plan an encounter with those conditions.

This would not be our first choice.  So we could wait until 2 hours after low water at the Battery, 4:24PM, when the current will favor us with a 1.3 knt lift through the narrowest portion of the East River beyond the north end of Roosevelt Island and between Hallets Point in Astoria, Queens, and the southern point of Wards Island.  A departure from Liberty Landing at 3:30 PM would provide us with a favorable current into Long Island Sound.  Alternately we could depart at High Water at the Battery which timing would place us into Hells Gate around an hour later when the current is still 2 knts in our favor.  Given our desire to enjoy the trip and arrive at our destination in time for a nap in the afternoon, we will likely depart at the earlier time.

The happy couple!

Our stay here in Croton has allowed us time for a visit with Bob and Essie Schlegel at Bob's favorite restaurant in New York.  We enjoyed tapas and a really delicious Cava followed by several more bottles of equally fine white wine, a few more bottles than PM and I are used to consuming, but it was a memorable and joyous occasion.  Dinner with Bettina and her parents and Phil was the first time we have all been together since the young couple announced their desire to wed next October at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, still a year away.  The conversation was lively, the wine was flowing and the food delectable.  All in it was all one of the highlights of our summer.  Bob mentioned, and PM and I would certainly agree, we have all become a larger family with this marriage.  I trust we will enjoy many years of this as we all live our interesting lives in Colorado, New York, California and wherever the winds of time take us all.