New York

We set off from Atlantic Highlands just after 12:30 in a light rain. As we neared Lower Bay we could only see half the bridge as the middle part of it was covered in cloud. There were boats, container ships, ferries and sailing boats going in all directions down the river.

Eventually, we could see The Statue of Liberty through the mist. Amazing sight. I stood at the mast and watched as we got closer and closer to Liberty Island as Lady Liberty emerged through the mist.

We dropped anchor just to the right of her and watched the various boats go by as we rocked non too gently from side to side.

The night sky was lovely with the statue lit up and the backdrop of the NY skyline behind her.

We were not planning to go ashore for a couple of reasons. There are very few places to leave a dinghy and the one we did hear about costs $50 a day! Too much money for us. We had also been to New York in 2023 just before heading back to the boat in Trinidad. We spent the following day, Sunday on the boat, watching the various boats go past. 

We needed to ensure that we had the current in our favour to make the sail up to Port Washington. This meant we had to wait until 2:30pm before we could up anchor and leave this rolly but iconic anchorage. The current could get up to 6 knots or more and we didn't want to have to fight that going up the river. 

Bright sun! No caps

There was a Sail GP race happening in the bay. The race was only due to start at 15:30 but they had already set up bouys for an exclusion zone by the time we upped anchor. We needed to get across to the East River and Andrew decided to cut a corner. Next thing we had a dinghy next to us with a guy yelling at us to get out the exclusion zone. He told us to go faster but Andrew said this was as fast as we could go. “That’s unfortunate!” The guy mumbled.

Once we were in the East river we noticed the current helping us along. It was lovely to sail that way past New York.

Speed: top left

We got to Hell Gate and noticed a choppiness in the water but managed to get past it without too much trouble. We had read that it could be troublesome if the current was going in the wrong direction.

We continued up the river, passing Riker’s island which is a prison, and Le Guardia Airport. A few planes came over us landing. And as soon as that plane had landed there was on in the distance taking off. It was like a procession in Adderly Street! 

After a few hours we turned into the bay to Port Washington. We had a couple of other boats with us, who veered off to pick up a ball. We didn’t want to spend the money so anchored behind the mooring balls.

In the next episode we spend a few days in Port Washington!