Association Forum - Moving up the river for Winter

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Moving up the river for Winter

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

Page: of 2

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

Member Avatar

USA
5362 Posts

Initially Posted - 10/26/2011 : 18:43:07

This weekend I must vacate my mooring and head upriver about 14 miles.
I must get a drawbridge opening which may take an act of god. I must call ahead a day in advance, then wait an hour once I get there. On demand it's not!

The tides will be favorable midday but the weather isn't looking too good. Friday will be sunny and windy (15-20) at 48 deg. Sat will be rainy, windy and raw. Sunday looks to be a carbon copy of Friday.
I guess I'll be wearing my woolies on Sunday and make my way. If I miss Sunday I'll have to move on Monday.
Any advice for me?

Bruce Ross
Passage ~ SR-FK ~ C25 #5032

Port Captain � Milford, CT

Edited by - on

JimGo
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
962 Posts

Response Posted - 10/27/2011 : 06:20:22

Stay warm.

Edited by - on

OJ
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
4382 Posts

Response Posted - 10/27/2011 : 07:01:58

How 'bout doin' the bag thing

http://www.wimp.com/mastbridge/

Dress in layers and good luck!

Edited by - on

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
9076 Posts

Response Posted - 10/27/2011 : 07:44:50

14 miles? Up the Housatonic? To where--Derby? Is that even 14 miles? You can't get past there unless you can climb a dam. Just curious--Monroe used to be my old stomping grounds.

Can you get under whatever that bridge is with your mast down?

Edited by - Stinkpotter on 10/27/2011 07:45:32

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
9076 Posts

Response Posted - 10/30/2011 : 19:38:23

How's it going? The weekend obviously turned out worse than generally predicted...

Edited by - Stinkpotter on 10/30/2011 19:39:00

bigelowp
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1773 Posts

Response Posted - 10/31/2011 : 11:17:32

Bruce -- hope you made it, while the snow held off till after noon it sure was blowing in the morning.

I got lucky -- every year I leave the instruction not to shrink wrap my boat until I give the OK, so Limerick was hauled early this week and on Sat I went looking for it -- nowhere to be found. Walked past just about all of the @75 boats on the hard and still could not find it, until, right in front of the yard office I noticed the ONLY boat that had been shrink wrapped, and it was mine! When I asked the yard office they were dumbfounded as the work ticket clearly said to "remove engine and wait until instruction from owner" So I missed all this weekend's snow/rain, they will cut the shrink wrap, remove the engine, re shrink-wrap and throw in a free door for me to boot.

Edited by - on

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
9076 Posts

Response Posted - 10/31/2011 : 12:46:31

Last year the marina shrank mine with the batteries still aboard and hooked up--had to cut and paste. (No free door, but I was done inside.) Peter--good thing they didn't shrink yours when it was full of slush!

Edited by - on

islander
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
4021 Posts

Response Posted - 10/31/2011 : 13:25:35

So what happened Bruce? We all know what Saturday was like and Sunday when I went down to the boat the Sound looked like a washing machine with small craft warnings up, I really hope you didn't try to make the trip.

Edited by - on

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
5362 Posts

Response Posted - 11/01/2011 : 20:51:38

Wow, I guess I was busy this week! So I looked hard at the weather report on Thursday and made my decision to move it out on Friday. Weather was fair, winds were 10-15, temps in the low 50s. I donned my underarmor teeshirt and leggings, cotton over the top, with a wool sweater over that, topped off with a nylon windbreaker. Below I wore my nylon slacks, two pairs of thermal socks and my docksiders. Had a spare jacket (which I did not need) and a wool cap. I have a nice pair of fleece gloves. Was toasty all around.

Called my manager and my Project Manager Thursday afternoon and told them I'd be available in the morning, but would be out and about "running errands" on Friday afternoon - I had to take 1/2 a vacation day.

Friday morning, I finished my last conference call parked at the marina, laptop in hand at 12 noon. Right afterwards, I stowed my PC and work stuff in the trunk and headed out to Passage in the harbor. I tied up the dinghy to the stern, collected my dock fenders and motored out of the harbor about 1 hour prior to high tide.

From Milford to the mouth of the Housatonic is about 4 nm which took about an hour motorsailing, then up to the US Route 1 bridge is about 3 nm from LI Sound. By this time, the tide was turning and I was motoring against the tide. I had called ahead day before to arrange a 2pm bridge opening and there was another local guy there who was waiting for me. We got an instant opening of the Route 1 bridge, then onto the Amtrak-New Haven RR bridge.

So after all the rushing, here we were at 2PM waiting for the RR bridge tender to open the bridge. That section of the track is very busy with mainline trains to and from NYC, local line trains going to Waterbury and Amtrak trains between Boston and Washington DC. We waited there for about an hour - they must have let 10 trains go by every so often, then they called us on VHF Ch 13. "You guys ready?" OF COURSE WE WERE!

It takes three track workers to pull pins in the bridge (there are two sections) and to raise them both up. It's an awesome sight. We made it through the bridge, then there was another 4 miles up to the Merritt Parkway bridge by the Sikorsky Aircraft plant in Stratford. Another three miles upriver is the marina (hence 14 miles).

I was glad to get out on Friday, as Saturday was a huge mess, and Sunday was about 10 degrees colder and a lot windier than Friday. I took plenty of pictures along the way, and will post them here soon.

I am so going to miss sailing from here on out 'til May 1. I really wish I had more time to sail the Sound this summer, but with the new job and all, no time...

Well, as they say in Chicago about the Cubs, "there's always next year!" [God willing!]

Edited by - on

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
9076 Posts

Response Posted - 11/01/2011 : 21:30:47

Yup--"next year"... (I grew up outside of Chicago and have always been a Cubs fan.)

I'll take Sarge to a marina down-river some time next week to be hauled. The highway and Amtrak bridges here require a little less coordination (until December 1, when the highway bridge totally closes for maintenance). So my trip should be less interesting--although still more scenic.

Edited by - Stinkpotter on 11/01/2011 21:32:17

bigelowp
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1773 Posts

Response Posted - 11/02/2011 : 05:10:01

Bruce -- where "up-river" was the destination? I believe Brewers is south of at least one of the bridges but would doubt you would end their. The Housatonic is known for having rough current. Thirty years ago (jeez, aging myself here) I worked with a guy who owned a C25 and kept it at a marina on the Housatonic. He had been a lake sailor in MN and when talking about the current everyone just said "it's not that bad he's just a lake sailor" - until he invited one on a sail and it took them an hour to go 1/2 mile against the current under power! I bet your wait at the bridge seemed like an eternity that could be moving backwards!

Edited by - on

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
9076 Posts

Response Posted - 11/02/2011 : 06:41:00

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by bigelowp
 Bruce -- where "up-river" was the destination? I believe Brewers is south of at least one of the bridges but would doubt you would end their. The Housatonic is known for having rough current. Thirty years ago (jeez, aging myself here) I worked with a guy who owned a C25 and kept it at a marina on the Housatonic. He had been a lake sailor in MN and when talking about the current everyone just said "it's not that bad he's just a lake sailor" - until he invited one on a sail and it took them an hour to go 1/2 mile against the current under power! I bet your wait at the bridge seemed like an eternity that could be moving backwards!<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">I'm guessing he went up to a marina just south of Shelton. That's quite a trip.

Edited by - on

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
5362 Posts

Response Posted - 11/02/2011 : 10:06:29

I store Passage over the winter at Beacon Point Marina (BPM) in Shelton. It is associated with the Old Greenwich marina of the same name, but not directly on the $$ Gold Coast $$, so the cost is quite reasonable. Brewer's is approx 2X the price of BPM. Coords are: N 41º 16.124 W 073º 05.436. You can see it on NOAA's GeoGarage at: http://marine.geogarage.com/routes (you'll need to zoom in on SW Connecticut, city of Shelton).
The marina is located on the Housatonic River north of I-95 and the Merritt Parkway (Connecticut Route 15) and Sikorsky Aircraft. It's about 10 minutes from my house.

Regarding river currents - I used to dock at Brewer's Stratford Marina on the Housatonic. Getting in and out of the slip was always an adventure!

Current frequently exceed 1.5 knots (according to NOAA's Tides & Currents), but in reality, I've read 3-4 knot currents in various pinch points on the river where it narrowed or turned around a bend.

I compared my paddle wheel-based speed (through the water) of say 5 knots with the engine maxed out and check against my GPS speed over ground at 1.0 - 1.5 knots. There have been times when certain buoys would be completely submerged and more than once, I've had to warn other boaters off these hidden dangers. Reported them to the USCG who would then report it on VHF Ch 16.

As we were waiting for our bridge opening last Friday, the river current was maxing out at the I-95 bridge. The new moon created a high tide about 1.0-1.5 ft above average. To maintain position, I kept the engine running at a high idle with the prop engaged, continually steering.

At one point, the other sailor felt the call to nature and had to go below for relief. His boat started out pointing upriver but soon swung in my direction. I had to take evasive action to avoid a collision. I gave him some good-natured heck about it later on.

I reckon that if I can handle Passage in close quarters under those conditions, I'm satisfied that I'm ready to handle a variety of docking situations. Lake boaters deal with shifting winds, but wind and current can make maneuvers quite dicey! Keeps things interesting.

Edited by - on

redeye
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

3476 Posts

Response Posted - 11/02/2011 : 11:45:05

Nothing on the bridge to tie up to? Nowhere to tie up? Wow.. that is surprising...Next year drive up in the car and drop a line with a buoy from that bridge. Just watch out for the trains! Could possibly drop a coupla cement blocks as a sacrificial anchor.

Yes I know... hairbrained...but seems like there would be some solution out there...

Edited by - on

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
9076 Posts

Response Posted - 11/02/2011 : 14:26:56

Ya, that's the marina I was thinking of. When you first said 14 miles upriver, I wondered where you could be going--but you actually meant 14 miles including getting to the river. That's more reasonable.

I'm surprised you only got 5 knots through the water with the engine "maxed out"--I used to cruise at about 5.5 at something like 2/3 throttle. At WOT, I would guess it would end up a little short of the 6.3 hull speed because above about 3/4 the stern squats and she starts drawing a big stern wave. I don't think I ever ran that engine at WOT.

Edited by - Stinkpotter on 11/02/2011 14:28:10

JimGo
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
962 Posts

Response Posted - 11/02/2011 : 15:14:18

Bruce,
What size engine do you have?

Edited by - on

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
5362 Posts

Response Posted - 11/02/2011 : 16:52:32

Ok, I just uploaded my trip photos to my Flickr account, and while I could have posted the all here, instead, this is the URL for the folder. This includes 21 still photos of my day's journey, plus a video I doctored up showing the railroad drawbridge going up.
Please see this link: [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bruce2sail/sets/72157627914605309/"]My Flickr Set[/url]

Edited by - Voyager on 11/02/2011 17:01:50

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
5362 Posts

Response Posted - 11/02/2011 : 16:58:33

Jim
She's a Honda 8 HP engine. She's got enough HP to push her at Hull Speed plus a little bit.
Or let me say it another way: I can get to hull speed, then push the engine a little harder, which only raises the bow a little, but lets me burn a whole lot of gas in a hurry. I can tell by the sound of the engine when I'm at max through-water speed, so its pointless to push beyond that point.

Now in big currents, doesn't matter what I do with the engine - my max speed over ground will be the vector sum of boat speed through water plus current speed (with a coefficient of friction from windage). So if I have a helpful current I go fast and a counter current I go slow.

So far, I've never been in a current that has pushed me in reverse in this boat. In my 16 footer with a British Seagull engine, I wasn't that lucky, so I just landed the boat on shore till the current eventually settled down.

Edited by - on

bigelowp
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1773 Posts

Response Posted - 11/02/2011 : 19:08:01

you learn something new every day. I have crossed the Housetonic for decades on the Merrit and have never seen a sailboat -- or large power boat on that stretch of the river -- and to think their is a yard that far North of Sikorski

Edited by - bigelowp on 11/02/2011 19:09:33

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
5362 Posts

Response Posted - 11/02/2011 : 20:25:30

Pete,
There are two marinas.
For obvious reasons you won't see many sailors except on the shoulders of the season in transit.
You will see a lot of anglers and pleasure boaters however.
And on long summer weekends you can't get a boat anywhere near Wooster Island. They usually camp out over the Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day weekends out there.

Next May 5, if you're available, you can accompany me heading downriver if you like.

Edited by - on

JimGo
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
962 Posts

Response Posted - 11/03/2011 : 06:07:06

Bruce,
The video only confused me more (if that's possible). Why did only one of the two train bridges open?

It looks like you had a nice trip! Glad the weather was decent for you.

Edited by - on

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
9076 Posts

Response Posted - 11/03/2011 : 06:33:12

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by JimGo
 ...Why did only one of the two train bridges open?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">If you look closely at the very end, the other RR bridge is just starting to lift. Maybe it takes too much juice to lift them together.

Nice pix, Bruce--lotsa familiar scenes there. Any Sky Crane takeoffs or landings at the Sikorsky plant?

Edited by - on

JimGo
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
962 Posts

Response Posted - 11/03/2011 : 06:52:21

Thanks Dave. Clearly I didn't watch it close enough!

Edited by - on

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
5362 Posts

Response Posted - 11/03/2011 : 15:26:09

Jim,
Dave's explanation is correct, they open one at a time. I've re-edited the video starting when the second section of the bridge begins to lift and me passing underneath.

Dave,
While we get copters flying over the house frequently, as I was passing Sikorsky there was a sign along the river showing a camera with a circle around it and a diagonal line through it. I assume the company and the DOD does not allow photos. We see plenty of them flying over at the Marina as well. Lots of Blackhawks around.

Edited by - on

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
9076 Posts

Response Posted - 11/03/2011 : 20:38:18

Living nearby in Monroe, we saw lots of that activity, including filming sessions overhead. On the Thames River here in Groton/New London, the sub base and Electric Boat plant (building and maintaining subs) are very sensitive about boats with people showing too much interest in their activities. I suspect showing a camera would invite a stern visit from one of their patrol vessels.

Edited by - on

bigelowp
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1773 Posts

Response Posted - 11/04/2011 : 06:39:43

Bruce -- lets chat in spring!
Dave -- have a firend with a Saber 28 who was on vacation a few years ago sailing up/down the sound. He was behind schedule so decided to head out of Noank on a foggy Sunday morning. Heading toward what he thought was a green bouy he quickly realized it was -- a surfacing sub -- heading in his direction. He returned to the mooring in Noank and waited for the fog to lift!

Edited by - on

Page: of 2

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.