Marist

We arrive at Marist Pictured here in and early photo and settle in for the night. We had a nice day of sailing and had covered about 12.5 miles for the day. Various people stopped and chatted with us and we had engaged the crew of the Clearwater earlier in the day. Shells rowed by from rowing clubs and we commented on the wonderful view.
Several of or group decide to camp under the buildings overhang. In fact we setup just three tents on the well cared for lawn. Trains were actually a little ways off , probably 100 yards distant. It seemed like and ideal place for a actual whole nights sleep. One of the rowing coaches stopped by and suggested we tie the Sheep around on the inside of the Tee shaped dock, he had seen large wakes from barge traffic ,pick up boats tied parallel to the river and set them on the dock. We decided to retie the Cod Peace and Black Sheep together in a creative yet secure arrangement of lines. Mary from the Kingston Committee brought us Cider and doughnuts and Heather , David's bride to be, stopped buy in support with much needed eggs. The cider and doughnuts rocked and we were happy to see Heather. She drove many miles in support of the group and we thank her for her help . With out her help the trip would have been much harder.

All was well and we retired for the night around 9pm.

Chris, Mary, Kevin and Capt Dave we all camped by the dock. Chris had had a hard time sleeping , as he is from a quiet part of Maine. The trains we causing him grief and sleepless nights. At midnight he had to pee. Ah to leave the nice warm bed in search of relief or try and sleep through it. Never and easy choice. He rolled over and noticed the mast of the DeSager moving down river ! Pirates! They are stealing the Desager. Two guys had rowed up stream in a work skiff to steal the boats. We shout at them but they are strangely quiet. Chris runs down to the dock in pursuit.


Chris had considered jumping into the DeSager but wisely didn't , he didn't know if the thieves were armed. They had tried to untie all the boats but only managed to free the Desager , the Sheep and the Cod Peace were partially free. Mr Dill threw me the Sheep's bow line and Chris , Don, Dave and David jumped into the Cod Peace in hot pursuit. the chase was on. I secured the Sheep while Mr William was on the phone with 911 trying to explain what was happening. Talk about a strange call. I ran down river along the shore with a big stick in hand and noticed the Cod Peace was gaining fast. The pirates let go of the the DeSager in the middle of the river and slunk into the night. Dave and David jumped into the DeSager and started rowing back. All the boats were in the middle of the Hudson with no lights, no boats we in the area luckily. The boats all made it back safely and the police showed up to try and sort things out. Lets see people camped at the dock, wearing strange clothes talking of pirates. Pretty normal call I would guess. Well we talked to the police and finally calmed down. After much discussion and disbelief everyone decided to try and get some sleep. There would be a watch posted and all would be well. Departure was scheduled for predawn and we needed some rest. Mr Dill took down his tent and he and Mr Nick joined the dock crew. I awoke to heavy rain, really heavy rain , kind of super downpour. Then it stopped ! Mr William cried out Sprinklers! The lawn sprinklers were on , these were sprinkler heads that would pop up at various locations and shoot water 20 or 30 yards in a circle. We threw stuff back into dry bags , as I was packing I saw a sprinkler head pop up about 6 inches from Capt Dave's bedroll and go off! We ran for safety of the dock . We looked back and saw Capt David's dad Mr Bill trying to exit his tent only to have a sprinklers blasting into the door. We were laughing so hard we cried. What else could happen! After much laughter we said the heck with it and put on the coffee. The boats we packed and we left the dock with candle lanterns hanging from our bows and slipped off into the night. Good riddance Marist...