Pine and more Pine

A big old pile of wood. 4 -1x12x16 and a whole lots of 1x4x8's plus a 1x3x8 oak .

Spring is Springing!

Time to think about boats and the next Big Row. I started building our very own skiff. Hopefully we will be done in time for this season's activities. I will trace the boats progress as it happens. The first step is to build an inner stem. I found some oak that I had picked up on the side of the road last spring. Someone was cleaning out a cellar and must have been a woodworker. The result was lots of odd pieces of hardwood and one if them if the bill for an inner stem. I hacked it out with a spoke shave and it took about two hours ! Here is a picture of the same boat on the water. I will get a picture of the inner stem up next.

We made it

To say it was an adventure would certainly be an understatement. We covered 53 miles in 4 days and during the remainder of the weekend, we participated in the reenactment of the Burning of Kingston. This involves you guessed it more rowing and a race on Saturday. No we didn't win but we looked salty. We also survive a huge storm Friday night ,that I thought was going to blow the tent into the Hudson.

Would I do it again ? Sure in a minute , we met great people , except for the pirates and saw some beautiful sights. Thanks to everyone who helped us along the way . A big thanks to our Captain's - David , Dave and Chris with out their boats it would have been a long swim. Thanks to David and Heather for the planning and logistics, Dean for the victuals and to John for the hospitality at Chelsea. Hope I didn't leave anyone out. Here are some pictures from Kingston. Thanks for reading. I will continue to post if I receive new pictures and will update you all on next years plans once they are established. I may also get going on a boat project this winter and will update as that progresses. Oh yes, Thanks for reading my blog.

Land Ho

Actually Kingston. We are racing in and the Cod Peace is in the lead. We land on the sandy beach just North of the Rondout river entrance and proceed to setup camp. The beach is nice and sandy but contains theses thing called water chestnuts the seed pods have sharp horns and everyone is tip toeing around or wearing shoes.

I am Sailing!!!

We can see the Cod Peace off our Larboard side , they don't have a sail up but are making good time under oars. Several large boats come out and throw wakes into the already choppy Hudson.
We kind of start rolling a little and Mr Dill asks me if I am sculling. I reply no sir just holding on.





Here Comes the Desager

On to Esopus Lighthouse

Dawn comes and we start to see the first rustle of the wind. You can see the high clouds moving in and we hope to sail into Kingston before the storm.














We row past Esopus Lighthouse a wooden lighthouse marking a shoal in the river.

We hoist the sail and start to head past the lighthouse. I am at the helm and Mr Dill is running the sail. A square rigged sail setup like the Black Sheep's is like flying a spinnaker. We tear down wind as the wind increases and white caps form.

The River's Dark Blanket

We are moving up river into the dark. Its kind of weird running on so little sleep and traveling upstream with very little light. We can usually see where we have been and the Captain can see where we are going , but the dark ,combined with the single candle on the bow ,robs both positions of visual input. So you just fall into a groove and move upstream in silence. The other two boats are ahead of us, but we are moving at a surprisingly fast clip. The one good thing about our early start is we taking advantage of the tidal change. The difference can be as much as 6 knots. But its dark and quiet , I think about the fact that this is the final leg to Kingston. The weather is changing and a storm is moving in. Capt. Dave is on the Cod Peace , Mr Nick is on the DeSager , Mr William and I are on oars. Mr Dill steers through the night.

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...

Marist College

Here are some clues as to what's next.

Off to Marist

We bid farewell to our plush digs at the Chelsea Yacht Club and thank John one again for his help. He shoves us off and we are excited to be back on the river.