If You Don't Ask, You Don't Know

MATT:

Frustration! We were so excited to finally head south this morning. 

Looked like a lovely weather window when the tides in NY and Delaware Bay aligned beautifully for a 36 hour run through NY and into the Chesapeake.

But ... just about to cast off and no power to the chart plotter. I had about an hour to find and fix what I assumed was an electrical issue before it became too late to pass through Hell Gate. 

I traced cables through impossibly small spaces, tested all switches and joins in the cables, replaced some fuses, still no luck.

But just after our chance to leave had passed I figured out my stupidity, we had arrived at night and the screen of the chart plotter was in night mode, making it almost invisible in bright sunlight, so it had been turned on all along! 

I had to put a towel over my head to see it enough to change the settings but it was too late. 

Tides in NY would be too strong by then and the next window would see us going through in the dark, and then tomorrow the weather closes in for a few days again. 

It's a waiting game again.



BONNIE:

Big takeaway lesson of the day: check all systems, not just the weather, the night before a passage to make sure everything is in good working order.

We focused so much on weather routing that we neglected the actual vessel which would be taking us down this route! Our BOAT!

This mistake was particularly hard to swallow because we have to time our route to go through Hell Gate in NYC at slack tide (when the tide is changing from flowing in and flowing out of the channel).

It can get quite vicious and choppy there if you don't go at slack tide. So basically if you miss that window you need to wait another 12 hours. But we don't want to be going through at night so we have to wait another 24 hours.

BUT even if we wait until tomorrow, Saturday, to go through Hell Gate, the wind shifts from the south Sunday early morning so we would be going against it...not ideal. Even if we have to motor against the wind, there would be too much wave height to bash through. No thank you. We've had enough vomit action lately to last us a while.

So now we wait until another decent weather window presents itself.

In the meantime, showers have worked its way to near the top of our priority list. We haven't showered since leaving Annapolis, 5 days ago. And as you all know, we've had quite a fun time hunkered down these past few days.

Port Washington has the best location in terms of a launch service, a Stop and Shop, library etc. But there are no shower facilities for cruisers during off season.

Even public pools were an Uber ride away and then we would have to pay to get in, etc.

I called the local theatre company to see if they had showers we could use (they didn't), but the lady on the phone suggested I ask on the Port Washington Facebook group.

So I requested to join the group and once approved, I put it out there: would anyone have a shower for us transient cruisers to use, or know of a place closeby we could walk to?

Let me tell you, I was blown away at the unbelievable responses I received within minutes! Do not underestimate the power of social media and kindness.

I got about 9 or 10 different people inviting us over to their homes to shower, and more are messaging me as I type! I must've sounded desperate on my post!

Well, my philosophy of "if you don't ask, you don't know" holds true.

Tonight we will sleep in a peaceful anchorage. It is strangely quiet and still. No more of this loud, thunderous rocking.

Tomorrow, we have an issue with the alternator that needs attention and then personal hygiene needs shall take centre stage.

Despite the lows of the past few days, I have to say that once again, it is the kindness of the people which will stick with us.

All you have to do is ask, and the universe shall provide.

Troubleshooting faulty electrics in our cockpit pedestal. In the end, nothing was wrong, 
we just couldn't see that the screen was 'on' but on night mode! Argg

Picked this up at my grocery shop this morning. I went for a last shop at 8am to provision,
thinking we would be leaving later that morning. Oh well, it won't go to waste that's for sure.

Tai's description of today. TBH, the kids have coped remarkably well. 
Today was their third day onboard without getting off. No complaints, and Tai was very
 matter of fact about all our issues we were facing. Then again, he has been 
getting a great deal of Minecraft time lately...