My maiden voyage from NH to NY

N 43° 03' W 70° 43'

FINAL LEG!! Stamford, CT to Queens, NY

May 15, 2009

Friday morning dawns bright and clear with just a light breeze.  I call my friend Chris and ask if he wants to sail with me for the last leg from Stamford to Queens.

We manage to get to Stamford, buy some sandwiches and drinks, and get to the marina by noon.  In no time we are motoring out of the channel and hoisting the sails as we set course toward City Island and the western end of the Long Island Sound.

Chris is an experienced sailor — racing, crossings to Bermuda, been sailing since he was a kid.  Today, however, we didn’t need a whole lot of experience.  The winds were light, but we motor-sailed some and leisurely-sailed some, enjoying the views of Greenwich and Rye.  We passed by City Island, where I had learned to sail, on a gentle run and soon were gliding under the Throgs Neck and Whitestone bridges into the East river.

We ogled at the planes landing at La Guardia, and we dropped the sails to motor into the channel in Flushing Bay around 5 PM.  It was a beautiful sail on a beautiful day with a fine friend.

We tied up in my slip at World’s Fair Marina, and my foolhardy, thrilling, and enlightening adventure came to a close.

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Comments

dilo

dilo June 18, 2010 at 05:24 PM

I enjoyed reading your story. Thanks. I too have shared some of the same misadventure in my little sailing experience

curriernh

curriernh August 04, 2010 at 07:37 PM

I just stumbled across your journal. Nice read and now I feel guilty for not joining you, at least for the ride down to Rockport. I hope all is well and that you’re still enjoying Crosswinds.


The prior owner.

potrick

potrick November 04, 2010 at 05:21 PM

I just found this blog re your maiden voyage. Read it all last night and found it humorus and most interesting.


I am thinking about purchasing a Albin Cumulus and have done lots of web research, but have never actually seen one down here in the So Texas area. There is a boat in MA that looks like a good deal, but I would have to buy it quickly, “sight unseen” as I am leaving the country for a few months.


From all I have read they appear to be great little boats well constructed with good motion comfort and capsize ratings and able to deal with high winds and rough seas. So your story was very interesting for me.


The description of the 1st leg heading into the wind sounded a bit contradictory to what I have heard about them. You made them sound wet and tender. Here our ave winds in the bay and MexGulf are 17-21knts and I really wouldn’t something that I would get knocked around in. Most of my sailing is just short afternoon sails down the ICW, day sailing or short overnights around the bay or Gulf – no racing. I generally end up single handing.


Since I don’t speak Swedish (which are where most of the boats appear to be) I would be interested in hearing from you more about the Cumulus; what you like, don’t like, weird quirks, what works well, doesn’t work, etc. Look forward to hearing from you.


Thanks,


Patrick

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