HJCotton.net

After a boating incident like the one I had last year, most people would give up trying to navigate the Hudson River; but not me! This year we were much better prepared – with a fully rebuilt out-drive and newly acquired river-navigation-information. It took Chris and I about 2 hours to get to Newburgh. We found the public launch information online and drove through the slums of Newburgh with boat in tow. We launched there and headed south towards the Statue of Liberty. All was going well until Haverstraw bay, where the wind picked up and waves started crashing over the bow and into the boat. The beating also knocked out the fish/depth finder, a very important piece of gear on this year’s trip. We took shelter in a cove for 15 minutes or so to straighten out the wiring job under the dash and get the depth finder working again.

The wind died down so I picked up the pace a little…. and within a few minutes we collided with a submerged log and destroyed the propeller. We idled down the river with the steering wheel a-shimmying until we found “Westerly Marina” where I was able to buy a new prop ($177) and talk to the store owner about my adventures navigating the Hudson with a road map (which I made sure to bring along this year!). Here, I also forked out $20 for a real marine map of the Hudson, complete with depth soundings. The rest of the trip downriver was rough but uneventful. Huge tugboats, barges, yachts and ferry’s were everywhere as we got closer to the Statue of Liberty. At this point I felt really out of place – being the smallest vessel around… hell; we were the only fiberglass vessel around – everything else was made of iron!

I have never seen waves so big (at least from the helm of an 18′ bow-rider). A few times I thought we were sinking because the waves coming at us from all directions seemed higher than the boat: It was at this point that I decided we should don the flotation gear in the event of a capsizing. There was all kinds of trash to navigate around and we were doing well until we hit an aerosol can, which knocked the transducer out of alignment enough as to render it useless for the trip back. We circled around the harbor for awhile and started back; but not before we hit a monster wave and knocked the rub-rail off of the starboard side of the boat. The gas gauge then came under demonic possession and it’s rapidly moving needle failed to indicate the current fuel level. Halfway back up the river we stopped to fuel-up and paid just $2.55/gallon!

All in all, it was an excellent trip. Everything (but the damaged prop) went according to plan but now that I look back on it, I wish we had ventured further out and gone under the Verrazanno Bridge. Perhaps then I might have had a more interesting story to tell about this adventure… There’s always next year I suppose.

The Adventures of HJCotton are becoming more like Mis-Adventures of HJCotton. This Hudson river trip was to include a 2 day trip up and down the river in our 18 foot Celebrity. We were well prepared and I made sure that the boat was in tip-top shape before we departed; spending over $150 on ropes, zincs and tune-up parts and another $50 in gas. We launched at “North Anchorage” marina near Newburgh, NY on July 7th, 2004.

12:30PM: The launch fee and an overnight slip cost $50. We started up the river at full throttle to escape the sweltering heat… Cost so far: $250

2:00PM: Things were going well and I was teaching my father how to safely operate the boat; the throttle, the trim, where to stay between the channel-marker buoys. I decided that it would be safe to take a nap while we were heading upstream…

2:26PM: I felt a surge in the boat and I opened my eyes. The outdrive popped out of the water and the boat instantly turned black under a deluge of PCB contaminated river mud. We had beached…. a few hundred yards to the right of the red buoy that we should have stayed left of. I raised the outdrive and powered us off the sandbar and I looked for damage. Little blue globules of blue gear lube bubbled to the surface. A call to a helpful mechanic at work was placed and it was decided that I would not try to limp back 50 miles downstream at idle speed. BoatUS was the next call made…

4:00PM: SeaTow showed up in a fly towing rig and we got a ride 1.5 miles past the Saugerties lighthouse to the Saugerties marina where we were laughing stocks. We made arrangements to leave the boat docked there temporarily and I had to fork out $190 for a fair-weather tow. It cost us $20 to leave the boat at the dock for a few hours. Cost so far: $460

6:00PM: Now we found ourselves in a predicament; 50 miles from our tow vehicle at a run down marina with a broken-ass boat. An employee was kind enough to give us a ride back to North Anchorage Marina in Newburgh for $50. 2 hours later we were back to pick up the boat. Cost so far: $510

8:30PM: With the boat on the trailer and out of the water, the damage to the lower unit was evident – a hole directly in front of the drain screw. It was time to get back on the road and go the hell home.

11:00PM: After an uneventful dinner, I dropped the boat off at work. Upon leaving, I released the parking brake and the dashboard brake-warning lights stayed on… As if the day could get much worse. The truck made it home, and the installation of a new rear brake-cylinder the next day cost another $100.

In reflection:

I learned a lot of things on this trip. The most important is to never, ever navigate a body of water with an interstate road map. Things like this are bound to happen if you are cheap. Also, considering the damage my father had done to the boat, and the predicament we were put in… I found the situation at times to be nothing short of hilarious. It was just another adventure; what else can I say?