Yesterday was Saturday.  We had chosen to remain at anchor in New York over near Coney Island.  Except the night before we were getting whipped around by a combination of incoming tide, a current fighting the wind, which of course was in another direction.  So getting tossed about like we were in 8 foot waves (when they were barely 1 foot high) was not on our “want list”.

I decided it prudent to move the boat to a more protected area.  And there was no wind that morning.  So I started the engine.  We moved, dropped anchor and then I went to shut down the engine.

Back up a couple of days.  On our way down the Hudson River to Nyack we’d had belt issues.  I’d fixed them, so I thought.

On the way down the Hudson from Nyack to Ross Dock Park I’d tried to stop the engine and the engine stop cable came loose down in the engine compartment, requiring me to open everything up, rather quickly actually, trace the cable, find the shut down lever and find a tool long enough to reach the switch without burning the royal crap out of myself to shut down.  I could NOT fix that easily.

Back to present.  After anchoring, I went below to shut down the engine with my screwdriver only to find the belt has shredded itself.  Terrific.

I contacted a tow and we were brought south 9 miles….. to Sandy Hook area.  Could I have sailed? Yes, but there was absolutely zero wind where I was.  Did I need a tow?  Perhaps not, but, it puts us 9 miles further south and it was free, and they helped me locate a mechanic and parts.

Mechanic showed up at 2:30 after we were on a mooring ball at Atlantic Highlands Marina ($50 bucks a night, ouch)  and worked on things.

What he discovered was; 1) the pulley on the alternator was wrong, too small.  2) The belt was too long, 2) screws, nuts, bolts were missing in various places (I suspect strongly the marina where the boat was stored did the shoddy work at this point, especially knowing about the damned duct tape used to hold the stop switch).

Bill took my alternator to replace the pulley, find the right size belt, get me part numbers and to perhaps locate a replacement and/or spare alternator adjustment bar.  He’s due back here Tuesday sometime.

We’re planning a short, 16 hour haul down the coast to Barnegat Bay with a stop someplace to drop anchor to get some rest, then on to Delaware Bay – we hope.  We plan to sail.  The Mizzen sail is horked up pretty good, and jammed.  I’ll have to work on that as we go, but we can sail like a sloop.  Assuming the mainsail works ok.  We’re going to find out.

JoAnne and I have been rather …. well, scared of trying to head south, partly due to the medical issues we’ve experienced recently, and secondarily the fact we’ve not sailed anything this large in a long time – and in fact, we have not sailed in over four years.  We’re rusty.  Jumping to a 40 footer from a 25′ sloop wasn’t too bad when we did it last time, but, we did it pretty quickly.  For instance we sailed on a weekend before we left for BVI.  It wasn’t difficult to slip back into it easily.

This time though, we have nothing to give us the confidence we had back then.

So today we were talking (and last night as well) and have decided that we just need to go.

Cold weather will be upon us before we know it – it is, after all, September.  I for one don’t like the cold any more.  Not that the stifling heat of New York has been much of a blessing either, but at least I can feel my hands when working outside.

So, if we get the engine running properly on Tuesday, early on Wednesday we are heading out.  We have rudimentary equipment, but at least the autohelm IS functional (for now, lol) so it should be easier as it acts like a third crew member.

Here in Atlantic Highlands we don’t have Wifi or even phone most of the time.  We’re struggling to get through THAT little thing too.  I’;m writing this on my Linux laptop using a built in editor so I can just post it when I can, so forgive me if it is out of order or date later on.

Over the past couple of days, I’ve scrubbed the Starboard Side of Adventure with soap and water and found a beautiful teak wood surface under the grim and dirt.  Today, I oiled the wood that I’ve cleaned and the boat is absolutely gorgeous under there.  When I have time, the To Do list has the port side listed too.  I’ll get that done.

I have a list we put together today containing around 35 jobs, big and small.  Everything from working on getting the Wifi antenna put together to pick up and give us wifi aboard (using open access points) to cleaning the oil lamp fixture, converting the incandescent bulbs to LED, wiring a charging port in the aft cabin to working on hanging things up, moving things around to get the weight lower down, and the finding of things more efficient.

Some jobs will get done soon, some will get done someday.  No priority except on things like through hulls we need to ensure are closed when we sail.

Right now, we’re relaxing a little.  JoAnne is reading, as usual, and I’m doing the blog.  Trying to get the phone to pick up 4G is infuriating here, irritating.  And there it is, there it ain’t.  Aggravating.

We stopped in at a place called “Gaslight 33“ over on 1st Street here in Atlantic Highlands.  They aren’t a microbrew, but do have a lot of different beers, even some from Colorado we found.  Heck they even had Oskar Blues beers there.  But everything here, including beer is damned expensive.  5-7 bucks a pint from New York to here thus far.  Geez.

And with that, I’m done with the update for now.