Nomad Mariner: Sailing into New York City, the first time.

Sailing into New York harbour is quite the experience as you think back through the history. Passing Ambrose lighthouse, that amazing structure on stilts that stands as a beacon for ships approaching. I think about the Solo trans Atlantic yacht races that finish there and the Atlantic challenge which starts there. Great races which as a young man I always wanted to be a part of and now here I am as a Mate aboard a eighty year old sailing vessel sailing past this historic site. Sadly since I last sailed past the light has been removed after having been involved in a collision with the oil tanker ‘Aegeo’ in 1996.

From the light house it is still quite a sail to the river entrance proper and we are impressed by all the shipping coming in and out having been in the so called wilderness for such a long time. Sandy hook is just a nice big bay with lots of houses along its front not too impressive unless you have read your history and realised that this was the major anchorage for sailing ships in the past as vessels could wait here in relative safety as their berths became free or they could wait while the tide changed for the better. The Sandy Hook Light House is always an impressive sight though now surrounded by other buildings. It marks the treacherous sand spit that guards the entrance to the Hudson and has been in existence from before the War of Independence.

Sailing up the Hudson River is no big deal at the beginning but that changes as you pass Brooklyn and see the skyline of Manhattan on the Starboard bow and the Statue of Liberty on the port bow. It seems a long way from Wellington where we left New Zealand eight months ago. We berthed at a small inlet on the New Jersey side of the Hudson and were cleared in by the Coast Guard people, there were a number of other small sailing ships and we recognise them all from the last tall ship gathering in Porto Rico. The New York event organisers had allowed for vessels arriving early and rather than have them clog up the main harbour they farmed us out to various locations to wait. The small tall ships of 30 meters or so were sent to Marinas near New York and the large class ‘A ‘ships were all instructed to anchor at Sandy Hook. We were sent to Long Island Sound to a place called New Rochelle, which has a small marina that we could berth at for the next two days. Getting to Long Island Sound from the Hudson is an interesting trip as it entails sailing along the infamous East River. As we were new to this part of the world we were rather interested to take on this wild river passage that strong Atlantic tides make for an interesting trip. As none of us had ever made the passage before it was prudent for us to check the passage on the charts thoroughly and it is well that we did for about half way along the sixteen-mile passage is Roosevelt Island, which is along slim island that divides the river in two. This is all very well until you look closely at the bridges that link the island to the main part of the city. One bridge, the Queensboro Bridge, has excellent air draft (distance from high tide to the underside of the bridge) and the other would cut our masts off just above the lower topsail! So the plan was to take the left hand side as the river splits around the island. At the start of the passage we passed the famous South Street Maritime Museum and I must say I was keen to one day explore the museum. After passing the museum it is not very far at all and we were then passing under the landmark Brooklyn Bridge. One thing I always have trouble with is watching a mast passing under a bridge, some how it just gives me vertigo? From the Brooklyn Bridge we then pass the United Nations building, which is one I cannot say impresses me much for its architectural splendour. The general architecture of New York is Brick and I was once told that this is due to the organised crime connections within the concrete trade holding up construction with financial demands once construction in concrete had started. Neat trick except the architects decided to build all of their structures using brick!

We passed Roosevelt Island Ok taking the left hand fork in the river and then it was on to Hells Gate, which is a turbulent stretch of water where three rivers meet. Strong tidal surges and whirlpools are evident at the right time though we were lucky to pass through with relative ease. From there we passed the Airport and a line of Prison barges, which surprised us and pointed out the shortage of land in this part of the world.

Finally we passed under the last bridge, which crossed the East River before entering Long Island Sound. If navigating fast flowing rivers with whirlpools and low bridges was a little difficult then suddenly navigating through a maze of lobster pots was going to prove even more of a challenge. They were everywhere to the point it must be a lottery for the lobsters. I could only imagine that the seabed was a constant carpet of pots. Wonder how successful each pot owner was?

Never the less we motored on to the New Rochelle, a pretty harbour tucked in behind a reserve. Access was by a narrow channel and at first you don’t see the marina until you start rounding the reserve, which is on a point and then it opens up before you. One problem though, the marina was full of powerboats and we began to run aground well before we reached the marina proper. Plan B was immediately brought in and we tied up to a small jetty that jutted out from the reserve on our port side. This proved an ideal location and we were very happy there.

Once settled in and the vessel was all secure we sat back thinking we were in for a nice quiet night. Not on your life, one of our passengers and good friend of the vessel and crew Alice Matsumoto, a New Yorker, came bustling down to our vessel and immediately ordered all the crew with the exception of the owner Mark Hammond to get ready to go into the City. We were bundled off the vessel and up the road to the nearest train station. Alice had tickets for all of us and when we were aboard informed us that we were going to a musical on Broadway!

There is I confess some history to why Alice felt we were in need of some culture. Alice first joined Tradewind in Ushuaia, Argentina and took part in the three-week voyage down to Antarctica. She was horribly seasick on the crossing of Drakes Passage but loved the rest of the time that we were in amongst the ice and of course the penguins. One of the little things we used to do was have sundowners at 5, which is most civilised. During the sundowners we would play music on the ships stereo. One evening Alice asked for some classical. Now tall ship crew are not all renown for their collection of classical music and we were no exception, I think our most played album was the Pogues. It just so happened that before I had joined the Tradewind I had seen the musical Le Miserable in Adelaide and had brought the tape of the sound track with me. When I offered this to Alice she was in raptures and we talked about the wonders of the book and musical by Victor Hugo. I think the rest of the crew were somewhat sceptical of it all and I don’t blame them, you have to see the musical or better yet read the book to appreciate the sound track.

Any way back to New York, Alice had bought tickets to the musical Le Miserable for all the crew and was determined to escort us to the show. It was great and I really loved it. I have a feeling that all the crew did and there were a few dry eyes but not many at the end.

We made our own way back from Central Station to our vessel. It was a totally unexpected gift, which makes it so special and one I will never forget.