veribold: 50 miles

Monday I prepared for an overnight trip on SeaWof (my Hobie cat 16's current name). I went over the boat looking for obvious problems. I bought a GPS Personal Location Beacon, another dry bag, and a Camelbak. I saw lightening at the marina, and the forecast called for thunderstorms so I stayed on the beach.
    This morning I got to the marina early and was on the water at 9:15. The wind was out of the NW and made for a perfect run to the SW. I decided I wouldn't decide on a destination until I cleared Breezy Point. There were 3 options, go around Breezy Point towards Fire Island to the East, go across the bay to Sandy Point, or up the bay towards the Manhattan under the Verrazano bridge. The wind didn't change direction or slacken, so going North to Manhattan seemed like a slog and going out to Fire Island seemed fine but getting back would probably be a hassle if the wind shifted to the West as is usually the case in the afternoon. So Sandy Hook became the destination.
    It was fairly hazy so I couldn't make out many details along the way. The Bay was wider than I thought, but the trip was basically a straight shot to the SW, once I saw the sandy beaches I figured I was in the right place and drove straight there. The waves were a bit bigger than comfortable, maybe 3 feet. I passed a fishing boat and yelled out "Is that Sandy Hook?" but they didn't understand me until I was out of ear shot, it seemed like they thought it was though. I let the strong breeze push the boat a bit up the beach. 10 miles in 1:15. (A good site of tracking distance on maps: http://www.daftlogic.com/projects-google-maps-distance-calculator.htm)
    The beach was beautiful, mostly trash free, and completely empty. I stayed an hour, taking pictures and beach combing. While there the wind died.
    I got back on and drifted west for a few minutes, but it was starting to get hot, the waves were slamming the slackened boat, and it didn't seem like a great idea to be heading away from home in the uncertain conditions. So I turned around and started E again against the waves, no wind. The water then became flat and I was adrift, which didn't seem like a great position to be in heading into the shipping channel. I decided I'd stall if I did get a little wind rather than limp across the channel with fast moving ships crossing my path. Fortunately the wind increased enough and I could steer again so I headed back E. I did decide to stall once waiting for a barge being pulled on a chain to cross. I finally saw the Fort Tilden bridge about half way across the bay but it appeared far to the right of Breezy Point so I realized I had drifted South a fair bit and was out in the ocean properly. Fortunately, the wind shifted to the W enough to allowed me to head due N towards Coney Island.
    As my next goal I decided I'd try to get under the Verrazano Bridge. But the wind kept moving back to the N too, so I spent 5 hours tacking, trying to go NW towards the bridge. My port rudder cam was popped and I wanted to get onshore to fix it but the Coney beaches were too crowded. I stayed well offshore to avoid swimmers, but had to tack in as much as possible to gain some northernly progress.The current kept pushing me E too. I finally made it past Sea Gate after 7 tacks and drove straight into Gravesend Bay, since I couldn't point higher. After 3 tacks around the anchored barges there, I got to the middle of the bridge about 200 yards to the South of it on a port tack and swung around to my final tack, the angle was acute and difficult, heeding straight for the pylon on the East side, so I had to go downwind of the pylon into the narrow gap between it and the rocky shore, which I was being dragged towards.
    I expected the winds to be erratic under the bridge, but the shifts were violent and the wind speed seemed to double. I wasn't too close to a capsize but I wasn't in control either. I let out both sheets and just tried to steer into the wind as it rose from one direction then 90º off to the East. I limped through, with some fishing dudes watching skeptically from the rocks. Heading further up the bay seemed arduous against the current and wind and it was 5pm. So I gybed still in the shadow of the bridge and ran South on a broad reach, simply flying now.
    It had taken 5.5 hours to go 9 miles in a straight line, with the tacks I figured the actual path was actually close to 30 miles. In the light wind, sometimes dead, and sometimes gusty wind, I think that was ok, considering my heading was directly into the wind. I could have made wiser, longer tacks, and started them sooner, but that would have put me into more commercial traffic in the middle of the bay.
    A cruise ship was heading out of NY at the same time and we kept pace for a while until I cleared Sea Gate, where I gybed East.
    A few more minutes of flying and a few of dead calm and I was back at the marina in an hour and a half, 10 more miles. The marina landing was a bit tricky with the wind again out of the NW and the tide out giving me little sea room. I had to make a low-speed but violent gybe inside the marina - hopefully no one was watching or too concerned about their boats being rammed. The beach was extra long and steep for dragging the boat up after that day. I couldn't pop the rudder cam by hand, so I've got to take a real screwdriver out there. I emptied a couple pint of water out of the port hull, again not bad for all day. 10 hours alone on SeaWof would be a great diet. I had eaten a few baby carrots, a handful of peanuts, 2 Clif bars and drank 3 liters of Gatorade. I also learned how to pee and steer at the same time. My 33rd time on SeaWof.