MacGregorSailors.com

Reason I ask is we are planning to take a trip up to NYC and in the Venture group on Yahoo a member posted about sailing right around the Statue of Liberty. Since reading this I was toying with the Idea of bringing ours up there..

I have a bunch of questions if those in the group can help out with would be great so I can make my decision. Maybe there is a member on this forum that has done it, or lives in NYC and can help us out...Bringing the Boat would be awesome.

1. How Rough is the water? Honestly for this trip actually Sailing is not really a priority...but motoring around the harbor sounds a lot more fun than beating the streets as a tourist...I'm just not really wanting to deal with 4-5 swells all day or anything scary....a motor cruise sounds fun though....and different.

2. Where could I put in? Van/trailer parking?

3. Quite often when we travel to larger cities We will stay in our conversion van to avoid pricey urban hotels, and shower at truck stops....leaves more $$ for fun things to do. We usually just do weekend type trips so it is actually more comfortable than you'd think and when we went to New Orleans I saved $450 in lodging

4. Other times we stay overnight on the boat...at the beach here in NC we just anchor out of the way....but in NY could I do this?

I am sure there are more questions I need to ask and haven't even thought of yet....almost ashamed to admit but I am actually from Upstate NY (the Cuse) and I have never been to NYC except some plane changes at the airport years ago....just never got around to going

So should I bring her?

Cheers mates

Moderater! May be this should be moved to the "main forum"??

I thought about it....it's not a Venture specific question, and Catigale says the Powersailer forum is the "de-facto" main forum?

would really like input on NYC trip....we found a place to stay, and boat launch at Liberty Island State Park.....but so far thats all I got


dave

Ahoy,

Never been to New York, but this very morning, I just happened to be reading a cruising book: All in the Same Boat by Tom Neale.
What a coincidence. Let me summarize some of what Neale wrote—

Just to the south of Long Island Sound, you can visit New York City by water, stopping at one of the marinas. The least expensive at this writing is the one operated by the city at 79th Street on the Hudson River, called as one might expect, The 79th Street Boat Basin. They have moorings at a reasonable price. Broadway and 79th is only a few minutes' walk, and you'll find good grocery, hardware, and other stores within several block of this intersection. A few block over is Central Park. . . . A taxi ride of about $7 gets you to . . . Times Square, where you can wait in line . . . and get tickets to Broadway plays at half price. We don't recommend walking from Broadway to this marina after dark, though we have done so numerous times with no difficulty in the daytime. When you go home at night, you are at home, eating inexpensively, and you have a wonderful moat separating you from the city.

Fair winds,


Barnacle Jim

This may be of help, but you might have to be a member of B.O.A.T.U.S. to use it
http://www.boatus.com/ramps/search.asp? ... mode=ramps

Ray

That trip reminds Me of one My Family took to NYC back in 1969. We...all five of Us... piled in the 1966Plymouth Belvedere and hauled a JCHiggins camp trailer From Baytown Tx to NYC...Got lost in the city of course...took tours of Harlem and a few other lovely places We did manage to survive and climbed the Statue of Liberty all the way up. Thousand and thousands of steps in a spiral staircase...... It did turn out to be a great trip When I do the Erie canal and Lake Erie next spring... I might put in on the Hudson and float around the Grand Lady again Best of Luck and of course.... Fair winds. Ron.

mrron_tx wrote:When I do the Erie canal and Lake Erie next spring... I might put in on the Hudson and float around the Grand Lady again

When you're out this way on the Canal, be sure to alert us, as my spends about half the summer in the Erie Canal in trawler mode, and it would be nice to see another Mac, even if it's an .

Bumped to Main Forum for visibility, then moved to DESTINATIONS

The crime era of the 70s and the crack era of the 80s in NYC are history.

The city is one of the safest to visit with respect to crime. A lot of this is the respect the police and fire depts earned post Sep 11, which made the citizenry intolerant to crime. Police forces of 2,000,000 people are very effective.

You need to plan a trip to this venue carefully. There is a lot of big traffic and regs. The East river up at the North end of Manhattan is not for novices, nor intermediates for that matter. It's called "Hells Gate"

Did this exact trip last summer with our 26M.

If the Statue of Liberty is your main destination, you will want to berth at Liberty State Park in New Jersey. It's both the most convenient, most picturesque, and lowest cost Marina in the hudson. It's got real services and even a mini West Marine for parts etc.

You'll put into the launch ramp on the east end of the park, then motor around to the west end (actually past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island) to the Liberty State Park Marina. It's a nice marina and very easy to get into, you'll have no trouble at all. The marina will let you park your trailer in their lot.

When we were there last year, the ramp had just been destroyed by Hurricane Sandy and the place was just recovering. Should be a lot better now.

There's nothing to worry about in terms of water--yes, it's choppy, but you'll be fine if you don't mind some rocking and rolling. Be careful about the exclusion zones around the SoL and Ellis. They're floating markers that you need to go outside of, and will be marked on your charts/chartplotter/iPad app.

We did go into the East River in our 26M. It has an EXTREMELY RAPID CURRENT, fastest I've ever experienced at 6 knots (!). In your boat you may actually not have enough motor to counter it--it took nearly everything my ETEC-60 hp had to come back out. At hull's Gate we took a sudden standing wave that threw my bow up in the air and then slammed it down about 15 feet vertically, with my two daughters on the bow holding onto the pulpit. Scared the crap out of everyone, and they scrambled down the hatch in a hurry.

I would completely avoid the East River in any boat that cannot do at least 12 knots by motor.

You'll make day trips to Manhattan in your car. Despite what everyone says, driving in Manhattan is no big deal. We never had any trouble finding parking and the traffic wasn't any worse than our native Southern California IMHO. Philadelphia and DC were both much worse, but we also navigated the 26M down the narrow streets of Philly without hitting anything and even parallel parked it legally on the street downtown much to the shock of the natives.

You'll have a blast!

Thanks for moving this Catigale

I have been doing a lot of research (you tube vids) and agree that I most likely WILL NOT be going in the East river, nor anywhere near hull Gate

We are staying at the Liberty Park Marina/RV park....Sleeping in a combination of our conversion van (Mom, sister, and my son) and the admiral and I will Bunk in the boat up on the trailer (must remember to bring the little step ladder lashed to the trailer or the admiral can't get up there

According to the RV park there is a Public ramp right near them where we can launch and keep the trailer parked until 10 pm for $20

Figured I would just stay in the Hudson where it is safer...no particular destination, just cruise up and down...it's less walking for mom. We're only going to boat the 1 day, and I doubt I will raise sails in those busy waters....Tohatsu 8hp pushes me about 6-8 knots at full speed I think....so I will avoid the East river current. Although I have gotten better at sailing I still have a lot to learn, and my biggest hurdle still is using the sails to go WHERE I WANT....so far I have just hit both Falls lake and Kerr Lake and just "sailed around" with no actual destination...I still have much to learn about tacking properly and etc.

The other two days we are there will be walking excursions into the city.

I've had our VN23 in pretty big waves twice now. Couple weeks ago in Falls when a storm popped up suddenly....even motoring back to the ramp she was porpoising like one of those boats on the crab show in the bearing sea, and Sunday morning at Kerr Lake there were whitecaps at about 3-4 ft. We actually did sail that time and it was a little scary as the wind was stronger than I like. I did ok though....again I am a very experienced "boater" but sails not so much yet. The Vn23 is my first ever sailboat.

One thing I would really like to do when I leave is to drive through Times Square towing the VN23, stop on the side somewhere and take a few quick pics of a VN23 in Times Square and then bug out of there....not sure if thats a good idea or not due to traffic if the trailer will be hard to maneuver (It's a Dual axle trailer)

thanks
Dave

Trailering in a Times Square, just stick to weekends. Be aware of events in NTC, though, for instance when the UN is town , the east side shuts down traffic wise.

When do you intend on going

Ray

We'll be up there the first weekend of August staying till Monday I think

If any forum members are near there please come out and say hi...best time to catch up with us would be at the end of the evening when we are back at the Liberty Campground....it will be pretty easy to spot the only Blue VN23 with a skull on the bow amidst all the RV's

If you get in a big jam, I'll PM my cell. I'm either in NYC or ALB for work in August.