No doubt about Brewers Pilot Marina in Westport is a first class facility. Within hours of our landing the problems with the inverter/charger, batteries and the dingy carburetor were being worked on. Danny removed the carburetor from the Mercury outboard and had it disassemble and in an ultrasound cleaning bath while Don, the Brewer electrician bench tested the Xantrex inverter.
Three young fellows showed up at the boat to unload the old 8d batteries (150 lbs each) and install the 4 new Lifeline AGM batteries (180 lbs each). I smiled as I saw them begin to perspire and their shirts get wet with sweat from the effort of moving 1300 lbs. Marshall Lucas and I did this ourselves a couple of years ago, so I knew first hand that it was worth the money to have younger men do the job.
Out with 4 old batteries.
The inverter checked out fine requiring only a tightening of some connectors and replacement of the weak 30 amp breaker that had been plaguing us for weeks.
Danny and I washed the boat while Beth started to clean the inside and do laundry. When she looked into the dryer in her usual fastidious mode, she saw a toothpick and some fuzz in the dryer exhaust. Three hours later Danny and her had dismantled cupboards, taken apart panels, and traced and cleaned a bag of dryer lint from the dryer exhaust lines. Looking at me with a wet rag in his hand and sweat running down his face Danny said, "That system hasn't been cleaned in years. You could have had a fire."
Beth replied with a sideways look in my direction, "That system hasn't been cleaned......ever!"
We set off the next morning to make the 66 mile trip to the next Brewer Marina in Port Washington. The windshield wipers we ordered on line were waiting for us and it would put us in a good staging position for our passage through the notorious Throg's Neck Bridge and Hell's Gate. These areas we knew could have swift difficult currents if one tried to navigate them at the wrong current and tide, and slack tide did not mean slack current !
The wind had come up over night but the waves were only 2 to 3 feet so we enjoyed the 2 knot push the incoming tide provided most of the way across Long Island Sound. However, as we got closer the tide changed and slowed us down to 7 knots. I pushed up the throttles to maintain our usual 9 to 10 knot speed knowing that thunderstorms were predicted for the afternoon.
We pulled into Port Washington just as a few raindrops struck the windshield. Grabbing the largest mooring we could see we quickly settled in and turned on the computer radar. Beth saw a small amount of rain coming our way but "we should be in to the marina and back with our new wipers before it hits", said Danny. NOT...........! Danny and I just got to the marina when the rain increased and announcing itself with a thick crooked lightning bolt and with a horrendous boom the torrent began. We immediately looked toward Doc's Holiday. Not only could we not see the boat, we couldn't even see the dingy at the dock. The wind picked up and a wall of water streaming side ways made us run for cover around the corner of the restaurant and under a canopy that was being lifted by the wind. Crack!...Bang!...Rumble! repeated several times with two bolts of lightning striking very close to where we were standing. In fact we later saw EMS, a fire truck and an ambulance on the dock, so it was probable that someone got hit with lightning.
Beth was with the dogs in the boat having her own turmoil. She described seeing a wall of water headed toward the boat. As she rushed to close all the hatches the wind hit and rocked the boat sideways spinning the boat around on the mooring ball. The windows immediately fogged up with the rapid change in temperature and she struggled to see the other boats around her. Especially worried about a sailboat that was on anchor near her, she fired up the engines so that if the sailboat broke free and drifted her way she could move Doc 's Holiday around out of the way. Spencer jumped off the couch and headed for his protected spot in the corner near the bed in the bottom of the boat, while Sophie sat on the couch panting with her curled tongue hanging out, obviously wondering what the fuss was all about.
Thirty minutes later the storm passed and the sun came out. Danny said, "Damn! That was impressive. Do these storms always come up that fast on the water? With a grin I shrugged, "Ask Beth."
Guys coming back a bit wet.
The sun came out and we began our usual maintenance, engine checks, plotting tomorrow's intricate course through Hell's gate and New York City to Sandy Hook, and drilled wholes in the new wipers so they would clean our rather expansive windows.
We finished the day with another delicious meal prepared by Beth. Grilled tuna steaks with Portobello mushrooms with Worcestershire sauce, green beans and pasta. For dessert, Danny and I cleaned up yesterdays home made brownies.
The storm was scary, maybe even terrifying with the dangerous lightning but we were safe because we stuck to what we had learned on the trip up from Galveston. It wasn't in the cruising or guide books. The advise came from an older couple that we met in Cape May just after we had passed through a terrible storm coming down Delaware Bay. As we jabbered out our fear during the storm, the elderly women calmly responded. "Oh no dear. We always make sure we are off the water, tied up or anchored securely by two in the afternoon at this time of year. That's when the storms come up!" Good advise!
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