Fall Migration

Some days to decide what to post seems impossible.  I find myself looking at recent photos and impulsively choosing then rejecting one after another photo, too restless for inspiration;  what usually takes only the time to consume my morning cup of coffee extends way beyond breakfast.  Then I saw this photo friend Michele Fitzgerald McMorrow posted on FB and captioned “migration at the hook.”

As length of daylight hours wanes, so many boats head south, like this one with Tampa on its stern.

My perception this fall is that I’m seeing many more multihull boats;

catamarans and trimarans might be gaining on

monohulls in numbers.

Megayachts migrate this time of year also.  Can the word migrant be used to describe snowbirds?  Of course some of these boats might just be getting delivered to a winter haul out nearby, but others could go thousands of miles south.

On AIS on a random recent day I saw this;  magenta is for recreational boats and you see what direction they’re trending past Sandy Hook and

points south.

I’ve never sailed in a multihull . . . .  Maybe I should set doing so as a goal.

I couldn’t see registration on this one, but the fact there’s a US flag hanging where it is makes me think it’s a foreign boat, and Canadians often flag a fairly prominent maple leaf flag, so this might be European.

Long distance migratory boats like these need reliable instrumentation and capable sailors, or so we all hope.

Thanks to Michele for use of her photo.  All others, WVD, whose previous migration posts had mostly to to do with mermaids.

Small Craft 24 b

The winter fishing boats are gone, likely fishing elsewhere and

replaced by these minimalist

machines.  There must be good fish to be had by the Staten Island side of the VZ Bridge.  They’re around in fall also.

Otherwise, like leaves on the trees and warm temperatures, they emerge.

 

And finally, in spite of all the other covid-19 changes,

snow birds are arriving.

This is a fishing machine,

but this larger boat, Poco Loco, came in the other day, with two days and four hours from Virginia Beach.  Anyone know who the manufacturer is?

Ditto this sportfish, it arrived at the Narrows from Cape May in four hours!

I believe I’m seeing fewer recreational boats like this and they’re arriving later than usual, and if they plan to get to the Great Lakes via the Erie Canal, that won’t be open for a while yet, as winter maintenance has mostly been stopped since mid-March.

Meanwhile, going in the other direction, you might recall seeing this boat on this blog before here . .  scroll.  Lil Diamond III, previously based along the NYS Thruway and doing tours for Erie Canal Cruises out of Herkimer NY, she’s been sold out of the Canal and is heading to a new life with Poseidon Ferry in Miami.  Here Kevin Oldenburg caught her headed south in front of Poughkeepsie being overtaken by a menacing cloud, and

here I caught her yesterday about to leave the sixth boro for a place fluidly connected.

Bon voyage, Lil Diamond III. previously big sister of Lil Diamond II,  as you buck the trend, heading south as a sunbird and meeting all the northbound snowbirds.  More photos from and of Lil Diamond III coming soon, I hope.

All photos, except Kevin’s, by WVD.

 

 

Sixth Boro Spring Signs 2018

Call it a sea change.  The air warms up although the water is still very cold.

Sea Lion does what it has all winter, but what’s different is the reappearance of non-workboats.  Sea Lion has some history on this blog.

Evening Light moves north in anticipation of summer.

Pleasure boats move into an environment that has been consistently about work throughout the winter.

Mischief passes New Champion and Stephen Dann, which brought in highway ramp sections.  Would these sections be for the Bayonne, the Tappan Zee, or another?

Small party boats

head out to catch what spring fish migrate in. Should there be a Really Never Snuff Express?

Bigger party boats appear as well.

Fast open boats and

slower enclosed cruisers, of all sorts

pass Atlantic Salvor as it returns from another dredge spoils run.

Norwegian Escape has smaller boats

accompany it on its way into the Narrows and the harbor.  If my numbers are correct, Escape has capacity for 5999 souls, including crew, which is more than the population of Taos, Marfa, and well more than the town where I grew up.

I’ve not seen many of these smaller boats since early last fall, and on a warm Sunday, they start to reappear.  Drive safe; work safe.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, whose other posts about small craft can be read here.

 

Summertime Blues 2

Does “shiny” help you beat away the blues?  My first thought upon seeing this boat was that it might be made by the same folks who designed the stern of a Citroen DS.  Any guesses on the price you’d pay to buy this 44′ runabout?

Some folks cruise slowly,

and other go so fast I couldn’t make out the name.

Here’s a Texas-flagged Refuge on the Hudson.

I could see getting this for some professional development.

Back to our shiny 44-footer.  It’s a Zeelander that’ll set you back a staggering $1.34 million!  That’s a Zeelander, as in Zeeland, Michigan.  Here’s a short video about the builder, Leon Slikkers.  For more on the boats, click here.

And many thanks to Mage, very frequent commenter on this blog.  Mage beats the hot weather blues by going down to see the ships, as she did here on the pier to see USS Midway.  Click here to see more boat pics Mage took recently.

All fotos–except the one of Mage and cousin–by Will Van Dorp.

Summertime Blues 1

… as in “ain’t no [time] for [them] as well as “ain’t no cure for them.”  Here’s to all ways of getting on the water for fun . . . aka whatever boat’s your float!  So here’s an idea:  send me your best “beat the summertime blues” fotos  and I’ll post them.  I have some from you already.  Fotos should be your own, and I’ll choose ones that are focused, well-composed, . .  and at least 300k.

In not too much time we’ll be dressed for iceboating, cowering in a dark four p.m. corner out of the icy gale rather than basking in seven p. m. sunwarmth, stepping carefully on icy surfaces, dealing with frozen equipment, and  . . .

Here are some recent rec-boats I’ve taken fotos of, starting with a Manhattan  smartboat . . .

a green flash,

a rising Nimble from Michigan,

a Trophy fishing (?) in Susan H‘s net,

a Nordhavn 35 negotiating the last lock before Lake Ontario,

passing the corn barge (two up) and English River,

an elegant wooden Owens  half a century young,

Valentine the Nordic Tug 35 from Morro Bay, CA,

(A parenthetical note:  When I asked the owner if he knew Fred of Tug44, his response was, “Doesn’t everybody?”)

Bernadette a Trumpy “houseboat,”

and of course my conveyance in Guanabara Bay, where technically it is winter, Do Surf, with a tiller to steer her by.

So no matter what your float to beat the summertime blues and no matter where you float on any part of the +70% watery parts of the globe, if you feel like it, send your pics and I’ll choose what to put up, as I have before.

Here and here are some of my previous fotos of folks plying the waters for play.

Unrelated:  Dewaruci–a visitor to the sixth boro in summer 2012–has been dismasted off western Australia.

Recreation Tugs 2

Thanks to Scott for sending this foto. Cool! Little Toot’s for sale. If interested, email me and I’ll pass your info on to Scott. I’m using the “nudity” tag here though since this shameless little creature has posed–gasp–sans tires, fenders, pudding!! Just shiny gelcoat and bottom paint!

 

Here’s a Nordic Tug? sneaking around the Battery past the Staten Island ferry docks.

 

Oh the season for these beauties is almost gone up here again til spring.

Until then, brush up on your Italian and read this blog.  Otherwise, check it anyhow for fantastic fotos and impressive blogrollees.

Photos, WVD.