Cruising on the Hudson

Submitted by johnrmcl on Sat, 06/11/2005 - 14:28
I have just moved to Newburgh, NY and eventually would like to do some cruising on the Hudson. Is there any one out there with experience (or experiences) on the great estuary? Cheers, John
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Comments

I haven't sailed on the river since 1978 in a Lightning out of a

Submitted by Bruce177 on Sat, 06/11/2005 - 23:14.
I haven't sailed on the river since 1978 in a Lightning out of a club just North of the Newburg-Beacon bridge. AAah, those were the days....The Hudson River is a tidal estuary which can be felt as far North as the Troy locks and the currents around West Point, Bear Mountain and the other narrow areas upriver can be quite strong so you might want to consider a small motor if you venture in those areas. The Newburg Bay down to Cold Spring and up to Poukeepsie are great for sailing. There are several yacht clubs on both side of the river. As I remember it there is commercial traffic to watch out for in the main channel (tugs/barges and ships)but there's plenty of room in the bay for sailing. Haverstraw Bay further south near Peekskill is very wide and offers great opportunitys. several yacht clubs down there too. Bruce

Bruce: What is the name of the club north of the bridge? I hav

Submitted by johnrmcl on Sun, 06/12/2005 - 15:43.
Bruce: What is the name of the club north of the bridge? I have been trying to get linked up with someone here. I crew on racing boats - mainly Thistles and Lightnings and have hooked up with some of the people at Nyack for that - and doing some crewing on a Sonar out of the Noroton Club at Darien, CT, but for daysailing and cruising on my Scot I would like to hook up with local folks here in the Newburgh area.

By the way - re your comment about a motor.

Submitted by johnrmcl on Sun, 06/12/2005 - 15:49.
By the way - re your comment about a motor. I have the motor, but cannot find a motor mount bracket that goes with the 30-year-old fittings on my 1969 Customflex (#1554). Any help would be appreciated.

John,

Submitted by Bruce177 on Mon, 06/13/2005 - 20:11.
John,

Sorry about that.

Submitted by Bruce177 on Mon, 06/13/2005 - 20:22.
Sorry about that...I cannot remember the name of the club North of the bridge (it was a while ago). I also have the old time 4 point motor mount rig although I haven't used it with my E -lectric motor. I'd recommend purchasing a new rig from Flying Scot,Inc. It looks very reliable and can't be all that hard to mount. Good sailing on the Hudson. I have a lot of fond memories of the river. I used to transit it weekly from the George Washington Br. to the Troy dam doing environmental impact studies for 8 yrs in the late 70's. Now I sweat to death in the Houston heat.[8D]

I believe the name of the yacht club north of the Beacon-Newburg

Submitted by gleninst on Tue, 06/14/2005 - 08:25.
I believe the name of the yacht club north of the Beacon-Newburgh bridge is the Chelsea Yacht Club. It is located on the east shore, north of Beacon, before Wappingers Falls. Go online and search for "Chelsea Yacht Club." I know they have a website.

Glen\Bruce: Certainly appreciate your comments earlier this sum

Submitted by johnrmcl on Mon, 10/31/2005 - 20:22.
Glen\Bruce: Certainly appreciate your comments earlier this summer. I found the Chelsea Yacht Club and have joined. Great group - once had a large Lightning fleet and quite a few Scots as well, but now has very few dinghies of any sort except for some Lasers and Jr. sail activities. In any case, it is a great venue from which to launch my Scot. Makes getting out with the grandkids much easier. The public docks at Newburgh are hell on weekends. Cheers, John 1554

I'm interested in hearing more about your reactions to sailing o

Submitted by Richard Lewis on Tue, 11/01/2005 - 15:49.
I'm interested in hearing more about your reactions to sailing on the Hudson out of the Chelsea YC. I also own a Flying Scot but haven't moved it up here yet as I have heard conflicting stories about how good or bad it is on the river. I've been sailing in the Great South Bay out of Amityville, LI for about 20 years (I lived in Brooklyn) before we moved up here to Hopewell Junction and I like sailing down there but it's quite a trip.

Richard: I have nothing but good things to say about sailing on

Submitted by johnrmcl on Tue, 11/01/2005 - 18:54.
Richard: I have nothing but good things to say about sailing on the Hudson in the "Newburgh Bay" area. You are only about 10 or 15 miles from these options that I know of. 1. Chelsea Yacht Club. You can either drysail or wetsail. I believe the wetsail buoy space is limited, so drysail is probably the better option. You can keep mast up and boat largely ready to go and either launch from lift with bridle or use your car and launch via ramp. It is a working club, so you would have work obligations in addition to membership fees. Great group of people and nice facility to enjoy with family and friends. Check out www.chelseayacht.org. 2. Immediately adjacent to the CYC in Chelsea there is a public ramp in pretty good condition. There is a dock there during the sailing season. It is a rather tight space and it is shallow, but not bad at all for a Scot. There is little space to rig and to keep your towing vehicle and trailer after you launch. It seems to be under utilized, probably because not many people know it is there and because of the space problem. 3. You could join the Beacon Sloop Club in Beacon immediately south of the Newburgh-Beacon bridge and just across from the train station. It is very difficult to launch at Beacon, but you can set up an arrangement with Tony Monahon, the Harbormaster, to put in a mooring for wetsailing. If this is of interest, I can provide Tony's phone number. You will have to buy all of the tackle needed to set up a mooring. Check out the specs in a Chapman to get an idea of what this entials. Also, if you are a member of the Beacon Sloop Club you might enjoy sailing on their 38 foot gaff-rigged sloop, Woody Guthrie. I crew her most Friday nights. 4. You can launch from the Newburgh public ramp. During the week for most of the season this is really not a problem, but on weekends or holidays is is a real madhouse. This is a good ramp and deep water. It is adjacent to a floating restaurant and used very heavily by power boats who are not used to dealing with the needs of sailboats. Again, this is a good option on week days most of the time. 5. There is a yacht club in Newburgh that I know little about. I think is all large sailboats and power boats and perhaps a bit pricey. 6. There are two marinas at the Newburgh watefront with rental slips. I have not asked about their fees. They are mostly used by power boats, but there are a few sailboats of 20 feet or much more. I can get you some phone numbers if you are interested I do not know what drawbacks you have heard about sailing on the Hudson, but she is nearly a mile wide at Newburgh and a beautiful place to sail. If you are not used to dealing with current, you will have to learn to take this into consideration, but I do not have a motor on my Scot and I do fine, even though almost exclusively a lake sailor in the past. There is some commercial traffic and one does not argue with the tugs and barges, but I have not found this a real problem. It will be different from the wide open spaces of LI, but much closer and lots of fun. There is a heck of a lot of river to sail from the narrows just below Bannerman's Island up to Danskammer Point north of the Beacon Bridge. An experienced sailor such as you would probably explore the river well beyond these points.

John: Thanks a lot for your detailed reply.

Submitted by Richard Lewis on Wed, 11/02/2005 - 00:32.
John: Thanks a lot for your detailed reply. This will give me something to think about during the coming (non-sailing) months. I will certainly get back to you if any questions come up. As far as the cons of Hudson sailing the primary complaint seems to have been the current and how it can really get hold of you on a calm day and send you in a direction you don't want to go. As far as traffic goes, I'm used to watching out for fast moving larger boats in the Bay and I learned to sail off City Island which of course also has a lot of really big river traffic moving through. Thanks again for your advice.

Sailing season is approaching - much to slowly- in the Hudson Va

Submitted by johnrmcl on Tue, 02/28/2006 - 11:52.
Sailing season is approaching - much to slowly- in the Hudson Valley. If any of you are still interested in opportunities to sail your Scot in the mid Hudson area, please let me know. I would certainly like to show you around the Chelsea Yacht Club or to assist you with locating other places to launch and sail. I would very much like to see an active fleet of Scot (or similar dinghy) sailors in this region for either crusing or racing. The Hudson is a truely beautiful place to sail. PS - I am also active in the Beacon Sloop Club and invite y'all to come sail on the Sloop Woody Guthrie this summer. She and the Clearwater are now the only regularly active sloops now on the river. I crew her on Friday nights and she goes out Monday through Friday every week when the season begins. It is a great opportunity to sail on an old ferry sloop and a wonderful way for families and friends to get out and enjoy the river. Woody scheduling is done by Susan Berliner 845-297-7697 and she leaves the dock around 6:00 pm each day. Yes, it is free! Yes, they would be interested in having you become regular crew. Cheers, John Ngulule Customflex #1554