Day 3: Jersey City to City Island (The Bronx), NY

Eleanor Goes in Search of Her Roots, Finds Hookers (and I don't mean fisherpeople)

Because Eleanor became a twinkle in the eye of her designer, Tom Fexas, in City Island and because the Maptech Embassy Cruising Guide, as well as Jersey City Mike had called the place a “throwback to the 1950’s” we added it to the itinerary. I don’t know about Mike, but the cruising guide could use an update. Or a bonfire.

But first… our morning bike ride through JC and Hoboken and breakfast at the Turning Point Cafe were nothing but delightful.

“Water’s Soul” by Jaume Plensa stuns along the Jersey City waterfront

Hoboken, NJ

I also highly recommend the floating dock hot yoga.

Hell Gate was slightly hair-raising but Jon expertly maneuvered us through (more from the captain on that later)and from there it was just a short cruise to City Island. We docked and mounted our bikes, eager to experience what the cruising guide referred to as a “quaint destination” promising restaurants and shops along the “main strip that pulses up and down the island’s heart.” Well, they got the “pulse” part right. What we found were a lot of delapidated store fronts and a Dunkin’Donuts. We sat in a park well-patrolled by the NYPD and pigeons, sipped on iced coffees, then disheartened, headed back to Eleanor. Back at the marina, the crass, crude, we’ll call it multicultural throng of rap music emanating from over-packed, high speed boats creates a din which - judging by this morning’s offerings- begins around 6am, and by last night’s measure, does not end until around 2am. The mind-numbing cacophony is punctuated by the incessant roar of careening, unlit jet skis, apparently the crowd favorite.

Jet Skid Row

All of the chatted-up charm was apparently poured into our dinner spot: The Black Whale. We loved the Sanford and Son-like decor, a collection of stuff seemingly found lying around, yet somehow assembled into a walk-through work of art, accessorized by an extensive, interesting menu.

We may add Jon’s hair to the collection.

After dinner we were recruited into a small tin-roof gallery by David Ellis, a local poet and musical host. This, indeed, was a treat.

David Ellis photo ripped off from the Internet.

Back at Eleanor, we were treated to more local flavor when a tricabin cruiser “crewed” by a woman wearing lime green sparkly pasties and something akin to a string below, crossed our stern. The first mate was wearing a sparkly fishnet. The captain was large and muscle-bound. The name of the boat was La Puttana. Draw your own conclusions.

The return of La Puttana

Among my favorite monikers was this:

DUDE, the name of your boat is DISGUSTING. Also, there’s no apostrophe, idiot.

Forgive me if I’m cranky. My head is still thumping.

Jon assigned me the task of selecting our next destination. I picked New Haven, home of Yale University. We’ll see if they can spell.

AND NOW, a word from your captain:

As a reader of Power and Motoryacht magazine for many years in the 1980s and ‘90s, I frequently turned first to the column by the cantankerous, opinionated naval architect, Tom Fexas. Fexas was heavily influenced in his late ‘50’s youth on City Island, New York where he had spent his summers crewing on old narrow Wall Street commuters that were built in the 1920s and '30s:  Long and lean, fast, comfortable, seaworthy, economical to operate and most importantly, beautiful. These old wooden commuters became the inspiration for Eleanor, his Midnight Lace 52 design. Over the years, he and his firm designed over 1,000 yachts for some of the most prestigious boat builders in the world, including Cheoy Lee, Palmer Johnson, Grand Banks, Burger, Abeking & Rasmussen and many others.

In many of his columns he spoke reverently of the boat building culture centered on City Island so when looking for our first stop in Long Island Sound it seemed ideal to visit the birthplace of many of the commuters, and the inspirational home for Eleanor. The cruising guide described an isolated island with a “throwback to the 50’s vibe” so Terese was onboard with the stop. It took three phone calls to find a marina with a slip long enough to take Eleanor but with two strong recommendations from harbormasters as the best place to go, we headed out of New York harbor, bound for the infamous Hell Gate in the East River.

Long Island Sound is a huge body of water. When the tide turns, all that water makes a bee line for the East River, where it mingles with water from the Harlem river and flows south past Manhattan Island to merge into the Hudson and make for the Atlantic under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. The pinch point is the narrow basin where everything comes together at Hell Gate. Currents can run over six knots, and swirling eddies and standing waves make it exciting. We tried to time our arrival for slack water but that didn’t quite fit the schedule so reliving my Navy past, when I navigated a destroyer through the similar Shimonoseki Straights—where the water empties out of Japan’s inland sea—we decided to go for it.

Dodging ferries turned out to be our first challenge as they crisscross the harbor near the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan. While maneuvering to avoid a huge Staten Island Ferry we found ourselves in conflict with three smaller ferries all on different routes. Sometimes the best way out is to throttle up with confidence. We wove our way through the bedlam and things settled down as we cruised north past the UN building.

Dodging fast-moving ferries as we approach Hell Gate

When we got to Hell Gate, we throttled back to trawler speed settings. Our boat speed was eight knots but with the current pushing us toward Long Island Sound we were still cruising along at 15 making good time towards City Island.

When we arrived we were a little surprised at the marina. Eleanor was one of the biggest boats here. I will let Terese describe the place but will end by mentioning that the famous commuter boat builders of the past all folded by the early 1980s. The only sign of boat building we encountered was a new desire by some of our fellow marina occupants to add a “side gate” to the cockpit of boats that didn’t originally come with one. Apparently a bottle of Bacardi and a chainsaw are all that is needed to start the project. (see craftmanship examples below)

Until tomorrow…