2012 Sea Ray Rendezvous - Liberty Landing Marina - Jersey City, NJ - Hudson River

Before you know it the day of trip which we started planning in January was here. The weather Gods were definitely on our side all weekend long. Since we had a long trip ahead of us (LLM was just a first leg of the trip) we had a lot of prep work and our departure was slightly delayed. The boat traffic was very light in the Toms River, but as we passed under the bridge and headed north it was much different. I’ve travelled through PP Canal many times, but on rare occasion I could say that it was uncomfortable washing machine with white caps. Between the current, some opposite wind and boat traffic it was enough to stir this narrow passage.

When we departed our holding tank was showing ½ full, thus I figured that we still have plenty of room and since I’ll be getting fuel at LLM to have full tanks for my trip north I’ll do the pump out right there as well. Oh well, after we crossed PP Canal my wife wanted to use the head, but the system was displaying red lights on all indicators and the tank level was now showing “Full-Do-Not-Flush”. I took a quick pick at the marinas in Brielle, but couldn’t see any pump-out stations. At this point I figured that it might be just easier to go out 3 miles and dump the load. It’s not a so much out of our way as I usually go about two miles out when travel along the coast. As we got to the 3 mile line I switched to troll speed, set the AP to head for NYC. Admiral took charge of the helm and I went to the engine room. Since my seacock is always closed it was a small PITA to get it open, it’s the furthest way under the generator platform. After few attempts I finally got the seacock open and the rest was just few clicks of a buttons before we saw the tank level showing empty.

I guess it kind of paid off to have slight detour, b/c about 20 min later we encountered a group of about 20-30 dolphins. This for sure elevated our cruising spirits. For the rest of the trip we enjoyed the beautiful Atlantic Ocean while the AP did most of the navigation. As most of folks from the area I’ve traveled under the bridge many times, but you just never get tired of the view. Here the Coney Island hiding in the morning hazes:
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The view of the Verrazano Bridge, NYC, Statue of Liberty and Jersey City:
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As we were pulling in to LLM there were few CSR boats still idling and waiting for slip assignments and were welcomed by the Sea Ray Living boat doing the photo shooting from their boat. Here’s Jonathon and “Voyager of the Z’s”:

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I have to tell you, for those who never visited this marina you need to have your expectation set to avoid shocking surprise. The place is very tight to the point that if you got enough room to get in to your slip this doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to get out. The biggest problem is that fairway is way too narrow and much shorter than some of the yachts we have in CSR fleet. Here’s an example. Gary and Mark (580DA facing Gary’s boat) are pretty much stuck until Joe (Mirage) and/or Ron (Lil’ Krissy) leave first. So much for early departure on 10hrs trip for Gary on Sunday morning….LOL.

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This rendezvous had few surprises and the first one I’ve experienced when a very nice gentleman shook my hand and introduced himself, “Hi Alex, I’m Rusty”. My eyes popped wide open. The SR legendary delivery captain flew in from sunny Florida to meet CSR folks. Obviously, Rusty didn’t just arrive by land from an airport he arrived in style on a queen of the show brand new 580DA (owned by his friend Mark). Talking about cool, friendly and easy going people. One of the secrets to get onto Mark’s boat is to have a water balloon fight with him and his crew. And we couldn’t have better tour guide than Mr. Rusty himself who explained all cool features of the beast. Just to give you some quick prospective of this yacht, it has clearance of over 17 feet (that’s pretty much almost the same as the bridge boats), her engine room is the size of my salon and you have to go about 10-15 steps down to stand between two massive MANs. Despite the size of the engines there’s plenty of room for any kind of maintenance and/or repair. Her appearance, fit and finish are a truly stunning.

After everyone settled in their slips, in a little while it was time for the party at the lightship.


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As always, the table was full of all kinds of goodies, but the highlight was so called “Gary’s hot dogs”, which were in fact the tastiest Lobsters he got from Stonington (just a slight detour from VA). Gary was more than prepared for this, he didn’t just bring lobsters, he and Rick had to bring gigantic pots and burners along with everything else that had to be served for finest lobster dining. They deserve a great deal of credit for doing this all. Few shots from the party:

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Jeff and Mike were the oyster’s chefs.

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Few night shots:

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What could be better than starting your morning on a beautiful summer day on a dock with your friends surrounded by gorgeous yachts of all sizes and looking at magnificent NYC across the river? Rusty was sharing his experience and gave us some more detailed info on how our boats were built. Dale showed us his new projects which included teak flooring and davits.

This season I’ve decided to invest in to Rouge Wifi. When I got the kit just couple of days before our trip I did temp installation just to see how it works. During my testing I had few questions regarding the best and permanent installation. So, I took the opportunity to get some tips from Gary since he had the rig for few years now. I wanted to know the best spot where to hide the AP (the bottom part of the unit) away from being exposed to the weather. I had no idea that this piece was hidden inside the arch. Gary was nice enough to expose the whole thing. Without any hesitation he took his (btw, VERY cool and extremely powerful) drill and took off the access panel from the arch, where the Rouge AP was nicely mounted. Then, Gary showed me the other part of the network, including his entertainment center setup. All I can say is that if anyone is looking to do a high end audio/video MAC components installation, be sure to review Gary’s posts on this (he had a post few years ago) and/or ask for more pictures and other details. I was really impressed with the quality of his work. One could never tell that Gary’s setup was an after market installation.

Then, it was the perfect opportunity to meet new friends. My son and I had a pleasure spending some time with Rich and his wife aboard “Fra Diavlo” while Rich gave us the tour and shared some stories from his boating life. SR did an awesome job on 540DA and Rich got one with some cool upgrades. It was very exciting event and it was great to see everyone. I can’t wait for the next CSR Rendezvous.

P.S. my connection is really bad here. When I get to better spot I'll add some more pictures.

Cheers,
Alex.
 
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After all the eatin' most folks went on back to their boats to recuperate although there was some tall-tale tellin' on the osd9 boat.

Saturday, a bunch of us went into Manhattan to eat breakfast at some place on Warren Street. Yep, Warren Street.

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Had to take the ferry across the river:

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Someone was saying that the guy who owns Warren Street was moonlighting at the ferry dock

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Saturday afternoon was hot, so everyone just hung out all day.

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There might have been a tad bit of "imbibing" going on

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A little wide angle shot

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Like father, like son

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Jsersey City taxi - do you think it smells fresh?

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Hanging out

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Wanna buy a CSR burgee? Only $100...what a deal!

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Saturday night, some of us went back to the city for dinner at some place Turtle knew about.

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There was a familar face at the restaurant

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So, "THE REST OF THE STORY..."

We got back to the marina after dinner and are walking by the Four Suns boat and looky at what we see hanging off the windshield:


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Now, if you live in New York, you know what this is. If not, keep watching...

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Someone left Mr. Four Suns an official Noo Yawk City Parking Ticket on his boat while he was off to the opera!


Then he came by osd9's boat and blamed all of US.

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But, we all denied knowing anything about it.

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Ooops. How did that get in there?
 
So, Sunday rolls around and the party is over.

You don't have to go home, but, you can't stay here.

The folks at LLM do a great job of packing boats in a small space. That became very apparent as we decided to leave. We were all docked like the pieces of an interlocking puzzle. Once the first boat moved, then everyone could get out.

We headed out into the River and started out trip South.


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Four Suns and I ran down to Cape May Sunday night and when we got up Monday morning to head out, the weather was not on our side.

We spent part of the day hunkered down looking for a break and watching the NOAA radar.

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We finally made a run and got as far as Ocean City, MD (about 40 miles) before we had to dash for shelter again.

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All the Jersey guys had been home for two days and we were still hanging out trying to go South. GW had a plane to catch, so we parted company in Ocean City. He rented a van and headed home via land and we stayed on top of the NOAA weather. Once we saw a break, we took off for the house. 3- 4 foot seas on the Atlantic, but, we were still able to make 20 - 22 knots, so about 4 hours later we were pulling into the marina.

8 days, 800+ miles and a great time with some great folks.

See you all again next year.

And thanks again to the folks at Sea Ray for their support!
 
CAST OF CHARACTERS

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ENDEAVOR


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Hmmm....seems I missed Jonathan's boat with no name...

Sorry about that. If anyone has a photo of the transom, send it to me to post.
 
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And, last , but not least...

We passed these three idiots, in the Atlantic Ocean, about 3 or 4 miles offshore, oblivious to their surroundings...

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Alex, or anyone that knows, the last picture in the post on #1061, what make and model is that Yacht with the Jet Ski in the stern???
 
Nice job, Rick. You've got my vote for the Pulitzer.

Dale
 
No question, Rick gets my vote.
 

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