Zach's bay Memorial day weekend

[spikeitaudi]

Day 2:

 

[Xplicitlnck]

Sorry guys didn't have s chance to get on fb last night to put some pics up but will try again tonight. For Alvin I tried finding you last night there's a couple guys with your name would you mind requesting me so I can steel some pics? Jonathan schanter. my profile pic is me hanging from a helicopter. Thanks

 

[spikeitaudi]

Sorry guys didn't have s chance to get on fb last night to put some pics up but will try again tonight. For Alvin I tried finding you last night there's a couple guys with your name would you mind requesting me so I can steel some pics? Jonathan schanter. my profile pic is me hanging from a helicopter. Thanks

Sent you an invite. If anybody else has sent an invite to me please let me know as I have a couple of invites but don't know who these ppl are and I am not one that just accepts all.

 

[Xplicitlnck]

Thank you will get to it tonight appreciate it

 

[Greg]

A few pics...

 

[rcmafgny]

Its a sh***y job, but someones got to do it...

 

[Vince_nj1]

A few pics...

Greg.. Great shots!! Most of mine came out blurry. I need to learn how to use my camera.

 

[Havana Shamrock]

how about some boat pics, everyones doing planes!!!! enjoy.

 

[Alex F]

With iffy weather starting Friday we weren’t sure how fog will treat us on Sat morning with forecast of patchy fog anywhere between NJ and LI coast. So, I figured that I’ll play it by the ear and as long as I have good viz to get by ICW and jump out to the ocean I’ll be fine. It turned out to be beautiful day to travel. I left the slip at 7:30am and while cruising ICW my crew started slowly waking up. At 8:45 we jumped out of MI and I set the straight course to JI. The seas were calm around 2-3’ which is a smooth ride with SW wind at your stern. There were lots of fishing boats enjoying the holiday weekend on water and we saw good number of large cargo ships.

At this point we're just about half way to JI:

By 10:25am we were entering JI. The buoys were obviously changed from how I had them marked from previous trips, but the channel was well marked. Soon after we were in ICW of LI South Shore we were in the middle what’s known as a very busy weekend for the locals. Anywhere you look there are tons of boats. This is one of those weekends when you have to set your expectation accordingly. So, I did just that and it wasn’t too bad at all, accept for the time when I was approaching under 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] bridge and had to come to a full stop to make sure we fit under safely (we had only about few inches clearance). The other boats wouldn’t care to give you some slack and just keep going in the narrow channel (nothing unusual). But, I don’t let this stuff bother me and I just do my thing.

By 10:45 the Zach’s Bay was packed and somehow our raft was all the way to the end closer to the beach. While making my way through I was just few fenders width away passing by some other rafts. I’ve been in number of tight anchorage, but I guess this one topped the list. Shortly after zigzagging around we united with our CSR raft.

It was time to enjoy the show and company of our friends who we didn’t see for a long time. During the show we got lucky with the weather and few expected storms passed distance away. The show was great and Blue Angels were awesome.

During the night and morning hours the storm cells were all around us and the wind have changed. This is when I discovered that we were no longer swinging with the others. “Surprise!!!” that’s when Greg finally confessed that he has stern anchor out “hidden” somewhere near under my boat (it wasn’t an issue as I had plenty of clearance under the props). But, this was the time to make necessary adjustments as we got way too close to the other rafts. For few hours we had light NW wind which was not what weathermen said to expect. At this point the stern anchor (which was deployed in NW direction) happened to do most of the work. To make the situation even more interesting all of a sudden few more boats showed up to join our raft (LOL…“perfect timing”). This was clearly a time to hold quick captain’s meeting and decide to reposition the raft completely or add another stern and bow anchor just to maintain steady position and monitor for few hours. The group decided that later after the show we’ll head to Freeport, so made the decision to deploy extra anchors to avoid possibility of dragging. This is when I saw what Greg meant when he said that he has 1500lbs of crap on board. He pulled out his BIG stern anchor with about 20-30’ of chain and 300-500’ of line. This thing comes in about 4-5 different parts and takes at least two to handle it.

As soon as I'll dig up pic of the anchor I'll post it. But, here's one where Greg and Ron on the mission to deploy the monster. Note the size of the line by Greg's port side.

Thanks to Joe we're able to find pics of the monster anchor:

We had another task on our hands. Joe informed me that his head is full and they’re running out of water. I thought that water is not an issue, but emptying the head was a must. After hailing the pump-out boat on CH71 we had an ETA of 1.5-2hrs (not so bad, kind of usual ETA). Well, the reality is way different. As you can imagine Joe was not the only one in this situation in such packed anchorage. So, we finally gave up and sent Greg with kids (while there were just cruising around) on the search mission to find the pump-out and guide him to us.

The bay had all kind of interesting things to see including the ice cream boat.

I couldn’t avoid noticing the exposition on this Formula.

It was time to make plans for Freeport visit. Someone had mentioned that there might be an issue with big boats, so we made a decision to take “Baby TAZ” for a “quick spin”. It was a good decision. But, it was an adventure of its own. As other folks suggested earlier the trip from Zach’s to Freeport is not really a dinghy ride, but it’s nothing “Baby TAZ” can’t handle. Before leaving we made sure that the raft is secured and the winds shifted back to SW, which was perfect for us. We had 100% comfort level leaving the raft with few captains on board, so we took off as a party of 4 (Greg, Tom, Ron and I). Tom took the seat on the bow, so Greg was careful and our ride to Freeport was uneventful. Upon arrival we assessed the situation and quickly learned that space was an issue for large beam boats. Schooners had about 4 slips that could take us, but since we wanted to spend the night after dinner we wanted to find something with water and electrical service, which is not offered by the restaurant’s docks. We quickly spotted the town docks just at the south tip of Nautical Mile. There were only 2-3 slips for large boats, but it looked like there was water and electric. These docks were definitely an option. Then, we took a ride along the canal all the way to the end. SI Yacht Sales had few nice and big slips, but since they were out of business, no luck there either. We were not allowed to use those slips. We decided that we have 3 options. 1-Take town docks positioning our boats along the dock (not stern in to each slip), 2-build the raft right before the town docks (there appeared to be enough room and depth), 3-use schooner’s docks. This meant that we’re good to go to Freeport. On the way back I offered to switch seats with Tom….what a mistake…when Greg asked “Alex, are you ok if it gets a little bumpy? I said, no problem”....LOL. The ICW was a washing machine with all non-stop traffic, so the ride back was waaaayyy different and eventful. In short, I still feel that my voice is “kind of on the soft side”. I think we came out of the water few times. It was more comfortable and safer for me to ride standing up holding the lines and grab-rail on the consol. If I was sitting I would still have concussion. Then, we had a slight grounding while we tried to be away from main channel and big waves and to have a complete trip we got boarded by CG (I thought they’re after us b/c of missing anchor from one of the cargo ships). It was nice to be back on the boat to lie down and chill with a drink. All and all it was a fun ride and most importantly we did the right thing to go there prior bringing the big boats there.

After couple of hours we had to break the raft and 4 boats (“Inspiration”, “Lady TAZ”, “Mirage” and “Knot Flying”) headed to Freeport. “Knot for Sail” was going to join us later in the evening.

It was tough to find a place that can take a group of 21, but Schooners said “we got you covered”. Upon approach we saw that few spots were taken in both places: Schooners and the town dock. While Mirage and Knot Flying went to get water at the fuel dock I began assessing the grounds for the raft. After few minutes we thought that we can fit in the town dock, so Lady TAZ had seniority of a larger vessel to take the first spot. The plan worked fine, except that the place didn’t have electrical service. But, we can’t complaint since there was no one to collect money either. By the time we got all 4 boats settle it was time to get ready for dinner.

Note how Lady TAZ and Inspiration took about 11-12 slips....LOL.

Sorry, Joe. I took these after you guys had left, but I’m sure someone has few pics where all of our boats are docked.

The next day we headed out to explore the village. It’s a cute little town with very few shops, but number of very inviting restaurants and tiki bars. We had a nice walk, but one thing we couldn’t understand what was the deal with all the flies. It’s fine to have bugs and flies in spots, but these things were all over the town. While passing by a Sushi place (I think it’s called “Bonito”) we couldn’t pass the opportunity to try some local sushi for lunch. I have to say it was pretty good.

It was time to say goodbye to our friends until the next time as folks started heading home. We weren’t leaving to NJ until Tue, so we decided to head out to a new spot not far from the inlet. We ended up by the state park where the JI CG is located. It’s was a nice place with lots of slips. We had a nice walk around the area and spent the night there. Some time in the late evening we were approached by the CG advising that overnight stay in the park was not permitted. But, after a short conversation they were nice enough to let us stay until the morning.

As expected, the ride back was not as smooth due to the SW winds. And of course the wind was not the 7-10mph as they say. But, it was still comfortable enough ride. After about 1h45m we were in MI. Having great forecast (sunny 92 degrees, water temp in Manasquan River was 81) we decided to hang out by Treasure Island for few hours, which was an excellent way to end our long weekend trip.

I want to thank everyone who joined us. It was a great times as usual and we can’t wait to do it again. We enjoyed Zach’s Bay very much and would love to go back there for more special events where we can hook up with our friends again. I have to mention that despite what we call a “zoo” the place was enjoyable and with presents of CG and Police everything was nice and cool without too much craziness or too much noise.


Cheers,
Alex.

 

[Alex F]

Greg.. Great shots!! Most of mine came out blurry. I need to learn how to use my camera.

Vince, first you need to get one of these:

 

[Greg]

... and to have a complete trip we got boarded by CG (I thought they’re after us b/c of missing anchor from one of the cargo ships).

:smt043:smt043:smt043

That was a great description of our trip back... Now I have to clean the soda off of my monitor.

 

[Alex F]

Greg, get a depthfinder and plotter on that dink, will ya....:lol:

Next time I'll take the wheel and you sit at the bow. :smt101

 

[Vince_nj1]

Alex.. It wasn't that crowded :grin:

 

[Alex F]

Nice shot. Thanks Vince.

 

[cod]

Nice shot. Thanks Vince.

Alex, Did you apply Vaseline on the hull prior to entering Zachs bay? :grin:

 

[Alex F]

Alex, Did you apply Vaseline on the hull prior to entering Zachs bay? :grin:

Yeah, if I had one or two feet extra beam I might have ended up watching the show from ICW....:grin:...When we took the dinghy ride to Freeport we saw that the no-wake zones along the ICW were all packed with anchored boats. Anywhere I looked there were boats anchored out.

 

[HUMPH]

I still liked our Memorial Day sea Ray only raftup!

 

[Havana Shamrock]

I still liked our Memorial Day sea Ray only raftup!

The second picture looks like your in size order.. Well done. We're lucky anyone showed up,, if it wasnt for the Jersey boys it would have been all 5-6 of us...

 

[HUMPH]

The second picture looks like your in size order.. Well done. We're lucky anyone showed up,, if it wasnt for the Jersey boys it would have been all 5-6 of us...

I tried to arrange it to have all bridge boats on one side and express boats on the other. One bridge got on our side as well as a big shoe!

 

[Alex F]

I just added pics of mystery anchor. Thanks to Joe for sharing them.