We left Kingston at noon on June 13 sans coxswain but with an effective self-steering setup. After lunch at Esopus Island, we continued south on the ebb with Angie offering a running commentary on the mansions of the East shore. We reached the Poughkeepsie boathouse around 6, then rowed a few more miles to the Pirate Canoe Club where we left the boat for the night.
Day two we were a skeleton crew: Mike, Sally and me. Luckily the wind gods smiled and we mostly sailed, stopping to eat and poke around in Wappinger’s Creek and then heading south to Newburgh, where we had a beer and I bought some rolling tobacco. Then we crossed to Denning’s Point and tied the boat to a mulberry tree. Mike hiked out to the Beacon train station while Sally and I prepared a delicious dinner of cod, onions and peppers in parchment (well, alright, aluminum foil).
In the morning, the boat was full of mulberries. Phil and his two dogs walked out to join us for the short row to Breakneck, and we picked up an unexpected fourth--Christine, whose late grandfather had spent most of his life as the caretaker on Bannerman’s. Dan and Jim stepped in for Phil and Christine at Breakneck, having trained up from the city, and another friend of theirs, Cara, climbed on in Garrison. That meant that we were fully crewed up, which was a good thing because after a lovely row/drift through the Highlands we came around the corner at Indian Point to find big waves rolling up Haverstraw Bay and a stiff breeze blowing from the exact place we wanted to go. It took us two hard hours to cover the last four miles, but we made it, running up on Mother’s Beach right at dark.
kingston to croton
launching at Kingston
l to r: Mike, Angie, Sally, Rob
water chestnut--rudders love it
don’t tread on me
cove on west side of Esopus Island
MockMansion, West Park
the other CIA (Culinary Institute of America)
afternoon glass at Poughkeepsie
pulling for home
Poughkeepsie’s new state-funded boathouse
lounging
north view from newburgh, day 2
crossing to denning’s point
beacon institute under construction
will beacon renovate this building, too?
view south over fishkill bay (low tide)
denning’s point landing
view of newburgh, day three
campsite on point
three blondes on afterdeck
griffy and christine at bannerman’s
south view from breakneck ridge
west view--storm king
north view
pollopel island, aka bannerman’s
fresh rowers--dan and jim
first swim--west point
why row when you can drift?
bar at garrison general store
pulling for bear mountain bridge
last swim, south of round island
we made it by dark--barely
