Monday 061515– in DUNKIRK NY

Weather/Sea   Foggy, Windy , 70

Captain - John C. Kwak crew Chuck Livingston

DUTCHESS is now in Dunkirk NY the most westerly harbor in NY that I can use. We are in the Dunkirk Yacht Club a very nice facility with one day reciprocity for yacht club members and only $1 per foot per day, for more days.  This is a working club like PYC and a very friendly group. We motored the 35 miles from Buffalo YC because of very light winds as usual. It was a little foggy so I turned on the new radar for the first time and it worked very nicely. It showed clearly all the very small fishing craft around us which gave peace of mind. Then a rain squall came along which showed clearly on the radar. Then the screen filled up with rain all around us and it poured with visibility 50’. The radar was totally cluttered with rain except for a ¼ mile circle on the screen around the boat which would not give much reaction time. Luckily the rain stopped before Dunkirk, so the radar cleared and about  a mile before the harbor the fog lifted and we carefully motored in to the guest dock. I had called DYC before and again as we approached for instructions and they were very helpful.  A little scary entrée because the charts showed shallow water but they assured us that there was at least 7’ and there is. Staying here 2 nights but today is windy and very foggy so we may stay until the fog lifts. The next stop will be Erie PA.

We spent 6 nights at BYC and had a good time. I did a lot of bicycle trips including to a clothing drop to unload a lot of old boat working clothes. Hope not to do much work on the rest of the trip. Paul and I got the main installed it was a real work party to get the heavy main and Doyle stack pack unto the boom and then up the mast. This is a fully battened main so long battens have to be inserted every 5’. Luckily we can stand on the hardtop to do this work. On Friday I was alone so I joined BYC for an Hawaiian Pig Roast with all the trimmings and drinks and that is where Chuck found me at 2230 in the bar chatting with BYC members, not a good image for the Captain, Ha Ha.

John