No swim

We heard about the Hudson River Swim for Life from the guy who swims past our boat every couple of days. He suggested we volunteer but for the first few days of life here in Nyack we were so busy running errands and doing boat chores that we couldn’t imagine having time. But then we realized that the swim benefits the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and we knew we had to do something in honor of our friend Craig on Anything Goes.

I sent an email to the volunteer coordinator offering our help. She responded immediately and said she would forward our email to the boat captain. The next day he called and said our boat would be a big help as a stationary waypoint somewhere in the middle of the 3-mile swim. The evening before the event they called and we discussed where we should anchor. They wanted us just west of the shipping channel and south of the swim channel. They figured if a ship came through during the swim, they could hold up the swimmers at our boat until it passed. We looked at the chart and checked the tide and current tables and made a waypoint where we are currently anchored so we can return to the same perfect spot. We were very excited, and we talked my swimmer brother-in-law into coming along early the next morning.

We woke up while it was still dark to high winds and a serious chop in the river. Oh no! All week the mornings have been calm and warm but Saturday morning was a mess. Dave called us from the car about 7 am to let us know he was on the way and we didn’t know if we could even launch the dinghy to go get him. We managed to pick him up at the dock, and as usual, he came with fresh flagels, cream cheese and lox. Yum!

We ate a quick breakfast then raised the anchor and headed south toward the Tappan Zee bridge. As we cleared the mooring field I peered through the binoculars trying to spot the boats setting the buoys for the swim route across the river. Nothing. Hmmm. The boat captain told me the night before they would be in a meeting until 8:30 and it was just past that, so I dialed his number.

“It’s Marce on Escape Velocity,” I said. “Are we still on?” I could hear much talking and commotion in the background.

“Oh no! I should have called you.”

Bummer. They’d had to cancel because the conditions weren’t safe and they were trying to see if they could salvage the event. We turned around and re-anchored in our spot. I felt sorry for the organizers, the sponsors and most of all the swimmers and kayakers who had trained for the event. We were very disappointed, too, and we told them to give us a call if it got rescheduled.

Our fun plan for the day was shot so Dave invited us to their house. My sister was at an all-day quilt show so we did a lot of just hanging out. We took advantage of their shower, their wifi and their fully stocked refrigerator, and Dave chauffeured us to a couple of stores and to Trader Joe’s for some reprovisioning. Apparently he still wasn’t sick of us and invited us to stay for dinner. All day the three of us were doing the sailor’s lurch after the bouncy morning on the boat.

We got home well after dark. We hadn’t expected to be out that late and came back to a boat with no anchor light and a hungry cat. We need to keep those things in mind in the future.

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

One Response to No swim

  1. Carole L Esley

    The ying and yang of boating ~ turned out pretty good for all but the swimmers and Izzy. High fives for Dave! Love reading your blog and have finally caught up after being away. Looks like Maine is not in play this year. Anxiously await word of where you will be heading after Nyack. Cheers to you three!

We love to hear from you!