New York City – Aircraft Carriers, Pasta in Times Square, Advice from Dads

New York City – 11 kilometers walked

By 6:30am our batteries were showing 10.5 volts, not enough to run any of the 12 volt systems on the boat so I fired up our portable generator to get some fresh jigglywatts back into the system. I also turned on the diesel heater to take the bite off the morning chill, and just to make sure we were making our best effort to destroy the Earth, I also fired up the diesel engine to warm up the water so we could have showers. Thankfully there were no overnight sailors anywhere close to us to see this travesty of greenhouse gas emissions. The only thing worse would have been if I had been screening Talladega Nights on the mainsail from our kerosene-powered projector.

 

We had a big breakfast of eggs and sausages then I got to work on the batteries. Whenever I’m contemplating an electrical project with the potential for massive injury (which is most of them) I give my dad a call as he’s got solid electrical skills. I ran the plan by him via FaceTime, we talked it through, then I executed without electrocution or explosion. Magnus said, “I guess you’re never too old to call your dad for advice, hey Dad?”

 

“That’s absolutely right. Dads know a lot. I hope you can call me for electrical advice someday,” I said, then looked at him expectantly.

 

“I’ll probably just call if I need help with Excel or some computer thing.”

 

That was good enough for me.

 

After the battery project I turned my attention to the leak in the anchor hold. It hadn’t dried much overnight as the crazy currents and wake splashed high on the boat and kept forcing water into the space through the anchor vent clamshells. I had to ask Ana to spot for me as it was a long way down there and I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to push myself back out without shitting my pants or blowing a vein in my brain, so she was at the ready to start heaving on my legs. I went headfirst into the hold with some blue shop towels and a tube of sealant clamped between my teeth like some sort of maintenance pirate. Well, the sealant must have been old or something because it came out a strange colour and was more jellied than advertised. I should have stopped right there and got a different sealant but since I was upside down with the blood rapidly flooding my brain messing up the wiring, I went ahead and did the shoddy repair and hoped for the best.

 

By noon we were ready to go so we jumped back on our favourite subway and headed to the city. Ana got off a couple stops before me to go shopping at Columbus Circle and I met up with Magnus near Penn Station, but it took a few texts back and forth to find each other. It went something like this:

 

Me: MEET ME AT 7^TH AVENUE AND 29^th STREET

Magnus: OK, I’M THERE, WHICH CORNER ARE YOU ON?

Me: THE ONE WITH THE HOT DOG STAND

Magnus: THERE’S HOT DOG STANDS ON THREE OF THE CORNERS

Me: AH, RIGHT. I’LL BE THE GUY WAVING HIS HANDS AND JUMPING UP AND DOWN

Magnus: QUIT JUMPING UP AND DOWN, I SEE YOU. JEEZ.

 

I was quite thrilled when Magnus said he’d like to join me at the Intrepid museum, which is a giant aircraft carrier and nuclear submarine anchored right in the Hudson River. I remember my buddy Tony telling me about it years before, and how he’d spent the better part of a day there. Well, I can see why – it was excellent. We spent a lot of time looking through the many displays, walked the ship from end to end on the various levels, then spent quite a while checking out the airplanes and helicopters on the flight deck of Intrepid. We were both surprised to see the Enterprise space shuttle also there, in its full glory, in a massive covered hangar on the deck of Intrepid. Something else I didn’t expect was a British Airways Concorde jet on the jetty beside the ships, within the same complex. After exploring all this we decided to give the sub a miss as there was a lengthy queue and we felt like we’d had our fill of war machines for the day.

 

We met Ana in Times Square, had a nice dinner at the Olive Garden restaurant, then walked around enjoying the frenzy of tourists taking selfies, street performers working hard to draw a crowd, Furries hustling tourists to part with some cash for a photo, scantily clad women with their camera crews creating social media content in the form of plunging necklines, bulging bosoms, and runway pose-offs, and the thousands upon thousands of video screens advertising the best and worst of America, and robbing the night of its darkness.

 

We walked north to find the next A train station, along the way visiting, yes, an M&M’s store – wall of chocolate, full sized M&M mannequins, clothing and giftware for each of the M&M colours, and a bunch of other ridiculous stuff. But it was packed full of tourists, and most of them were buying.

We subway’d back to home base, stopped at the wine store to pick up a fresh box of plonk, then took our final dinghy ride back to SeaLight.

 

Tomorrow Magnus goes home and we head south.