Had it been colder on Sunday morning, the weather would have been raw. There was a damp in the rain blowing from the south that got under even good foul weather gear and an intensity that bordered on fog, limiting visibility in the anchorage when I was ready to head out. I got the anchor up and then followed on the chart plotter the reverse of the course that I had established entering the evening before.
This time, I ran aground.
It was a mud bottom and so the grounding was silent and deceptive. I didn't know it had happened until the bow dipped down as the after section of the keel -- the deepest part -- ran up onto a mud mound.
I worked the throttle forward and aft and shoved the tiller to port and starboard and eventually, Robin broke free and I was on my way west in Long Island sound, bound for Manhasset Bay.
The bay was calm when I arrived, and I steered for an area of about 15-foot depth near the western shore, well protected from the existing southerly wind. Once the anchor was down, I had an opportunity to examine the bungalows that lined the nearby shore.




While I probably do not agree with, or have unbounded respect for, many of the folks who recently have participated in the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, I do however doubt that in many cases there is justification, either in terms of risks taken or talent brought to bear, for the amount that the owners of these dwellings draw from our economy in comparison with the compensation paid to, as an example, an inspiring middle school teacher who opens the minds of children who otherwise would likely live their lives without appreciating their world.
In any case, I had a good night's rest, preparing for the Monday passage through Hell Gate and the voyage down the East River toward an anchorage in Sandy Hook, NJ.