Please fetch yourself a drink, this is a long report. Dear Friends, Happy holidays and a happy New Year to all of you.  At the time of writing, Diesel Duck is under anchor between Palm Island and MacArthur Causeway in Miami.  A few nights ago the temperature went down to 47F or 09C and we had to fire up our two Webasto forced air diesel heaters this morning to get the chill out of the boat.  We blame the Mayan with their 21 December Armageddon promise for this.  It still beats the snow up in Canada and tomorrow the temperature will climb back up to Miami’s t-shirt and shorts standard.  The last letter we wrote to you was a year ago and the Diesel Duck clocked since then 4259 nautical miles on the log meter.  The major mileage we earned by taking the DD from Bimini, Bahamas, up to Leamington, Lake Erie, Canada in the spring and down again in late October, November and December to Miami, where we are now.  The reason for taking the DD up there was to have a place to live and bunk down while fixing up an in February purchased cottage in Leamington, Canada.  In the middle of March, after some enjoyable time in the clear water and tranquility of the Berry islands in the Bahamas the DD left Bimini and used the current of the Gulf Stream for a nonstop run to Beaufort/Morehead City, NC.  The current helped us covering 228 nm on the 1st day, 200 nm on the 2nd and 180 nm on the third day.  Under normal condition our 41 ft DD covers 150 nm in 24 hrs which averages 6-1/4 knots speed.  Being a Canadian boat and coming from the Bahamas, a foreign country, we had to place a call to an 800 number for the US Custom and Border Protection.  “Do you have vegetables, eggs and meat products on board?” we were asked.  Marlene answered “Yes, we have frozen meat in the freezer, but all of it has been bought in the US before we headed over to the Bahamas.”  “OK” the lady said, “But all could be contaminated being in the Bahamas.  You have to tie up at the town dock in Beaufort and wait for officers to inspect you.”  We did as told and two nice, courteous officers showed up.  One gentleman was carrying 2 very large orange garbage bags.  The clearing in process was easy.  “I hate to do this” the officer with the bags said to Marlene, my wife and the protector of the loaded freezer. “Let’s open up the freezer and have a look at the contents” he said and here it went our super buys of filet mignon, pork tenderloins and steaks from Cosco which Marlene had repacked into vacuum freezer bags.  Also some horded lomito from South America found its way into the orange bag.  We were informed that if the meats weren’t in their original packaging or if the package didn’t have a US inspected label, it was prohibited.  Although the nice officer assured us that he hated to do this, he kept filling the bag, leaving plenty of empty space in the freezer.  We guess Morehead City’s US Custom and Border Protection were going to have a great barbecue on the weekend coming up. From Morehead City/Beaufort DD ventured north all the way to Albany, New York taking the ICW (Inter Coastal Waterway) part wise, even in New Jersey from Cape May to Atlantic City.  I have to admit, we got stuck with our 4-1/2 ft draft too, but managed to wiggle free ourselves and promised ourselves not to venture onto the ICW in New Jersey ever again.  Next time we would rather wait for a weather window to take the outside route.  Up on the Hudson River, we had plenty of time to prepare the DD for the New York State Canal voyage to Buffalo.  In Kingston, NY I bought a 10 ft 2x6 plank of wood, bull nosed it with the router and drilled holes into it for ropes so that it could be used as a fender board on the outside of our fenders.  Some 2x4 planks were bought as well at Lowes and cut down to manufacture a couple of mast cradles.  We lowered the mast with Castleton the Hudson Boat Club’s gin pole for a $50 user charge in self help.  The Erie Canal opened on April 28 and DD was the first pleasure boat locking through.  The passage took 7 days to Buffalo and DD reached Leamington, Canada on the 8th of May.  We don’t want to tire you out with particulars of fixing a cottage, but we worked like horses and are not done yet.  In the spring of next year we will store the DD in Florida and head back up there to finish what we started.  But Leamington is an interesting town with the most sun units in Canada.  Sun units is a term growers use.  You can grow almost any crop or vegetable in the surrounding area of Leamington which boast the most greenhouses in North America and there is a reason for Heinz Ketchup to have a big plant there, already over 100 years old. In the middle of October, DD dropped the lines in the Leamington Marina for the nonstop run of 180 nm to Buffalo on the Lake Erie.  The checking in process with US Custom and Border Protection is done via a video phone at Erin Basin.  Painless and easy, courteous officer, no clearing out of Marlene’s freezer to her delight.  The cruising permit got faxed to Wardell Boat Yard in Tonawanda, Buffalo, where we would drop the mast with their motorized gin pole.  God, it was getting cold in the Erie Canal.  We had to have our Webasto forced air diesel heaters running all day every day.  These heaters are a first class product and have never given us any trouble since 2005 and never needed any service.  Four weeks ago I changed the tiny diesel filters on both heaters after 7 years of good running.  I purchased the inline small filters two years ago and had it in my mind to change them and finally got around to do the job.  Our two heaters are the “Air Top 2000” models.  The Erie Canal is a beautiful waterway and nicely kept.  Stopping in Ilion, NY, close to Herkimer NY, I convinced Marlene to come with me and visit the “Remington” Arms plant museum.  In my younger years I spent three years in the “Bundeswehr” the German Armed Forces  from 1962 to 1965 and since then the technical side of guns always fascinates me. The hurricane “Sandy” was getting closer and while getting to the end of the Erie Canal towards the last 10 locks, the Canal Authority were dumping water out of the system.  Last year’s “Irene” had caused a lot of damage to locks and dams.  This time the authorities tried to be prepared.  Marlene and I were getting concerned about our own and DD’s safety while moving closer to the Hudson River during locking down in Waterford.  By now they were talking about “Franken Storm Sandy”.  Our goal was to get the mast stepped asap and have it up while “Sandy” was moving through.  After “Sandy” we may not find mast stepping devices in New York or New Jersey for a few weeks we thought.  We still had three days to step the mast and find a place to duck into.  On the 26th of Oct. DD left Waterford in the early morning, locked through the Federal lock on the Hudson north of Albany and tied up at the Boat Club’s gin pole in Castleton, NY at 10.00 AM.  We stepped the mast in a hurry and I worked into the late evening to connect rigging and electrical wiring, attached furling extrusion and boom.  We did not mount the radar or fitted sails. We were trying to reduce windage, a good thing, because during the storm we experienced gusts of up to 70 knots, but this will be later in the report.  Next morning DD started out to find a hurricane hole by moving south, down the Hudson.  We stopped in Kingston for the night up the Rondout River and were thinking maybe that it would be a spot to wait out the Franken Storm.  But during “Irene” the reservoir up the river with dam and generator station dumped so much water to prevent dam damage that it turned the Rondout River into a roaring monster taking everything with it in its way.  Some guys on shore said to us to get out of there as that place could be hell.  We left the next morning.  The Hudson runs through canyons and strong winds funnel in the gorge and increase the wind speed. Thinking about a place where the Hudson is the widest would be the best option.  There the Hudson could digest as well the storm surge, a rise up to 10 feet of water.  Looking at the chart, the Haverstraw Bay promised to be the best place to duck in during a hurricane.  Marlene called up a few marinas there.  Only the Half Moon Bay Marina had still a few spaces left.  All the others were full and not taking any transient boats or were filling up with New York City government vessels.  We noticed a stream of NYPD boats, small Coast Guard boats and Buoy Tenders going up the river.  The troops were leaving town.  Even Fire Department boats.  We got into the marina late and it was dark.  The place looked promising.  Next day we started to spider web the DD to the floating dock and the coming night would be the night of “Sandy”.   Marlene got every mooring line we owned out of the lockers, including 4 Polyethylene lines we still had from Patagonia, Chile, each 1 inch thick and 80 ft long.  All together DD got secured with 16 lines.  I tied down the Caribe 9 ft RIB to the aft deck, as it was airborne once before in a strong wind.  They can fly believe me.  I took down flag halyards, wash-down hoses, boats hook and other things which would end up as flying missiles  and secured on our neighboring motor cruiser dinghy straps.  The sky was overcast and the wind moderate, maybe 15 kt.  At about 16:00 hr the wind started to pick up and at 18:00 hr it was blowing 20-25 kt from the Southeast.  The marina was on the eastern shore of Haverstraw Bay and well protected from the wind, but it was a full moon and with the storm surge the water was rising quickly as the tide came in.  At 20:00 hr the wind freshened up to 30+ kt and we were getting howling “Williwaws” extreme gusts with 40 kt, sometimes 50 kt.  At 23:00 hr a fire fighter from the local fire station knocked on DD’s door and wanted to take us off the boat.  I explained to him the crew of DD is experienced in strong winds and should stay on board.  I asked him where his life vest was and he admitted that he had none and in 70 knots screeching gusts he had a hard time balancing his body on the docks.  I fitted him with a life vest and brought him back to shore, showing him how to walk in very strong winds.  At the height of the storm at 23:00 hr the knot meter indicated gusts up to 70 knots but averaging 35 knots of wind.  The rise of the water was scary.  The pylon tops were flush with the docks.  In normal conditions the pylons were 10 ft above the dock level.  In my imagination, I saw DD drifting down the Hudson with the docks still attached to the boat.  At midnight we noticed the water level was receding and going down.  What a relief.  The storm had passed and the wind force was winding down.  You all have seen the news on TV, so I don’t have to go into the details of the destruction from this monster’s storm.  In the afternoon of the next day the wind was gone, the water was down again.  We cleaned up DD from dirt and leaves blown onto the duck by the storm, removed the extra dock lines and I fitted the radar dome and the sails.  The following morning we relocated to an anchorage in front of the famous prison “Sing Sing” hoping to pick up wifi, but not such luck.  On land was no hydro and without power there was no internet.  “Sing Sing” was running on emergency generators.  It must be a big generator as the prison was well lit up. Going down the Hudson River in New York next day, having passed the aircraft carrier, the Coast Guard stopped us, sending us back north of the Washington Bridge. New York harbor was closed to all traffic and ships needed a special permit for passage.  On the third day we were granted passage out to the sea with no stop in New York City or Sandy Hook.  Fine with us.  The DD moved nonstop to Chesapeake City on the C & D Canal between Delaware Bay and Chesapeake Bay.  With a stop in Annapolis to get an iPad mini from the Apple store as an early Christmas present for Marlene, we ventured down the ICW and part wise offshore to Miami in Florida.   Pictures to compliment this travel report you can view on Marlene’s blog: http://www.sailblogs.com/member/dieselduck We wish you all the very best in the coming New Year and fair winds to all of you. Benno and Marlene