Day 5: NYC to Norwalk, CT

Day 4 was a land day in NYC and not worthy of its own blog post, since there was no boat travel. I will say that Chelsea Piers marina, while well located, is not the best place to stay. First of all, the Hudson River is really rough due to its proximity to the Ocean and the non-stop heavy shipping traffic, and Elana got nauseous a few times just sitting on the boat. Secondly, there are no amenities of any kind, such as showers, restrooms, etc. However, there are many to do there, including a golf driving range, a pool, an ice skating rink, many types of gyms and fitness classes and more. That said, our only activity at Chelsea was to jog along the water early in the morning. In the afternoon, we saw a broadway show, School of Rock, which I have to say was quite entertaining. Ann got us 3rd row seats with an isle - the absolutely ideal place to sit!

Great Broadway show

Besides seeing a great show, we did not do much in the city. Our meals were low key, and the one big dinner reservation we had was for Thursday night, and we ended up leaving before then. As we suspected all along when we planned this trip, we were not able to keep to our original itinerary. The plan was to stay in New York City until Friday, and then to head to Norwalk, CT. However, the weather forecast in NY and in CT for Friday was bad. So, we moved our itinerary up a day, and headed to Norwalk on Thursday instead. We will make up the day by staying two days in Mystic. So, trading one NYC day for a day in Mystic. Actually, I think that's a good tradeoff, as even in 2 days we had our fill of the city.

NYC to Norwalk

I'm finding the marinas to be pretty flexible with cancellations and moving days around. Hopefully that will remain the case because as long as we are a day ahead of schedule, we'll have to shift things around in several places.

This morning, Ann and Elana walked back to the vegan restaurant By Chloe and picked up "pancakes" and other breakfast "food", and as soon as they returned to the boat around 8:45, I had everything ready, and we headed  out for a 43 nautical mile boat ride to Norwalk. The Hudson was pretty rough, and in fact that was the roughest water we've encountered so far on this trip. We took it at around 10 knots so that Ann and Elana could eat in peace. Benny was still asleep.

Leaving Chelsea Piers behind us

As we circled Manhattan, heading South on the Hudson, I took in the views of Manhattan one more time. The East River is extremely heavily trafficked with commercial vessels and ships, and I had to stay really focused, but I managed to snap a few photos.

Just passed under the Brooklyn Bridge

So many pretty bridges around Manhattan

Once we got past Hell Gate (much ado about nothing), we headed into Long Island Sound. The water could not have been more calm. Not even one foot waves. We are getting spoiled. In the Sound, we saw the deepest water we've seen on the trip so far.

Instrument reading 111.4 feet of depth.

Had one hiccup leaving the Sound. My multi-function display plotter on the boat did not have chart details coming into the channel. So, I had no indication of depth or channel markers. I had two choices - just follow the channel markers and trust them, and use my waypoints to make sure I'm on course, or pull out my charting app on my iPhone and navigate using that. I ended up doing both - using my iPhone but following the waypoints on the charts and the channel markers. I will have to do the same when we leave tomorrow. Probably stressed me out more than it needed to, but I'm kind of a high strung person, and better safe than sorry in boating.

About 75 minutes after entering Long Island Sound, we arrived at Norwalk Cove Marina where we tied up stern-in to a really nice slip.

Tied up in Norwalk

We are docked next to a gorgeous 80 foot yacht (named Dot Calm) with two tenders, including an open bow speedboat (Dot Net), with two 350HP outboards, that most people would probably be thrilled to have as their primary boat. I vowed not to have boat envy, as I just bought my dream boat, and no 80 foot yacht is going to change that. Amazing that no matter what you do, there is always one bigger.

After I checked in at the office, I had a nice chat with Grandpa Steve, my student Nick's grandfather who is the marina manager. Of course he spoke very highly of his over-achieving grandson!

Once we settled in, and I plugged into shore power and took care of all the details associated with docking in a new slip (fastening and securing all the lines, lining up the fenders, shutting down the generator and the instruments, washing the boat, etc), we took our dingy out for a nice cruise around Norwalk Cove. We cruised around the marina admiring the boats, and then headed out into the open water on plane. The dingy does a good 25 knots at 3/4 throttle, and that's as far as I felt like pushing it even though the water was completely flat. We crossed under a closed drawbridge which started opening, just as we were going under it, and scared the bejeebers out of me. Then we passed through an old spinning railroad bridge, and finally through a deep water marshy area where we saw a dozen or so swans. Gorgeous animals. Unfortunately, I did not bring my iPhone with me because I was worried about getting it wet, so we don't have any pictures of that.

I let Benny drive the dingy, and we took it out into the Sound and drove around the Southern/Eastern shore where saw a really nice beach. Finally, we came back and put the dingy away. The process of stowing the dingy in the chocks, flushing its engine, securing everything, tying the paddle board to it, and washing everything took me over forty minutes. There's always so much to do. We need to pump out again in the morning, but we're good on fuel and water for our trip to Mystic tomorrow, and there seems to be a pretty wide weather window. I'd like to get out on the paddle boards once we get there tomorrow. Haven't used them yet on this trip.

Shortly after we were done with the dingy, a strong storm came in. We enjoyed watching it from the comfort of our boat, secure in the slip and glad that we timed our travel well, but also aware that one day we may end up in something like that on the open water. Amazing how all of a sudden the waves whipped up, and it was awe inspiring to watch the fury with which water in the marina came to life.

Once the storm passed, we took an Uber to South Norwalk where every other establishment on Main Street looked like a nice restaurant.

It's always four O'Clock in South Norwalk. We were here around 7:45 pm.

We settled for a Pho/Ramen place that accommodated all of our eating habits. I've never had Pho before, and probably won't rush back to have it again, but it was okay.

The Rubins eating Pho and Ramen in Norwalk

We then settled in for the night. Ann reading, me working on my laptop, and Elana and Benny playing video games on their phones. Our plan is to watch a movie over Netflix using the high speed marina WiFi. Tomorrow, we head to Mystic, and we'll time our departure based on the forecasts here and over there. Hopefully we can keep our great weather streak with no waves alive for at least another day.

Day 3: Atlantic City to Chelsea Piers in Manhattan

Concerned about the forecast for thunderstorms in the afternoon in NYC, Ann and I set an alarm for 6:10 a.m. this morning. We got up and immediately got the boat ready to go. At 6:25 we were under way. Our route took us along the East Coast of the United States, about 2-3 miles from shore in many spots. This was to be our first test of mother nature - the first time we were committed to several hours in the open ocean, which we believed was a completely different boating experience from previous outings. However, the weather was fantastic. The waves, to the extent that we had any, were 1-2 feet at most. The ride was relatively smooth. And there were dolphins everywhere, a wonderful sight I don't think I'll ever get used to.

Atlantic City to Manhattan

As we pulled out of port, we took one last look at Atlantic City, and I got a gorgeous shot of Ann on the bow putting the lines away as we headed into the sunrise at Atlantic City inlet and turned to port to head North to The Big Apple.

Sunrise silhouette of Ann as we leave Atlantic City

About an hour into our trip, we passed by the Shore house of our friends from New Jersey, Shery and Michael Jay who came out to the beach early, around 7:30 just to wave and see us go by. They saw our boat, and we saw two small people who we thought were them in the distance waving, but we couldn't be sure. Text messages confirmed that they saw us, and I was kicking myself for leaving my binoculars below deck in the crew quarters storage area. That's what happens when you leave port half asleep early in the morning. We'll try  to see them better (with binoculars!) on our return trip home.

After about three uneventful hours of boating, we approached the Verrazano bridge, which I remember crossing (by car) as a child when we drove to Brooklyn to visit my grandmothers. It was a bit nerve racking coming under the bridge because of the heavy amount of large ship traffic with no clear indication of where recreational boats such as ours were supposed to go, but it all worked out.

Approaching Verrazano Narrows Bridge

After crossing the bridge, we got our first real view of Manhattan. What a skyline! Still makes me sad to see New York without the twin towers. I don't think I'll ever get over 9/11. Every time I see New York I think of it.

First view of Manhattan

Several moments later, we passed the Statue of Liberty. I wish they had a public dock where we could stop by and visit, but I'm pretty sure that only the tour boats are allowed to stop there. Anyway, we got our money shot, which is what really matters when you are a dedicated blogger.

Statue of Liberty

As we approached the city from Jersey City where we fueled up, I thought of another photo to take. Note the reflection of the city in the window of Sababa. Love this shot. (Benny always teases me when I compliment my own pictures.)

Approaching the city

As we made our way to Chelsea Piers, Ann noted that you could see the Lincoln Tunnel in our navigation chart on the plotter, and that I should take a picture. So I did.

Chart plotter shows us about to cross above the Lincoln Tunnel

With Chelsea Piers only minutes away, Elana adopted a happy pose.

She loves New York!

This marina is known as a rough water marina. The boat shakes back and forth non-stop, and docking in this rough waters was a new challenge, but also confidence building, as I pulled her in slowly and smoothly with no hiccups. Starting to feel good about this docking thing, always the most stressful part of boating. If I can dock it here, I can dock it anywhere. It's up to you, New York, New York!

Tied up at Chelsea Piers; I got this docking thing!

After tying up, I spent a good 30-40 minutes washing the boat. There was salt on the metal rails and on the cleats, and the ocean water really did a number on the dingy and the rest of the big boat, so I gave her a serious hose down. I had to connect two fifty foot hoses to each other and wash from both sides as well as from on the bow to really clean everything. Came back on the boat sweaty and exhausted and downed a cold beer and relaxed before we headed out to explore New York. Although we arrived at NYC around 10:40 a.m., it wasn't until 2 pm or so when we were fueled, emptied of waste, tied up and washed. There's lots of work to do, but it's a labor of love. I wouldn't have it any other way.

After a quick shower, we took to the streets. The first shot here is at the entrance to Chelsea Piers. It had been a dream of mine to come here on a boat ever since my early 30s when Ann brought me to the city on my birthday, and we hit golf balls at Chelsea Piers driving range and had a nice dinner in the city. Today I finally realized that dream. Hope she doesn't take me to Thailand next for my birthday because getting there by boat will be a bigger challenge!

On land

Every time I come to New York, I discover a new site that I had never heard of. This time it was the High Line. An amazing walking park in the city that covers many blocks, above ground. It's a peaceful oasis in a crazy bustling city. I don't think it's been around that long, but somehow in all my recent trips to New York, I missed it.

Coolest park ever

Ann and the kids wanted to try out a famous vegan restaurant called By Chloe, and I wasn't too enthusiastic about that. Luckily, I had been in touch with a former student of mine, Nick Ginsberg, who I met at the Chelsea Market. We got some Hummus at DizenGoff restaurant and took it back to the boat where we sat on the flybridge, ate dinner, and he taught me about the ins and outs of statistical horse betting.

Hummus in Manhattan!

Great to keep in touch with former students. With Nick Ginsberg.

Tomorrow, we have tickets to see School of Rock on Broadway. I'm sure we'll explore many other parts of the city as well, and I will sneak in some meat or dairy food whenever I can get away with it. We are going to be here 3 nights, and I'm going to take a break from this blog, which I always intended to cover our travel days more so than our multiple nights.

We have our eye on our departure day, which is Friday. Some concern about the forecast, so hoping there is a good window of time to get to Norwalk, CT. Also trying to time the tide at Hell Gate because apparently there is a reason they call it that. Between the projected thunderstorms (BTW, today they never came), and the rough currents in Hell Gate we have our work cut out for us.

Finally, as it turns out (small world!) the dockmaster at the marina where we're staying in Norwalk is Nick's grandfather, so we look forward to seeing grandpa there.

So that's it for the blog for a few days. Looking forward to a few days of fun, and then we're back on the water on our way to Boston!

Day 2: Cape May to Atlantic City

We "slept in" this morning until 7:15 after getting to bed later than usual in Cape May last night. The kids were still asleep, so Ann and I had breakfast and got the boat ready without them. We pulled out of Cape May at 8:00 and headed towards the inlet into the Atlantic Ocean.

Leaving Cape May behind

The trip today was 38 miles along the Eastern Coast of the US. The most direct route took us about 5 miles offshore. We could still see the land the whole time. As soon as we left the inlet, I could feel the waves, although the ride was pretty flat. I don't know if we even had 1 foot waves, but you somehow could sense that this was no longer the Chesapeake Bay. As soon as we turned North, I spotted dolphins, and called out to Ann. Elana and Benny showed up around that time. We slowed down and tried to get close, and we saw plenty of them but were not able to get any good pictures. The rest of the day, we were surrounded by dolphins all around us. Spectacular site! The trip took less than 2 hours.

Day 2 route, along the coast

So far, we've been extremely lucky with weather. However, tomorrow's forecast in New York looks a bit dicey with a reasonable chance of thunderstorms starting at 3:00 pm, so we are planning on leaving the dock in Atlantic City no later than 6:30 a.m., which should get us in well before noon. I decided not to fill up the fuel tanks here, as we have around 420 gallons left and 95 nautical miles to go tomorrow. The trip to NYC should require about 250 gallons, so we can easily do that, and then we'll fill up there.

Under normal circumstances, the weather is a casual conversation topic, but when boating, it is everything. A bad day can be really serious if the weather is not right. We check the weather forecasts all day long.

The trip to Atlantic City was easy and uneventful and very different from boating in the Chesapeake where I've done most of my water travel. I really like using the radar in the ocean. I took a 2-day course in marine electronics at the Annapolis School of Seamanship last year which focused on radar, and the open waters of the Atlantic make the radar extremely useful, to the point where I think I would seriously miss it if I didn't have it. I always get into gadgets, and this boat offers limitless opportunities for me to geek out. Ann seemed surprised that I read the entire 400 page manual for my chart plotter/radar/AIS multi-function display. Well, maybe not too surprised.

Approaching Atlantic City

Tied up in Atlantic City; first time docking stern in. Nailed it!

Once we got settled into our slip in Atlantic City, I washed down the boat and then headed to the Borgata to play some poker. I played 2-5 from 11:30 to about 4:00 pm and had a decent winning session. If I hadn't lost my chips in one of the first hands when my QQ ran into AA, it would have been a very big winning session, but I spent most of the time just clawing back and was happy to book a modest win.

Arrived at Borgata. Before picture of starting stack.

After picture of stack, right before cashing out.

Later, our friend Aliya from New Jersey met us at the boat, and we went to Buddakan at Caesars for dinner.

Dinner with our good friend Alia Ramer from NJ at Buddakan

Back at the marina, we have a great view of the Borgata at night, and are ready to turn in early because we need to start very early tomorrow.

View of Borgata from our marina

Now if that damned band would stop playing that loud reggae music right by our boat, we could get some sleep! Oy.

Day 1: Baltimore to Cape May, NJ

I woke up just after 6:00 a.m. this morning full of adrenaline. It was finally time to start our trip. Months of planning, so many details, an unexpected new boat that we could not have even imagined buying a month ago, and the time had finally arrived. I did not want to wake up Ann, so I stayed in bed for about 15 minutes, but then I had to get moving. With everyone sleeping, I took care of some details - moved the water hose from the dock to the boat, put our empty luggage in the crew quarters, which we use as storage, removed the remaining covers from the bow and stowed them, and secured the galley. At around 6:50, I woke up Elana, and we went for a 2 mile run along the inner harbor. Beautiful morning, and lucky for me, I am still able to keep up with her - barely.

When we got back, Ann was already up and having breakfast. Elana and I took showers, and I started getting the boat ready. Turned on the generator; pulled the power cords and stowed them; turned on all the electronics; turned on the main engines; plugged in our route to the chart plotter, and we were ready to go. Benny was still sleeping, so Ann, Elana and I released the dock lines, brought them onto the boat, and we were off! (enable FLASH to watch this video clip)

As we pulled out of Harbor East marina, Ann and Elana brought in the dock lines and the fenders, and I piloted and navigated from the flybridge.

Heading out from Harbor East Marina

Leaving Baltimore behind us.

Our route this morning was 118 nautical miles. We cruised along just below 6 knots through the inner harbor area for about 15 minutes until we were ready to get on plane.

Day 1 route, through the C&D Canal

As we approached the Key bridge, I brought Sababa up to 23 knots, at 89% load on the port engine and 92% on the starboard one, and we were planing.

As we approached the Key bridge, I set a cruising speed of 23 knots.

Elana and Benny assumed the teenage position, despite all the beautiful scenery around them.

What teenagers do on a boat.

We followed the shipping channel up to the Elk River, which connects the Chesapeake to the C&D Canal. I had timed our departure to hit the Delaware River at 12:30, and despite some no wake speed in the C&D, we arrived about 15 minutes early, which was just fine. Water in the Delaware River and the Bay was as calm as can be. I had heard many stories of the rough waters there, and so it was with great relief that we had a completely smooth ride. Even as we approached Cape May, NJ and looked out on the open Atlantic Ocean, there were no waves. It was sunny and 77, and in fact, up on the bridge we had to put on sweatshirts because it felt chilly.

Our new boat, which we've only had for 2.5 weeks, handles great. She leaves a pretty big wake behind, and we had to be conscious of that because it really impacts other boats if we're not careful.

Sababa has quite a wake. We almost knocked over a sailboat in the C&D Canal, so
we learned to be more careful.

We saw a couple of pretty lighthouses along the way in the Delaware Bay.

Pretty Lighthouse on Delaware Bay

Beautiful lighthouse near Cape May inlet

After leaving the Delaware Bay, we were in a no wake canal for several miles. We tried to get on plane in several stretches where it is allowed, but our wake was too big for the canal and we were knocking boats left and right, so we came down and cruised in slowly the rest of the way. We cruised into Canyon Club marina and were lucky to get a T-head to tie up to. That's a lot easier than docking in a slip, especially because they only had finger piers with pilings, and with this new boat, I felt relieved to have an easy docking experience. I'm sure before long, I'll have to conquer my fear of docking in an unfamiliar marina with a fixed-pier slip, but for now, floating T-head is the bomb!

So happy to dock Sababa on a floating T-head

This marina has in-slip fueling, and we filled up, putting 307 gallons of fresh diesel (capacity is 581) in the tanks, which took about 25 minutes and was not great for my always sore back. Ann took the kids to the pool, and I stayed behind and washed the boat down for about 20 more minutes. Then, I went and joined them in the pool, where Benny and I tossed a plastic football around.

Benny and I tossed a ball, with beautiful boats in the background.

After the pool, quick shower, and we went into town for dinner taking advantage of the free marina shuttle. Cape May is a typical ocean-front East Coast town full of salt water toffee shops, fudge stores, and unhealthy, overpriced restaurants. Fortunately, we had Yelp, and despite the eating habits of my immediate family (carnivorous me and my 3 vegans), we found a nice Mexican restaurant, where we were all happy.

After dinner, we walked around the quaint town area and along the beach. The teenagers again doing what teenagers do (although this time it was staged).

Elana and Benny see something they like

Cape May beach

We listened to the Cape May County String Band that was playing in a park in town. Benny observed that the minimum age for being in the band must have been about 80. I got into it and started dancing, and Elana filmed me dancing. This video is one of the reasons I'm keeping this private (I think you need FLASH enabled to play it).

The senior band

We found a trolley in town, and since we were planning on Ubering back to the marina anyway, we figured we would just see where the trolley took us. It seemed to go in the direction of our marina, and google maps on my phone confirmed that, so we took a ride, and then walked the 1.2 miles back to our marina. Totally exhausted when we got back. Along the way we saw some very pretty marinas.

Marina we saw on the way back to our boat

Tomorrow, we have a 38 mile ride to Atlantic City. It will be my first time piloting a boat on the open ocean. Forecast calls for 80 degrees and 10-15 knot winds. Waves around 2 feet. That sounds pretty good, and Sababa should give us a pretty smooth ride. Looking forward to playing some poker at the Borgata and having dinner with our friends Alia and Dan! The kids and I are going to skip the morning run, as we are pretty sore from today's adventures.

So far, the trip is off to a great start! Can't believe it's only been one day. Feels like eternity since we were home in Pikesville.

Day Zero

We took Gimel to the dog walker's house around 12:30 and then left home at 1 pm. Loaded up the car, and left home for 3 weeks. It took us about 3 hours to unpack everything into the boat and settle in. Then, Benny and I watched the US/Panama Gold Cup soccer game while Ann and Elana walked around the Inner Harbor looking for a place for dinner.

Watching US Gold Cup soccer

We walked around the harbor, and most of the restaurants had 45+ minute waits, so we went one block away from the water and got into P.F. Changs with no wait. Eating with my vegan family means little or no sharing for me, but that's okay.

Dinner at P.F. Changs

After dinner, we walked to Harbor Place, and my good friend the talented Michael Rosman was performing. He does amazing feats of comedy. I took a picture of him juggling knives and a torch with his son Ethan while riding a 9' unicycle (Ethan's was "only" six feet high) and wearing a kilt. Ethan happened to be downtown on a date and got roped into the act by Michael.

Michael and Ethan Rosman riding unicycles and juggling

With Michael Rosman after his show

Later, we walked to Harbor Point and checked out this awesome new spot in Baltimore. The harbor area is really growing and improving fast. I took some nice shots of the city along the way. All these pictures were taken with my iPhone. It does such a good job, that it's the only camera I brought on the trip.

Inner Harbor is beautiful

A nice view walking back to the boat

After his last show of the evening, Michael visited us on Sababa, and we hung out for a while. Tomorrow, the plan is to go jogging with Elana and Benny around the harbor at 7:30 a.m. and then cast off at 9:00.

One more day!

We are leaving home tomorrow and spending the night on the boat. We'll leave Sunday morning for our first leg of the trip, to Cape May. The weather forecast could not be better! I've been tracking it all week, and it looks like we lucked out so far.

Sunday morning forecast - no rain in Baltimore, perfect temps. A great start!

The Delaware Bay is known for strong currents and about 5 feet of tide, so timing the approach is useful. Looking at the tide tables for where the C&D Canal meets the Delaware Bay at Reedy Point, high tide is at 12:29 pm, so that's when we want to arrive there, and hope to ride that tide all the way down to Cape May, saving us fuel and a faster, smoother ride than we would have against the tide. So, I think casting off around 9:00 a.m. should be about right. As long as we don't get a strong SouthEasterly wind, we should be fine.

High tide at Reedy Point at 12:29 pm 

Yesterday, I flushed the water tanks and filled up with 210 fresh gallons of water. We won't drink that water, but it's used for showering, washing dishes and fruit, and hosing down the boat. Today, we are going to fill the fuel tanks, which take 581 gallons of diesel, and tomorrow afternoon, I'll pump out the waste tanks, so the boat will be as ready as can be.

I went over all of the systems with a mechanic yesterday, checking the oil levels on the engines and the generator, inspecting all the systems, cleaning out the air filters and water strainers, and loading spare parts onto the boat. 

We have been bringing our supplies and clothes onto the boat over the last several days and unpacking, so we will not have too much to bring tomorrow when we move aboard for three weeks. We will do some shopping for food and other provisions tomorrow, and there is supposed to be a musical act on the party pad by our boat in the evening, so we will enjoy that before we go to bed for the last time in Baltimore until the end of July.

It's getting real!

8 Days and Counting

It's finally almost here - the trip we've been planning for months and dreaming about for years. In the last few weeks, we kind of lost our minds and decided to buy our lifetime dream boat, a Prestige 560 Fly. We knew we would do this some day, and decided what better time than right before our 3 week boat trip to Boston? We named the boat Sababa, a Hebrew word that indicates that things could not be better, and with a boat like this, and this upcoming trip with my family, that's how I feel!

Here is the view from the back:

Sababa will be our home for 3 weeks in July

And from the side:

Side view of Sababa, measuring 3 inches shy of 60 feet long, with a 16 foot beam

Over the last six months, we mapped out an itinerary with several key milestones that include poker and shopping in Atlantic City along with dinner with Aliya and Dan from NJ at Buddakan, a "drive by" to waive at the Jays on the NJ shore, a play on Broadway (School of Rock), pizza (vegan for some) in Mystic, Ct, visiting Amy & Michael (Ann's brother and family) in Providence, Martha's Vineyard, biking in Nantucket, touring Falmouth on Cape Cod, and the highlight of our trip: stopping in Boston for two nights to visit Tamara at Camp Young Judea in New Hampshire during visiting day; and let's not forget, Peter Lugar's with Cousins Kenny and Laurie in Brooklyn on the way home. Finally, we may be joined by the Geva boys in Brooklyn for the final stretch back to Baltimore. Click for our full itinerary.

Elana, our aspiring writer, has been commissioned (a paid gig!) by the magazine marinalife to write a story about our adventure that will be featured in the Spring or Fall issue, giving the perspective of an 18 year old on this great adventure.

I charted out the route on google maps:

Rubin 2017 Summer Trip

Expectation is that we will traverse about 1,081 nautical miles, putting about 52 hours on each engine, about 70 hours on the generator,  and use 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel. Value: Priceless!

My plan is to post a blog at least every travel day to share details of our adventure, along with pictures and insights.

Ransomeware: Should you pay?

Like many CyberSecurity researchers yesterday, I received press inquiries about the massive NHS ransomware attack in Europe. A Washington Post reporter asked me if victims should pay the ransom, and I gave a long and somewhat nuanced answer. The reporter clearly did not have enough space for my full response, so she summarized it in her story stating that I do not think the ransom should be paid, giving two of my reasons. First and foremost, you are funding the bad guys and "legitimizing" their approach from a business perspective. Second, there is no guarantee that the attackers will actually restore your files or that they won't demand more money the next day.

While I hold these opinions, I think the real-life answer is more complicated. It is easy for me, sitting in my office, logged into my computer with access to all of my important data, to say that you should not pay. However, if I were in an emergency room, and a patient came in with a serious situation that required me to log into a hospital system in order to enable proper treatment of this person, and a ransomware screen said that if I paid $300 in bitcoin the system would unlock, it is hard to imagine that I would not do everything within my power to help this individual.

Ransomware attacks are a particularly nasty form of extortion and blackmail. Whenever you succumb to these threats in any context, you risk further abuse. My general philosophy is to take the immediate loss and figure out how to move forward without paying any ransom. Of course, there are circumstances I can conceive of where even a infinitesimally small chance of recovering from a situation would be worth everything material that I have. So clearly ransomware hostages need to consider each occurrence on a case by case basis.

The best way to deal with ransomware, obviously, is to avoid it in the first place. Keep meticulous backups on a regular schedule. For some ransomware, such as the one in the recent attack that locks people out of their systems rather than just encrypting file, backups may not be sufficient. Strong security is the best antidote to ransomware and other forms of attack. But at the end of the day, if you are faced with a "should I pay" decision, you will have to weigh all the factors and make the best decision based on your circumstances.

Maryland election "audit" not really an audit

On November 7, the day before the election, I was excited to learn that Maryland was planning on auditing the election. I assumed that this meant that for many precincts, the ballots would be recounted. I even commented on this on Fox45 News, expressing my approval.

Well, it turns out that this "audit" is not actually going to audit the election, and no actual ballots are going to be recounted. In fact, what Maryland is doing pretty much defeats the purpose of having paper ballots. The whole point of paper ballots, which many of us fought very hard for, is to have a definitive record of each voter's intention, which was viewed and handled by the voter, and which can be independently recounted. Such paper ballots are not subject to wholesale electronic fraud, which is very difficult to detect.

Unfortunately, the Maryland "audit" is only examining the electronic record in the scanning machines. No actual ballots will be reviewed. So, any errors in the scanning process will not be detected. The Maryland process will not detect any errors (intentional or inadvertent) in the software in the scanning machines. But, isn't that the whole point of an audit?

It is disingenuous to call what Maryland is doing an audit. While the Maryland electoral votes went to the loser in this election, and so ultimately the results in the Presidential election cannot change if an audit reveals anything wrong, as citizens, we should be very concerned about the integrity of our voting process. Calling Maryland's post election process an "audit" is highly misleading, and we need to fix the process for future elections.

Paper ballots are only half of the solution. Without proper audits, manual recounting of ballots in a statistically significant way, we cannot achieve trustworthy results in our elections. If the next governor's race or Congressional race is very close, we need to know that we have a process in place in our state that guarantees that we can have confidence in the outcome.

Here are some useful articles on this issue:

• Poorvi Vora's important and detailed work.
• An op-ed by Philip and Poorvi in the Baltimore Sun.
• A column by Philip and Ron in USA Today asking for an audit of all paper.