With The Harlem Yacht Club's Annual Sixteen Day Summer Cruise

       This post is largely a compilation of a series of daily emails that I sent from the cruise to every member of the Harlem Yacht Club as part of the fun of performing my duties as Fleet Captain (Cruise Director) of the Club’s annual 16 day cruise. My job is an appointed one, and this was my second year in it. I am grateful to my friend Bennett for offering me a ride on his 30 foot “Defiance”
which, while not as new, big, fast, clean or well-equipped as “ILENE,” is a seaworthy boat that got us there and back and a bit of wind can move her. I am also indebted to Assistant Fleet Captain, Ken, of "Sunrise" for having done most of the itinerary planing (herding the cats) while I was in Grenada.

Friday July 22  --  On the hottest day of the year we were out scampering about to provision our boats. Aboard Defiance, we have everything we need except: (1) somehow, the eggs were at the end of the checkout counter and did not get rung up, but we can get some in Port Jeff and (2) we ran out of time before the stores closed and did not bring alcohol for the stove, but Ken gave us a can.

      Many of us, even those who are joining us for the second week of the cruise, had a send-off dinner at the Club.  Our restaurant Chairman, Dave, had scored a bushel of soft shell crabs that, after Rutillio's expert sauteing, everyone thought were delicious. The club served up a lot of dinners.

      Commodore Mark Leeds volunteered to leave the Club's air conditioning on at night so those who wanted to could bunk down in the clubhouse to avoid the heat. I'm not sure who used that heat beating strategy; we of Defiance: Bennett, his friend, Ian and I, slept aboard. It was warm, but not too hot, and dry and calm. And we're off!

Saturday July 23  -- City Island to Port Jefferson      The slower boat division: “Tively” (Dan & Mary Jane), “Pas de Deux” (Mike and Sandy), and “Sunrise” (Ken and Camille), took a shorter destination and arrived safely at Norwalk YC. Captains and crews of Tively and Sunrise tried to recover from the intense heat by spending some time in wicker chairs at the Norwalk club house. Though not air conditioned there is a cooling breeze, and a shower was very welcome indeed.  Pas de Deux visited friends in the Norwalk area and stayed with them in air conditioned luxury. The journey to Norwalk was marked by no wind - therefore no sailing - and nasty black flies in abundance. They have had happier days on the water, but no one was griping, and they were looking forward to resuming the cruise next day, when more wind was expected along with slightly cooler temperatures.

     Among the faster division, at least three of our boats are already in Port Jeff – “Blast” (Ernie and Camille with grandkids) and “Northstar” (Bruce and Dianne) are on moorings of the Seatauket YC where we will all be tomorrow.  Defiance is about two miles from that YC on anchor in "Conscience Bay", the bay extending west after entering the Harbor.   On Defiance, we adopted a different strategy for seeking heat relief on this windless fly-infested day: engine off and jump into the Sound. It cools, and while we were at it, we scrubbed as much as we could reach of the boat's bottom. We also tried sailing for less than an hour, but at 1 knot over the ground, we did not persist for long.

Once anchored we dinked over to explore and learned that the beachy area that separates the Sound from the Bay (where I used to walk my dearly beloved late dog Jesse) is now roped off as a sanctuary for Plover, except for a path at water's edge, so we walked around the point on that path for another refreshing Sound swim. Fortunately those nasty biting black flies sleep at night and it was calm, dry and warm.

Sunday July 24 -- We are in Port Jeff for a lay day -- in force -- ten boats plus one.  Blast and Northstar, the two power boats in our fleet, were here on the yellow mooring balls of the Seatauket YC Saturday night. Interestingly, this club places its guest moorings nearest the dock -- it is their revenue source and their club house has no big dining facility.  Defiance motored the mile and a half from its anchorage after applying about one and a half coats of Cetol to its exterior teak. The three Norwalk boats motored over, as described in Ken's report, below. ”Kerry Ann” (Jerry and Joan),”Grace” (Lloyd and Tia), “Sly Fox” (Tim and Steve), Pas de Deux and “Acquarius” (an Island Packet 35 sailed by Jan and Jo Ann -- former, and possibly future, Harlemites),  bring us to ten.

      The eleventh is “Laughter” with Barbara and her two sons aboard with Dave having to go back to work. Barbara grew up in Port Jeff and has family here; the boys are enrolled for two weeks in the local sailing school.

      In the morning  we had a brief conference chat on channel 72. Tively would leave a little later in the day, while Pas de Deux and Sunrise departed for Port Jeff shortly after 8 AM.

     While crossing the glassy Sound, Sunrise was happily overtaken by Grace,

sailing from Noroton where Lloyd & Tia spent Saturday with friends, and acquired a handsome dinghy, which they are now proudly towing. The two boats pulled up quite closely midway to Port Jeff and we had an old time ship-to-ship conversation without the benefit of electronics. Sunrise took photos which have been sent to the Club.  The two boats successfully shared warnings about keeping an eye out for the Port Jeff - Bridgport ferry.

     We invited Laughter to join the cruise for dinner but they had other plans.  Grace dined aboard. The rest of us ended up in two restaurants:  Costa de Espagna fed about 16 of us and the other 6 to 8 dined at Lotsa Pasta.  The night was dry, calm and cool enough that we used top sheets or quilts.

Monday July 25 -- Port Jeff to Mattituck - A cloudy day with a steady light rain in mid to late afternoon but WIND!

     Sunrise stuck with the original plan for the slower boat division and crossed the Sound heading NE on a single starboard reach to Branford CT. The rest of us beat east to Mattinicock. Defiance sailed off her Port Jeff mooring on a run out of PJ, with a motor assist in the channel when the ferry was entering and an accidental gybe would have been most untimely. Having run north out of the port, we expected a beamy reach once we turned easterly in the Sound. But no, the winds were from about 120 at about 10 to 15 knots. (We do not have a wind speed instrument aboard.) Our passage started at about 9 and motoring the last hour we were docked at 5:30 after transiting the bayou like channel leading south into the north fork of Long Island, from the Sound.

The Marina left it to our early arriving power boaters to serve as dock hands for the later arriving sailers.

     Highlight of the evening was the communal barbecue at the grill amongst the picnic tables nested under some massive trees.   

Northstar brought a big bag of charcoal and ingredients for a samores desert. Kerry Ann made pina coladas. Everyone cooked their own meat with some sharing. Among the many other dishes shared by all were: pate, salami, peppers and sausages, dips, manchego y membrillo, spanakopita and a few more, plus lots of wine.  We started at about 6:30 and the samores were cooked after dark. The fellowship was almost as warm as the fire.  

 We lacked only the vegetable component of a balanced diet and it was definitely an "off diet" feast for all except those of us with iron clad will power.

     The night was cool, dry and calm. here is our fleet the next morning:

Tuesday, July 26 –- Most of us transited from Mattituck to Shelter Island today. Some decided to stay behind in Mattituck for another day. They, like Sunrise, which had gone to Branford, will be arriving in Shelter Island tomorrow.

      The trip here, starting in the morning so as to get through Plum Gut before the tide turned adverse at about 1:30, was sadly without wind power, though tide power gave us an extra knot or more.  The weather was nice until late afternoon and early evening, when we had a couple of downpours.

      At Shelter Island, we are divided, with Blast, Pas de Deux, Defiance and Sly Fox in Coecles Harbor and Tively and  Aquarius at the YC in Dering Harbor. The cost is about the same with Dering closer to town and at a very nice YC with launch service, while Coecles lacks these but has a quieter feel, a bike rental facility, gives rides to town and has a swimming pool. They are two miles apart as the crow flies, perhaps double that by road or 6-8 miles by boat, around the northern part of the island.

     Defiance was met by our wives, who drove up, and we are spending two nights ashore in the home of a friend of Ilene, which has a swimming pool.  The Ceocles boats plan to spend their third night on this island at Dering.  We found that the Ace Hardware store in town sells a lot of the little bits that sailors find they need.

     Another Harlem cruising boat, Dave's "Electric Ladyland,"reports that they left as we did on Saturday, and  plan to join our fleet toward the end of the cruise but are traveling farther than the rest of us. So far they have been in Milford at the YC, Mystic at the museum, Wickford RI, where our cruise put in last summer, and have plans to visit Newport, Martha's Vineyard, and possibly Provincetown, on the Cape, before heading west to connect with us for the last few days.

     I got an email from “Rally Point” (PC Tom and Gail) , asking whether our itinerary included, Mystic, near his summer home on Masons Island. No, but Noank is quite near there and we would love to meet him.  Unfortunately this will not happen, but for a good reason: Tom is also a PC (They call their Commodores "Masters") of The Corinthians, (a club without a clubhouse that organizes cruises, social events, races and educational events to which about ten Harlemites belong) and will be on participating in the one week Corinthian cruise in the Martha's Vineyard area while we visit Noank.

Wednesday  July 27 -- This was a lay day here on Shelter Island, with no planned group activities; I believe every boat did as they pleased.    Sunrise was anchored behind the sea walls of Duck Island Roads in CT and got hit with a squall with very strong winds. By motoring to relieve pressure on the anchor, they "weathered the storm". Another boat suffered probable damage to portable non-marine electronic devices which got wet in the rain the day before.

 Thursday July 28 – Another lay day in Shelter Island --A few boats have headed for home as planned: Tively, Pas de Deux and Aquarius, soon to be replaced by “Leeds The Way” (Mark and Marcia) and “Adagio” (Vincent and Ron). 

     Electric Ladyland, after a night in Cuddyhunk, has reached Vineyard Haven on MV, and Sly Fox, which will rejoin us in Block Island is temporarily detached.

      The rest of us have gathered at the Shelter Island YC in Dering Harbor. Sunrise came here from Duck Island Road, CT and the boats that were in Coecles Harbor made the much shorter passage here around the north end of this island.  Plans for a longer sail today, e.g., around the southern end, were scrapped due to light winds.  The much shorter northern route filled a pleasant afternoon's slow sail for Defiance.

      Grace and Sunrise dined in town; the rest of us at the Club which has an elegant dining service.  Blast enjoyed the company of three of their grandkids for an earlier dinner time. Defiance, with our wives, treated the woman in whose house we stayed. Kerry Ann and North Star enjoyed each other's company after a day trip to the more bustling town of Greenport, by 1/4 mile ferry ride.

     The weather was great again. We are blessed to be enjoying it in such a lovely spot.

Friday July 29 -- Most of us left Shelter. Is. at about 8 am and experienced a hard shower in Essex after arrival there. Northstar was hauled here briefly for a bit of mechanical work on her bow thruster and is now OK. The boats are in slips in a marina that appears to be reached through a narrow passage, and set well back from the Connecticut River's western shore. Sunrise visited the riverside maritime museum and dined aboard.  Blast, Kerry Ann and Northstar had dinner, but not at the historic Griswold Inn.

      Because (a) we had slept late ashore with our wives, (b)  we needed to buy some diesel and (c)  poor tide timing on my part, Defiance did not leave S.I. until after 11 and after favorable tide to Plum Gut, we were slammed by the ebbing tide the rest of the way --  across the Sound and up the River.  We did see a number or participants in the Around Long Island Regatta. They overtook us at a distance and then beat west toward the finish near Seacliff YC.

     With a moderate wind, we had to steer quite westerly, 300 magnetic, to lay red buoy 8, off the River's entrance. In the River we sailed up on almost a dead run until an approaching temporary cloud bank caused us to seek manoeuverability and speed by motoring the rest of the way to our mooring out in the River. It was a grey and drizzly day, but we had no heavy rain during the passage..

     A threatened heavy shower had caused the postponement of the planned pot luck dinner until tomorrow, when good weather is predicted to return. After dinner at the Essex YC, the complement of Defiance changed.  Bennett had to get home and drove there in the car in which Ian, who had been with us until S.I., drove here. Ian brought his two children, Ashton, going into 8th grade and Lila, going into 6th. They will be here for two days until Bennett drives back and meets us in Noank.

Saturday July 30 -- Lay day in Essex CT. Ian and the kids went ashore by dink to swim in the marina pool.

  I stayed aboard and did some boat polishing.  A delicious pot luck dinner at the marina’s picnic tables.Chicken, ribs, a salad of cubed chicken, avocado and halved red grapes, tomato salad, three bean salad, and several other items. And then the ice cream stand was nearby. Another warm sunny delightful day.

Sunday July 31 --  Essex to Noank.  A warm, dry, sunny day with light but sailable winds from the south characterized the first day of the second half of our cruise.

      On Saturday, when Leeds The Way and Adagio crossed the Sound heading NE, they were pushed by the strongest winds any of us have experienced so far. Each captain used only one of their two sails. Leeds The Way is now here in the Noank Shipyard with us while Adagio is in nearby (by car) Stonington enjoying the land hospitality and company of a friend.

     Most of us left Essex near 10 am and used the main only to stabilize the boat while motoring down the Connecticut River against the tide. Some of us got delayed for about 15 minutes by two Amtrak trains which caused a long closing of the railroad bridge. This was Blast's only day without guests -- they were joined by PC Marty and Ghennie (who did not sail “Equity”) at Noank.  On Defiance, young Ashton was assigned to check off each buoy against the chart and he did a fine job. Other boats were concerned for our well being, not because of Ash's navigation, but when listening to VHF transmissions between TowUS and a different sailboat named Defiance.

     Once we turned east at the Red "8" marking the end of the shoaly waters off the mouth of the river, the genoa was deployed but we kept the engine running until we caught up with Sunrise, apparently sailing without engine at about four knots over the bottom. (This speed gradually increased as the ebb tide got stronger.) We turned off our noise maker and sailed the rest of the way to the entrance to Noank, albeit a tenth of a knot or two slower than Sunrise, which gradually pulled way ahead of us and thereby won the "race". (Well they have an auto pilot which can steer straighter than a thirteen year old but talented new helmsman; but no one wants to hear excuses, do they.)

      We were all docked or moored in Noank by about 1630. Ian and his two children left us, replaced by the returning Bennett.  We had time to check in, shower, get ice, have a drink or whatever before the 6:30 dinner hour at Abbott's.

     I had sailed past this place several times but never eaten there. To paraphrase what Gerbers used to say about their baby food: Lobsters are their business, their only business.  What we had not anticipated was standing in line for half an hour in order to place your order,

pay for it and get assigned your number, and then waiting  a much shorter interval to pick up your tray. Fortunately, someone in our group had the foresight to lay claim to two adjacent picnic tables where we partook of our shellfish which everyone enjoyed.  A calm, cool and dry night topped of yet another lovely day.

Monday Aug 1 -- Noank CT to Block Island RI – We fought the current in Fisher’s Island Sound but once through Watch Hill Passage at its eastern end, the wind came up a bit, enough to motorsail and finally to sail. Defiance sailed into and through most of the Great Salt Pond before starting the engine – but it would not start, until Bennett applied car thieves skills to short across the key to the starter by applying a screw driver to the correct two points at the engine, whereupon the engine purred to life: it had fuel, electricity and air and both the starter motor and the engine work fine, but there must be a short in the wiring of the key driven starter motor switch. We called the harbor master at 3 pm (a few minutes after we got the sails down) and were assigned to a private mooring.  Defiance and Sunrise dined at Eli’s, a restaurant  ½ block off the main drag that I had overlooked until now. Quite good food and service but no reservations and unless you go unfashionably early you will wait. They are well reviewed, well patronized and need no advertisements.

 Tuesday Aug 2 -- Lay Day in Block -  The  good weather continued. At night, a quilt was in order, in addition to the top sheet.  The men of Sly Fox enjoyed visits by their wives, via car and then ferry. The wives will go home and Sly Fox will continue east, to Cuddyhunk, tomorrow when we will turn toward home, reducing our group to seven boats.

      The B.I. mechanic frustrated us by telling us that we should have Defiance towed to Point Judith and buy and install a new engine! He was most uncooperative and the only advice he was willing to give to a cruising sailor was quite impractical.  So we have rigged a bypass of the starter switch which should hopefully last until City Island. 

     Those aboard Blast obtained a local temporary license, went clamming and enjoyed the fruits of their labors with linguini for dinner aboard. Other dine aboards were Sunrise (after biking and exploring by dink) and Defiance (after boat cleaning while waiting for the local mechanic, creating a temporary fix to the electrical problem, and then biking the southern half of the island). Others of us patronized The Oar, again.

Wednesday Aug 3 -- Block Is. To Fishers Is --  Weather report:  gloriously boringly similar, with another quiet quilt night after a few minutes of light rain after dinner.

      Most of us left Block at about 8 am but Kerry Ann left two hours early to successfully get a sump pump fixed at Dodson's in Stonington, en route, and Blast was delayed by the unexpected non-departure of her neighbor, whose close proximity prevented the hoisting of Blast's dink until 10:30 -- not that such a delay is a problem for Blast with her speed.

     Several of us, including Adagio and Leeds The Way took the longer route to our dock at the FIYC toward the western end of the north side of Fisher's Island -- through The Race and clockwise around the western end of the island. The rest of us took the shorter route: back through Watch Hill Passage and through Fishers Island Sound.

      Defiance sailed from channel to channel except for about two hours in Block Island Sound when the wind was too light, giving us only two knots, during which we motored. We were on a single tack until entering the wide mouth of the bay of the YC through which we made several tacks.

      We all arrived in the 2 to 3 pm time frame and are tied to the sides of a single long dock. Many of us had wine and cheese aboard North Star before walking to the Island's only grocery store, taking showers etc.

      At four we assembled on the dock for a stroll to the Henry L. Ferguson Museum.  Its Director, Pierce Rafferty. by prearrangement, opened it out-of-hours for us. He is a historian who knows all there is to know about the history of the island, but, as he said, little about the history of anywhere else. He was our voluble docent and would gladly have stayed much longer than the agreed time.

      The Island is part on New York State though it is much closer to CT than to NY. It went through various cycles of big old hotel tourism, sheep and cattle ranching, and service as a large military base, before becoming an enclave of privacy for a rather small number of very wealthy old money people who are not very famous and want to avoid celebrity for themselves and tourism and development for their island.

      Our dinner arrived at seven: a big white styrofoam box delivered to the club containing a bright red steaming hot soft shelled lobster for each of us. This was a BYO dinner:  bring your own plate, utensils, paper towels, melted butter, lemon, side dish, beverage and a glass to drink it from.

     After dinner, a few of us visited The Pequod, the island's only hotel (six rooms) with one of its few restaurants and bars -- a hangout for the young crowd.

 Thursday Aug 4 -- Fishers Is. to Clinton CT -  Hard to believe that the weather is so good; except that for sailors, the wind from the south became so light that even with a favorable but waning tidal  current we were going less than 3 knots SOG and elected to motor for the last 90 minutes. Our day’s passage was from about 9 to 3.  Several of our boats spotted sea turtles of various sizes. Others spotted a very large tree, mostly underwater, with some branches raised put of the water on which birds were perched; one would hate to run into that at night.

      Here in Clinton, we are only five boats, with Kerry Ann having gone ahead to Milford to obtain a lay day there tomorrow while we travel to join her. We are all tied up starboard side to the outside of the outmost dock.  Several of us ate lunch at the marina's restaurant, Aqua, went shopping by use of the marina's free van service and/or soaked  in or lazed by the pool.

     Dinner, our last pot luck, was in the marina's club room, with a weak air conditioner in which we set up their tables and chairs in a long row for the twelve of us. The room's ambiance was not that great but its privacy fostered our conviviality.  Among the offerings were guacamole with tortilla chips, antipasti of cheeses, stuffed olives, salamis, bread sticks and marinated mushrooms, chicken with rice and olives, barbecued pulled brisket, soft hot flour tacos with all the fillings, tomato and onion salad and yellow beans with blue cheese, bacon and walnuts. And for desert, in honor of  Leeds the
Ways' wedding  anniversary –  candle-lit cupcakes. No one went to bed hungry.

  Friday Aug 5 --  Clinton CT to Milford CT  - We received word that Adagio, who left us at Fishers Island yesterday, had made it all the way to Port Jeff  by 6 pm. Vince recommended Pace Steakhouse there as "phenomenal" which we can check out for next year's cruise.

       In the early dawn at Clinton, it was quite cold and I was considering a very fast sail with the possibility of the need to reef. But after breakfast and by our 9 am departure the air had warmed to pleasant summer ordinary and the wind was off our port quarter but light.

      Our most determined sailors, Sunrise, sailed the whole way and hence got to Milford last. Leeds The Way had to set up for the cocktail party which they hosted on their boat and adjacent dock, so they started motoring earliest. Defiance motored for about 90 minutes in the middle of the passage and returned the genoa to action and shut down the engine at the first hint of a whitecap to experience the best sailing of the cruise, so far. Not exciting sailing, but four knots of boat speed.

      PC Stu and Barbara (of “Pretty Special”) and PC Dick and Elle (of “Summer Wind”) drove up to Milford to join us for dinner. With their arrival, we were 18 folks at the party, and among  them, six of our past and present Commodores. We congratulated Elle, who reported that she had obtained permanent resident status and will be eligible to apply for US citizenship next summer.

       Then we packed twelve of us (three boats elected to try to use up some of their perishable provisions by dining aboard) into the two available cars for a brief ride to the Chinese restaurant out on Route 1. They set up a round table for all twelve of us. After the return drive to the Marina we patronized its excellent multiflavored ice cream stand and experienced another cool, dry, calm night.

 Saturday Aug 6 --  Clinton CT to Centerport YC, LI - Most of us were awakened by raucous squawking of a caucus of geese swimming and squabbling behind our boats.

      We set out at about 9:30 with high hopes for wind. But after a while, during which we achieved 5 knots through the water, the wind dwindled and finally died. Plus, the wind was from the mouth of Huntington Bay, lengthening the allotment of miles to be covered.

      As boat speed gradually diminished, eventually to zero, sooner or later each boat switched to its engine. On Defiance this caused a delay when we discovered that the genoa furler line was tangled in its drum; Bennett went forward and de-tangled the line so we were able to furl the head sail.

Some of us were further delayed by an event called "Swim Across The Sound". As we neared an imaginary curving line between Port Jeff and Bridgeport, we noticed a lot of boats. From a distance they seemed engaged in fishing --  but some were sailboats with all sails furled -- abnormal fishing platforms. Then police boats engaged us, blue lights flashing, and yelled that we could not cross the line because there were "swimmers in the water. Go south, around the end of the line." "What? You mean you've closed the whole Sound to east-west traffic?" I asked. "Yes; but what do you care, you are just out for a day sail," was the erroneous reply. So we motored about three miles SSE, back toward  Port Jeff, before resuming our passage west.

     As it turned out, this was not  bad for us because when, under overcast skies, the wind came up at about 2 pm, our more southerly position permitted us to beat toward the entrance to Huntington Bay on a single port tack.  The final three hours of the day's passage, including tacking south through Huntington Bay, reaching east through Northport Bay and ending at 5pm at red "8" at the mouth of Northport Harbor (where the Centerport YC is located) was the peak sailing experience of the entire cruise; a glorious exhilarating romp at boat speeds which averaged about 5.5 knots -- faster than our engine can take us -- the kind of experience that reminds us why we are sailors.

     Almost all of us had dinner in the elegant dining room of the Centerport YC, our last communal activity before we head

    Sunday  Aug 7 -- All boats returned safely home, except Sunrise, who by design, safely stayed an extra day to enjoy the Centerport YC’s lovely pool.

      OK; It rained this morning, steady and hard, thereby breaking up the otherwise near perfect weather we had enjoyed for the entire cruise. And with the meteorological prognosticators calling for this to continue all day and get worse, and winds of 10 to 15 knots, we left right after breakfast, about three hours before the favorable tide window started, and hence bucked an adverse tide for the first half of the trip home to the Harlem. The rain stopped after an hour and the winds were much lighter than predicted so we motorsailed  our of the Bay and thence tacked over to the Greenwich islands and back to Mattinicock before the wind totally died. It came back enough to slowly sail past Hart island, and then died again so we motored back to our mooring.  The benefit of the erroneous weather report: smooth seas, unruffled by disturbing wakes of other boats who made other plans to avoid the expected bad weather. We arrived shortly before 3 pm and had the dink and outboard put back into the locker and all foodstuffs removed and were off the boat by 4.