It has been a long time since my last post. Amazing to me, in the 23 months since this blog began on October 18, 2010, readership has gotten to more than 20,800 page views, for which I
am grateful; though I am not sure what a "page" or a "pageview" is. Anyone know?
The period from August 25 to and including September 23,
inclusive, was a period of 30 days, sixteen of which included boating
activities.
Five of the sixteen were work days, actually not whole days
but days on which a few hours of work were done such as: visiting various places
at which I might keep ILENE this
winter; working on the boat of a laid up friend to charge her batteries, check if
her engine would still start (it did) and pumping fresh pink antifreeze
(propelene glycol) into her engine to protect against the winter; replacing the
impeller in ILENE’s waste oil pump I
had broken back in Boqueron; and flushing her watermaker to protect it for the
winter. An abler mechanic would have gotten a lot more done but ….
And one of these "work" days involved a visit to our home for
a few hours one evening by a young couple, Paul and Tami, who live near us in Greenwich
Village and who are planning to head south this winter on their canoe-stern 37 footer. They
were given our name by our vet, Jill, who visited us during the "Welcome Home ILENE" party; she gave them our name because
they are bringing their dog. What fun to be able to recount our adventures as a
way to help others. Next day I learned from another Saga owner, who I have never met,
that he plans to visit Nova Scotia next summer -- and promptly asked for the
benefit of what he learns about charts, cruising guides and routing there. Subtracting the five work days from the sixteen leaves eleven sailing days.
Three of these were with the O_d Fa_ts club, on two
different Catalinas and lastly on ILENE.
Our Yacht Club’s restaurant, what with the waning of the boating season, has
closed the restaurant on Wednesdays. So we convened at a local diner one time and
brown bagged it to the Club’s sundeck for the most recent of these sessions. Mike and Sandy on "Pas de Deux":
Regrettably, the last meeting was the day after a brief but punishing storm had hit Eastchester Bay on Tuesday, September 18.
None of our boats broke off from their moorings, but a boat from a club upwind
did break off and careened through our mooring fleet, damaging half a dozen of
out boats, including two Catalina’s. So the last O.F. session involved a sail with Richie
and Mike, on ILENE, during which we stopped off at Consolidated Boatyard to pick up
Howard and Morty, who had driven Howard’s boat, "Power of Two" there, so that the damage (extensive)
could be repaired. Power of Two is not an expensive boat, but one I had greatly enjoyed
sailing; the cost of the repairs may exceed the value of the repaired boat. If so, the insurance company will declare it “totaled”. A sad day, but
the O.F.s plan to continue to meet, weather permitting, through October,
probably mostly on ILENE.
So there were eight other day sails:
One was on Bob and Jeanette’s “Sea Leaf”, a huge 72’ Ocean
Alexander powerboat that I helped bring up from Florida (reported in May 2011 blog). This time we were about 15 folks including Ilene and her brother, Ken, and
lots of food and drink. We motored out from New Rochelle to Oyster Bay for
lunch on the hook, and then went back. Having steered her up from Florida, I was
appointed and gladly accepted the appointment as Second Mate, to bring the boat
back if both Bob and his paid crew member were incapacitated. Neither of
them were, fortunately, but this "appointment" gave me an excuse to stay up on the flybridge.
A trip with Ilene and her friend, CarolAnn, in 8 to 15
knots, was fun and uneventful except that somehow in dropping the mooring we
managed to run over the pickup stick and were moored by the rudder on its line.
By the time I changed into swim trunks and was about to jump in to the water to clear her,
the problem resolved itself and the rest of the trip was fun.
I sailed with Howard and Dave on Power of Two one beautiful Monday. These are OFs but it was not a Wednesday so we were just
out enjoying. Dave, a fellow retiree, is embarking on a great adventure of his own next week, with three other guys: bicycling from San Diego to St. Augustine.
A day sail with Ellen, the racer, so she could see
how we cruisers live. We went out past Execution Rocks, over to off New
Rochelle and back – further from the mooring than Ellen, who races a lot, in Eastchester Bay had
gotten this season.
We sailed with Jane, a friend of Lene’s from the same
place where she met Judy and Medidel (who joined us in Turks and Caicos), and her
husband Jack, who had done a lot of small boat racing on Long Island’s southern
shore in his youth.
We picked up Bennett as well. A good time of schmoosing and
noshing was had by all, but very light wind made the sailing that day very underwhelmingly exciting.
For the Vice Commodore’s Regatta, the Club’s rules require
that each sailboat crew of two have two non-sailing members along. It is
designed for fun and to comingle our sailing and non-sailing members as well. We were fortunate
enough to get our Commodore and his wife, Art and Carolyn, who have a big power
boat, to join us. Art said all they hoped for was “a nice sunny day sail” and
from my viewpoint, it was unfortunate that this was all they got. ILENE is a fast boat with a strong
handicap to overcome.In moderate wind and due to mistakes (I left the binoculars home
and we were passed by the winning boat while looking for the third and last
mark while going in not the right direction) we finished second across the finish
line and fourth after application of handicaps – of five boats. Not ILENE’s best day, but a pleasant day on the
water with good food that our crew provided.
On our last boat, ILENE I, a
Tartan 34, we won the first two of these annual races.
We had a group of friends out for another day sail. This is
mostly Ilene’s friends and their husbands, who have all become my friends too. Here are Ricky and Joel while the next has Linda, Ellen and Lene:
Rudy was also with us for a fun day. We enjoyed so much noshing afloat that we had to cancel our dinner reservations: no one was hungry. Ricky was one of the four guys who helped me
bring ILENE up from Baltimore in June
2006. He was not a sailor but cheerfully did everything he was told, and did it
well. And here is the saddest news ever to appear in this blog: On September
21, at 11 a.m., having recently arrived at the gym in his building after an AOK
stress test from his cardiologist about a week before, Ricky collapsed and died
of a heart attack without regaining consciousness. Rest in peace Ricky; you
will be greatly missed by all who knew you.
The last of the sails in this period was with my daughter,
Devra
and two of her friends. Jen goes back a long ways with Dev, was at Sharyn’s
wedding, does IT for the NY branch of a big Chicago law firm and has sailed to
Bermuda. (Her photo did not come out.) Ashley is renting a room in Dev’s new apartment, sells cosmetics to
spas up and down the East Coast and enjoyed her first sail.
I got to ILENE at ten and had two hours to set her
up for sailing and clean her, take off the barbecue and bag it for transport
home for cleaning, etc. We left the mooring at 12:15 and were back 4.5 hours
later, having sailed out to Matinicock and then into Manhassett Bay to a good
view of Louie’s.
I no longer have the same burning urge to go sailing every
available minute of every available day. But I enjoy every day that I do sail;
a gift from God.
