Club Activities in Early Winter

Yes, life goes on.
The dock leading out from the seawall to the lower floating dock where the launch

takes us to our boats has been quietly rusting away for several decades. (Photo at low tide.) The top surface of 2 x 8s is fine, but they are mounted on steel I-beams. A few years ago. to preserve the dock's useful life we sistered new steel plates to the verticals of the original I-beams.

But before anyone gets hurt in a collapse, the I-beams are to be replaced this winter.  So yesterday, the warmest day for the next few weeks, about twelve of us gathered to take off all except the planks, in anticipation of the contractor removing the remainder and installing the new steel and planks. This involved the aluminum side rails, the water pipe, the electrical wire, the side benches mounted under the former cupola and the steps and ramp by which one gains access at the land end. Twelve guys, two hours and the dock is bare, ready for further removal by the contractor and with a saw horse at the land end to try to keep trespassers from getting themselves killed and then trying to sue us.
I have also become sort of the  self appointed Club organizer of winter activities and have two planned so far this winter. On January 18 we will visit the USS Intrepid -- Sea, Air and Space Museum at the pier at 46th Street at the Hudson river followed by lunch at a nearby restaurant.
And on March 12, Sonya Baumstein will visit with us and talk about her explorations, such as rowing across the Atlantic and paddling a stand up board across the Bering Strait from Russia to the Alaska.  Her next venture will be a two woman row from Japan to the US.
Any readers of this blog who are in the NY area and might want to join us for either or both of these events, just contact me.

Friends and Culture

This past week I spent about four hours at The Frick, a collection of priceless largely European art masterpieces collected by (and located in the former urban mansion of) robber baron Henry Frick at Fifth Avenue and 70th Street. What made my day was that Greg, an artist and teacher of art who belongs to my book club, accompanied me. Our last art crawl was at the Barnes Collection in Philadelphia, with our wives, in the spring. All of the art takes on new meaning with greater insight into subject, composition, style and brushwork when Greg talks about it. I learned quite a bit from Greg about Christianity, which was the subject of several paintings of saints and bible scenes: St. Jerome, The Stigmata, etc.

The highlight of this show, however, was Vermeer's "The Girl With The Pearl Earing," on loan with about 20 other paintings by Vermeer and his contemporaries from a museum in Amsterdam.  I was surprised at how small "The Girl" is, only about 14" by 20", and they showed it alone in a room with walls for 20 paintings, and showed photographs of how it had looked before it was restored. Quite an improvement. The girl is looking back over her left shoulder with her mouth half open as if saying "What?" and the light streaming from over that shoulder too, in an exotic headdress and in a very naturalistic style. Yes, the Dutch Masters were, well, masters.

And I was pleased that I was able to help Greg to a greater understanding of a few of the paintings, those by the great English painter of landscapes (and windscapes) featuring sailboats, Joseph Mallord William Turner. At the website you can see and enlarge five of his works in this collection, three in European harbors and two out at sea, approaching harbors.  I taught Greg about points of sail. The Tate Gallery in London, where I first made Turner's acquaintance,  has many more of his paintings. Turner captured the power of storms at sea, and he did it without a camera to record the image photographically. He worked in the first half of the 19th Century.

And the next day we had a visit from Bob and Brenda of "Pandora", also a Saga 43, see www.sailpandora.com, currently at a dock in Florida while they deal with some issues and the holidays up here in the frozen north. Their son, Chris, who earlier in the day had passed the final orals for his PhD in physics at Columbia joined us for a great dinner. Last time we broke bread with them was in their home in Essex CT, in June. Good food (if I do say so myself) and good conversation with good friends. Does life get any better?  Well, on a boat -- but not with the temperature in the 20's! Bob and Brenda slept over in our not very luxurious guest accommodations, but they are used to sleeping on a boat so they were fine -- even with the feline alarm clocks! After breakfast we saw them off -- headed for The Frick.

She's All Wrapped Up

ILENE's blue canvas winter coat does not fit as well as usual, sagging at bow,

because the bow pulpit had to be removed for repair and it forms part of the framing that normally holds the cover in place.but at least she is facing NE (through no decision I had any part in) where the strongest winter winds will come at her pointy end.

How did this damage occur?   Well, I sailed with a friend on a very windy day. Big waves in the mooring field made grabbing and attaching the mooring bridle to the boat more difficult than usual. I forgot to tell my friend to be sure to pull that bridle up through the space between the edge of the deck and below the lower rail. He pulled it up above the lower rail and down to the cleat. The next three foot wave that rolled through the mooring field lifted the bow of the boat, crunching the rail. The whole structure had to be removed from the boat to the shop, where it is now, to have the bent parts (both the former horizontal, now "V" shaped lower rail and also the aft diagonal which is also bent) cut off, new straight parts welded on and then the welds ground down and polished until you can't see the weld for the shine.

Enter Fernando, proprietor of Farol Yachts. Fernando has also been engaged to repair the aft end of the boat, where, during one night, when no one was present, something hard and big or fast crashed into ILENE's stern, broke the swim ladder, took the gel coat off the boat

and careened into the davit bar, putting a dent in the tube and bending it way out of line.

The biggest problem, other than ponying up the money to get this work done, was removing the bow pulpit. It is held onto the boat via three legs on each side that fit into receptacles on the boat. The four forward ones are attached by bolts through the inside stainless tube and the outside stainless pipe. I was able to remove these screws without help.  But the two aft most connection points were where the stainless tubes went through aluminum blocks, and they were each held in place by a stainless machine bolt. The starboard such block shows in the first photo. I sprayed this joint about ten times with a chemical that is supposed to ease corroded connections and used a vise grips pliers to grab the heads and try to wrench the bolts loose. This after hammering on it to shock it loose. Effect? The heads of the bolts broke off. Fernando drilled the bolts out with an electric drill. Still no budge. A blow torch was applied to heat the block because heat, like whacking with a hammer, can break free corroded joints.  Then we applied Fernando's car's jack to push the stainless tube up and out. No luck. Finally, Fernando asked me to figure out where the nuts that hold the four bolts that held the aluminum blocks to the hull came through inside the boat. This was behind the forward ends of the tops of the medicine cabinets in the forward head. One of the ways that Saga was quite ingenious in designing these boats is that almost everything inside is screwed together. The wood panels that seal this area off are each held in place by ten screws whose heads are concealed by removable plastic buttons. So: remove contents of cabinets, pry off the twenty buttons, unscrew the twenty screws, unscrew the eight bolts, apply the car jack, and --- voila, the bow pulpit is off!

I have also explored how to get all of the remaining paint off of ILENE's bottom so she can get three coats of grey "barrier coat" paint followed by three coats of ablative bottom paint. I can (A) hire a guy to blast it off, using small grains of baking soda, sprayed under pressure, (B) hire someone to grind it off using a random orbital sander with its discharge hose attached to a vacuum cleaner to protect the environment from the harmful dust, or (C) buy such a sander and do it myself. The first two options will probably each cost about $2K while the last will cost only about $120 for the tool, masks  and sanding disks, and four or five long hard days of my time. Then the new paint, all six coats, will probably cost another $1500 for materials.

But all of this work and expense is worth it, for the joys of sailing. Some may disagree with this but sailors know it is true.

Back to a more pleasant subject: The latest, December, issue of Cruising World magazine has a good article by Don Street, the guru of cruising in the Virgin Islands, which I am copying and sending to Bennett, who has two two-week stints down there. According to Mr. Street, the problem is that most cruises in the region are spent heading west and then east, running and then beating into the prevailing winds from the east.  By sailing more north and south, one can achieve glorious beam reaches. So he suggests heading for St Croix, forty miles to the south, and then back to Tortola.  With two weeks, one can also visit the Spanish Virgins, to the west, and then south to St. Croix. I have not been to St Croix yet.

ILENE Is Hauled; Winter Has Begun

Hauling was November 7 and uneventful. The bottom was filthy with clumps of mussels hanging from the barnacles. I should have had her bottom cleaned in September. No wonder the motor from the Harlem to the Huguenot was so slow. But all that was power washed and scraped off. For the interclub trip the day before, Lene drove the car while I motored -- to met me to take the lines. She helped me remove and fold the sails which are now in the locker at the Club. I changed the oil but in changing the oil filter, twisting it off while my arm was bent in an awkward position and my fingers getting greasy, I dropped the darn thing which spilled its contents onto the sole of the engine compartment and rolled to an awkward hard to reach place, but I got it out the next day when I removed the raw cooling water intake hose after the first filter, to pour in the antifreeze, which removal also gave me access to the empty filter.

Winterization, except for installation of the canvas cover, was completed after four more days (only about five hours per day, really), on November 12, just ahead of the first freeze of the season. I poured in 14.7 gallons of diesel to top off the tanks and noted that end of season engine hours were 2343.6, 215.8 more than this exact point last year. One of the big repair jobs this winter is to the bow pulpit, the stainless steel fence at the bow, which was accidentally damaged and has to be removed before the cover is put on. The removal is proving challenging because while four of the six fasteners came off easily, the last two are giving me quite a fight -- corroded in.

We enjoyed 121 days afloat this summer! The first eight were aboard On Eagles Wings in the Carribean in the winter. Then fourteen before the start of the Maine cruise, 92 during that cruise and seven after the cruise. But in addition to the 121, I have had 47 work days and 28 "Other" days such as hanging with boating friends, lectures on boating, boat shows, etc., for a total of 196, with more W and O days coming in the last six weeks of the year.

But in a sense, every day is a boating day because not one day goes by in which I am not thinking of boating, reading blogs, books, magazines, planning for the boat and for future cruising. For example, today I contemplated purchasing the latest Cruising Guide to the Florida Keys, where we plan to go next winter. But some such books are better than others so I will check it out in hard copy at a store before purchasing, though plotting out next winter's passages could be fun now. Also it is the 12th edition, published in 2006, so I'm hoping that a newer 13th will be available before next fall.

My list of major winter chores is only three pages long and many days of work and mucho dollar$ involved.

Fun? Well we saw the new Robert Redford film, "All Is Lost." It takes place starting on a Cal 36 in the Indian Ocean with the corner of a cargo container that had fallen off a huge container ship piercing the sailboat's hull.  While it contains many bits that, as ocean sailors we recognize are wildly unrealistic, I won't discuss them because to do so will spoil the story for you. It is a good story and an inspiring one and the acting is superb.

I am keeping warm this winter by reading the blogs of four cruisers who we have sailed with, following their adventures south this winter.
Furthest south now is Pandora, already arrived in Florida, at sailpandora.com. They will spend about two months up north around the holidays before returning to Pandora.
Next is Moonraker at sailblogs.com/member/moonraker, not yet to Florida as of this posting.
Autumn Borne is is sailblogs.com/members/auutnmborne and keeps us posted through daily emails.
And finally, Teepee,  does not have their blog running yet but keeps us posted ttime to time via email.

Hot Weekend at the Harlem

Both days of a recent weekend the Clubhouse was full of people, about 100 each day, for events that were quite different from each other.

Saturday was an "Open House" to attract new members. The place was all shined up and I was too, in blue blazer and tie, to meet new friends. Food and wine were provided. Later in the afternoon, Lene came by car, with three friends including Manu and Michelle who had been staying at our house for the past week while their boat, "Teepee" was moored off 95th Street at the 79th Street Boat Basin. A poor mooring place that is, with a strong current which dragged their boat with its mooring. And theirs is not a particularly big or heavy boat nor was there strong wind that day, only the tidal current. The Boat Basin provides no launch service whatsoever. Its advantage is that it is only a few blocks walk to the subway system at 79th Street, near midtown, and for those heading south from the Hudson, it is "on the way" as compared to a 20 mile detour to Long Island Sound and back. But the Harlem moorings are less expensive on a weekly basis,  come with launch service, are nearer the dock and not subject to tidal flow so strong that it drags the mooring. Next spring, I hope that Teepee will moor at the Harlem. Also with Lene came Christine, not a stranger to this blog.

I bought dinner for the five of us and thereby was able to use up the last of my 2013 "chits" ,i.e., minimum spending in the restaurant and bar. When I joined in 1990, before computers, they actually gave us chits, little pieces of paper in five or ten dollar increments which we turned in to pay the bill -- "Harlem Money" if you please --and the name stuck. The amount is quite low really and normally I spend much more than the minimum, but this year we were in Maine for most of the summer sailing season so there were chits to be spent. The restaurant had closed the week before, but was reopened for one night, for the open house, which provided the opportunity to spend down my prepaid food allotment. The dinner was not ideal due to its being the encore performance before the long winter: e.g., no bread, no Parmesan cheese -- but the cheerful friendly service and the homey friendly atmosphere made the event festive.

Sunday was a food and drink day as well. On the way to the Club, we picked up Manu and Michelle, who had walked to the new 2nd Avenue Fairway Supermarket and bought a whole lot of groceries and perishable provisions. We drove them and this cargo to West 79th Street, took the groceries out to the head of the dock and said our farewells until next spring. Then on to the Harlem for a memorial for Margaret, wife of our beloved Past Commodore, Irwin. He threw a big party for those of us who could not make the funeral in northern California this past summer. The spouse of a Commodore, frequently nicknamed "The Commodorable", is an active participant in planning and running two big dinner dance parties each year. Irwin was such a good Commodore that he was drafted to serve an unprecedented second consecutive annual term. There were loving speeches about Margaret, who cancer took from us too young, after only a few weeks of known illness, while we were in Maine. A square paving brick with her name engraved in it was placed at the foot of the flagpole. And oh that good food and wine. Luckily Lene does not drink so I always have a "designated driver". A solemn occasion but filled with brightness, and good humor.

From now on it is work days to get ILENE hauled, covered, prepared for winter and for repairs and maintenance -- the less fun filled winter season.

Columbus Day Weekend

Yeah, a four day weekend. And with bad weather predicted, the thought of going to the home of our friend, Lianne, in Great Barrington, Mass, though in the landlocked Berkshires had a lot of appeal.  Well, it turned out this was not a totally waterless weekend, and the Fall weather in the mountains turned out a lot better than had been forecast. We saw a play and a dance recital and climbed Monument Mountain, and ate a lot of good food. And we met up with Rona, who got us out of Customs hell in St Vincent's in the early spring of 2011 and hung with us in Bequia.

The watery part of the weekend took place on Monday, on the way home. In the department of it's-a-small-world, it turns out that both "Autumne Borne" with Dean and Susan living aboard, who we met while leaving Beaufort, SC in the spring of 2012, and "Teepee" with Manu and Michelle living aboard (with their guest Colette) who we first met in St. Martin in December, 2010 and several times since, were on opposites of the same finger pier at Hop-O-Nose Marina in Catskill Creek, where it flows eastbound into the Hudson in Catskill, NY. Teepee, left, before her mast was stepped and Autumn Borne Right.

And Catskill was only about a 20 minute dog leg detour on our way home so why not.

Hop-O-Nose, comes from a rock where the Catskill flows into the Hudson, which was thought to look like a nose and from which the native Americans dove into deep water on hot summer days.

There were seven of us so it was two trips in our car to a nearby diner for a great lunch.

Manu, Dean, Susan, Lene, Roger, Michelle and Colette

What We Did This Summer

From June 11, our first day, when we came aboard, got ready and slept aboard in anticipation of departure the next morning, through September 10, when we returned to our home mooring and went home, we were absent 92 days, and 91 nights -- a good part of the summer and the 2013 season.  Our summer went to Maine!

So where, specifically, did we go and what did we do there? Most of the rest of this post is extracted from the 63 posts published during the adventure. They are a diary/log,  and the data is tabulated here.

We had 26 lay days and 3 day-sails with the balance, 63 days of passage making. This is a higher percentage of sailing days (73%) than in the Caribbean, which surprised me, though many of the Maine passages were much shorter.

I added up the mileage of each daily passage: a total of 1415 nautical miles round trip -- equivalent to 1627.25 land or "statute" miles.  The lowest daily mileage was 1.7 miles and the longest was 128, with an overnight.  Days of less than 20 miles numbered 34, and on only 15 days did we go more than 30 miles. Only 5 days included in those 15 longer days (including the two of the overnight)  saw passages of greater than 50 miles.

We visited 57 different anchorages/ports/harbors, though we did not go ashore at 14 of them. We visited Portland, Frenchboro and Bar Harbor twice, but each of these three counts as only one discrete harbor. Of the 57 stops, 29 were new to us and 28 were old favorites, which we had visited at least once before in 2002 and/or 2008.  Some old favorites did not make it into our itinerary this trip including Camden, Castine and Belfast in Penobscot Bay, Burnt Coat Harbor and Bath. And with a plethora of little niches when you can anchor and hang out in solitude, there are many more new spots for next time, whenever than may be: 2015, 2016? Roque Island is so beautiful that the fact that we spent only one night there is a shame.

Alpha Girl and Whitty spent every day and night on board EXCEPT for the 12 we spent at a dock.  Where they go at night is anyone's guess, although we tend to think they do not go far!  We now think they enjoy being on the boat more than being in our NYC apartment; and maybe I do too!

Of the 91 nights aboard, only one, the last, was spent on an overnight passage, from Jamestown RI, back to City Island. All of the 90 other nights we were secured to the land. Of these, more than two thirds, 61, were on moorings (eleven of them free!) with only 17 on anchor and only 12 (in six ports) at docks. So this was a low-rent vacation. We did spend one night off the boat, in a hotel in Cohasset MA, where our room overlooked the boat on its mooring, the hotel constituting a craving that Lene wanted to fulfill. At docks, they charge extra, normally $10 to $20 per night for the privilege of hooking up to the Marina's electricity. We never hooked up. Despite the fact that our 12 volt cigarette lighter type plug was charging our laptop, cell phones, iPads, and Kindle most of the time except at night, drawing electricity from our boat's batteries, we never had to plug in to shore power.

We enjoyed dinners in friends' homes on three occasions, in Essex CT (thanks Bob), in Provincetown (thanks Mark et al.) and on Mount Desert Island (thanks Barbara).  Of the other 88 dinners, 38 were enjoyed in Restaurants and 50 aboard. And only 15 lunches and six breakfasts were consumed off the boat. So of 273 total meals (three per day) only 62 were not had aboard ILENE.

We met up with nine sets of people who we had known before, and had six sets of people aboard who we had not known until we met them on this trip -- fifteen sets of guests, all told. Some merely sat in the cockpit and took a tour of the boat and others sailed with us, including sleeping aboard.

How were our days distributed among the states we visited? Starting closest to home: New York - 5; Connecticut - 3; Rhode Island - 3; Massachusetts - 23; New Hampshire - 4 and Maine - 55. With 19 days before arriving in Maine and 18 after leaving, we spent 55 of the 92 days (60 percent) in Maine waters.

We attended seven live performances of plays, concerts and dance recitals and four movies, for a total of eleven. And we visited 21 museums, some of which held interest for less than an hour and others for most of a day.

If anyone is interested in sailing to Maine, and has questions, just ask away!

Autumnal day-sailing: Last Five of 2013

Tuesday I sailed with my stock broker from JP Morgan-Chase and his wife, RJ and Angela. A lovely young couple, first time sailors, they learned to steer.

I picked them up on the upper east side and dropped them off there at the end of the day.  She will be entering CUNY grad school in Sociology soon.  They are pescatarians, a word I had not known before: They eat animals that come from the sea, but not those on land or ones that fly. We put up sails but, as shown in the photo above, there was very little wind. The initial plan to sail toward Manhattan but it was changed because there would be even less wind in the relatively narrow passage between The Bronx and Queens. Next choice was Mamaroneck, where my guests had worked. We motored through the passage off the US Merchant Marine Academy and deeply into the harbor, with the main up. Normally I would not sail into such a crowded harbor with sails up but no wind.  We got very close to my friend Len's lovely 1938 wooden sloop, "Mary Loring," tied fore and aft on her two moorings. She was painted blue since last I sailed on her and looking pretty. Notice, left to right, her wooden boom gallows, the vent for her coal burning stove, the wooden running light mounts on her shrouds and the boom of her staysail.

The wind picked up a bit on the way home but when it finally got really good we had to continue to motor-sail to meet my time deadline for the theater, though we did tack up Hart Island Sound to the mooring. We were out there for more than seven hours. Next time, hopefully RJ and Angela will get the full thrill of sailing experience.

Wednesday, after lunch,  I had two rides on two different Catalinas. First we sailed on Morty’s “Easy Living”, a 31 footer. We went out into Eastchester Bay and back. Morty had to get back early. We were under main and Genoa, with the later partially reefed.  In addition to me and Morty, Mike, Sandy, and Rhoda comprised the crew. Back on the mooring, all but Morty transferred by launch to Mike and Sandy’s “Pas de Deux,” a 27 footer, and retraced our wake, this time though with genoa only. Altogether we were out on the water from shortly before two until 4:30.

Saturday Lene joined me on ILENE with four other ladies. Christine and Heather drove to the Club to meet us and we picked up MJ and Sarah near our home and drove them. 

Christine, Heather, Lene, MJ and Sarah in the launch, on the way back to land,

We sailed from about 12:15 to 4:30, in very light air. We had full sails up on a beamy port reach, and drove deeply into Little Neck Bay. I acted as an unpaid charter captain, doing all of the sailing while the girls talked with each other, only disturbing them occasionally to gain access to the winches. When the wind died in Littleneck Bay, we furled and dropped the sails, locked the rudder hard over, and drifted while Sarah and I went for a delightful swim in the big unheated pool.

The sun had come out by then, and in early October the water was cold, but not at all painful like in Maine.  The bad thing was I discovered that between the time that we took off the dink in mid-September and this swim, someone had hit us, hard, in the stern, breaking the swim ladder, which will have to be replaced, and taking a chunk out of the gelcoat of the aft end of the swim platform, perhaps 2” by 3”. This will be an expensive repair. They left no note. People are so irresponsible; it is quite maddening! Why, though, darn it, is ILENE such a magnet for irresponsible boaters; her third hit since early 2011. Oh well, no one was injured. After drying off, I put up the main again and after a few tenths of a mile at .5 knots, turned on the motor, and motored at good speed to the NY State Maritime School’s training ship, west of the Throgs Neck Bridge, and then more slowly back to the mooring.

Sunday, more ladies: This time Lene was joined by Sheila, Susan and a different Christine. There was more wind but also a misting fog during most of the four hours we sailed, which put a damper on the day and shortened it. Winds were between five and ten knots. Our first tack took us close to the last curve of the Throgs Neck Bridge. Then out to the North side of Execution rocks, after which we fell off toward the New Rochelle Islands before the last tack which brought us home through Hart Island Sound on various broad reaches. It was only four pm, too early for dinner but we had wine or tea or coffee and some desert in the Club, where we met the J-24 racers and other friends.
Monday was the fifth sail of the week and the last of 2013, because I will be away, out of town, in Massachusetts and Oregon for most of the rest of October. Peter joined me. He is one of the three men who had helped me during the eight day romp from Hampton VA to Tortola in the Virgins back in November 2010. We sailed for almost three hours in big wind, out of the south. Winds averaged about 27 knots with lulls at 15 and gusts to 34. We had double reefed the main and with the small jib we were heeled at 35 degrees, close hauled, into winds from the South. We made speeds of 6 to 7.5 knots. Exciting! We beat down to the Throgs Neck Bridge with the plan to find less wind in the relatively narrower passage toward New York City. Another advantage of this westerly course was beamy reaches.  But the wind was rounding us up occasionally, until the Whitestone Bridge where we turned back. We had very broad reaches from the Throgs Neck Bridge back to the Club, during which we passed through a short but heavy rain of small drops. But alas, more damage back at the mooring. When we picked up the starboard bridle, we led it over the top of the lower stainless tube of the starboard side of the bow pulpit. The boat's bow then was  pitched sharply upward and the force of a wave; the stainless tube was bent downward into a shallow "V" instead of horizontal. We had sailed slightly less than three hours but we had had enough. Half of lunch was brown bagged from home on the Clubhouse porch (dining room closed on Mondays) followed by soup and coffee at the CI Diner. Sad to end such a great sailing season on such a discouraging note.

Maine vs. The Caribbean

Having sailed in both of these great cruising grounds, I have been thinking about the differences.

Season: Maine is a summer trip and The Caribbean is done in the winter. You don't want to be on a boat in Maine in the winter. It is cold enough there in the summer and there are no services, restaurants, marinas, etc. open in the winter. And in summer the Caribbean is hot and subject to hurricanes. Your insurance will not cover you.  The disadvantage of the summer in Maine is that you cannot sail with your friends in Long Island Sound because you can't be in two places at once. But the Caribbean allows you to sail all year round, enjoying the destination area in the winter and your home sailing grounds in the summer.

Water: The Caribbean and especially Bahamian waters are delightfully clear and warm. Snorkeling and swimming there are fun activities. Outdoor showers in the cockpit in secluded areas or underway or at night are a treat. No one swims in Maine waters unless they have to, to inspect the underside of their boat; and a wet suit is desirable in case such an activity is needed. Water clarity is not as good in Maine but who cares since you are on it not in it. We did get an afternoon cockpit shower one warm day in Maine but don't count on it.

Proximity: Maine is a heck of lot closer to New York than is the Caribbean. Less sailing required to get to the place you want to be and there are no passages that require an overnight sail, because ports are so close to each other.

Food: In Maine you are in the good old US of A: supermarkets are readily available and the foods are familiar, cheap and described in English. And lobsters and blueberries are abundant and inexpensive. In the Caribbean, and especially the Bahamas, good supermarkets are few and far between and on non-English speaking islands you get the pleasure (but also the anxiety) of eating strange foods. The French islands of the Caribbean are departments of France and serve real French foods, such as you can obtain only in French places.

Culture: In the Caribbean, except for reggae/calypso/Afro-pop/Latin music, which blares from radios everywhere, there is no culture: Movies, theater, good bookstores and classical music are not to be had or rarely.  In Maine they are available in many places. Museums can be found in both locales, but more so in Maine, and with more variety

Nightlife/Bars: Readers of this blog who enjoy nightlife must unfortunately be disappointed by our lack of reportage on this subject. We are early to bed and early to rise people and unable to compare the venues on this subject.

Communications/blogging: In Maine these are easy and ubiquitous, except on some uninhabited islands and in Eastport Maine. In the Caribbean, finding wifi, even with a booster, is a constant battle, each nation requires you to get a different SIM card and the cost is high.

Customs and Immigration: Maine is part of the US while in the Caribbean each island or island group is a separate nation requiring time and money upon entry and mostly also upon leaving.

Visitors from home: We had a lot more visitors, either we visited them or they visited us, on the Maine trip than in the Caribbean. I think it is the expense of time and money required for folks to fly down to the southern cruising grounds that deters visitors. Many were invited but few came.

Navigation: Many Caribbean charts show the soundings in meters or fathoms. In Maine we did have one chart in meters, near Canada, but otherwise they are in feet.

Different, but both are great places to sail!

The Local Weekend

Wind was rather steady out on Western Long Island Sound: out of the east at about ten knots for both days of the weekend. On Saturday I had planned to sail with Jake and Jared, the 15 year old twin sons of  Lene's cousin, Judy, first time sailors. I looked forward to teaching them the ropes, an apt figure of speech of nautical origin. Then we added Daniel, from Argentina via France, who drove his motorcycle to the Club from the upper east side, and Lene's friend Sheila, and Lene decided to come along as well. But the lads were sick so their enjoyment of sailing had to be deferred, and it was only us four oldsters.

Daniel, Sheila and Lene

We beat out, gently, with big sails to off Mamaroneck, in apparent winds of about 14 knots, passing through Hart Island Sound, and then had one long port tack on a very broad reach south of Execution Rocks and through the passage off the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy on Great Neck before the jibe and heading for the mooring.
Daniel had another appointment and the remaining three of us headed in to Neptune Restaurant, in the neighborhood where we live and where we were joined by Lene's brother, Kenny. The Club's restaurant was sold out for a performance of arias by a local opera singer so we could not eat there. You would think that Neptune had a nautical theme and there are one or two seafood items on the extensive menu, but no, this is a Polish restaurant with not great ambiance but a pleasant backyard outdoor seating area, good cheap food and Zyweck beer (on the east side of First Avenue, south of Twelfth Street in Manhattan). We had to drive back out to the Club after dinner because of a comedy of errors. First Lene left her cell phone aboard so I had a round trip launch ride to retrieve it. Then she left two canvas bags, one of which contained my wallet, on a chair on the front porch of the Clubhouse, which was still there when we got them. A bit of nervous friction until then, however.

Sunday I sailed with Jerry and Louise aboard their 43 foot Jenneau, "Windsong", out of the Huguenot YC. These are the same folks who sailed for a week with us in the Virgin Islands on our way north, early in 2012. (Sorry folks, I forgot to get pictures of the people or the boat.) Windsong has the popular "Raised Deck Salon" feature. Specifically, amidships in the salon, the cabin sole is raised, such that when sitting at the dining table there, you can see out of the big windows that give a full view to both sides and forward, 270 degrees. The boat also has in-mast roller furling for the main sail, which gives up a bit of performance, i.e., speed for ease of furling and unfurling. We headed out the way I usually go, east of Huckleberry Island, and then turned a bit to the right and deeply into Manhasset Bay, before returning to off eastern New Rochelle and thence through the passage between the Nonations (rocks) and Hart Island before entering the Huguenot's waters via the well marked channel into and past the New York Athletic Club's waters. I had never been through there before, but now, armed with local knowledge, I will go again, soon, not under sail, when I bring ILENE to her winter storage place in early November.
I helped Jerry strip, fold and bag his two sails for winter storage. They are leaving for their Florida place soon, and Jerry vowed to sail down there next winter. Finally, a delicious burger at the Huguenot before driving home to Lene.
A good weekend, and the coming week should be rain free, but light wind is predicted.

Slow and Fast on a Wednesday

The slow part of this day was on ILENE, a boring two knots or less due to very light wind, for two hours on Eastchester Bay, with Bennett as my companion. I could have cleaned the boat instead!  

(Then an interesting lecture on his new book, Fear Itself, about the New Deal, by  Prof. Katznelson of Columbia University. It was racist southern democrats which put through FDR's program, making sure that black people could not benefit. An example of this was that there were two exclusions from Social Security: domestic workers and farm workers. Why? 80 percent of the employed blacks in the south were domestics or farm workers.)

In the evening, reclining comfortably on a padded sofa, I watched the 17th, final and deciding race of the 2013 America's Cup, which Lene had recorded for me. No two knots for these high tech 72 footers. They peaked at about 40 knots of boat speed in 20 knots of wind, slowing during the tacks. They did this upwind and down. Eleven men per boat, each with an assigned specific well practiced task. Hmmm. Two knots or forty? The AC boats are hardly boats; they rise up out of the water on hydrofoils. It takes a multibillionaire to finance one. All professional athletes, mostly not from the nation under whose flag they compete.  This concept of lifting the entire boat out of the slowing friction caused by the water is so new that the crews, supported by teams of more than 100 on shore, were still learning how to sail the boats to maximum advantage during the regatta. The US team learned how to modify their approach after or during their losses and came out faster in the later races.

Oh yes, the US boat, with its Owner, Larry Ellison, in attendance nearby, won in perhaps the most dramatic comeback in sports history. Having been penalized two races for a rules infraction in the qualifying heats months ago, the first two US victories went to eliminate that deficit. After that the US wins counted. But about a week ago the US boat trailed eight races to one. Team New Zealand, sponsored by Arab Emirates Airlines, needed to win only one more race!  By winning the next eight in a row, including yesterday's race, Team Oracle/Ellison won the Cup, nine to eight.

The camera work made the show exciting, a lot more exciting than two knots on Eastchester Bay. But I will stick with ILENE, a monohull, whose graceful look contrasts with the muscularity of the competitive Star Wars monsters.
In the post race euphoria the team members were heard to say "Thank you boat!"
I should thank ILENE more often. She gets us through thick and thin.

Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday -- Not Enough, Too Much and About Right

Only three days this week but such different "Three Bears" winds.

Wednesday, expecting light winds, I headed out to sail with the Wednesday afternoon group, but no one showed up -- except Bennett. After lunch we sailed for about two hours. And the winds were light but enough to move the boat, actually hitting 5.1 knots of boat speed, briefly.  We used the genoa and main and managed to furl the head sail quickly while directly into the wind before falling off on the other tack and letting it out. We got close to Great Neck, first east of Stepping stones and them west of that obstacle, before heading home. With no waves or wakes it was a beautifully sunny warm day. A peaceful pleasant relaxing interval on the water with a good companion. A few knots of wind more would have been nice, but be careful what you ask for.

Saturday I sailed with three of the four folks who had won the ride at a Goods and Services auction at my Congregation. The fourth guest, alas, was sick. Ardelle, Janet and Alan were great guests and I fed them well, pursuant to the offered Auction item and the vegetarian ethos of one of them. Fortunately, this eating took place on our way out, it being too rough to eat, much less to prepare food on the way back. We were underway from about 11 am until 5:30 pm and then Lene met us at Bistrot BK for a French dinner ashore. We got out quickly to about four miles east of Matinecock, off the North Shore of L.I. and it took a lot longer to get back. The wind had been forecast for 8 knots rising to 14 during our time but the reality was different. We started with near zero and motored for the first 5 minutes, though the sails were up. Then the winds came up quickly to 15 knots and we switched from the Genoa to the small jib. But the wind continued to rise and it hit 32 knots in gusts before we got back.  And the way back was a beat. The crew took turns at the wheel, but they are not experienced helmspersons and I made the decision to not put a reef in the main underway in all that wind, which was a mistake. We were overpowered so I furled the jib but our progress over the water was painfully slow, less than three knots with all that wind! Near the rocks off the islands off New Rochelle we lost steerage and I turned on the motor to tack us away. I put out half of the small jib and it gave us more speed. We almost had a serious injury but it ended with bruises to forehead and knee: when we tacked, Janet fell from the new high starboard side of the cockpit, onto the new low port side. All guests were very good sports about this whole day. Alan was a big help in grabbing the pickup stick at the mooring, after which we shared some wine.  More wind than we bargained for.

Sunday was the Club's Third Annual Honor Veterans Day. ILENE was one of four boats who took out the approximately 30 guests: veterans and their spouses and kids. This was after a continental breakfast and before a lunch of sandwiches, fries, salad and cookies, catered by the Club for all participants.
I had two club members, who, like me, are Vets: Gene and Brian. Also, five people among the veteran guests: a big ex marine with his young son, an army man with his wife and a aircraft carrier aircraft launcher who keeps a small powerboat in our area. Eight souls, all in all. All of the five vet guests were new to sailing. All took a turn on the wheel. All had a good time and were very thankful and learned a lot. The lad called the launch. The winds varied from 13 to 20 knots. I reefed the main before we started and we used the genoa on the first course, to the south side of the Throgs Neck Bridge, and achieved 8.5 knots. After furling that huge sail for the tack, we deployed the small jib for the rest of the journey: to the far end of Hart Island Sound,  to Throgs Neck and back.

Three days with different winds and different guests. Life is very good!

September 11-12 -- Two Days with Howard

Well the day after our arrival was Wednesday and that means sailing in the afternoon. So after about an hour aboard ILENE, mostly cleaning and taking things off the boat (more of that is needed) I headed to lunch at the Club. Five of us broke bread but only Howard wanted to sail. Howard was one of my two crew on the ill fated voyage to Point Judith, RI in the fall of 2010 that I mentioned recently. Howard is about 15 years older than me, a former pilot, vigorous, resourceful and spry. He is active as a fire commissioner for his town and is raising capital for a new infrared technology that he and a partner are developing.  His former boat, a Catalina, was totaled by Sandy and his new boat, is a rather clean looking Hunter 28.5, formerly owned by a stock broker and named "Covered Call". She is about the size of my first boat, "Just Cause", a Pearson 28, with few systems and a fun ride.

Next time I have to bring my sewing kit and whip the ends of some of her lines.

We had a couple of hours aboard; Howard steered and I trimmed. With full main and Genoa, it took me a while to find the right place for the genoa car lead. We were doing boat speed beating out of Eastchester Bay, though with no GPS speed is difficult to determine precisely. We circumnavigated Stepping Stones, counterclockwise. I located and pointed out both of the two red buoys that must be seen to do this so he can do it alone next time. The wind was well aft of the beam for the passage behind Stepping Stones and on the way home. Her steering wheel is small in diameter making it a heavy pull to steer. Howard noticed that the hub of the steering wheel seemed loose. He was correct.

What to do? In the bar after our return we spoke with Joe and others, one of who suggested Fenton Marine. I agreed to accompany Howard on a run over there the next day. In the bar I was asked a lot of Maine questions and retelling the stories of one's adventures is almost half the fun of having them. Rick, our Club's newest Board member, assigned the Restaurant, Bar and Catering portfolio, asked if next winter I would give a slide show to our members about the trip. "YES!"

Next morning, I went to the Club by public transportation, carrying black shoes and a suit and tie for the evening's prayers and hung them in the shower room before meeting Howard. We drove over to Fenton but no one was there so we checked out Consolidated Yachts and its proprietor, Wes, told us to bring the boat over which we did, leaving Howard's car at his yard, on the far side of the island, for the return trip. When we arrived and tied up, he assigned his newest mechanic, Bobby to check out the problem.

There is a piece of nylon piping, 1" inside diameter and 1.5" outside, which fits over the aft-extending shaft of the hub of the steering wheel. It is held in place by a split washer on the shaft. It acts as a bearing for the wheel and is held in place against the shaft by an Allen headed bolt, screwed down tight through its side onto the shaft. But this spacer bearing was too short by 1/2 an inch, Bobby found, after he pulled off the split washer using a special tool (that I do not have, yet) which is a pliers with a pin on the side of each end. Inserting the pins into the holes at the split of the washer and squeezing permits the washer's ends to be spread and the washer removed. While Bobby fabricated and additional 1/2 inch long spacer to fill the gap and drilled and tapped a new hole in the existing spacer for the Allen bolt, Howard and I cleaned the inner surfaces of the wheel, which had not been taken off in years. A rare thing in boating -- same day repair! After returning Covered Call to her mooring Howard bought me lunch at the club and then hoofed it back to Consolidated to pick up his car. I changed into dress clothes and Lene picked me up for a pre-fasting dinner at Harvest, a restaurant near Temple Beth El in Closter, New Jersey. We dined with Bennett who had prepared a beautiful photo book about our round trip from Bar Harbor to Eastport. A lovely gift. Two good days.

September 9 and 10 -- Jamestown, RI to City Island, NY- Home safe

Our night on a mooring at Conanicut Marina on Jamestown  Island was not peaceful. Somehow the wind, tidal curents and waves came from different directions and the mooring ball was banging on the hull,  which is not good for the hull or for sleep. One rode was stretched around the bow so I first detached it from the starboard cleat and reattached it with the other rode on the port cleat. Bang, bang, bang. Next trick, start the engine and pull away in reverse a bit. Bang, bang bang. Attach it to the port midship cleat. Same result. Finally I took both rodes, one at a time, and attached them to the port stern cleat. Now the boat it hooked on by its tail and the waves, small ones, slap up under the stern. But since we sleep in the forward pullman berth, this was a minor problem compared with the banging.
We got underway at 8:30 am for what ended up as a 26 HOUR trip home. Leaving Narragansett bay we passed Beavertail Light,

at the southern tip of Jamestown island.






We also passed this antique beauty, steaming for Newport, probably to attend the Boat Show.

Next was Point Judith Light at the SE edge of the Bay. I had a terrible experience in Point Judith in September 2010 -- resulted in litigation. Someday when the boat is all put away, remind me to tell you that story.

To this point the wind had been very fluky and light so while the full sails were up, they did little good. Then we headed west for NY and tried to get to and through The Race and into Long Island Sound before the tide turned adverse. With the favorable tide and engine and sails we made in at about 2 pm, on time, at near slack. Once through we experienced zero wind and light but freshening adverse current and did not get very far until 4:30 pm when the wind came up. During the calm, a large sea turtle lifted its head out of the water to take a good look at us. Starting at 4:30 we sailed, without motor, under full sails until just before dark. By that time, jack lines had been rigged and life preservers with tethers worn when topsides. Lene said this was not needed, being in the Sound rather than the open ocean, but Captain's Orders! Then we swapped the Genoa for the small jib, there was plenty of wind, a bit less later, and safety first especially when I'm asleep. Lene took the watch from 8:30 to 12:30 am while I catnapped. Actually I catnapped with the cats in the starboard settee in the saloon; or rather, they catnapped with me. The lee cloth was not needed because we were on a port reach the whole way from Point Judith to Greenwich CT. I took over for Ilene the rest of the way. Our first waypoint was off Eaton's Neck by Huntington LI, but we could not sail quite that close to the wind. We passed no boats in the dark, which is rare, until about 4 am.
While Long Island Sound runs essentially east-west, sailors know that its western end curves and runs NE-SW. So from Greenwich to City Island, with adverse tide again, we took four pairs of tacks to get home, passing Execution Rocks, our home landmark

and arriving on the mooring at 10:30 am.
Then a lot of work, putting things away (more to do on that score) while Lene took public transportation to our apartment to get our car, which remained loaded with suitcases and cat carrier. Upon her return we packed and we got off the boat by 4:30 pm and slept in our own bed at home last night.

This concludes the chronology of our three month cruise to Maine, described in this 65th post of this cruise. But please stay tuned for further watery related posts, (including summary observations about the cruise) in the coming months and throughout the winter.

September 6 to 8 -- Vinyard Haven to Cuddyhunk to Newport to Jamestown

We slipped the Vinyard Haven mooring after raising the main for the 22 mile passage and unfurled the genoa shortly thereafter. Full sails! We were underway from 2 pm for about four hours. The wind was from the SW at 10 to 12 knots which meant with six or more knots of boat speed the apparent wind was greater. But the seas were low and this time I had gotten the tide right. It was favorable most of the way. Hence our courses, tracked on the chart plotter, show a very "open" accordion pleat. Our first course took us out of the deep "V" shaped bay of Vinyard Haven and to the eastern end of Tarpaulin Cove. That Cove lies just east of Woods Hole on Naushaun Island, the largest of the Elizabeths, which is owned by the Forbes family. They allow the boating public access to the beach and we anchored there in 2009. A nice place though not as dramatic as Roque Island, though the water here is warm enough to swim in. Our second tack brought us back to the north coast of the Vineyard, a few miles east of Menemsha, a terrific spot toward the western end of the north side of the Vinyard. We spent several nights there in 2009, and we will visit again, but not this year. The last tack took us to and through Quick’s Hole, which is the widest and straightest of the holes through the Elizabeths and brought us back into Buzzards Bay for the night. In Quick's Hole, with 2.5 knots of tide helping us, we made well over eight knots over the ground, hitting 8.9 briefly, before hardening sails again to head westerly for the last few miles to Cuddyhunk. We doused sails and motored the last mile.

For the first time (I have been here about eight times) we anchored out in Cuddyhunk Harbor rather than enter, through the dredged channel, into the dredged former pond within the island which has many moorings. I have always seen large boats anchored outside. Well, they are too big for the channel. I thought that with our location by the northeast shore and winds predicted at less than ten knots from the southwest, we would have a peaceful night. A beautiful sixty footer, "Blue Whale" passed and yelled: “What is that, a Passport 48?”  “No, a Saga 43,” I replied.  I have to admit that being mistaken for a much more expensive and larger boat gave me a secret thrill. Well, it’s not a secret any longer, having been confessed to the world. Lene cooked up a great dinner. We had a good view of the Gay Head light, on the western tip of the Vineyard, 6.1 miles away, through Canapitsit Channel (not navigable for sailboats without expert local knowledge at the slack at high tide). The light sticks up from the grey land in the background (the Vineyard) over the left end of the green which is Cuddyhunk.

It flashes red and white and is more visible by night.  Here is a view of Cuddyhunk, with the masts of the many boats on moorings in the pond showing above the land.

It turns out that the night was not as peaceful as we had expected and hoped for, a bit more bouncy. In the morning, Blue Whale, which had anchored a 100 yards ahead of us last night, closer to the island, was now a boat length away at our side; she had dragged her anchor. We yelled to wake them. They were not drifting free and fast, but were moving. Luckily they had not drifted onto us!

Our plan was to go to Block Island, the next day, 37.9 miles (to a town mooring in the pond, around the northern end and buoy 1BI). But as evidenced by the rocky night and the dragging neighbor, the wind was higher than expected. I put a reef in the main before we lifted anchor and we used the small jib. Nevertheless, as a result of blowing all night, the seas were high, 3-5 feet, each wave slamming down our speed. Though we left before nine, with small sails and the engine, our speed, over a course that would be about 1.6 times the projected 37.9 miles, meant an arrival shortly before dark. It could be later if conditions deteriorated. And we were heeled at 25 to 35 degrees. Lene and the felines were not comfortable, though to her credit, Lene refrained from whining. Lets face it, I was not comfortable either. It was not a question of safety but of comfort; we are supposed to be having fun, not getting beat up. So a change of plans: we tacked to the northwest, planned for Newport and were on the mooring there by 2:15. Our path took us across the mouth of Sakonnet River and close to The Breakers and its neighbors, cottages built about 120 years ago by the Vanderbilts and their friends.

And with more of the same wind predicted for the next day, followed by a favorable (non southwestern) wind the day after, we decided to stay here for a lay day. Technically, it was not a lay day because, due to the big Newport Boat Show (Who Knew?), there were no moorings available in Newport for the second night.  We normally try to avoid crowds and Newport was full of big ego people with big boats. So we dined aboard and did not go ashore. The fuel dock was blocked off by exhibition docks!

Next morning we crossed the eastern side of Narragansett Bay, to the Conanicut Marina on Jamestown Island, a distance of about 1.7 miles, under motor. Why raise sails for such a short "passage"? On our way out of Newport we saw the old Americas Cup 12 Meter racers, which had been out with passengers the day before under reefed sails. The battleground for the Cup was here off Newport.

Yesterday we were too busy sailing to take their picture. Newport is guarded by Fort Adams which we have toured in the past, now home to folk and rock festivals but designed by Goethals, after the War of 1812, as a defense against British raids in future wars (before airplanes and missiles). It was never put to the test.We also saw the Jamestown-Newport bridge that was under construction when I served on the USS Hammerberg from 1965 to 67.

Your choices then were to drive or take the bus up to Providence and then down on the other side of Narragansett Bay or take a ferry. We saw the tops of the towers of this bridge from Cuddyhunk. In olden times it was church steeples that one saw first from the sea, now it is bridge towers or sky scrapers

Fort Adams

Before taking our mooring on Jamestown we put in at the fuel dock and ILENE took a big drink, 35.5 gallons, at 2321.6 engine hours. This will be her last gulp until the fill-up before hauling, when you want a full tank to avoid condensation.
Ilene went in to the marina office and watched Serena Williams win the Womens Singles Championship of the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament. I found a Jamestown postcard and wrote it out while watching Team Oracle win its first America's Cup race in San Francisco Bay. Those craft are so unlike a sailboat that it is an entirely different sport. I had a nice discussion with a local couple, Cathy, who volunteered to drive my postcard to the Post Office, and her friend Bob. Dinner aboard again; we have food to eat up, partly due to another change of plans: with the bug of "short time fever" (an end of cruise desire to get home) infecting us, and hostile winds after Tuesday, and the need to get home by Friday for a commitment, we decided to make a straight shot home from here in Jamestown, about 120 miles (not measured) leaving Monday morning, the ninth, and arriving at our Harlem Yacht Club mooring Tuesday morning. Monday night will be different from all the other nights of this cruise -- an overnight sail. 

September 4-6 -- Falmouth to Vineyard Haven and Religious Holidays There

The short passage from Falmouth, across Vineyard Sound, into the end of the large “V” shaped harbor of Vinyard Haven was poorly executed. It was only 5.5 miles so I figured the Genoa would be enough sail, though the winds in Falmouth were light. But the harbor winds are always different (and lighter) than the winds out in the open and the genoa was too much sail. We were going fast enough, about seven knots (until we furled the sails and motored) but we were not really in control and passed on the wrong, eastern, side of the green buoy 17, in the middle of the Sound, which was placed there to warn us off a portion of L'Hommedieu Shoal. We were far enough east of it that we did not pass over the single digit foot spots, but the fact is that there was a bit of surf all along the shoal where the Sound shallows out in its middle. But we got safely on a rental buoy, outside the protective seawall,

where northerly winds caused us to pitch a bit. The ferry dock is behind the seawall, in the heart of town, where they have conveniently placed a dingy dock.


Here is the largest ferry, the one from Woods Hole, coming in under a rainbow.

And while we did not lose our kitty in Falmouth, we did lose Lene’s eyeglasses and Kindle --  left in the Laundromat there. When we called from VH, the Laundromat confirmed that the articles were found and would be held. But how to retrieve them? The Falmouth Municipal Marina said they would not charge us for the 20 minutes it would take to walk to the Laundromat and back.  Aren’t they great?  But Antares had told us they were coming to Vineyard Haven and they agreed to pick them up and bring them to us!

We have been to the Vineyard before, and hope to come again, but this time, my primary purpose was not tourism but prayer. The Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center has a nice place only five blocks from the dinghy dock by the ferry pier, but for Wednesday night and Thursday morning, they had obtained use of the theater in the MV Regional High School. So we looked up the Vineyard's transit system’s bus schedules and found that the Number 1 line’s  5:07  bus from the ferry dock would get us there in plenty of time for the 6 pm service. I was pleasantly surprised by the Reconstructionist prayer book they used. It has different translations which put new meaning into the familiar phrases. The Rabbi sang beautifully, herself, and with a choir with a few good voices instead of a Cantor. There is a special melody that is used only once a year, for the evening service before Rosh Hashonah, which was lovely. In the subsequent morning services the music was mostly new (to me) and beautiful,  combining cantilation, Hassidic tunes, Debbie Friedman camp style songs, by Salamone Rossi from the early 1600s.... though familiarity is why we love music. Most people wore street clothes, and  no clerical gowns for the Rabbi or the choir, which was led by a pianist and there were no flowers. But Rabbi Karen Broitman tapped several talented members to deliver talks and extra readings and the service challenged the mind, as it ought to do. One attorney said he tried, but could not make the case for Abraham who kicked out his son, Ishmael, and first wife, Hagar, at Sarah’s request without argument, after having argued with God over the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Another professor spoke about whether survivors of horrific events such as the Holocaust, should remember and recount the facts, referring to the truth and justice commissions in South Africa. Another, the author of 20 cookbooks, spoke about foods of the holiday including the dipping of apple into honey in the home when saying the prayer of thanks to God for sustaining us and preserving us and bringing us through the prior year. She said that in the biblical days they were not talking about honey from bees, which had not yet been domesticated, but the honey in question came from pressing juice from dates. This made me feel good because aboard ILENE, in the absence of honey, I had dipped my apple slice into a pool consisting of the liquid syrup part of Trader Joe's Seville orange marmalade. We were asked to think of things we were grateful for and in addition to my three "B"s: boat, book and babe, I confess that the first thing that came to my mind was that Witty was saved.

We got a ride back to our dink from Andrew, a photojournalist who works in Providence RI but lives weekends on the Vineyard. He offered us the use of his house and car! I also met Jonah, a young software engineer who has spent this summer as a volunteer, working on the building of a 74 foot wooden scow to be named “Seeker”. We toured that project.

Topsides, looking forward from amidships.

Frame for a future hatch cover.

Notice the bungs.

Flat bow defines a scow; bowsprit will be added.

Cedar planks over oak frames, to be seemed with oakum.

We had the pleasure to entertain Olaf and Andrea of “Antares” and their friend from Germany, Uta, who they had picked up from Boston to join them for ten days in these waters. All three spoke English perfectly, except Uta who understood it but needed a bit of help articulating her thoughts in English. We had invited them for wine and cheese and they said they would stop by on their way in to town for dinner. But the weather had turned lumpy and rainy and Olaf could not get his dink engine started, so I went over and picked them up. I offered to let them use our dink to go to dinner in town but the weather nixed that jaunt.

Uta, Andrea and Olaf

Next morning we took the two women in to town with us and after Olaf got the engine working again he came in; we said good by and offered them hospitality in New York on their way south.                                                  
By the way, subject to weather or other changes, here is our schedule for getting home: September 6 -- Cuddyhunk;   7 --  Block Island;   8 – North Cove Connecticut River (Old Saybrook);   9 – Fayerweather YC, Fairfield CT;            10 – Harlem YC-- HOME! 
I have very mixed feelings as the cruise is drawing into its final days. Sure I love to sail and hate to give it up. This summer has been great. But one’s home port always has a strong appeal. We love New York too. I am blessed to enjoy both of my homes.