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. 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September 2 & 3 -- Quissett to Falmouth and Lay Day There

Our plan for September 2 - 4 was to visit three ports that we have been to before. First, 9/2, Hadleys Harbor, created by the proximity of several of the Elizabeth Islands, a pure anchorage (well there are now many free moorings) with no commercial activities, though undoubtedly a busy place this holiday weekend. Next day, through Woods Hole to Falmouth on the north (or Cape) side of Vineyard Sound. The sound is the body of water separating Cape Cod from Martha's Vineyard. And finally, on Wednesday, to cross that Sound to Vineyard Haven on Martha's Vineyard. There the local synagogue has given us guest privileges for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year holiday beginning that evening.

Woods Hole is a passage between Buzzards Bay to the north and Vineyard Sound to the south.  But the passage is a graceful shallow "S" from NE to SW rather than a straight line. Here is a look through the Hole from the south.

 To the east is the Cape and on the west is the Elizabeth Island chain. Off to the Cape side of the passage, is the town of Woods Hole with several oceanographic research institutions. The tide rushes through the Hole at about four knots at the peak, and the channel between the many rocks does not align the same way that the water does; the water crosses the channel and can push you aside -- out of the channel onto the rocks -- if you are not careful. In fact, during our transit of the Hole in 2008 we glanced off a rock while blitzing through at almost ten knots, fortunately with no damage. So this time I was a lot more cautious. The safe time to go through is at slack, the brief interval when the tide is at high or low and the current is slow and hasn't yet started to rush the other way with force. This is less thrilling, but safer.
Rain was predicted for the afternoon. Lene called Falmouth's friendly and efficient Municipal Marina, where we had stayed, on their dock, in 2008 (at $2.35 per foot according to my note in the cruising guide), to inquire about availability for tomorrow ."Sure, and because it is September, our rate is $1.00 per foot."  "Why that's less than the cost of a mooring at Catumet!" Lene said to me, "Let's go today!" And the tide was right for the Hole. So we motored the 1.9  miles from Quissett to the Hole and the 2.0  miles through the Hole. Here is Nobska Point Light on  the Cape after we had passed through the Hole.

Then we shut off the engine and flew the genoa on a broad starboard reach in light air, making about three knots for a pleasant, stately, non-heeling passage of the 3.4 miles to Falmouth. Lene's favorite type of sail. Adding the final half mile in Falmouth Harbor the entire trip was only 7.8 miles and we arrived at 11:30. The harbor is about .8 miles long and was dredged to about 100 yards wide. In 2008 we were at one of the many slips that lined the western side, bow in, perpendicular to the shore. In the interim they built docks out about 100 feet long into the harbor with room for about six boats on each side of each dock, so we now docked parallel to the shore.
We had enjoyed lunch at Betsy's Diner in 2008. Its neon motto in the window: "Eat Heavy."

But they closed too early for us for Labor Day and totally closed on our lay day. So we had Chinese food at the Peiking Palace, across the street. Not bad.
After lunch, a postcard, a percolator top and a grocery stop, we returned to wash the boat with the unlimited supply of fresh water available from the dock.
Dinner aboard.
The lay day was quiet, with a few rain storms. This time the percolator top was too big to fit into the hole in the pot's top, so we walked in to town to return it. This statute honors, Katherine Lee Bates, the native daughter who wrote the lyrics for America the Beautiful.

It is located in the village green.

"Antares", a beautiful 40 foot, center cockpit, teak decked Hallberg-Rassey pulled in next to us flying the German flag.

 Olaf and Andrea, are from Hamburg and sail in the Baltic and Scandinavia, except they have been here in the Caribbean and Maine this last year.



An interesting "davit" arrangement for the dink, using the toping lift to winch it up.

All Hallberg Rasseys have the hard windscreen.

But Antares' windscreen is topped with an additional dodger and a large bimini is on top of that.

In the late afternoon we walked over a mile to see Blue Jasmine (Ilene's second viewing!) followed by a very cheap dinner and we got what we paid for -- mediocre pedestrian flavorless food. It rained torrentially during the movie and several other fronts passed during the night.
In the morning a very unpleasant and sad/scary happening. Witty was missing! Last seen around midnight, he did not show up for breakfast, which is unheard of. If he fell in he would have yowled. We searched the area thoroughly, calling his name and shaking the plastic box of his treats, a sure fire way to attract his attention. The road nearby did not have his body. At eight we called the police animal control unit and the harbor master. I prepared a "Lost Cat -- Reward" poster with his picture and by ten the first three of them had been posted in the neighborhood. Hopefully he had been picked up by a friendly feline loving person nearby.  Lene started crying. I said that there is still hope and it is too early to mourn; lots of good that advice did. While I was off posting the posters a person on a nearby boat said he had seen a cat the day before on a boat on the next dock. Third powerboat from the right in photo. This dock was full of local boats, their people living at home, not aboard. No one to hear his mewling and rescue him!

I had walked that dock calling his name and shaking his treats but no response. The harbor master's helpful friendly assistant, Kelsey, accompanied Lene. They searched the boat and heard a faint meow. Here is the ladder up her stern that Witty had climbed to board her. And here is the inverted dinghy on her foredeck under which Witty had taken shelter from the rain and become trapped.

What a relief! All's well that ends well.

September 1 -- Catumet to Quissett

I forgot to mention that I cancelled the day sail that was planned with Bennett and his friend, Rick, for yesterday. It was too rough to introduce a newbie to sailing and unpleasant even for me. But an alternative was to do this sail today. 

We had a thunderstorm at about 5:30 am. First the lightning, silent but bright, from under the horizon; this was not some lighthouse's flash. Then we heard rolling thunder. A few minutes later the rain came, heavy at first and it hung on until about ten am. Aboard, inside, it was nice and dry.

During the morning a lengthy series of text messages took place because cell reception was so lousy that we could not hear each other. The final plan: Bennett and Harriet and Rick and Jane drove their two cars to Quissett Harbor; all four of them got into one car and drove it to Catumet, and took the launch to ILENE on her mooring. Here transferring from launch to ILENE.

Hey, what are all these people doing here?

After lunch we sailed from  Catumet to Quissett Harbor, a distance of only about 11.3 miles.

We got underway at about 1:30 using reefed main and small jib in anticipation of sailing close hauled into 15 knot winds.  Everyone had a good time except Rick, who was a good sport and hung on to avoid sea sickness. No pictures of green people in this blog! We ran the engine as well, for the last hour, to try to shorten Rick’s misery.
Jane became a happy helmsperson.

Though 11.3 miles by the shortest logical safe route it was well over 16 miles because it required several tacks and we lost ground on each of them due to the wind and tide pushing us
backward. And it took us more than three hours.
Once on the mooring I lowered the dink and took our friends to the car they had left hereso they could drive back to Catumet and pick up the other car. Five people in the dink but it was calm in the harbor. Harriet and Bennett:

Quissett is a pretty little harbor. The chart shows it as almost impossible to get into due to a very narrow channel with rocks in it. In reality, however, it was easy, and well marked with reds and greens. Its YC has a web site that says “We have no clubhouse and no phone number, only boats and people.” They have a small fleet of Herreshof design "12s" for match racing. and some other pretty boats. The adjacent boatyard rents moorings, without launch service, at a reasonable cost. The Marina operator described Quissett as a huricane hole. I wouldn’t mind coming here again.

We dined aboard and prepared for more rain tonight, which did not come. There is no store in Quissett so no opportunity to buy a postcard for my granddaughter, from here. Tomorrow we plan a very short hop to Hadley’s Harbor.

August 31 -- Plymouth to Catumet

I had a poor night’s sleep, thinking we had to cast off earlier than the 7 am I had told Lene, because we would be needing to tack to get to the Cape Cod Bay entrance to the CC Canal in time to get through the canal before the tide turned adverse. This is one body of water where you have to get the tide right. I compromised with myself and we left at 6:30 with motor and reefed main, in anticipation of 20 knot apparent winds. We jibed twice heading out of Plymouth and once clear, at 7:30, came on a starboard beam reach with 10 to 15 knots. We added the genoa, shut off the engine and made well over six knots. The wind was from the west, not from the SW, as predicted. Fast and pleasantly uncold. But at 8:30 the wind fell to calm so we furled the genoa and motored the rest of the way, arriving at the canal entrance at ten. Half an hour before this the wind came up from the SW, but less than ten knots so we put up the small jib to compliment the reefed main and left the engine on. Before entry we tried to furl the jib but an overlap required me to go forward and play with the drum for a while to get it furled. At the entrance there were swirly currents which caused me to second guess myself as to the tide. But once in, the tide was giving us 2.5 knots above speed through the water, peaking at 8 knots over the ground. But toward the western end of the canal, we experienced big waves with strong winds, now 20 knots apparent, from the southwest, opposing the tidal current. And once we got out into Hog Island channel, the extension of the canal, the waves were six feet high and very close together. ILENE’s nose was diving into waves, which caused water to flow into the forward head because the big hatch there, while dogged down, was not dogged tightly enough. The last couple of miles, the tide had turned so we were making good only about two knots while being washed around in that washing machine.  But we escaped all that eventually, turned to port and found and entered the well buoyed narrow shallow channel in to the Kingman Yacht Center in Catumet, Mass.

Here, at about three, Bennett, and his friend Rick, picked us up and drove us about 45 minutes to their summer home overlooking a golf course near the Atlantic side of the Cape. There we met Rick's wife Jane. We took showers, I took a nap, Harriet took Lene to get groceries, and after just hanging out we all packed into one car to return to the Marina, where we ate in its restaurant, The Chart Room. This place has been here since 1966 and is in an old barge used by the N.J. Railroads as a repair facility. It is very popular, very crowded, quite noisy and the food was fine but not what I had hoped for. We had eaten here in 2008 and it seemed better then on all fronts. Sorry about the lack of photos in this post.

August 30 -- Cohasset to Plymouth

After the hotel’s continental breakfast we returned to ILENE, stowed our stuff, hoisted the dink, fed the felines and were underway by 8:15.  Like yesterday, it was overcast and grey. Yesterday we entered Cohasset heading south via the Western Channel, thereby leaving Minots Ledge Light well to port. Actually this is the second light with this name.

The first was built on steel tubes and blew over in a big storm killing its keepers. Ah, infrastructure maintenance. This new Minot Light is over a century old and going strong. We exited Cohasset heading east via the Eastern Passage and again left the Light to port.  The trip consisted of  three segments. The first, exiting Cohasset and its rocks, was 2.8 miles of motoring. Once out of the rocks, we headed rather straight for Plymouth Light with only a few small course changes as the coast curves a bit, We were able to turn off the engine and sail under full sails on a close starboard reach throughout this 17 mile segment until we turned in to the town of Plymouth, after Plymouth Light.

The last segment, 5.1 miles, was under motor again. There were some big swells coming toward our port side, from the east, and the wind was from the west, making waves, in other words, confused waters. During the long sailing segment, with winds variable we made an average speed of over six knots. But the fun was the relative speed -- relative to another boat, about 1/4 mile off our port beam. We raced, though neither knew the other's name or communicated with the other. The competition induced me to trim our sails correctly, after which we pulled away. Alfie was not excited by the race.

Half way through the wide body of water leading to the channel to Plymouth, the chart showed good deep water on both sides of a green buoy, in fact, more on the left side than the right. So I directed Lene to steer to that side. But after a while she looked at the depth finder and it showed us rapidly shallowing out. So a quick sharp turn to starboard and we kept the greenie on the correct port side of the boat. Thanks once again Lene! We left Duxbury Pier Light to starboard.

We were assigned one of the Plymouth YC’s five guest moorings by 1:15. After lunch the YC launch brought us to the Club, at one end of town, to register, and then to the other end of town, where the public dock is, by 2. We walked the mile back, stopping and detouring to see some of the sights.

Sailing vessel ILENE is in good company. 

We were lucky that this 1957 replica of the Mayflower has returned to her dock after a lengthy repair, and that it was Fun Friday -- the $10 admission fee waived. How over 100 souls, men, women and children, were able to live on that small ship for the entire lengthy voyage of more than 60 days is quite a feat. Docents dressed in period clothing of seamen stayed in their roles and answered questions.

Here are both Ilenes from the aft deck of the Mayflower.

Nearby is Plymouth Rock, perhaps the most underwhelming historical landmark in America. It is a small boulder, perhaps six feet by four, lying on the beach, with “1620” carved into its top.

They built a monument around it to enshrine it and make it seem more substantial (and perhaps to keep tourists from standing on it as well), but underwhelming leaps out at you.



The monument from the land and from the water.

We also took a long bus ride with a driver who pointed out myriad sights that we should visit on our next trip, when we have more time.

Lene with Massasoit, who helped the Pilgrims

Monument to the Forefathers, celebrating Liberty, Education etc.

Leyden Streeet, the oldest in town, is named for the Dutch town which influenced the Pilgrims.

Ours was the driver's last tour of the day and we were her only paying passengers. We got back to the boat shortly after six. There is a lot more to see in Plymouth, next time, including at least three museums. Plymouth is a town filled with respect for its own history. The Mayflower Compact,in a sense an early version of our US Constitution, in that by signing it the people agreed in a document to pledge their mutual support for a system of non-Royal self government, is what I took away. Lene noticed how many of the tourists here appear to have been foreign born -- like the Pilgrims. A good dinner aboard.