February 21 -- Expedition to The Noble Maritime Collection at Snug Harbor, Staten Island

I named this event the "HYC's Fifth Anualish, Dead-of-Winter, Out-of-Clubhouse, Maritime-Related, Educational, Social and Dining Excursion." A wordy but accurate description -- like much of the writing in this blog I'm afraid.

 All told, sixteen folks turned out to visit the history and art museum and thirteen of them stayed for lunch at Blue Restaurant, five blocks away, overlooking the Kill van Kull. All but two who drove, came to The Battery by car, train and/or subway, and proceeded from there by ferry and bus to the Snug Harbor grounds. There were about equal numbers of Harlemites and Corinthians. I flew both burgees, as it were.
Snug Harbor was a retirement community for worn out destitute sailors established, about 180 years ago, by Robert Richard Randall. He had made his fortune as a privateer, first for the British, in the French and Indian War, and later, against the British in our Revolutionary War. Ship Captain/Owners were the entrepreneurs of their day, engaged in a high risk/high reward business; especially privateers who worked as government approved pirates! Randall made his fortune from the sea and sought to pay it back by donating the land and a huge endowment to help needy old seamen. He also provided the barge in which George Washington was ferried from New Jersey to New York City for his first inauguration.  And Alexander Hamilton, Esq., pictured here, is reputed to have drafted Randall's will. Randall is buried under a monolith inside the entrance to the grounds. Fifty yards away is a statue of him by Saint-Gaudens. The place has lovely gardens, but that is for a summer visit, when we'd rather be sailing.

Our primary docent, was Dawn, the Center's Assistant Director. She filled our heads with history. She told us of the gallant lady who, for 35 years, was the keeper of Robbins Reef  Light, which we passed on our ferry rides between the boroughs. Her organization acquired and restored the light. Dawn wants to use s/v ILENE as an anchored party boat near that light, to which the museum would bring a caterer and as many folks as we can handle, via  their work boat, used as a launch. Sounds like fun for the summer of 2017, when we will have more availability. Dawn is willing to wait until then, though I've told her that a big trawler would permit her to accommodate many more people. I have to check the depth there on the charts to make sure it can be done safely. Lots of time to work out details.

Dawn speaking to us.




There is a lot of art in the building and I liked these two showing heavy weather and its effects.

A brilliant model of the battleship USS Alabama, BB8, which was part of the Great White Fleet that Teddy "Speak softly but carry a big stick" Roosevelt sent around the world as a good will gesture and as a show of our nation's ability to project naval power. Its placarding was missing its draft, beam and length so I looked up these specification and sent them to Dawn.

Below is the only true City Island item I found in the collection: a name board from the ferry that used to take prisoners and guards between City Island and Hart Island, though, as you can see, it was then called "Hart's Island".

And here is a model of the Bremen, on which my Dad immigrated to the U.S. in the 1930's.

The excursion was particularly poignant for one of the Corinthians whose great grandfather  had lived at Snug Harbor when retired, one of as many as a thousand residents when the place was in full operation. He is buried in its cemetery. An interesting part of the exhibit is devoted to showing what life was life for The Snugs, as residents called themselves -- a life of dignity.
When every one's head was stuffed with learning, we nourished our bodies at Blue Restaurant with a delicious luncheon and then retraced our path, and our wake, back to the Battery.
Corinthians and Harlemites:

A full fun day. The weatherman cooperated nicely with temperatures in the low 50's. I even was able to turn it into a fund raiser (for the Harlem), by marking up the admission to the Noble Maritime Collection.

Harlemite Dave informed us of a lecture about the history of the Sandy Hook Pilot's Association given at the American Lighthouse Museum, close aboard the Staten Island ferry dock. The timing was such that we could have enjoyed it on our way back, but we had all already enjoyed a full day and passed it by.

Feb 3 to 20 -- A Cocktail Party and a Day of a Little Boat Work and an Open House

Did I ever mention that I'm a Corinthian? One of that word's  definitions is "amateur". The Corinthians is a paper Yacht Club. A Paper Yacht Club?  Yes: no club house nor mooring field or docks, so members must keep their boats elsewhere, such as at the Harlem.  They run cruises, races, educational events and parties. What's not to like? Actually, with the Internet, it's more an electronic club these days than based on paper to notify members of events.

A cocktail party was announced at Rodney and Genie's apartment, on Park Avenue in the 80's. We were available so we signed up. We had not known our hosts before, but we learned that their eight month summer home is in Essex CT and they have sailed with Bob, whose "Pandora" I sailed to Hampton VA in October. Small world, the cruising community. (Bob is now heading for Cuba, see sailpandora, and has asked me to join him again for the north bound trip from Florida to Connecticut -- one non-stop passage -- in May; my only hesitation is whether I can find a ten day block of time then.) Meanwhile, here in New York, we enjoyed our hosts' lovely and elegant apartment, some wine, some nibbles and most of all, the company, which included some others I had not known and several people we did know from prior events, such as Harlemite CJ, with whom we sailed with L'Hermione on NY Harbor last Fourth of July and Boo, of City Island, a historian of the area. It was mostly a telling of sea stories and plans for future sailing adventures.

Also present was Larry, an officer of the club who lives near us in Greenwich Village and is responsible for organizing social and educational events for the metro area chapter. Lene and I got to thinking and I invited all present (and via email, all the rest of the Corinthians) to join the upcoming expedition to the Noble Maritime Collection at the Snug Harbor on Staten Island.

My work on the boat was on a rare warm day, brief (only about 2.5 hours) and not a lot got accomplished. The newly re-galvanized chain was slid from the SUV's trunk to a dock cart and dragged to a point under ILENE's bow, for hoisting up on deck. But so much zinc was galvanized to it that some of the links had to be hammered to break them apart. Then, most of it got hauled up over the remaining bow roller, onto the bow.  I also pumped about ten gallons of icy dirty fresh water from the bilge into buckets and threw it off the swim platform. During all this, the battery charger was working to make sure those important cells maintained high voltage. The top hinge holding the door of the aft head had somehow gotten loose and is now tight. Some searches were conducted, alas, unsuccessfully. The Mifi receiver  has not been located yet. I'll keep trying. One of the "collets", tiny crescent shaped pieces of metal that hold the pieces of a winch together, was missing at home when I cleaned the other parts there. I assumed I had left it on the boat so I conducted a thorough search. But it's gone, so I have to buy another, make that two, just in case.
Then a quick change into better and cleaner clothing and I participated in an open house for prospective new members at the Harlem. Remember that we went to the Boat Show to try to locate prospective members to invite? Well this was the second half of the process and I met a few nice folks, gave them a tour, told them of our history, how things work and our rules. The other half of the fun of such events was sharing some wine and cheeses and crackers with old friends from the Club. We do not see much of each other in the winter. But spring will be here soon.

Jan 17 to Feb 2 -- One Work Day and a Visit to Oregon

It has been cold in New York, not conducive to boat work. But we had a 26" snowfall so I thought I better get out to the boat the next day to try to shove the snow off the canvas cover to prevent it tearing under that big load. The streets were clear and light traffic made getting to the Huguenot easy. The hardest part was wading through the snow from the car to the boat through drifts more than 26" deep. The wind that had delivered the snow had also blown almost all of it off the cover. Just a bit was left, on both sides, forward of the mast. Easy. But I was there, so I took off the starboard coach roof winch, except for the central core, which has not budged. That one will require me either to reread the manual again and/or to enlist the help of Ed. I wrapped the parts in plastic and scrubbed off the old caked-on grease at home, where it was warm. Only an hour at the boat, and four total.
The Oregon trip was to hang with family and friends, which is great, but I missed out on some warm days back east.
I had a free day and visited the Oregon Historical Society, which has a museum. They displayed a collection of propaganda posters published in WWI and WWII. This image, of  action at sea was arresting.

But the primary purpose of the trip was friends and family. Here are family: Mario, Sharyn and Alexandra. I stayed in their lovely home in Lake Oswego. Alexandra helmed ILENE out of Provincetown MA in June 2013.

And friends: Meridel and Judy, who sailed with us aboard ILENE for a few days in the Turks and Caicos in the early spring of 2012.