June 6 -12 -- A new record for ILENE : Eleven Souls Aboard Underway

There have been more than eleven folks aboard ILENE before, but never while underway.

From left to right: Marcia, Mark, Mark, Richie, friend of Claire, Sarah, Claire, Debra, Sandy and Mike. What made this overloading possible was the almost total lack of wind on Wednesday. We Salts motored out to the Sound and back and sailed across the Sound to Great Neck and back but maxed 2.8 knots with full sails on the way out and 1.4, declining gradually to zero knots on the way back. The advantage of no wind (and no wakes on a Wednesday afternoon) was that we were able to set up the cockpit table and break out the libations while underway. Mark, of "Deuce of Hearts" helped me attempt to remove the broken block at the starboard end of the jib track which has been frozen for years. (We sailed by jury rigging a snatch block to the post of the bad block.) you can see the crack in the lower side piece, the fact that stout line is running where the sheave should be and holding the snap shackle to the right and the semi stripped Allen head bolt which must be removed.

Repeated applications of PB Blaster (rust penetrant) and hammer have so far not produced a favorable outcome. I took measurements and photos to try to find the right Lewmar part number which will be needed before the old piece is taken off. Lewmar is poor at helping find parts for older equipment they have sold.

The other sail was more fun, with   (me, Lene, Joe, Tiffany, Robert and Tony

(three of Ilene's actor friends and the husband of one of them). We had lunch at the mooring and out of a superabundance of caution put a reef in the main and used the small jib. At one point we hit 8.1 knots. We went out of Eastchester Bay, up through Hart Island Sound and to Ex. Rocks before turning, too early it turns out, and beating back to Hart Island, the green off the west headland of Manhassett Bay and Throggs Neck. Tony had to be back by five which caused me to turn back too soon. We tacked back and forth across Eastchester Bay to use up our available time. Each of our guests took the helm, and did well. I took the helm only when we tacked in the channel by Ex. Rocks, and only until I could figure out which way we could sail in that channel. The guests took Uber from the Club to the Pelman Station (only $12 for three of them and only a twelve minute wait on a Sunday evening).

And three work days, total of  14.5 hours, during the period. Once we get underway on our cruise to Nova Scotia the work will not end but there will be no more work days. Getting underway is the challenge now. And the Admiral wants us to leave a day later than the schedule and transit to Block Island on two days rather than run overnight.

I finished waterproofing the bimini and installed it, tested the outboard and secured the dink with its straps and finished lubricating and cleaning the brass handles and locks of the door to the forward head, and reinstalled them. The door now closes without the need of a string to hold it closed if you want privacy. We also brought a lot of stuff aboard and stowed it.

But the biggest project was the installation, mechanically, of the new windlass, with the help of Ed Spallina. The electrical hookup remains to be done but I'm hoping that this will not be difficult. The mounting is stronger than it was before. Then four bolts, backed by fender washers through the 1/2" thick fiberglass deck held the machine in place. This picture shows the grey rubber gasket of the "footprint" of the new windlass laying over the hole in the fiberglass deck for the old windlass. The four small holes are where the bolts go so you can see that there is no fiberglass to hold the windlass to the deck, requiring us to build a surface there.

Now there are two pieces of 1/2" thick white plastic "Starboard", one below the fiberglass and one above, With another ring of starboard as a spacer, inside the two larger discs. all held together with 5200 marine adhesive and three bolts backed by fender washers. And the four studs of the windlass, backed by fender washers, go through this 1 1/2" thick  sandwich of plastic on plastic. The bottom layer of Starboard is wider than the hole in the fiberglass deck, requiring enough force to rip the fiberglass to pull the windlass from its mounting.

Excitement over our now increasingly imminent departure is mounting.