November 20 -- December 16 -- Only Four Work Days and Three Other Day Activities

It has been so long since the last post that I'm writing even though not much has gone on since then. I could write up a few of my thrilling golden oldie adventures from the days before this blog started in 2010, but have resisted that impulse -- so far.

I visited the US Merchant Marine Museum at the US Merchant Marine Academy on Kings Point, Great Neck, Long Island--  across the Sound from the Club. This to familiarize myself a bit with where I'm taking the 2019 Winter Land Cruise. The museum is not open on weekends forcing a weekday visit so I solicited opinion about whether that would be offensive and it was not. A theater night with sailing friends. The annual Interim Board Meeting of the Club, to which I get invited as Fleet Captain, an appointed position, which I am publicly willing to relinquish if I or the Commodore can ever find a successor to replace me. It is a nice dinner with friends at which the Commodore, Peter, a loquacious lad, thanked and celebrated each person in attendance for his or her contributions. A warm and friendly group. As an "outsider" to the Board (I do not attend meetings) and an old timer at the Club, I thanked them for inviting me to the dinner and for the progress they have made since my early days at the Club, about 28 years ago, not just in improving the plant and the finances but also improving the cheerful comraderie of the Club -- since the divisive factionalism that soured the Club back then.

The four work days totalled only ten hours. One of the days was at home sanding some of the woodwork I have taken off the boat to varnish and soliciting more expert opinion om my brain trust on how to do the repair jobs. The other three days were the warmest in the period and at the boat. More padding at chafe points under the cover, removing all cushions, the wheel and the salon table to the pullman compartment, clearing the salon for work, emptying the bilge and constructing a plastic shield around the bare mast in the cabin to hopefully direct the leak from the mast partners into the bilge instead of everywhere else, closing up the fresh water system in the big lazarette to be ready for spring, vacuuming the salon, cleaning the freezer and starting the repairs by taking up the first of the floor boards and removing the door to the aft head to measure the maximum size of the new larger and longer brass wood screws that will hopefully keep the lowest hinge in place. I also bought a new random orbital polisher to replace one of two I use each spring to compound and wax the freeboard after the old one had finally given up the ghost after many years of use.
Winter is here and there is lots to be done.

October 28 - November 19 -- Six Work Days and Four Fun Events

The work days were all related to winterization which is complete except for padding the hard points under the canvas cover to prevent them from chaffing through and putting back together the things that were torn apart inside the cabin to gain access for the winterization.
Twenty three and a half hours of work by me plus 1.5 hours of work by JP of Headsync, who helped me winterize the Spectra Ventura watermaker, 1.5 hours by Ed Spallina helping me get the last few systems winterized (during which I learned that I need a longer, i.e., taller, hose through which to pour the pink stuff through the engine) and 5.5 hours of Mendy's help it lifting the headsails to the locker, taking the main to Doyle Sails for repairs and putting on the winter cover. Total man hours so far this fall: 32.
This was the eleventh time I have installed the canvas cover, but the first time I did it during strong winds from deep on the port quarter. Wrestling the big sheets of ungainly stiff canvas in the wind gave me a wee taste of the much more difficult and dangerous was work of the iron men who manned the old square rigged wooden ships, They did it in the rain and snow while hanging off the spars of boats that were picthing and rolling in storms while at sea! But after perhaps four hours of preparation in taking out the stanchions and lifelines and positioning and attaching the whisker pole forward and the wooden poles aft, and snuging the halyards around the mast and shrouds so they would n0ot slap against t hem all winter, Mendy and I did it, with only one false start (with the aft section of the cover backwards) we got it done in near record time and without breaking zippers, or, more importantly: falling off the boat. I also took off the cockpit table and two pieces of molding at the top of the port side of the companionway which had been weathered and need to be sanded and repolyurethaned this winter,mwith more woodwork to come.
I had a nice lunch one day at the Club which finished up my chits. I only need to spend $600 per year in the restaurant, but being away for ten weeks meant I had a bit left to be spent. I visited with two parties were being catered, one celebrating the retirement of a local man and the other a commemmeration of a person who had died twenty years ago. A third such group was not catered but  a la carte. A group of black power boaters who had out a chart kit on the table. They were palaning a cruise to Block Island for next summer. I could not help them with their question: "Which is the best marina?"  having never stayed at any of them, but provised distance and taught them to look up the tide at the race. That was fun.
I had a theater date with Bennett and Harriet; Lene would have been there too except for her broken bones which are mending quite well, thank you. A Club membership meeting was a pleasure, even though I had to leave a bit early. The Officers and Board members presented their reports with well deserved self satisfied glee. Both financially and physically, things are looking up at the Club, due our leaders' countless hours of volunteer hard work over the years.
I attended  a presentation by a professor at the CUNY Graduate Center on a new book he had written about the New York City waterfront during the past 410 years.  How deep water to the edge of land gave New York an advantage over other cities. How the water rights were given by the city to private persons who built the first docks, wjhich were later landfilled and bought back by the City. How the cooperation of four ship owners created Black Ball Lines, the first packet shipping company, which could never guarantee arrival times but did guarantee a departure from New york to Liverpool on a fixed date each month. How the corruption of the waterfront shapeup system worked against the longshoremen (with a plug for the Brando-Kazan-Bernstein-Malden and Eva Marie Saint film "On the Waterfront"  -- which I watched for the first time the next day). How containerization severely curtailed the corruption but required the relocation of longshoreing to New Jersey which had land available for the trailers. And how public-private financing is developing the waterfront today with parks for the people balanced against privileges for the wealthy. Very informative.

How Much Sailing In The 2018 Sailing Season?

Having launched ILENE on May 26 and hauled her on October 26, the sailing season lasted precisely 176 days this year -- not a record. And the first and last of those days are not counted as sailing days in my crazy system of mathematics -- they involved motoring between ILENE's winter the summer homes. Subtracing them leaves only 174 days.

Two weeks for our Alaska vacation in June and one week for the car tour to Quebec and Portland
during the Maine cruise (though most of these 21 days were water-related "Other " days, leaves 153 days for potential living aboard and or sailing.

The next subtraction is for ten Work days during the period ILENE was afloat but that I neither lived aboard nor sailed but worked on the boat, leaving 143 days for potential sailing.

We enjoyed 27 "Other" days during the period afloat, relating to sailing but off the boat. Subtracting them leaves only 116 days available for sailing.

Other fun activities unrelted to the water, obligations-- social and otherwise and bad weather took 24 days. This means we had  only 92 "sailing" days in 2018. adding back up the other way, only 24 of the 176 days of the season were unrelated to sailing, about one in seven. I like the high "utilization rate".

Dividing the thousands of dollars spent this year on maintenance, repairs, improvements, insurance,  summer storage and winter storage by 92 means that the cost per day of getting ILENE underway for a day was, let's just say: "a three figure number". Most boat owners, I believe, do not want to know that number -- too painful -- even more painful for many, who use their boats far less than we do.  But this per diem cost is a misguided way to look at things: one must add in all of the Work and Other days, for which boat ownership is the prerequisite, which lowers the per diem cost markedly. Still, our life style is out of reach for people without money.

On the other hand, we lived aboard without sailing during nineteen of the 92 days (eleven lay days during our cruise and eight after we returned from it).We love living aboard but while counted as sailing days, it is not actually sailing. Subtacting the nineteen from the 92 leaves only 73 days of being underway for sailing this season: 8 before the Maine cruise, 52 during it and 13 after we got back.

Four of those 73 days, were on other people's boats: two on Mark's "Deuce of Hearts" with the Old Salts and two with Rhoda on "Jazz Sail". I love sailing on other boats and learn from them but this means I actually got ILENE underway on sail days only 69 days this season.

We used 151 engine hours this year. Seventeen of them were for the refrigeration system during our seventeen "Live Aboard" days, leaving 134 engine hours for the 69 days of actual underway sailing aboard ILENE. This means an average of just about two engine hours per day which seems surprisingly low to me. But some of the sailing days we were underway only an hour and on the good days were up underway  to eight hours with only 1/4 hour of engine use at the ends of the passage.

Still only 151 hours is pretty good, in my opinion. Some folks say I should put in a new refrigeration system that would work off the batteries, to avoid "using up" the engine, because engines are admittedly very expensive to replace. Not for ILENE! Battery operated refrigeration for a boat like ours, that is rarely at the dock, would be a constant source of worry whether we were getting enough juice and would require that we runthe engine anyway, so its generator would charge the batteries or the addition of a wind generator or carbon powered generator which are themselves expensive and are noisy and complicated to install and maintain. Meanwhile, with only 3593.9 engine hours on her, our Yamnar 4JH2E diesel is still young, and at the rate of only 150 hours per year, the engine is likely to live longer than we will!

Another view: ILENE was new in 1999; she has completed 20 seasons, some of them quite long -- to the Caribbean. Average engine use: 179 hours per year.

I have noted before, sailing is one of the few life activities in which the more you give it away to others, the more enjoyment of it you derive. So I've taken a look at how much I have been able to give away this year.

Three of the   sails on ILENE were with the Old Salts, (plus the two days on Deuce of Hearts). Salts who sailed with me aboard ILENE at least once this year were Mike and Sandy, Morty and Clara, Peggy, Bennett and his new daughter in law, Claire and Virginia and Sarah: ten folks.

Lene sailed with me during the entire Maine Cruise plus seven day sails from the Harlem. Three of those seven were with a total of ten people from Wedrepco, her theater group. The other four day sails during which Lene graced me with her presence were with: (1) Greg and Wanda from Nova Scotia, (2) Tom and Marie, who we met touring the Rockies along with Roz and Bert from the gym in our building, (3) nephew Mendy with Christine and Heather of Westchester and (4) Sid, a former colleague in the law, and his wife Jan. Twenty one more folks.

And finally I had seven more day sails on our boat, without Lene or the Salts, with: Gene from the Harlem, four members of the J-24 Fleet of racers let by PC Jeep, four members of the New York Map Society, Bill, a retired professor who wrote a book about sailing his catboat through New York's waters,  Alison, Patrick and Ian from our Congregation, and Fred from our building. Fourteen guests.

Adding them all up, I sailed on ILENE with 45 different folks this season, 21 of them for the first time. A good year overall and the fall work season is now in effect through December 31.

October 17 to 27 -- No More Sails This Year; ILENE Is Hauled

My sail with Fred described in the last post, as it turns out, was the final one of the year. There were two frustrating days during which I tried to winterize the Spectra Ventura Watermaker, with five calls to the installer, Headsync, in Newport RI, but he was not able to talk me through the problem and I will have to pay for a visit to get this done. Otherwise, a very expensive toy will be ruined by winter frost. On one of the days I dined with a rump caucus of the Old Salts, but did not go out with them.

And then a weekend with Lene's friend, Lianne, in the Berkshires which ended at the beginning when Lene fell down the stairs to the basement and broke many bones. (Were the sailing Gods punishing me for wasting perfectly good sailing says in the mountains?) The effect was that I became a private duty nurse instead of a sailor for the next week. The surgery to reconstruct Lene's right elbow was successfully accomplished. I did take off one day, October 26, during which our nephew, Mendy, who is very strong and a trained medical professional, took care of the patient.
That day I got a lot of the winter stuff down from the lockers and loaded aboard, and motored to the Huguenot YC. There, after stripping her headsails and tying them into bundles (that I will transport to the ballroom floor of the Harlem where the sails will be properly folded and then stored in the locker), ILENE was hauled. The professional crew there did a very good job of power washing her bottom, and she was blocked and secured with jack stands. I saw a few spots where I should have applied an additioal coat of bottom paint last spring. They were festooned with barnacles but by scraping them off on the spot, before they calcified, I saved a lot of time next year. Thanks to Dave, who sails with the Salts and lives by the Huguenot, who drove me back to the Harlem where my car was.
It is a good thing I got hauled on the 26th, during which almost zero wind made stripping the headsails easy. A Noreaster blew through on the 27th, blowing

the water into LI Sound and preventing the tide from going out. The water submerged the Harlem's dock!

October 3-16 -- Fifth and Sixth Weeks after the Cruise

Five sail days of the fourteen, though one was for only an hour, during the longest day related to boating. That Saturday began at the Club at 9 a.m. for the Harlem's annual Fall Work Party. But work did not get underway until after coffee and bagels at, about ten. I attached myself to PC Bobby. Our team's primary job was attaching sheets of plastic, which Bobby had obtained and cut to size, around the dozen tall wooden columns that are at the second floor level of the Clubhouse and seem to hold up the its third floor. I remember scrapeing and painting the columns, a huge job, but that was maybe fifteen years ago and again they looked like hell.

This time the plastic was wrapped around, held in place temporarily with straps while the seam was caulked and then also held firmly with nails every three inches. After the tradional free lunch, we completed our team's second project for the day. This was creating racks for the oars of the Fordham women's crew team which practices from off our docks and gets off to their studies by 9 am, before most of us get to the Club. And they pay a good rental for the privilege.  There were concrete pilings on the north side of the house, where no one goes or sees. They hold up the air conditioning units. We placed two by fours against the concrete pilings by drilling holes in the wood and  placing threaded rods with washers and nuts on both ends through the holes which compressed the wood against the pilings.

1. I should have taken a picture of the racks but here is one of larger team installing the diagonal supports so the rails of the dock do not get blown away in the next hurricane. And the good looking columns make the gutters above them look like they need to be painted, come spring.

After the work ended I accepted Rhoda's invitation for a sail aboard "Jazz Sail". We only had an hour underway but it was great to be out on the water, with good wind. We used only the genoa. Next, back to back, was a lecture on how we must wash and scrape our boats' bottoms to comply with the environmental rules followed by a Club membership meeting. A very constructive meeting, without rancor. The Club is getting by financially, holding its own,  and bylaw changes were read reorganizing the duties of several board members as was the nominating committee's slate for 2019. Peter, a very hard worker is moving up to the Rear Commodore slot and one of the new trustees will be Claire, a frequent old Salt. The acrimony that existed during my early years at the club have receeded, almost out of memory; I need no longer bring along WD40 to spray upon the roiled waters.
The final event of the day (I told you it was a long one) was Octoberfest, featuring a profusion of German foods. Our Caterer, Anne, did a great job, but I have to say it was not as good as Mom used to make. I seated myself with Claire, Ginny and Ginny's friend John. I was home by 10, fourteen hours after I had left.
The day sails:
1) The Wednesday before the work party, the Old Salts sailed: seven folks on ILENE and five more on Dave's boat, "Lady Cat". Dave invites strangers who want a free ride with the hope that some of them will want to become members. When we got back to the moorings after about 2.5 hours tho,se wi)h other committments had to leave, and there were nine folks on ILENE for refreshments. I missed the next outing with this group caused my a stiff neck that laid me up for a few days with muscle relaxants.

2) I enjoyed sailing with Alison, Patrick and their younger son, Ian.

They belong to my Congregation and I tried to do this in the spring of 2017, only to embarrass myself by running over the pickup stick and needing to replace the bridle. No such problems this time. We were underway for 5.5 hours with light westerly winds to start and it got us to six knots over ground. Ian has a keen interest in airplanes so we headed west, tacking under the two bridges. I made a long detour south, to sail in waters where I had never been before: The channel past the east side of Rikers and LaGuardia all the way in to CitiField, home of the Mets.

This was to honor Ian's keen interest in airplanes and my interest in going into new places. It is hard for me to imagine that I have been sailing these waters for over 25 years but never into this long wide channel. Retracing our track north, out of that channel, we continued west to The Brothers Islands, the northern one of which held the still visible ruined sanitorium where Typhoid Mary was confined over a hundred years ago. We broad reached back from the Bothers as the wind got lighter and lighter. Having a bit more time, we went through the channel off Kings Point before turning to port, around Stepping Stones Light to the mooring. At this time it was slack tide and the wind was zero. We lost steerage because we had no way on through the water for the rudder to bite. At that moment another result of my stupidity occurred. I had not filled the fuel tank since Portsmouth, New Hampshire and we ran out. I heard the engine sputtering and shut it off before it finally stopped, thereby avoiding the need to bleed the system. We had two gallons of diesel in the jerry can which proved more than enough to get us the two miles back to the mooring.
The next day I worked for about 2.5 hours on the boat: looking for and finding things to take home, cleaning, especially in the aft head (Lene had closed but not dogged down the ports in that head and during heavy rains water had seeped in), checking out the watermaker so I can service it next time, and pouring four more gallons of diesel into her tank that I bought at a shoreside gas station on my way. It made my neck worse.

3)A day sail with Bruce, Lene's acting teacher, his wife, Valerie, and gheir two sons, Gabe, age 7, and  Sam, twelve. Four hours making grooves and the wind picked up so they got to see what six knots felt like. Val grew up on the Chesapeake and was a good helmsperson. The rest of them had never sailed with us and little Gabe was an avid learner: He started sitting on a cushion on my lap but ended standing astride the helmsman's seat, where he could see where he was going. They had won the outing in an auction for the benefit of WEDREPCO, Lene's theater company. Gabe, himself an aspiring actor, learned his lines and called the launch to request our pickup.

4) I also sailed for four hours with Fred of our Coop. He had sailed with me in September 2017 and belongs to a sailing club that uses J-24s from a marina in the Hudson at the World Trade Center. About four hours out to near Mamaroneck and back, passing on both sides of Execution Rocks and through the channel off Great Neck's King's Point. A problem when a sudden wind shift occurred as we were rounding The Blauses, with the big genoa that takes time to tack. We were close to being blown onto the rocks but we used the engine for about one minute to avoid the problem. Again the wind got stronger as the day wore on and when it was time to beat back, we used the small jib and still achieved six knots.
Hauling to occur soon.
.

September 26 - October 2 -- Fourth Post Cruise Week

Only two sailing dates this week. The first seemed like a gift from God. It was Wednesday afternoon and hence the appointed time for the Old Salts. But all week the weather guessers had forcast severe storms starting at 4 pm. These were likely to get us wet and spoil the apres sail libations. But I has said i'd be there and seven of the ten who had lunch at the Club came out on ILENE. And the wind was strong enough to move the boat at about six knots and we got further than usual, to about 1/3 of the way from Execution rocks to Matinecock, on a beam to broad port reach, before beating back to the mooring and enjoying the party. The rain did not come until after we were all back home.

The other sail date was on Sunday with Sid and Jan, who have sailed with us aout once a year since before I met Lene back in 1997. Mendy also came along and he is so strong at grinding and is "learning the ropes".  Sid worked with me and is an expert on the legal nuances of software license agereements, now retired. We had a wonderful timLENE up to 4.4 knots for the first half hour but then it died and we motored slowly the remainder of the four hours we were underway.

e catching up with each other even though the sailing itself was punky. We had a gentle breeze getting I
And The day before was a fundraiser baebecue for the Club run by volunteer members with food and beverage contributions and a big crowd. Tthe weather cooperated and it was scheduled at high tide. Mendy was there and Jerry, who was former member but now spends most of his time in Florida and enjoyed meeting old friends.

And there was also a large family party was run by our caterer upstairs so: "a full house".

September 19 - 25 -- Third Week After the Cruise

One day was for the annual atonement for my sins. And the fast was broken, in a very non-traditional way - boiled lobsters - at Bennett and Harriet's house. They live near where I pray. Another couple of days were devoted to the care of my mate who had surgery; Lene's mostly OK now.

Two sails. The first with Bill, the author of a book about his multi-day sail, aboard his catboat, in New York City waters. He left from Jamaica Bay on the south shore of Long Island, up the East River and into Long Island Sound, with many memories of past experiences that occurred to him during this multiday voyage. I had borrowed the book from Bennett and wrote to Bill and offered him a ride on ILENE, which is as sleek and modern as his catboat's look is classic. He teaches Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center; a new friend.

The other sail was with Morty and Clara on ILENE. They are "Old Salts" and I was not sure who I would be sailing with that day, the primary mission of which was to put away the dink. But I only worked an hour on it, pulling it up onto the dock, inverting it and using a brush and lots of fresh water to scrape off the marine growths that covered its bottom and lower transom, before stowing it again on the dock. I had planned to pull it up to the top of the seawall but the tide had gone too far down for that.  So I sailed, a nice couple of hours, going very deeply into Manhasset Bay, to the ten foot water line, before heading out. While there we passed "Thai Hot" while Bob was setting her anchor for the raft-up for those staying late for the Harlem's "Full Moon Rendezvous". These autumn sails are wonderful.

Next day was not a sail but a work day, though it took only an hour, near high tide, to float the dink, tow it to the seawall, get it up and fully deflate it before inverting it and using a yard cart to get it over to the "farm", the storage area across the street from the Club's driveway entrance. Then to place it atop another hard dink on the top level of a three shelf dinghy storage rack. There is a crew of men who are always working for the benefit of our Club. We could not exist without their near constant volunteer help. They had the Club's forklift running, which made the lift easy. It will be hard to steal the dink from its perch, without a forklift, and the lock on the chain will make that much more difficult.
With a little luck we have another two or three weeks before it is time to haul for the season.

September 12 - 18 -- Second Week Back

Our last two nights sleeping aboard this season, with transport of selves and kitties to our apartment on Friday the 14th. So the cruise is over but day sailing continues. But no less than four sail dates were cancelled during the week due to threatened rain (Nanda), fog and no wind (Old Salts though we did enjoy lunch), being stood up (by the organizer of the Veteran's sail) and the fouth day, totally fouled up by the remains of Hurricane Florence. But I did have two good sails.

 The first was with the members of the New York Map Society. I joined last year. They are fellow map enthusiasts though most are collectors and some are artists and scientists. I'm just a user of charts and they interest me. The annual dues are very low and they have interesting programs mostly on East 27th Street. I had offered a boat ride to the Society and thought to sail with two shifts of up to six folks per shift. But we had only nine souls for the lunch at the Harlem,  (the Society paid for it), of which only four joined me aboard ILENE. Sadly the four sailors did not include Andrew, the Secretary and energetic driving force of the Society, whose specific interest is Lithuanian maps! He did come for the lunch.  But both the President, Steve, who took the wheel for a while

and Sy, who was one of the founders of the Society, were among the intrepid four who sailed. We motored for a while due to light wind, but then the wind came up and we got to speeds over six knots, giving the folks a hint of the thrill of sailing.

And three of the four sailors live in lower Manhattan so I was able to give them a ride home in our car.
The only other sail during this week was with Rhoda aboard "Jazz Sail" her Catalina 27. I arrived at  her boat (with a sandwich to share) before she did and had it ready to go when she got there. We headed off but were back within five minutes when a rather heavy rain caught us. After lunch in the cabin the rain stopped and we got off for about three hours for a trip around Hart Island. Nice fall wind, plenty for that light boat. I noticed and photographed the top of her mast and aft end of her boom. Both show bare pole for the the last 12 to 18 inches; in other words, there is room on the spars for a larger mainsail. Hmmm?

On the other hand the headsail is a genny which with 1) the short radius of the winch handle (its shortness needed to avoid the lifelines) and 2) the absence of a self tailing top on the winch meaning only one hand is available for turning the handle, meant that grinding in was a tough workout for me; doable for a big guy like me, but I wonder how Rhoda manages. 
Rhoda also invited me to a performance of a reading of the play "Teddy and the River" a telling of Teddy Roosevelt's life threatening 1912 voyage of discovery on the Amazon, after his Presidency and his run as a Bull Moose. This was staged at the National Arts Club, half a mile from our apartment and it was a well written play and a well acted performance. Thanks for a lovely day, Rhoda.

September 5 - 11 -- First Week Back - Living Aboard

It is always good to be back and there are always a lot of things to do: car needed inspection, shopping. banking, paying bills, propane refill, haircut, etc. Our nephew, Mendy, spent three nights aboard with us including one of the two day-sails during the period, together with Christine and Heather. The wind was strong on a cool grey drizzly afternoon and when we came near to close hauled, with just the small jib and main, we were heeled considerably. Lene pointed out that we were not in cruising mode -- that we had no destination to make before nightfall. Could we please respect the cats wishes by reducing the heeling?
Aye Aye, Admiral!
So we furled the headsail and tacked back and forth across the mouth of  Eastchester Bay with the wind near the beam for the rest of our two hours before regaining the mooring for the noshing. I really appreciated Mendy's prodigious upper body strength. My crew performed a very nicely done controlled jibe.
The other sail during this week was on the first day we got back, on Mark's Deuce of Hearts, a very comfortable catamaran. I reserved ILENE form the service of the Old Salts until we get the cats moved back ashore. In addition to Mark and I, we had three couples and Claire. Our Club's secretary, Doug, hosted Karen, a social member, and two of her girl friends on his
Cape Dory 28, "Aquila". They joined us after for the digestibles. My problem with these events is that I eat too much; dinner - forget about it!
Some of the nights aboard have been hot and humid. others rainy, windy and or foggy.
The rest of the time this week: a visit to our apartment to get "city clothing", an matinee on Broadway, a day's trip to Kent, CT, to visit our friend Fran, a meeting on the upper east side of my Book Group, religious high holiday services, and a huge family dinner at cousin Judy's in New Jersey.
Back in August, at Frenchboro, Maine, we met up with and had blueberry pancakes with liveaboards Rick, Claudia and their son Dylan, but I failed to capture them photographically. But they are now at the Harlem so my error was correctable before they head south soon.

See ya next week!

Cruise Summary -- Maine 2018

We left the Harlem Yacht Club on July 4 and returned on September 4, 63 days later. But seven of those days were spent off the boat on a car trip to Quebec City while an addition to ILENE's keel was attached. So the cruise itself was only 56 days, considerably shorter than our Nova Scotia cruise of 2017.

The events of each of those 56 days, the delightful and the ugly, have been reported in 33 posts to this blog -- details and highlights. This posting attempts to describe the forest instead of the individual trees -- by statistical. as well as subjective approaches.

The 56 days are the sum of  45 passages (to 44 destinations - two visits to Rockport Maine) plus eleven lay days. About eighty percent passage days. Some of the lay days were weather related. One of them was devoted to the round trip visit to beautiful Monhegan Island, by ferry, a highlight of our summer. Our lomgest stop was three nights - in Belfast, associated with Witty's illness. We like to keep moving.

Among the 44 ports were 15  that provided the thrill of entering a new destination and 29 old friends; so almost a third were new ports.

The nights: no overnight passages like the three last summer. The vast majority of our nights were spent on moorings: 40  (ten of them were free!). Only 14 were on our anchor and two at docks. One of the docks was at Sandwich Mass, which seemed a necessary place to stop and has only docks. The other dock was at the Great Island Boat Yard in Casco Bay, where ILENE was hauled to permit her keel to be re-soled. At docks our kitties get frisky so we seek to avoid them.

How about the mileage, which added up to 1079, round trip. Roque Island, the furthest destination , is only 356 miles from our mooring at the Harlem as the crow flies, which would mean 712 crow miles, But the shortest locical course, without going in and out of ports and backtracking is probably about 450 miles on e way compared to our 539 miles each way.

Here is a chart showing the distribution of our days, passages and miles into the three segments of the trip:

SEGMENT	MILES	DAYS	PASSAGES	MILES/PASSAGE
To Maine	324	10	8	40.5
In Maine	407	35	27	15
From Maine	348	11	10	35
Total	1079	56	45

No matter how you slice it, it is about 300 - 350 miles to get to Maine from New York City.
By driving through the nights this could be done in about 70 hours, less than three days. We took a more leisurely pace with about nine passages each way ending up using one third of our cruise in the coming and going phases, but we saw some very nice spots along the way, taking our time to smell the coffee. Still, we did an average of about 35 to 40 miles per passage on the outbound and return passages, compared to only 15 miles per passage in the target vacation area where we spent two thirds of our time.

And the food: Lene puts out the three squares each day subject to occasional meals off the boat.
During the 56 days we had one breakfast (on Monhegan Island), four lunches and 17 dinners "out".

We do have a few prejudices: toward moorings, against docks and in favor of healthy boat cooked food. But subject to these, the patterns simply emerge when I count things up at the end, rather than with set targets.

Subjectively, first. what went wrong:
1. I somehow left our clear plastic cockpit enclosure "walls" at home, and the Club burgee too. I was sorry about the burgee but it was such a warm summer that the cockpit enclosure was not missed.
2. I put water in the fuel tank, necessitating a tough job this winter.
3. Witty's illness put a crimp in our style- the reason for the second visit to Rockport Maine, and we hope he gets better soon and that the motion of the boat did not contribute to his pain.
4. The biggest problem was the light winds. We did a lot more motoring than we wanted to.
5. The transformation of nice places into berths for superyachts to the exclusion of sailors like us was a problem to which I do not have a solution.

The positives:
1. People whether it is unexpected accidntal unplanned rendezvous with boats associated with our Club -- four of them.
meeting with old friends or making new ones, we are social animals and enjoy being with other people in port.
2.  We escaped the brutally hot New York City summer.
3. The new ports we visited -- and there are so many more.
4. The new addition to the bottom of the keel has been a big success in making for a more comfortable ride.
5. We got back alive and safe.

This blog will continue with many fall sailing activies already planned. Thanks for reading.

September 3 and 4 -- Port Jeff to Cockenoe Island Anchorage to the Harlem Yacht Club, 17 and 29 Miles

We are home. Continuing to live aboard the next ten days or so but home.

Cockenoe Island and its spit extending quite a bit east, (to the right) underwater, is a tiny lump of land at the eastern end of a group of islands called the Norwalk Islands. They protect Norwalk and Saugatuck from the winds and waves of Long Island Sound. I had thought to possibly go to Northport on the north shore of Long Island for our last night away, but once out in the Sound it was clear that crossing to its Connecticut shore would make for a better ride. We feared too little wind and it was indeed light, and from the southwest. Northbound across the Sound was sailable, though slowly. we made between 4 and six knots. A short passage on a steamy hot day; why not sail slowly, give the Yanmar a break and take advantage of the water cooled air contitioned breeze. We were headed too far to the east, toward Fairfield, CT, where I had planned to tack and go west to Norwalk. But during the three hours the wind came very gradually but steadily about 35 degrees to the south and with each increment we turned a few degrees further west until me were almost parallel to the Connecticut coast, making landfall near Cockenoe, our track a long curve.  Lots of room for lots of boats and our Rocna got well set. I had planned to dink over to explore the island, having never been here before, but it was so darn hot and Lene was engrossed with her tennis watching so I just stayed put and rested up for the final passage home the next day.
The next day was windless, six hours to motor the 29 miles. Then a laundry, dinner abord and reading before bed.
And an article called "Nova Scotia Idyll" has now come out in the September issue of Points East magazine, starting at page 26. I wrote it, condensed down a lot, based on the facts in the posts to this blog about our summer cruise there in 2017. It is the sort of article I wish I had been able to read before we went there. pointseast.com
So while we will be reaclimating to city life, the sailing of 2018 is far from over.

September 1and 2 -- Newport to Chocomount Cove on the North Side of Fishers Island,to Port Jefferson, 34 and 55 Mil

The first of this pair of days was a lovely sail and since we did not get off the boat (in either port) I have no land based activities to report. We planned to stop at Stonington CT, where Dodson would rent us a mooring for $58. But NOAA forecast only five to ten knots from the southeast at night and so the security/cost of a mooring seemed unneeded and a bother. We have walked the one lovely main street of historic Stonington many times and saw no need to go ashore there. So we looked for an anchorage. One, on the east side of Mason's Island, where Past Commodore Tom keeps his boat, "Rally Point", would have done nicely and his is a very hospitable Club, but it is exposed to the southeast. Chockomount, on the north side of Fishers Island, on the other hand, was new to us, ideal for the wind, and we anchored in 24 feet of water with 80 feet of snubbed chain, and were the only boat in the broad cove. Great view of the Connecticut coast. well lighted by the several towns across Fishers Island Sound. The land on Fishers is all privately owned and no access to the island itself by dink was available from Chocomount had we wanted to go ashore.
How we got to Chocomount: There was so little wind in Newport Harbor that we raised the main while on the mooring. We passed this craft docked by Fort Adams

while motoring out and then the Crystal Symphony, the very ship on which we cruised Alaska, June 2-10, anchored in the harbor. Of course, it got here by sea through the Panama Canal while we flew between the coasts.

Once out in Narraganset Bay, the wind was a broad port reach and not really strong enough to fill our big sails which flopped about. Once we got away from land the wind built. After the starboard turn and gybe off Point Judith, we were on  a broad reach, almost a run. I connected the preventer lines to protect against the accidental gybe and we sailed slowly until the wind built up a bit more. To get more speed we would have had to steer north of west --  close the beach and I saw the possibility of avoiding that by sailing wing on wing, with the genoa out to starboard. This worked for about an hour and a half, until it too had us closing the beach. But by then the wind was sufficiently south of west and we jibed the main and sailed on a port broad reach all the rest of the way along the western half of the Atlantic coast of Rhode Island.

We saw the big modernized but intentionally old fashioned looking hotel on the hill and then Watch Hill Light.

We sailed through Watch Hill Passage and most of the way through Fishers Island Sound to our cove. It is circled by the large homes of the rich-who-do-not-want-to-be-famous. Underway almost six hours at an average speed of 5.9 knots with a lot above 7.5 but a lot of time going in the fours as well. A warm sunny day with good visibility and enough wind to actually sail. Hooray.
I recalled making the same passage with my friends, Jim and KC, before this blog started, when it was cold, grey and nasty and we had to beat into it all the way. This time, just the opposite. And we timed the tide right too. Sunrise at Chocomount:

Though Chocomount was nice, my  mistake was not going 20 or thirty miles further with the good sailable wind on the first day, becaust the next day's long passage from Chocomount to Port Jeff was windless. Here is a view of the Connecticut coast to starboard  from eight miles away (the white dot on  the horizon is a 53 foot power boat
(AIS told me her length) half a mile away) and next the North Shore of Long Island, from six miles off our port beam. A bit boring, won't you agree?

Well actually there were brief interludes of weak wind, but from behind us, at speeds less than our six knots of boat speed over the bottom, causing a couple of knots of apparent wind on our nose. The main was up throughout but it did no work.

In Port Jeff we chucked a right, anchored behind the beach and checked for possible dragging. In came a boat that looked like it had a Harlem YC burgee. And a Past Commodore Burgee, too! It was "Thai Hot", Bob and Laura's Island Packet, in from Block Island. I had helped him sail her back from Bermuda in perhaps 2008, and he crewed with me on ILENE's big passage in 2010, from Hampton Virginia to Tortola, BVIs.  Again it is a very small world. And here are views the next morning around the anchorage.
Thai Hot with the Port Jeff smokestacks to her port side and the town further left.

The west, north and east sides of the anchorge with one of the ferries just come in from Bridgeport through the cut in the beach.

August 30 and 31 -- Cuttyhunk to Newport and Lay Day There, 26 Miles

First, let me note that this is the 600th posting to this Blog over the last eight years. The computer told me this.
We tried to sail but were about 25 degrees north of our direct course west and not going so fast even with full sails and the motor. After an hour of this Lene asked how long it would take if we motored along the direct route. So: in with the genoa and then steering on the route and the computer reported that our ETA was later, not sooner. Meanwhile, when Lene asked for me to reduce heeling while she cooked breakfast, I motored south of the direct course so that after breakfast, when we put out the big sail agian, we could beat toward the waypoint. Once rounding the mark to head north up into Narragansett Bay, the engine was no longer needed. But shortly thereafter the wind just about died.
 In any event the passage took about five hours. The harbormaster assigned us to a mooring on the eastern side of the harbor, rather than on the eastern side where we had always been before -- lots of room between boats but a longer dink ride than usual.
What is changed here is two additional new dinghy docks, One is at the northeast corner of the harbor and the other much further south than the one old dink dock in the heart of town, near the Seamans Church Institute. So the docks and no longer crowded. And the one at the south end is in a Sailors Visitor's Center (on the Anne Street Pier) which has rest rooms, showers ($1.75 for seven minutes of water), and  a large area with good free wifi. That Center is where the last three posts to this blog were prepared while Lene got her hair done and watched some of the US Open. We had planned to shower there but very dark and threatening skies, plus the forecast for rain chased us back to the boat to close the one open hatch and we showered in the cockpit instead. Too bad that it did not rain during the night. ILENE could use a rinse to shed her salty crust. We shopped both days, had a lunch at CRU, near the Tennis Center and saw BlackkKlansman, the new Spike Lee film. I checked the oil, the belts, the zinc in the refrigerator's condenser and the distilled water in the seven batteries. Everything seems to be OK.
Tomorrow we will reenter Long Island Sound, almost home.

August 28 and 29 -- Scituate to Redbrook to Cuttyhunk, 42 and 32 Miles

The passage from Scituate on Boston's south shore across the west side of Cape Cod Bay, through the Cape Cod Canal and to Redbrook is always problematic, consisting of three legs: to the Canal, in the Canal and from the Canal to the destination.. Last year it was our roughest ride of the cruise. The solvable part of the problem is timing the departure to arrive at the Cape Cod Bay end of the Canal when the tide has turned to ebb, the favorable tide. This was solved well with a 7:45 am departure with the tide turning fair at noon. We sailed, on a close reach and arrived at one pm. We were going very fast, 7.5 knots for  awhile, and Lene asked if we should depower the sails to slow down to not get there too early. But I replied "Let's put these miles 'in the bank' in case we slow down later", which we did. The forecast was for the wind to build in the afternoon , so we wanted to get the passage done before it got too strong.
Here is a photo of the entrance to the Sandwich Marina to the left and the local restaurant which we enjoyed while outbound. 
The second problem with this passage is that the prevailing winds in Buzzards Bay are from the SW while the ebbing favorable tide current is to the SW, causing big choppy waves close together. If there is no wind of light wind, this can be easily handled, but with strong prevailing winds, most every afternoon, the second half of the canal is very hard on the boat and its cats. I had always thought that the canal ran from Sandwich to the Mass. Maritime Academy near the railroad bridge.

This is the part seen in the photo with land on both sides. But the railroad bridge (I think it is always "up") is the midpoint of the Canal which also includes the more open waters at both sides of the well- marked Hog Island Channel, out into Buzzards Bay. And that part is where the water gets so violent. I took us out of the channel, to its side, a bit shallower, where the seas were less violent but Alfie gave a scream of frieght and was consoled by Lene. 

We had another problem within the Kingman Yacht Center, the marina where we have stayed four or five times before. We entered at near low tide with a full moon, making for lower low tides. We made it through the long twisting marked channel but in the mooring field, proceeding to our assigned mooring, with sails down, of course, and a lot of wind, we heard a knock and came to a stop. I was able to grab a different mooring so we were held roughly in place if we came off of whatever we hit, but while all the other boats close around us were facing the wind, we were broadside to it. Lene called the marina which sent out a man in a workboat with a powerful outboard. He used out spinaker halyard to tip us a bit, causing the "rock" to loose its grip on our keel. He explained that the moorings are large concrete blocks and in trying to reach our ball, we had contacted the block of the adjacent mooring. In such tight spaces we were going very slowly so I doubt much damage was done to our keel. But in tipping us, the halyard rubbed against and broke our radar reflector. We will need a new one. Not too expensive.
This was our third consecutive dinner with friends. Lee and Patty are from home. he is in my book group and we visited their home in Hyannisport two years ago and met them at Redbrook last fall. Neither two day friends not half century friends, but 21 year friends. I've been very guilty of late of failing to take enough pictures. Lene has been doing a good job as ILENE's Communications Officer and I would like her to become the boat's Photographer as well.
Next day was an all sailing day. We left the twisty channel at near high with an extra three feet of water under our keel and then covered the 18 mile "route" to near Cuttyhunk by four passes across Buzzards Bay, with our "track" measured at 29 miles. The first crossing was west, then south, west and south again. The first crossing was with main and Genoa but as you know we have to furl that sail to make each tack and Lene asked for the small jib on the remaining three tacks and we gave up some heel but not much speed with it. In Cuttyhunk, we took a mooring but did not lower the dink or go ashore. So I'm not a Gentleman afterall because Gentlemen don't beat to windward, but is was a lot of fun. Six hours underway, with 1.4 of them with the engine on.

August 26 and 27 -- Portsmouth to Manchester by the Sea to Scituate, 40 and 23 Miles

Here is a view in the morning sun of all of the Isles of Shoals, at which we stopped while outbound. There we had a free mooring provided by the Portsmouth YC, while in Portsmouth proper we paid the reasonable $32 and thanked the members.
Not enough sailable wind from Portsmouth until Thatcher Island, off Cape Ann. This was the longer of the two legs of the passage. Sail up but not enough wind. We tried sailing off course on a close reach but not enough wind to make it worthwhile. Once around the Cape, we turned off the engine and sailed the rest of the way using the genoa at first and then the small jib and finally only the main. It was not clear that we would have a mooring at Manchester; the club did not answer their phone. But was saw "Sea Quester, by name, on the AIS and called them. Jamie used his influeence and got a mooring assigned to us, by name and lat and lon, in the outer harbor. This is acually the Atlantic, but the big bay, off of which Gloucester, Manchester by the Sea , Salem and Marblehead are all ports, is somewhat protected by a group of off shore islands. Half an hour later, the owner of the mooring came alongside and told us to get off his mooring. We did so, of course and called the club by VHF. It sent out a young man to point out another mooring to us. Jamie and Lori had worse luck: Someone unknown to them or anyone else at the Club had taken their mooring and left their boat. So they tied Sea Quester at the Club dock.

useful for off loading all the stuff that was aboard for their cruise.











Here are views from the Club of the inner harbor and the outer harbor.

They invited us to what are frequent socials on the club veranda. They bought me a drink chit and free soft drinks offered by the club whetted Lene's whistle. There were lots of tasty edibles some provided by the Club and others by various members. Had we known I would have whipped up something to make a contribution. They introduced us to their fellow cruisers and after an hour of this, drove us to a local eatery in town where we were one of three couples. And they got us back to the dock to make the last launch ride back to I
Next morning the wind was from the northwest, the best direction for a passage to Scituate on the Boston Area's South Shore. But not enough of it after the first couple of hours, so another motoring day. We passed through a constellation of freighters anchored out and saw the outline of Boston's skyline on our starboard beam through the haze. I took down the main without help from Lene, who was chatting with friends, gradually, without heading directly into the wind. And while doing so, noted a pretty white lighthouse. When the job was done, i looked at the chart and saw that the light was Scituate's and we had motered about 1/4 mile past the entrance channel.
We tooka mooring at the Satuit Boat Club, lunched, and took the launch to the clubhouse for showers. Then walked about a mile to town to provision. As much as I like sailing, I think Lene likes provisioning. We buy some groceries, especially perishables, nearly every opportunity and this was no exception. But we eat well and of healthy foods. We carried our bags only to the nearby Harbormaster's office where he called our launch which picked us up in town and took us to our boat.
A few hours later it was time to have dinner with Hugh and Arlene. He served with he on the USS HAmmerberg, ending in 1967, and they live in Boston. They came out to dine with us and we ended at the same place in Scituate where i had first tasted Lobster, Mac and Cheeese. And it wass just as good this time. Hugh had just come back from an Alaska cruise with kids and grandkids so we swapped Alaska stories and got caught up. We had not seen Hugh for about four years, when he visited NY with grandson Levi and toured Governor's Island with me, as reported in this blog. Hugh is a good sailor. So on two consecutive nights we dined out with quite different friends: Jamie and Lori whi we knew for two days and Hugh and Arlene who I have known for 51 years!

August 24 and 25 -- Five Islands to Jewell Island to Portsmouht YC, 22 and 50 Miles

We are really homeward bound these days with longer passages to eat up the miles. We had planned to stop in Portland. Lene loves the vibe of that city and I like it too. The Centerboard YC in South Portland, with launch service across the harbor to the heart of downtown could not accomodate us. We next tried for a mooring at Peaks Island, nearby, but $65 per night with no showers or launch service. Yes, we can aford it but I don't like to pay it. Portland is pricing itself out of reach for middle class sailors. It seems that whenever a port becomes known as a place for $uper Yacht$, it means that the people with big money have bought the place to the detriment of others. While we were enroute, toward Portland,with winds from the south predicted, we thought of anchoring in Jewell Island and cancelled at Peaks. The sail started as a motor passage but eventually the wind came up.
We have been to Jewell about six times with various guests and it is a great and convenient spot, with great hikes to interesting spots. We entered from the west, for the first time and were the second sailboat present. We put out 50 feet of chain The air was so quiet that though the hook of the snubber line fell off the anchor chain, we did not notice until hauling anchor in the morning.
This visit we did not even lower the dink to hike ashore. As we were getting comfortable a dink was  floating past us to the other boat, a Sabre 362 named "Sea Quester" (Nice pun in there!). Jamie and Lori were in it. Almost home from a one month cruise to New Brunswick with four other boats from their Club.. They spent the last fourteen summers before 2018 cruising Newfoundland. We asked if they wanted to hang with a line on ILENE and later if they wanted to come aboard. Yes. But they had to board from the side because the dink blocked access to the swim platform.

They knew the Saga 43 because they had also made friends with Liz and Mark of "Saving Grace" who we met in Baddeck and who stayed in our apartment for a few days last fall while heading south. Jamie and Lori are nice folks with interesting professions, who live outside Boston and keep their boat at the Manchester YC in the tiny harbor of Manchester by the Sea. They declined libations but invited us to visit their Club and break bread with them two days later.
In the morning the air was so light that we put up the main while still on the anchor. Once clear of  Jewell, it was a one waypoint straight shot to the entrance to The Piscatawa River, in which Portsmouth, NH is located. The wind was almost sailable on a closehauled port reach, but not quite. The sails helped a bit but it was a motoring day. Lobster pots are not dense here but a vigilant lookout for them was required. Along the way, the shackle holding the block of the mainsheet to its traveler track gave way. I replaced it with a spare. This last happened in much heavier wind off Hyannisport in 2016 and should not happen! I have to get a more heavy duty shackle. Also, the Velcro strap that secures the starboard side long tube-batten at the top of the stack pack slid off and I shoved the tube back in and resecured it.
Once we got to the waypoint we turned to starboard we had a brief sail. But the water's in the river were ebbing strongly against the incoming wind creating very rough waves and with the course being a run, after one controlled jibe, we stowed the sails and motored the last two miles to the Portsmouth YC. Grabbing the mooring meant that Lene had to maintain a speed of about three knots in the water to inch forward while I tried to grab the bridle by boat hook-- no pickup stick. Third try did it. The Club is small and its $32 fee quite reasonable. We took in the launch, took showers, filled our four one gallon drinking water bottles and walked the few blocks to the store which was closed for a catering engagement.

The fuel dock opened early and we got to is earlier and fueled up before departing at 8 the next morning.

August 22 and 23 -- Harbor Island to Oar Island Cove to Five Islands, 5 and 17 Miles

Sp what happened to that lay day in the rain anticipated at Harbor Island? Well in the morning the weather report foretold gusts to 25 knots from the NW that night, which made Harbor Island unsuitable with its exposure to North winds. So we moved and looked for a better protected spot. The cruising guide suggested several nearby coves, but noted how chancy they were in terms of finding a space within them -- filled with lobster boats and private moorings, though you can ask and maybe there will be a welcome. That would be fine on a nice day; they were all near enough and if the answer is no, we could move on to another. But it was drizling already and foggy, though with almost a mile of visibility.
So we selected the Oar Island Cove, nestled between Hockock Point on the mainland to the NE and Oar Island to the SW. The cove is less than a quarter mile from where we had taken a mooring from the Audubon Society at Hog Island late in July. We had seen into Oar Is. Cove from there

and that there were many lobster boats but our trusty cruising guide said that there was room to anchor in 14 feet at low (24 feet at high) outside the lobsterboats. Another advantage of Oar Island was that our pink track on the MFD from Hog Island to Port Clyde ran right past Harbor Island, making it into the "route" to follow through Muscongus Bay which is beautiful with many small islands but which also has many underwater ledges. So it was a five mile lobster-dodging motor of following the breadcrumbs to the anchorage though it was five miles north when our objective was to go southwest, toward home. We did not like the first spot we dropped -- too close to the island, but the second was quite suitable. Oar Island Cove has a very muddy bottom, which provides a good holding power for the anchor but made lots of work for the salt water deck washdown pump. As I was finishing securing the boom, the snubber, the wheel, inserting the canvas connector between the dodger and bimini and closing the clear plastic front window of the dodger, the rain began heavily and lasted for three hours. A great opportunity to scrub the topsides of accumulated dirt and scuff marks with soap and brush - no rinsing needed.
After lunch I persuaded Lene to join me in a voyage of exploration of the area by dink. I lowered its aft and and let gravity remove the accumulated water through the drain hole. We looked at the place's "attraction"

the remains (ribs) of the 273 foot "Cora F. Cressy", built in 1902. When her sailing days were over she became a casino and finally a house of ill repute before being sunk intentionally at high tide. Her ribs remain and are used by the lobstering industry, which operates a big red factory.

We also visited the mainland dock of the Audobon Society, where people, supplies and food come to be ferried across to Hog Island, and spoke with a staffer there.

But the predicted strong NW winds did not materialize that evening.
The passage to Five Islands was a beautiful sailing experience. The winds were indeed from the NW and strong, but not to 25 knots. They were gusty making our speed quite variable, slow in the lulls and fast in the puffs. It came from our starboard side while we were heading south along the east coast of Pemaquid Pount.

We saw the lovely homes and the lighthouse that we had passed in fog on the passage from Linekin Bay to Hog Island.

Out past the point the plotted course was west and a beat and it appeared that we could not make it without several tacks in tight waters if we followed the route plotted. Tacking the Genoa is a tough job in big winds. We also noticed that the autopilot, which we use so much of the time, seemed to not hold very well. Auto steers while we work lines together, one (me) cranking in the furler while the other (Lene) eases out the sheet. And without that third hand the plotted course was not a pleasant one. So a change of plans: instead of going west, north of The Hypocrites, and them southwest to enter the Sheepscot River to Five Islands, we turned southwest first and passed south the Hypocrites and by the White Islands before going more west and tacking to head up the Sheepscot. On the SW course, with the wind about 60 degrees off the starboard bow, we made eight knots. And while we were heeled, it was much less so than would have been the case before the keel was lengthened. I think the boat was tested today and passed the test.
Later we hit a lobster pot. Maybe it is harder to concentrate on avoiding them when there are fewer of them. An alternative potential theory: the lines leading from the floats down to the traps on the bottom, 80 to 120 feet below, are not vertical but slant because the wind and current pull the float along the surface of the water. So, maybe the new deeper keel catches the lines unless we give the floats an even wider berth. Who knows? I think we shook off what we caught, but will dive to confirm this in the morning. After the tack we put up the small jib rather than the genoa. With less power, facing the wind and the river's current and tacking upsteam at four knots, and knowing that there are only three available moorings in Five Islands, the free ones provided by the YC, we motored the last two miles.
The mooring field is created by five small off shore islands, tightly packed and has 35 feet of water at low tide. We circled around in in looking for the available moorings and found one. The attraction here is the Five Islands Lobster Company, where he dined at one of their outdoor picnic tables on the best "bugs" we have had this cruise.

 Lobster company left, then a bit of the Sheepscot,  ILENE center and the Yacht Club  behind her on one of the islands.
Then shopping to a small country store about 3/4 mile up the road for provisions. We dinked over to the YC to thank the folks there for their mooring. One undesirable feature of Five Islands. There is no potable water available other than in small bottles for sale. We have enough for two days, plus the water in our tanks and wil refill our gallon jugs tomorrow.