Feb 5 - 14 -- Seven Interesting "Off Boat" Nautical Related Experiences

Only one 3.5 hour work day (on ILENE's forward diesel fuel tank) during this period.
 * A meeting of the New York Map Society. The speaker was a professor of History from the U of Va. He had developed some compelling dynamic computer tricks for zooming in on details of historical maps. His topic was the twenty years ending in 1776 and how the British, after winning the French and Indian War (in which George Washington first distinguished himself as a capable military commander, working with the British against the French and the Indians) set up a line running down the backbone of the Appalachians, with the intent of limiting white settler expansion to area from that line to the Atlantic. The line was not well surveyed or obeyed and the American settlers resented the British effort to constrain their expansion, leading to our revolution in 1776. The best part of the show, and I had no expectation of its content, was slide show was the charts of Atlantic and Caribbean waters, from Nova Scotia to Domenica -- all of which I have sailed. When views came up of the Maine coast, for example, before they even clarified, I recognized my sailing areas. I learned that Maine, located between New England and New Scotland i.e. Nova Scotia, was originally called New Ireland by the Brits.
* Dinner and theater with Bennett and Harriet.
* Dinner with Sheila who has been an repeat overnight guest on ILENE, at her house. Good food but the purpose was to cut her cat's claws. I wore full heavy winter coat, heavy gloves and glasses to protect myself against scratching and biting while I held Pip for Lene to do the cutting. But little Pip was too strong for me and sprang, twisting out of my arms, biting through the tip of the glove, fortunately not the finger. Its not often that I abandon a mission but this was one of them.
 * Lene and I and nephew Mendy had dinner with John, who had come up from Maryland's Eastern Shore and was staying with Don and Christine up in Washington Heights. Both former Harlemites and good sailors. Both guys have helped me a lot. I invited them to be among ILENE's crew this fall when we sail her to Tortola. There: I've said it; now it is a "mission" with a lot to get done between now and then. Did I mention, I don't like to abandon missions.
*Another theater date with Bennett and Harriett. Bennett is another Harlemite crew invitee. The reason for the theater dates being so close is adjournments while Lene was healing from her broken bones. The show is a new musical, "Superhero", at the Second Stage Theater. We go to a lot of theater and think this show is great. It was still in previews but I think it will be around for a long time. The star plays a student who is working on his own comic book, staring a superhero he named "Sea Mariner". How can it be bad?
* Another Harlemite, Roy, invited me to a dinner at the New York Yacht Club. This is a very upscale club with a long history of winning America's Cup races and with its clubhouses in Newport, Rhode Island and in midtown Manhattan. Ties required. I rubbed shoulders with some powerful people. The food and wine was exquisite. The speakers were a bit over my head, though I did get the jist of their presentation. As I see it, they have done for sailboat racing what Billy Beane did for baseball as described in the book and movie "Moneyball." In the baseball story, the hero used his mind and some computer skills on behalf of the KC Royals to overcome the vast financial advantage that the big, well bankrolled teams had in buying superior players by discovering new types of statistics to assess the strengths of baseball players overlooked by the others. Not just hits and homers, but more unique statistics such as slugging percentage and on base percentage.
The sailing analogy I make does not involve overcoming a financial deficit because none of the contenders in that game lack vast wealth. The speakers fed both historical weather reports and near term weather forecasts published by our government into computers to optimize the best route for a racing sailboat -- and won, taking significant time off the record for the cross Atlantic passage.
Interesting, but not really the kind of sailing we do.
*A documentary movie was shown a quarter mile from out house called "One Million American Dreams." If you want to see it in a theater you better rush because documentaries generally do not have long runs and this one does not have a lot of popular "feel good" appeal. It is the story of Hart Island, next to City Island, and particularly its use as a mustering center for Black Union soldiers in our Civil War and, since 1869 as New York's Potters Field, the burial place of one million, and counting, New Yorkers whose families did not claim them for burial. Lene and I were the only people in the theater until about a half a dozen others showed up as a group. I talk with everyone and would have said that we sail around the island often. I asked "Why have you chosen to see this particular movie?" "Because I'm in it!" was the reply of Herbert Sweat, Jr., an activist among Black Viet Nam Veterans. While he was over there, his infant child, born to his 17 year old wife, died. Due to the indifference to the unfortunate and bureaucratic foul-ups which were at the heart of the movie, his child was buried there. He has visited the Island five times by ferry, now that family members were recently permitted to visit, but has never sailed around it; that will be remedied this summer. A mission!
So a rich variety of nautically related experiences during the last ten days.

Jan 23 - Feb 4 -- Two Work Days Surrounding a Lot of Fun Days

Two work days but only a total of 6.5 hours. It was raining the first time and I got as much done as I could. Big block of ice in the bilge but the recent rain, on top of it, got pumped out. It comes in around the mast boot in driving rain.  I tried to charge the batteries on ILENE and on Ohana. As far as ILENE goes, no juice flowed into the boat. Maybe the rain and or cold? If it was not better the next time I would have the yard people check their source. As a consequence, there was also no heat and the strong light I brought from home did not work. But the electricity did flow the second day.
I sanded the grab handle at the starboard side of the companionway ladder and the wood at the top edge of the galley sink which were looking a bit ratty. This in preparation for re-polyeurethaning these areas when it gets warmer. The second day I taped them but did not have a can for cleaning brushes.

The biggest accomplishment, partial, so far, related to removal of the water I put into the forward fuel tank in Maine last summer. First step was removal of almost the entire cabin sole. The boards are screwed on and some of the screws are stripped. Once off, it makes moving about in the cabin a tricky business but is needed to gain access to the two fuel gauges that are each fitted into a viewing port about 1.5 inches in diameter  cut in the top of each tank and fastened with six sheet metal screws and a big rubber gasket and three wires to take the readings from the gauges to the indicators in the cockpit. Then it was a matter of using a hand pump to get the fuel, one gallon at a time, from the contaminated tank into a clear plastic bottle. After letting it sit for a few minutes I saw no clear white water at the bottom below the pink diesel fuel and poured the gallon through a separating Baja funnel (designed to filter out any water) into the "good", i.e., water free fuel tank. About forty such one gallon transfers and the bad tank will be nearly empty and much lighter. So far I have done eighteen. Then comes the removal of four hoses from the tank: one to pour fuel in from the deck, one leading to the engine's fuel filter and pump, one leading back from the engine to the tank and the last to a vent in case the tank gets overfilled. Once this is done, four "L" shaped wooden blocks must be removed which hold the tank down and stop it from moving from side to side. Then nephew Mendy will be called to lift the much lighter but still heavy and awkward tank out of the boat whereupon any remaining fluids will be dumped out and it will be left to thoroughly dry, before reinstallation. Progress comes slowly but at least the concept works and this WILL be done by spring!

The rest of the time was fun "Other" days. Two four hour shifts working at the Harlem's booth at the New York Boat Show in the Javits Center. The first time it was 4:30 to 9, business was slow and I was the only Harlemite working the booth. Next day, from noon to 4:30 there were 3.5 of us, making it more social and giving time for me to spend money at other booths, though the Admiral did not approve, yet, by phone, the purchase of a $1300 fold-up bicycle. I did get some small tools, a light and some cleaning supplies.

After the Boat Show i joined Lene and Jamie and Laurie, for dinner at a restaurant on the upper west side. We met them in Jewell Island Maine and again in Manchester by the Sea, Mass. last summer. They come in from their home in Boston for the ballet, to which they subscribe, so it is likely that we will be able to reprise the event.

Two days of non water related travel by Ken's car going and air returning, to visit Lene's Brother's new wife up in Niagara Falls, Canada for two days. We were the first of the family to meet and welcome Sabrina. Ken and Sabrina are between us in this picture.

Sabrina is very pretty, short, young, intelligent, sweet, friendly and entrepreneurial.

I realized that Niagara Falls is adjacent to St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada, where ILENE was born and we persuaded Ken to take the four of us on a quest for the site of her birth. We had an address but it is now a sail loft and not waterside. The company went bankrupt about twelve years ago and we failed to locate the ways under all that snow and ice. I had fun trying but no luck.

Our hotel room had a spectacular view of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls.

And brunch with Bennett and Harriett, whose "Ohana" is wintering near ILENE, so I'm plugging her in for battery charging when I do this for my boat.