May 20 - 30 -- First Old Salts Sail, Two Sail Dates With Lene And Damage and Repairs

One of our Harlem members called me to report that while he was trying to moor his boat nearby, it had hit ILENE and damaged a lifeline stanchion which he would pay to replace. He is a friend and a standup guy but I had to report back, after next I sailed. that it was two stanchions, not one. They are the ones that frame the port side gate. The aft of the two damaged ones is not broken off like the forward one, but I knew it was damaged when I tried to grind the winch and its handle would not turn past the inward bent stanchion. He also said that he would pay for the lifelines which were kinked, but I told him that while I would replace them, the kinks had occurred when I had hit a boat's anchor in Hyannisport in 2016.
There are also some mechanical problems related to the stanchions -- drilling holes near the bases of the stanchions where they get screwed into place in their brackets and on the sides of them where diagonal braces are screwed in, plus potential problems removing the lower part of the broken stanchion which seems stuck in its base. But I have asked the member who hit me -- he has good mechanical skills -- to work with me, instead of my hiring someone else to do the work. The good news is my discovery that e the stanchions are intended to hold up lifelines to prevent folks from falling overboard, they have a secondary beneficial effect. They absorbed the impact of the other boat's twelve tons to protect ILENE's hull! The equivalent of a car's bumpers. The other good news: ILENE is sailable without this repair.
Other problems were smaller:
1  One of the allen bolts at the ends of the pin that holds the end of the main sheet to the traveler block fell out. Fortunately I found the pin with the other bolt, making buying a new bolt easy to find. Meanwhile a big knot at that end of the sheet stops it at the first sheave so we can sail.
2  Another allen wrench was taken to the hardware store to size the correct set screw that holds the port side of the tube/frame of the dodger in its deck socket. The tube slipped out of the socket and while reinstalling, I dropped the screw which bounced overboard! But removing the tube from its socket made stretching the dodger to the frame much easier than ever before.

3  I got a new pickup stick due to my failure to communicate with Lene -- we drove over the dead one, not harming the boat but destroying the stick. Temporarily, an empty one gallon water bottle became a float which I picked up with the boat hook.
I also spent a few hours cleaning the interior of mildew on the cabin roof. Yeah, Clorox!

And I remeasured the bow roller for the anchor which is being eaten away by the chain. I checked and the roller rolls freely when the weight of the anchor is removed. Most of the time the chain is snubbed rather that putting the weight of the boat on the roller. I have finally located a vendor who makes such rollers of a more durable plastic..

We had two lovely evenings of dinner and theater with sailing friends (one, actually, without the dinner) and I led a Club cruise planning meeting to which four boats contributed their ideas. If everyone's plans coalesce, ILENE will spend the first seven of an eleven day cruise with three or four other Harlem boats. The group will visit Watch Hill, RI and Three Mile Harbor on the north side of Long Island's south fork. At that point the group will turn back west and ILENE will detach eastbound for the exploration of up to 26 other ports/anchorages in Rhode Island.

And the second half of my two part article about our favorite ports in Maine is out in the current June issue of Points East magazine. Pointseast.com. "Favorites", not "Best," because we have only visited 27 percent of Maine's ports so far, and because  "best lists" are so subjective. And the Long Island equivalent of Points East, Wind Check, is interested in an article about our recent catamaran experiment which I will write up when it rains or gets too cold. Windcheck is for New York and Connecticut waters what Points East is for New England.

The Harlem's Wednesday afternoon group, the Old Salts, had their first sail of the 2019 season. Per our tradition, this was after lunch at the Club. I predict that a new salad created by Chef Anne: "Chicken Avocado", will be a big favorite. Creamy, crunchy, spicy, healthy and yummy is how I described it: what's not to like!  Seven of us sailed in moderate and light winds. When the wind temporarily failed entirely, we just broke out the "apres sail" libations a bit earlier until it came back.

Lene joined me for two day sails with other friends: first for 5.5 hours with Sheila, who has sailed with us many times, and her friend Babette, who has sailed in the past but never aboard ILENE or on Long Island Sound. The next day was enjoyed for 4.5 hours with Jeff, now a newly minted MSW who was too busy studying to sail with us the past two summers. Each day we headed across Eastchester Bay, jibed onto a port tack and got to or almost to Peningo Neck at Rye before heading for home. The first trip had variable winds, with the strongest in Hart Island Sound. There we were close hauled and I worried that we would need to motor for a minute to get around The Blauses; we got to 6.5 knots in puffs. But we had to use the engine for about an hour after the turn, before the winds came back.  We planned to hang and lubricate in the cockpit for a while before going in to dinner, with Lene's brother, Ken, and our nephew, Mendy. They drove out to join us. But the skies were very threatening so we called for the launch and got back into the clubhouse not two minutes before a tropical style deluge that lasted ten minutes.
Next day with Jeff, the wind was stronger and we achieved eight knots on a close reach with the full main and small jib on the way out, slower on the return. One disappointment: outbound we were gaining on a boat, later identified as Laughter, a beautiful metallic green C & C which is smaller and was under reefed main and genoa. But then I was inattentive and the wind changed and she pulled away from us again. I congratulated her owner for winning the "race" when we passed Laughter on her mooring back in the Harlem's mooring field.