July 18 - 28 -- Getting Ready For The Summer Cruise

Three short sailing days -- short because of lousy wind -- totaling only seven underway hours. Maybe that was the Lord's way of reminding me that we had had such great wind the last time out.

First, a couple hours with my daughter, Devra, and her fiancee, Vin. I don't have a picture of them, but of her with me in the back- ground. Vin brought a replacement cassette deck and installed it. He remembered that ILENE's did not work during his prior sail, several years ago. The new one gets power and he told me that on his next sail he will have figured out from the manual how to get it to play music. Lunch at the Club with them was fun. I'm very pleased with how much they admire each other. To make a relationship work the couple must both admire and desire each other; that's my  theory anyway.
Next was eight former strangers -- friends of Bennett. He and Harriet threw a catered party at the Club for  more than twice that number and needed another boat for the pre-party sail ride.
Each of my guests took the helm and I tried to teach them what I know about sailing. The wind was not great, but the best of the three days. Enough to move the boat so that the 95+ degree heat was not oppressive. Nice people. Bennett told me that they had given me good grades for my efforts.

If I had charged a fee, I would have been in violation of the law (and perhaps my insurance contract too), but I've never charged a fee and intend never to do so. I later attended much of the after-sail party, in part because our apartment was filled with over a dozen cast and crew for twelve hours for the filming of a movie version of the one act play that Lene was in this spring. The play was good and the movie, perhaps ten minutes, will be even better. Stay tuned!
The third attempt to sail was with the Old Salts, on Bennett's Ohana. Only two hours in the worst air of the three tries, zero wind really, so while the sails went out, it was all motor all the time. Though it was only in the mid 80's, it felt to be the hottest day of the three. I hardly stayed for the after sail refreshments; I was so wrung out by the heat. I thought to go over to ILENE and do some work but nah.
Four work days in this time period, but short ones because of the heat. A total of only 9.5 hours plus three more hours of work by Lene on one of the days -- her annual interior spring cleaning. I also glued the top and bottom of the refrigerator lid to each other, which was a three stage process: first the major part of holding the two pieces together, then filling in the seam neatly and finally scraping off the excess silicone sealant. The good news: it fits and the six hinge screws fit too. I also sewed a barrier across the aft two inches of the zipper atop the stack pack that encloses the main sail when it is not in use. I saw a broken tang back there and sewed to avoid having to replace the whole zipper AGAIN, by preventing the slider from getting back to the broken part. I was able to put back the access cover in the ceiling of the aft cabin, which had been removed to gain access during the stanchion replacement. One thing not done yet is installation of the new anchor roller on the bow. I need a calm day to work on it from the dinghy under the bow. So far it was either too hot or, on the last day, too windy; Id have liked to sailed in that wind, but stowing a lot of stuff and cleaning was the plan of the day.
It looked like no other Harlem boat would able to get away for the Club Cruise this year. Not that Lene and I need other boats to go sailing with, but companionship is always good and it is a great way to make new friends; and it is really not a "Club Cruise" unless two or more boats from the club participate. I sent out an email that if no one else came along, we would abandon the itinerary we had created. But Huck and Cindi on "Miraval," their Pearson 36, will be joining us, and later during our six weeks we will try to rendezvous with Franklin and Esther on their Caliber 36, "Estica".
A few more things to bring from home plus the kitties and then provisioning of perishables are the only things left that need to be done.  I expect the next post to be sent from the cruise.

July 9-15 -- Three Work Days and Two Sails, Including a Great One.

The work days added up to fifteen hours plus five more by the saintly Pat who knows how to do things and whose generosity toward me was beyond belief.  I was also visited by our rigger, Jeff, who installed the new radar reflector and a new VHF masthead antenna to replace this one -- which he thought had been fried by lightning --, inspected everything, and told me to buy three new halyards and new rope clutches. So his expert service fee will be the least of the expenses associated with his visit.
The primary accomplishment of most of this time (yes, a couple of hours was expended looking for misplaced things, and cleaning) was the completion of the re-installation of the new stanchions and lifelines. The most recent blogpost described how I got ILENE to the dock, sat on it and drilled out the bolt, holding the bent stanchion. Well, not quite straight or clean. The casting which is the base for the stanchion has a groove that fits atop the vertical part of the toe rail. So the hole is discontinuous, first through the part of the casting outside the toe rail and later, the part inside. And we ended with a 5/8" hole that slanted downward diagonally a bit.  What we did, Pat's idea, was fill both holes with JB Weld stick: Pat cut off a piece, I kneaded it to mix the black center with the grey outside of this two part epoxy and pushed it into place using thin plastic scrapers that Pat had brought. Then he scraped off the excess and I washed the residue off my hands with soap and water and waited an hour for it to cure. Meanwhile he set up his huge full sized drill press that he had brought from his home shop and we clamped the casting in the perfect position and drilled a hole, starting with a small bit and increasing to 7/32". Meanwhile I borrowed a 1/4" by 20 thread tapper and its handle from Buddy's, the island's hardware store. Karl, at Buddy's said it was free but I felt better giving his $3 anyway. Let's hear it for Buddy's!
But we then had to go to the boat to measure and mark the place for the 3/8" holes, one on the side of each stanchion where the threaded top of the diagonal brace screws in, and to dry fit and then, after removal and liberal application of Boat Life caulking so water will not drip down into the boat, secure attachment of the newly drilled aft stanchion base. Pat did the hard part, on the inside of the boat, feeling where he could not see to fit the bolts onto the nuts and then hold them in place with a wrench while I screwed the bolts tight from topsides. Then a lot of acetone to get the caulk off hands, tools and boat.

Next day I put it all together, except that the flat "foot" of the diagonal, bracing rod, while attached to the flat part of the toe rail, was not securely flush down to it.  I was now working alone again, thanks, Pat, and the slowness of my work gave me time to think. And the solution applied the day after that was to back some of the tread out of the new 3/8" hole at the top of the diagonal, making it "longer" so its foot met the "ground". And, following Pat's advice, I had obtained a Number 3 (big) Phillips head screwdriver bit, which I fit into the ratchet wrench and slowly pulled the foot down to the ground. DONE!

Hold on a minute pardner! Next step is to insert the new lifelines that I had paid Defenders to make up to match the length of the old ones that I had kinked in the summer of 2016 in Hyannisport. Defenders is a very reliable and responsible discount vendor of all things for boats and I have bought many things from them and will continue to do so. The lower lifeline fit, fine but the upper, inexplicably, was a bit too long!!  After the fitting at its aft end was attached to the aft stanchion and the wire\was run through the holes at the top of each other stanchion going forward, the piece has a threaded rod. So does the piece hanging from the aft end of the pulpit. By threading those two threaded rods into a turnbuckle and turning it, those ends are pulled together, stretching out the wire to the desired tightness.  Nuts on the threaded rods are then tightened against the turnbuckle's ends n to prevent it from turning and loosening. But when I had turned the turnbuckle as far as it would go -- so that the two ends of the threaded rods had met and blocked each other from being tightened further, the wire still had some small loops in it. By the next day I had figured out what to do. Using the cutting wheel of the Dremel tool (a tiny hand held electric drill which does the work slowly without pressure) I cut about 3/4" off the end of each threaded rod and then used a different bit to round off the threads at the ends of those rods. Then the test fit, and it fit, nice and tight! [Add pic of turnbuckle.]
[Preview of the next job: the lid of the refrigerator box is about 4" thick, with a top surface and a bottom one, enclosing about 3" of styrofoam like material. It really provides great insulation to keep the contents of the refrigerator cold. But the top and bottom have come unglued, hence the next job. Stay tuned!]
And of course all work and no play makes Roger a dull boy, assuming a 76 year old man can still call himself a boy.  I've seen a meme recently: picture of a boy and his mom. Boy: "When I grow up I want to be a sailor!"  Mom: "Well son, you have to chose; you can't have both."
In any event, we had five Old Salts, including Mark, of "Deuce of Hearts" and Morty, Peggy and Sarah on ILENE on Wednesday. We were underway for about 2.5 hours but didn't get very far.  Light wind continued to curse us. We did get to 3.4 knots for a few seconds but the sailing was quite unsatisfying, compensated for by the good company. Five more folks who had sailed on Ohana came over for the refreshments.
The great sail took place late on Sunday, with winds out of the north of up to ten to twelve knots but no waves, just about perfect conditions.

Lene and I and Bennett and Harriet (and Milo, contented on her lap) made it out to the American Yacht Club on Peningo Neck in Rye for dinner and then back. That club is very posh and the dinner buffet (including the "service charge" because we were not members) and tax and tip was $60 per person. But the food was truly excellent and varied. This is still a club which refuses to touch money: they mail a bill to the Harlem, which notifies us of the charge; we pay the Harlem and then our club pays them. Quaint, in the internet age and it uses four postage stamps and involves a big delay, but that is how they like to do it. A funny thing happened while we were taking the free mooring they assigned us: Bennett lost a sneaker overboard and we failed to snag it with the boat hook on several attempts until it got too close to the rocks to continue trying. And this is a club that requires collared shirts (I was lucky enough to have one aboard). So bare feet, even in the outdoor patio dining room with its magnificent view of the Sound, would not do. We borrowed a pair of sandals that that had been left at the dock house and entered, but soon the owner came in to get them. As a result, for the buffet, Bennett and I switched back and forth using my sandals to get plates from the buffet.
We left the Harlem at about three-thirty and after two hours ashore, got back onto our mooring just before the last glimmer of the sun, which had set, was replaced by the light of the near full moon. We used the small jib on the way out and with slightly lower wind, the genoa on the way back. We averaged close to seven knots and touched eight. This was one of those few days a season when we are reminded why we like to sail. Here is the sun setting with new Rochelle to the right, followed by the same, rounding Belden Point and headed for home a while later.

July 1-8 -- It's The Second Half of the Year with Light Wind, High Heat and Eight Days of Boating Activity

It amazes me how quickly the first half of 2019 has gotten past us; whoosh! It has been quite hot here, with light wind. But four of the eight were sailing days. In each case we rarely achieved five knots, but being out on the water underway made it cooler than on land.
First, was with Tom and Marie, friends who Lene and I met on a bus tour of National Parks out west a few years ago. Dinner at Artie's because the Club restaurant is closed on Tuesdays.

Second, was with the Old Salts. I was one of fourteen, probably not a record number but I can't recall that many folks.  I sailed aboard Ohana and I suggested that the jib halyard be raised two inches to get the wrinkles out of the headsail's luff and tightened the lines holding the dink on its davits to snug it against the rear pulpit to prevent potentially dangerous swinging. Refreshments were aboard Deuce of hearts.

Third, was with Mendy. I taught him the location, color, purpose of proper handling of all of ILENE's 19 sail control lines. I had never counted them up before. And at the end I drew diagrams for home study. Photos would be better. We got a mile past the Whitestone Bridge before heading back. Mendy  had the helm most of the way. And after our return me met Lene at the subway and drove with Mendy to Bennett and Harriet's house for a BBQ. Mendy's Dad, Ken, joined us there in admiring the koi pond, swimming in the pool and playing ping pong before dinner and a board game after.

Fourth, was with Lene, her actress friend Sacha ( who has sailed with us before) and Sacha's mother, Irina, a first time sailor.  My error, no harm done, was inattentiveness while auto steered. We passed, by only about fifteen feet, past a floating fishing boat. Way too close. "Where did HE come from?!" All told, about 15.5 hours off the mooring, and not exciting sailing due to the lack of wind, but good times with friends.
And three work days, for a total of 14.5 hours. The first, was mostly a trip to the City Island fuel dock, about 90 percent of the way around the island counterclockwise, for 35 gallons of diesel in the starboard fill (empty) fuel tank. The biggest bill I ever paid at a gas station at $4.11 per gallon. I did put out the small jib on the way back for a while, but I can't count this as a sailing day. And I poured almost half a gallon of distilled water into the 24 ports of ILENE's seven batteries to top them off.
The third work day involved three primary tasks.
1. Changing the zinc in the refrigerator's salt water cooled condenser. I wasted a lot of time looking for the replacement zinc in the life-raft locker but found two rusty tools there that I cleaned up, oiled and stored in plastic, and cleaned out the dust and dirt that had accumulated in that locker. (The zinc was in the second place I looked, a small drawer in the aft compartment.) I have to remember, for next year, that the zinc change should be done with Lene's help. That way I could have avoided squeezing myself into the awkward space aft of the engine -- four times. She could have taken the yogurt containers full of seawater that drain from the condenser once the sea cock is shut off and the zinc removed, and brought me the plumbers tape which I forgot.
2.  I motored port side to the Club's dock, and used the recently recharged electric drill to drill out the bolt holding the port aft-gate stanchion in place. This picture shows the significant bend just above where the stanchion goes into the base.

Nothing is ever easy and I used the dentists pick and the miniature curved needle nose pliers to get the head of the broken bit and the remnant of the bolt out of the hole. And the old bolt and its hole were 1/4" diameter while, when I shop for the new one, it has to be 5/8". But now with the help of Bob and Pat, we will get the port lifeline back into place. Pat suggested using JB Weld, a glue that hardens like steel, to fill the 5/8" hole and then drilling out a new clean 1/4" hole through it. This shows the toe rail with the stanchion that was broken off removed from the base to the right and the base removed on the left.

3. And at the dock, I both pumped the port fresh water tank dry and refilled it, and gave ILENE her first bath of the season.
The eighth day was the Club's annual Fourth of July BBQ, with all the trimmings. Mendy went with me. It is an all you can eat affair and I fear that Anne, our caterer, did not make a profit on him.

In about three weeks our cruise to Rhode Island will begin. That state has 27 anchorages and ports with water deep enough (and located seaward of low bridges) that ILENE can visit and I have only been to ten of them - so far. A challenge!