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.