June 6-13 — Mixed Activities

 Tuesday we had planned to sail with my former coworker, Sid,  and Jan, who usually come out once a year. The wind was forecast too strong for a social sail so they were given a wind check and the result was a delicious dinner at their house in New Jersey.

Next day was Old Salts. The usual rigmarole; a very pleasant time on the water for all. Out to the mouth of Little Neck Bay and back: then repeat, but not so far out. On first northbound tack I rolled out ILENE’s big Genoa to give the folks the feel of its power. The tab ring between the jaws of the self trailer in the starboard coachroof broke. 

 The replacement part is winging its way to me from Defender, based on the part number given to me by Lewmar. Eleven souls, four on “Lady Kat”— most of them joined us après.

Saturday, ILENE served as the committee boat for the race that the Club sponsored. The photo shows the start of the third bivision, big boats with serious racers who elected to start at the pin end of the line, far from a potential collision with ILENE, thank you.It was a long day because Lene took our car up to Massachusetts to visit a friend so I used public transportation. The kitties were home alone for more than twelve hours and eager for their dinner when I got back. I motored to the start line and anchored  as directed by Roy and Ellen, expert racers of a J-24 named “Panic Attack”. Assisted by Rose and Tomas, they set the course,  ran the race, signaled the starts, recorded the finish times and calculated in the handicaps to determine the winners of each division. About nineteen boats participated divided into three divisions. 

They had decided to move the finish line closer to the Club during the race, which meant pulling up the anchor to reset it in the new location. That’s when the problem occurred. The windlass had nicely lowered the anchor and chain, but blew two fuses, one at a time, when asked to retrieve it. The problem is probably rust. But in the moment it required hauling in the chain and anchor by hand. Tomas helped and the job got done. To make it easier at the location of the second anchoring I deployed the port anchor, lighter in weight and with only 20 feet of chain followed by abundant line. In the light winds, this anchor worked well and was easier to retrieve. I had gotten the US flag back from the tailor with a new hem on its “stripes” end, but she put in only one row of stitches so I sewed in an adjacent set, through seven of the 13 stripes. Then Ellen said “Why don’t you let me finish that on my sewing machine at home?” Thank you Ellen!

I also finally did something about the ruined green sheet that controls the small jib. But I noticed that there was more than enough of a tail in the cockpit so I cut off the bad part, which had been chewed up by the blocks, forward, whipped the new forward end and were good as new.

The first signal for the first division was at 11:05 am, and the light winds made for a slow 16 mile round trip with the last boat finishing at 5:02, two minutes after the deadline. Once back on the mooring we went in for the post race party with free food and drink and a terrific rock and roll band. I mentioned serious racers: one team (not from the Harlem) hired and paid a professional racer who had been in the Olympics; they won their division, but this is craziness!

And Monday was a four hour work day before the heat got me tired so I went home. I cleaned fish guts and scales from the starboard deck left behind by messy gulls, stained interior woodwork to cherry, scraped and sanded off all the residues from the mast, wiped it with acetone and spread a bead of silicone that hopefully will stop the leaking through the top of the boat, retrieved the mooring pennant to the deck with the boat hook and slid the fire hose anti chafe sleeve from the far end, by the ball, up to near the eye, where it can do its sacrificial chore and secured it with wire ties, threaded the second reefing line through the mainsail and read the manual for the windlass which convinced me that I need help for that repair job.

A quiet week. It is a good thing that these mechanical problems are happening here at home rather than off Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia.

May 28 - June 5 — Including Four Day Sails And Three Days In New Hope PA

 The New Hope trip was for the wedding of our friends, Heather and Christine, at which Ilene officiated. The ceremony was on the west bank of the Delaware River and a lovely wedding it was for the small wedding party consisting of six adults plus one infant. The only water-themed event in the three days, and on a non-navigable part of the river — above waterfalls and low fixed bridges — at that.

The day sails:

1. With Patrick, a new friend (and drat, I forgot to take his picture!). We were underway for four hours in light wind, a good opportunity to get to know each other and we enjoyed the Club’s cuisine after.

2. With Lene and our friends, Tom and Marie, who we visited in Las Vegas in March. Again, unexciting sailing in good company. It being Monday, when the Harlem’s Restaurant closed at the end of a huge loud afternoon barbecue celebrating our veterans, we resorted the Artie’s, which never fails us. The acid test: Marie, who cooks and appreciates Italian cuisine, liked it.

3.With the old salts. Half on ILENE and the rest aboard Dave’s “Lady Kat”, with everyone together on ILENE  after we got back to our moorings. We sailed up through Hart Island Sound and then through the channel off Kings Point before heading across to Throngs Neck and back.

From the left: Dave, Beau, Barry, Anne, Ginny, Clare, Sandy, Mike, Rich and Todd.

4. With four actresses: Andrea, Aleeza, Lene (in mufti seeking shelter from the sun) and Sasha.

Again four hours underway after a brown bag lunch in the cockpit, followed by a good friendly dinner on the Club’s deck overlooking the water and the NYC skyline before we drove most of them back home toManhattan. This was the first use of the Genoa this season — on the long starboard beat out to directly north of Execution Rocks, and the best of the outings so far in terms of the sailing. Without sustained wind over time, when the wind did come up, the seas were still flat. Though we were almost drifting for a while, yet as seen by the angle of heel in the photo, in good wind we were making six knots against the tide while beating inbound under small jib and main. Again the Club’s chef, Anne, won favorable reviews, and the group enjoyed each others’ company so much that the customary slow service (in France it is the expected pace) was not a problem.

I also enjoyed a Zoom meeting of the joint-City Island and Harlem Yacht Clubs Cruising Committee. I’m pleased to be able to make a contribution to their plans. They are planning to adopt several of the Harlem ideas. Unlike the Harlem, the CIYC provides a budget to its cruising committee, with which they plan to procure wine for the parties on the cruises. I’ve used the wine to try to bribe Harlemites to attend. They have asked me to continue to plan the eight day cruise, though it will be small in the number of boats participating.

At ILENE, work is progressing on two fronts (a third if you count the stowage of vast quantities of cat food for longer cruises). 

For one thing, our hard working skilled officers used the Club’s fork lift to pluck our dinghy from its perch atop the dinghy rack and placed it by the sea wall. I pumped it up and did a lot of cleaning, but not all of it. Then with help from the ever helpful Dave, we shoved her into the sea, dragged her around the dock and pulled her up onto the floating dinghy dock, inverted her and tied her down. Next comes getting the outboard from the locker, to the dink and mounting it on her transom. Soon. Another day.

The other problem is that for years water has been dripping into the cockpit through the hole in the coach roof through which the mast is lowered to stand on a platform above the keel. In heavy torrential rain, it becomes quite a flow. Nothing that the bilge pump cannot handle but a nuisance that detracts from the “comfy” nature of the snug cabin. More than a dozen years ago we solved the drip from around the fixed windows at the sides of the salon but this overhead problem has persisted. The “gap” between the sides of the mast and its hole were covered with a sheet of rubber, held in place with hose clamps, but I tore it away to look inside and found a large collar of rubber or plastic, seemingly molded onto the mast. But it is severely canted, lower aft and higher forward. I’ve sent the photos below to expert rigger, Jeff Lazar, seeking advice. This problem will finally be solved.