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.