Sixteen Out Of Thirty

It has been a long time since my last post. Amazing to me, in the 23 months since this blog began on October 18, 2010, readership has gotten to more than 20,800 page views, for which I am grateful; though I am not sure what a "page" or a "pageview" is. Anyone know?

The period from August 25 to and including September 23, inclusive, was a period of 30 days,  sixteen of which included boating activities. 

Five of the sixteen were work days, actually not whole days but days on which a few hours of work were done such as: visiting various places at which I might keep ILENE this winter; working on the boat of a laid up friend to charge her batteries, check if her engine would still start (it did) and pumping fresh pink antifreeze (propelene glycol) into her engine to protect against the winter; replacing the impeller in ILENE’s waste oil pump I had broken back in Boqueron; and flushing her watermaker to protect it for the winter. An abler mechanic would have gotten a lot more done but ….

And one of these "work" days involved a visit to our home for a few hours one evening by a young couple, Paul and Tami, who live near us in Greenwich Village and who are planning to head south this winter on their canoe-stern 37 footer. They were given our name by our vet, Jill, who visited us during the "Welcome Home ILENE" party; she gave them our name because they are bringing their dog. What fun to be able to recount our adventures as a way to help others. Next day I learned from another Saga owner, who I have never met, that he plans to visit Nova Scotia next summer -- and promptly asked for the benefit of what he learns about charts, cruising guides and routing there.  Subtracting the five work days from the sixteen leaves eleven sailing days.

Three of these were with the O_d Fa_ts club, on two different Catalinas and lastly on ILENE. Our Yacht Club’s restaurant, what with the waning of the boating season, has closed the restaurant on Wednesdays. So we convened at a local diner one time and brown bagged it to the Club’s sundeck for the most recent of these sessions. Mike and Sandy on "Pas de Deux":

Regrettably, the last meeting was the day after a brief but punishing storm had hit Eastchester Bay on Tuesday, September 18. None of our boats broke off from their moorings, but a boat from a club upwind did break off and careened through our mooring fleet, damaging half a dozen of out boats, including two Catalina’s. So the last O.F. session involved a sail with Richie and Mike, on ILENE, during which we stopped off at Consolidated Boatyard to pick up Howard and Morty, who had driven Howard’s boat, "Power of Two" there, so that the damage (extensive) could be repaired. Power of Two is not an expensive boat, but one I had greatly enjoyed sailing; the cost of the repairs may exceed the value of the repaired boat. If so, the insurance company will declare it “totaled”. A sad day, but the O.F.s plan to continue to meet, weather permitting, through October, probably mostly on ILENE.

So there were eight other day sails:

One was on Bob and Jeanette’s “Sea Leaf”, a huge 72’ Ocean Alexander powerboat that I helped bring up from Florida (reported in May 2011 blog). This time we were about 15 folks including Ilene and her brother, Ken, and lots of food and drink. We motored out from New Rochelle to Oyster Bay for lunch on the hook, and then went back. Having steered her up from Florida, I was appointed and gladly accepted the appointment as Second Mate, to bring the boat back if both Bob and his paid crew member were incapacitated. Neither of them were, fortunately, but this "appointment" gave me an excuse to stay up on the flybridge.

A trip with Ilene and her friend, CarolAnn, in 8 to 15 knots, was fun and uneventful except that somehow in dropping the mooring we managed to run over the pickup stick and were moored by the rudder on its line. By the time I changed into swim trunks and was about to jump in to the water to clear her, the problem resolved itself and the rest of the trip was fun.

I sailed with Howard and Dave on Power of Two one beautiful Monday. These are OFs but it was not a Wednesday so we were just out enjoying. Dave, a fellow retiree, is embarking on a great adventure of his own next week, with three other guys: bicycling from San Diego to St. Augustine.

A day sail with Ellen, the racer, so she could see how we cruisers live. We went out past Execution Rocks, over to off New Rochelle and back – further from the mooring than Ellen, who races a lot, in Eastchester Bay had gotten this season.

We sailed with Jane, a friend of Lene’s from the same place where she met Judy and Medidel (who joined us in Turks and Caicos), and her husband Jack, who had done a lot of small boat racing on Long Island’s southern shore in his youth. 

We picked up Bennett as well.  A good time of schmoosing and noshing was had by all, but very light wind made the sailing that day very underwhelmingly exciting.

For the Vice Commodore’s Regatta, the Club’s rules require that each sailboat crew of two have two non-sailing members along. It is designed for fun and to comingle our sailing and non-sailing members as well. We were fortunate enough to get our Commodore and his wife, Art and Carolyn, who have a big power boat, to join us. Art said all they hoped for was “a nice sunny day sail” and from my viewpoint, it was unfortunate that this was all they got. ILENE is a fast boat with a strong handicap to overcome.In moderate wind and due to mistakes (I left the binoculars home and we were passed by the winning boat while looking for the third and last mark while going in not the right direction) we finished second across the finish line and fourth after application of handicaps – of five boats. Not ILENE’s best day, but a pleasant day on the water with good food that our crew provided.  On our last boat, ILENE I, a Tartan 34, we won the first two of these annual races.

We had a group of friends out for another day sail. This is mostly Ilene’s friends and their husbands, who have all become my friends too. Here are Ricky and Joel while the next has Linda, Ellen and Lene:

Rudy was also with us for a fun day.  We enjoyed so much noshing afloat that we had to cancel our dinner reservations: no one was hungry. Ricky was one of the four guys who helped me bring ILENE up from Baltimore in June 2006. He was not a sailor but cheerfully did everything he was told, and did it well. And here is the saddest news ever to appear in this blog: On September 21, at 11 a.m., having recently arrived at the gym in his building after an AOK stress test from his cardiologist about a week before, Ricky collapsed and died of a heart attack without regaining consciousness. Rest in peace Ricky; you will be greatly missed by all who knew you.

The last of the sails in this period was with my daughter, Devra 

and two of her friends. Jen goes back a long ways with Dev, was at Sharyn’s wedding, does IT for the NY branch of a big Chicago law firm and has sailed to Bermuda. (Her photo did not come out.) Ashley is renting a room in Dev’s new apartment, sells cosmetics to spas up and down the East Coast and enjoyed her first sail. 

I got to ILENE at ten and had two hours to set her up for sailing and clean her, take off the barbecue and bag it for transport home for cleaning, etc. We left the mooring at 12:15 and were back 4.5 hours later, having sailed out to Matinicock and then into Manhassett Bay to a good view of Louie’s.

I no longer have the same burning urge to go sailing every available minute of every available day. But I enjoy every day that I do sail; a gift from God.