September 29 -- October 16 -- Two More Sails, Hauling and "Going Out of Commission" Closed Out the 2016 Sailing Season

Left to right: Fred, Sophie and Mike. The next to last sail this season took place during the afternoon of the second day of  Rosh Hashonna, usually a good day to sail weather wise. Two members of the Torah Study Group, Mike, an attorney, and her Honor, our former mayor, Sophie, joined me as did Fred, who lives in our apartment house and was responsible for setting up the gym Lene and I use. Fred is also a sailor, on J-24s at the marina by the World Trade Center. I began the sail impressively, by motoring over the pickup stick of a vacant mooring and getting it caught against he rudder! I don't hold back on reporting my miscues. We got off by pushing the line down with the boat hook. No harm. Look where you are going, Roger! We sailed into Little Neck Bay, all the way to the southern end where the boats are all on moorings. Mike lived in the area and provided commentary. we were close hauled coming out and did four tacks to get through the channel off Kings Point, before falling off a bit and heading around Hart Island and for home. Good weather and decent wind.

The season's last sail was a sad one, though everyone had a good time. This was not the first time that our group took Nick out from the Hebrew Home for the Aged in Riverdale for a day of sailing. Nick was a master carpenter and wood worker and dance instructor. He had a boat at the Harlem and claims he taught John, another now former Harlem man, how to sail. John came up all the way from Oxford, MD for the trip. The others on board were Pat, the only other current Harlemite, who is an RN and provided strong, gentle and expert care for Nick. Nick's memory and physical agility have sadly deteriorated since our last sail with him. Don is also a former Harlemite and Harry. a long time friend and client of Nick's rounded out the crew. Here is Nick with John. I regret that I screwed up the lovely photos of the other guys which Pat sent me and this post is way overdue.

We had lots of wind at the start, so I put in a reef and we beat out past Execution Rocks. Near green can "1", off New Rochelle, we hove to for lunch. I had read about this technique but never done it before. By back winding the small jib to the wrong side and locking the wheel over to the other side and adjusting the sheets we got a very stable platform for lunch while drifting, at about 20 degrees off the port bow at 1.2 knots. A neat trick and I will try it again in stronger winds. Lene will love having  stability during her time in the galley. It is only possible because I installed "regular" sheets to the small jib this year in addition to the self tacking one. Thanks guys. We expected to fly back with the wind behind us but it died down so we shook out the reef and ILENE headed back much more slowly than she had gone out. Pat insisted on buying a light dinner at the Club for everyone at the end of a good day. But alas, future socializing with Nick will most likely not be afloat.

The work days, included three of only an hour each involved with the winterization of the water maker, engine and air conditioner (with help from Lene with the motor from the cockpit while I poured antifreeze in from inside the cabin with the ladder between cockpit and cabin removed to provide access to the engine) and a four hour day in between on which I drove ILENE from City Island to the Huguenot YC in New Rochelle for hauling and then stripped the sails from the boat. The fifth work day, was when I took the sails off the boat, folded them, brought the main to Doyle Sails for work and the other two to our upstairs locker at the Harlem and lifted the aft half of the winter cover to ILENE's deck, plus removing lifelines and stanchions and running messenger lines up the mast to be able to restore the halyards to their positions atop the mast from where I removed them for washing. A seven hour day and with the heavy lifting my back was a bit sore.

GOC was its usual friendly but more formal (tie and jacket) self, a time to talk with friends after the season with the traditional flag lowering ceremony and a time for distributing prizes to the racers. Jeep, our retiring Commodore announced that the Club had actually operated in the black, by several thousand dollars, in each of the past two years -- money to be spent on improvements. Good news; no assessment or dues increase in the offing.