The 2019 Sailing Season

The summer season during which ILENE floats (including any sailing on other boats near that season, also known as the "fun season"  has come to an end. So how did the 2019 sailing go?

Having launched on May 9 and hauled on October 29 (and adding the eleven days during late April and early May on a catamaran charter in St, Vincents and the Grenadines) my 2019 sailing season was 185 days, just a tad more than half a year.

Of those 185 days 91 were spent afloat, though 20 of those 91 were lay days on which I lived aboard without getting underway. I don't think this 91 was as many sailing days as I had in 2011 going to and from Grenada, but I had a goodly satisfying dose.

I have divided the 91 days into segments chronologically.
     A. St Vincents and the Grenadines the catamaran charter       11
    B.  From Bermuda to Halifax  on Russee de Jersey                 12    (incl  5 lay days in Bermuda)
    C. Day sails, before the summer cruise                                   17
    D. The summer Cruise to Rhode Island                                   41    A (incl 15 lay days in RI)
    E. Day sails, after the summer cruise                                      10

This analysis reveals that only 27 of the 91 days (segments C and E) were local near City Island, actually it only 26 because one day in segment E was on Athena I in Halifax.

How many of the 91 days were not aboard ILENE? Well, in addition to the total of 23 days for the Catamaran charter and the blue water passage from Bermuda to Halifax on a French aluminum sloop, (segments A and B) I also have to subtract the five following day sails.
     1 on Easy Living,          a Catalina,
     2 on Ohana,                   a Beneteau (twice),
     1 on Jazz Sail,               another Catalina and
     1 on Athena I                in Halifax, an Albin.
All except the last of these five were aboard boats of other members of the Old Salts. I sailed with them nine times, five of the nine aboard ILENE.

Adding these five days on other boats to the 23 of segments A and B means that 28 of the 91 sailing days were not aboard ILENE, leaving only 63 days spent on ILENE, and with fifteen of those being lay days, we only got ILENE underway only 48 times this summer.

We put only 97.2 hours on the diesel this year, about half the average of the prior nineteen seasons. and some of those hours were for refrigeration during lay days.   

How many different friends did I sail with aboard ILENE this summer?   Fifty!
In no logical order, each followed by the number of sails if more than one they are:
Bennett 3    Harriet    Mendy 3    Grace   Ilene  13    Rhoda  2   Lloyd 2  Morty  3  Clara 2  Mike 2  Sandy 2   Debbie  Virginia    Sheila    Babette    Jeff  2  Anthony   Heather  2  Christine  2   Pat    Don  Harry  Tom   Marie   Sacha   Irina   Sarah  Peggy  Devra   Vin   Dan   MaryJane  Ama  Sid  Jan  Linda  and  Joel   plus thirteen folks whose names I sadly do not recall: eight friends of Bennett and  five members of the New York Map Society.

And I sailed with Yves and Greg and Wanda on Canadian boats, so 53 souls, with them added.

While I did boat work on sailing days, I also enjoyed 27 Work Days on the boat during this summer's season - days on which I neither lived nor sailed, and 12  Other Days,spent off the boat at boating related activities. Adding these 39 to the 91 Sailing/Living days totals 130 days of the 185 in which I was engaged in some sort of boating related activities. But to be honest, not a day goes by without my thinking about the sea and perhaps writing for this blog or articles about sailing or reading about sailing. A very good sailing season indeed.
Here is a beautiful picture of the Fordham University Varsity Crew Team practicing in the early morning mist after launching from our club. I did not take this picture.

My winter work season began on October 29 and will last through next May's launch date, with less boat related activities, but they will be reported in this blog.