September 10-16 -- The Dinghy, A Wednesday Afternoon and A Change of Plans

Our dinghy, "Rojay", has hung from ILENE's davits, with its outboard attached, since we got in in Florida except when in use, which, since we have gotten back north, has been rarely. With the approach of Autumn it would not be used again this calendar year. So I (a) lowered it,(b) took off the lock that holds its outboard on (which was harder than expected due to apparent rust - so I have to take the lock back to Westmarine), (c) removed its equipment to the boat or locker, (d) drove Rojay to the dock, (e) removed her outboard, (f) used a cart to get it to the car and (g) dropped it off at Island Outboard where Tony will change the oil and store it --warm -- for the winter.
Then, with help, I hauled Rojay up onto the dock, used the air pump to evacuate as much air as possible, got it onto a cart and rolled it to the locker house, where the hard part began. We had to get it through the door, along a narrow passageway on its side, up an ever narrower and steep stairway and into the locker, where it fits with its bow low in the back corner and its stern hung up high and by the door.On  this diagonal it just barely fits and my helpers had their doubts about that until it was in. A tough job for three old men!  Thanks to Mike, who had come out for the Old Salts event with me, and we also enlisted George, our Club's Grounds and Lockers Chairman, who is a ubiquitous and always helpful presence at the Club.  Thanks Mike and George!

The sail was pleasant on Bennett's "Ohana" with he and I and two couples, Mike and Sandy and Morty and Klara. We enjoyed about 2.5 hours underway despite the extremely light winds. In that time we got down to the entrance to Little Neck Bay and back.  At times we made only one knot and toward the end were making 3.5. But we had no destination to get to and no deadline to get there and the refreshments were, well, refreshing, on a hot and  sunny pleasant afternoon. I was a bit left out of the conversation for a while when it turned to skiing, in which sport all the others participated.

As readers know, I had planned to crew aboard Sangaris from City Island to Annapolis in October. And while I remain welcome, it appears that I am not needed for that voyage because Katherine has taken off from work and will be able to help Craig. Meanwhile, Bob, aboard his 47 foot Aerodyne, Pandora, does need crew so I have changed boats. The planned passage is from Essex CT to Hampton, VA during a weather window in early October. I am looking forward to telling you about his big fast new boat and our passage. That passage will likely be the next sailing I do because Lene and I will be on a bus tour of National Parks from September 19 -30, through South Dakota, Wyoming and Utah.

September 2 - 9 Two Wednesday Afternoons with the Old Salts

First, an innovation on an Old Salts Wednesday: a visit to Louie's Seafood Restaurant in Port Washington in Manhassett Bay. Eleven of us motored over with light wind in our faces between noon and one. From left to right: Carolyn, Art, Klara, Dave, Morty and Art on the left side and then continuing: Bennett, Marcia, me, Mike and Sandy.

I felt a bit guilty not eating at the Club's restaurant - the Club can sure use our business - but our group does eat there rather religiously on all the other Wednesdays. The only other problem was how long it took to serve the eleven of us, but the food was good, albeit pricier than at home.  In short, we did not get off Louie's dock until three and had only two hours for sailing.

With winds continuing out of the south we had little difficulty, less than I had feared, backing off the south side of Louie's dock, the wind aft the beam out of Manhassett Bay and then a close reach over to Throggs Neck. I had the genoa out until then and furled it there in favor of the small jib for a reciprocal course and then back to the mooring. On the prior Wednesday, Deuce of Hearts had been faster and this time it was the other way around. But with ILENE's handicap, she is supposed to be ALOT faster and this was not so. Can I blame this on my helmspersons, who are not as experienced in sailing my boat and more interested in having a good time than going as straight and hence as fast as possible? I think not. And it got worse the next week.
Once back at the mooring, the six of us on ILENE transferred to Deuce of Hearts for a libation of Margaritas, instead of the traditional G and Ts. See, it was an innovative Wednesday indeed.

The following week we reverted to our old fashioned ways as befits a group called Old Salts. Seven folks on ILENE, went slower than Larry's 31' Pearson sloop "Jubilee" with three aboard.
What a great name for a boat: signifying freedom. Larry brought a friend from many years and Morty went with them. On ILENE, in addition to me, it was Klara, Marcia, Art, Dave, and Ernie. Ernie of "BLAST", which was on the cruise and is so every year since before I joined the Club, has been a big help to me for many years. He is about the purest power boater one can imagine. We used ILENE's engine for the first five and last ten minutes of our 3.5 hour sail, and teased him about how much fuel we were saving. The wind was from the SSW, nice and we used the small jib compared to Jubilee's use of the genoa. The result is that we stayed reasonably close together, almost to Execution Rocks and back. A rain cloud came up in the west. It looked like rain but not a big black thunderhead with sometimes punishing winds. But I felt literally four drops. Our only problem aboard ILENE was that the clips that hold the float of the pickup stick at the correct height slipped, causing the stick to ride low in the water, making for several passes before we were able to reach down low enough to grab it. No photos because I left my cell phone home!
No much sailing because we spent the four day Labor Day weekend in the Berkshires where climbing is fun but sailing cannot be done. Elevation 1700 feet, 700 above the valley floor. Good exercise.

We did go over to Hop-O-Nose marina in Catskill NY for a luncheon visit with Dean and Susan of "Autumn Born" on our way home. They are planning to head south in early October and maybe we can connect with them when they pass through NYC.

August 20 to 29 -- One Goofed Up Day and Five Day Sails --23.75 Hours

We goofed up one day by believing the weatherman, who had predicted a 90% chance of rain. This was the evening before so Lene called her four high school classmates and adjourned the sail in favor of the rain date in early October. We should have waited until the morning of the day in question to check the weather. By then the prediction was only 15 percent and in fact there was no rain. Oh well; no use crying over unspilt rain. Lene and I went to the Met and saw some great art and this not-so-great but iconic American painting, The Jolly Flatboatmen, by George Caleb Bingham.

Sue and Seth

had won a ride on ILENE at a charity goods and services auction. They brought along his sister Val and her husband Steve. Sue and Seth had won the ride about four years ago and brought their kids that time. This time they also brought a bountiful, delicious and healthy lunch and they are oenophiles so we all had a good time.

We were out there for 5.5 hours, but only in the last did the wind come up, to make sailing fun and they had the joy of helming as we tacked back and forth across Eastchester Bay. The longer part of our time together we sailed at about two knots or motored. I kept complaining about the lack of wind but they were having a ball, just being out on the water.

Next time it was five hours with Peter, who was one of my three companions on the eight day Virginia to Tortola run at the beginning of this blog in November 2010. Best wind since we have gotten home in May. It is getting closer to September when stronger winds come into Long Island Sound. We sailed off the mooring. I started and ended with the small jib but put out the genoa for the long tack which took us about a mile past Matinecock. We were doing over seven knots with a peak of 8.3. On the way back, on the starboard tack, we were overpowered and going a bit slower and so shifted back to the small jib which was plenty in about 18 knots of apparent wind. We tacked our way up Hart Island Sound on the way back. A lovely day.

There were ten Old Salts, including Frank, Morty and Clara with me on ILENE and six others on Ohana. Wind not as strong as the day before but plenty to have a fun sail, deep into Little Neck Bay and thence back and out part-way along Hart Island. Three hours underway. Scenes of merry noshing on ILENE's mooring after the sail.

I had dinner with Mike and Sandy and Morty and Clara at the Alehouse, a very inexpensive restaurant on the island, which features $2 Pabst Blue Ribbons. Lene, who went to a wedding rehearsal event nearby, picked me up for the ride home.

Lene came with me when we took out Stan and Susan, newbie sailors who we visited in Great Barrington last month, and will see again on the Labor Day Weekend. No photo; my bad. They had wanted to spend "a few days" with us on and from Key West, but I think it is best for people who have never sailed before to try a day sail first rather than potentially trap themselves (and us) in an experience that is not everyone's cup of tea. And now they want to come for a few days in Maine next summer, which will be great; but they have not yet experienced sailing because we motored essentially all the way, due to very light winds. After the prior two sailing days I had thought that the annual July-August doldrums had ended a bit early, but alas, no significant wind. Stan and Susan, who don't know better yet, were very happy on the water.
I had a moment of horror near the end. Auto was steering and easily, north from off Stepping Stones generally toward our mooring. I had busied myself with coiling the lines and putting the sails away. In other words, I was not looking where we were going. When I finally looked up, I saw where we were  --  we were inside Big Tom's triangle and headed for its center. And it was quite a low tide, near the full moon. WOW!  I ran back to the cockpit, grabbed the wheel out of auto's hands and spun the boat sharply 180 degrees and got us out of that terrible triangle ASAP. The water was still ten feet deep when this happened but if I had not looked up for a few more seconds, we would have had a hard grounding on unforgiving rock. Pay attention, Captain!
The last hundred yards to our mooring there was less than six feet of water at points, with the depth sounder sounding off as we approached. No harm done. We enjoyed dinner at the Club; Thanks Stan and Susan.

The last of the five sails in this period was with Lene, Sheila, Dee and Jeff. All have sailed before and all except Dee on ILENE.

I picked them each up in Manhattan and again we suffered from the lack of wind, though there was a bit, and it did come up nicely (to 15 knots) for the last of our 5.5 hours off the mooring. As we had done the day before, we went into Manhassett Bay to near Louie's. Here is a selfie by Jeff, though not smiling for some reason, because alas, your photographer\captain was asleep at the camera switch. At low tide, with a full moon, the water was only 5' 4' deep for the last 100 yards to the mooring so ILENE cut a four inch deep groove in the soft silty mud. Dinner again at the Alehouse before driving our guests to their apartments.

August 10 to 19 -- Cleaning, Dining, Paddling, Planning and, Oh Yes, Sailing Too.

Not all sailing in this period.
One day was devoted to cleanup after the cruise, replacement of the last cherrywood batten to hold up the cabin liner after installation of the new screens in the salon (Thanks, Tony!) and topping up coolant in the engine.
One day we had a lovely dinner with Craig and Katherine of Sangaris at the Club. I accepted their invitation to crew for them on their passage back to Boca Raton, Florida this fall. I expect this will be about three to five days, to the Chesapeake. The start date is not yet set, but probably sometime in October. So the departure may be while Lene is vacationing with our niece, Yael, in Israel, which will require some cat sitting coordination.
Another day we visited Fran, an old friend, in Kent, CT.  I paddled her canoe around her lake; not sailing, but.....
Lene was somewhat reluctant to come with me and Bennett and Harriet for a week on "On Eagles Wings" in the Virgins at the end of next March, but consented. I always tell her the same thing and it usually turns out true: "For a good time, come with me!" And Bennett advised that he would drop off the guests he will have during the first of his two weeks aboard, in Charlotte Amalie Harbor on St. Thomas, rather than on Tortola, sparing us the ferry ride from our flight's arrival on St. Thomas, USVI to Tortola, BVI. And more important to me, he has agreed to look into going back by boat from St, Thomas, USVI to Tortola, BVI via St. Croix, USVI. This simplifies our Customs process because we will already be in the USVIs. But the major benefits of the proposed route are first, that it provides for two somewhat longer than usual passages (40 to 50 miles) to and from St. Croix  and second, it will add a "new" island to my travels. The beauty of this route is that the passages have a lot of south and north in them, providing for beamy reaches in the prevailing trade winds from the east. I immediately got out my Puerto Rico and VI chart kit and plotted the courses and their lengths and did some preliminary scouting about the entrances to the harbors, anchorages, restaurants, and shore attractions on St. Croix. I enjoyed this very much and sent off an email to my companions with the fruits of my labor of love.
Also, I have blocked out a date in May 2016 for a lunch with Eve, who with her late husband, Selwyn, have mentored me in sailing. [The word "mentor" derives from a sea story; Mentor was a character in Homer's Ulysses, who mentored Ulysses' son during his long sea travels.] Eve now lives in Austin TX but is visiting New York and we will pick her up and drive her to lunch with Jim, who has sold his beloved "Aria." So, some bits of advance planning. "Failure to plan is planning to fail."
And I did enjoy three day sails, for a total of 10.25 hours. The first was with Lene and our artsy, facially hirsute friend Jeff, who took this self portrait: his reflection on one of ILENE's shiny dorades.

Wind varied from 5 to 15 knots. We headed up through Hart Island Sound, circumnavigated Execution Rocks counterclockwise, getting around green can 1 off New Rochelle, thence a rather straight shot back through the small passage off Kings Point to Throggs Neck and back to the mooring. A rain cloud to the west looked threatening but passed south of us.

Dinner at the Club was again excellent.

Next came a sail with Lene and our nephew, Mendy, visiting from Israel. Mendy has sailed with us several times including Maine and on Club cruises over the years, and he is stronger than an ox due to excessive workouts in the gym. He did all the pulling and winching. All I need do is train him a little better on which strings to pull, how far to trim them  and why to do so, and he will be an excellent sailor. But for the first two hours the wind was so light that we only made about two knots, though the wind came up at last and we got to 6.5 knots for the return. In hindsight, if we had left two hours later we would have had more fun.
The third sail was an Old Salts Wednesday and provided the best wind of the three. ILENE had a bye day. I sailed with Bennett, Brian, Mike, Morty and Clara on Ohana. Wind was at about 12 knots from the NE and we darted back and forth several times between Throggs Neck and the entrance to Manhassett Bay on near beam reaches, achieving a speed of up to 7.5 knots.

Here is Ohana taken from Deuce of Hearts, sailed by Mark, Richie, Mark and Marsha and Art and Carolyn, who sailed on Deuce of Hearts, we had twelve sailors in the cat's roomy cockpit for the after-sail libation. Sunny warm and windy; what more can one ask for!

HYC Cruise -- Day 16, August 9 -- Northport LI to City Island NY -- 25.6 Miles

It seemed that today's would be like the prior passage, with wind on the quarter. And so it was, except that the wind was lighter so we had the motor on the whole way, with the wind adding half a knot at times. We could have sailed without the engine, but at three knots for the 25.6 miles, well you can do the math. North Star left shortly before ILENE's 10:15 departure and Sangaris, shortly after we did. We hugged the LI side's green buoys while Sangaris gave them a very wide berth and pulled away from us. I did not see No News, but hope they too got home safely. The only excitement of the day was the radio chatter on VHF Channel 16 about a helicopter rescue from a boat that was taking on water near Sandy Hook. We got on our mooring at about 3:15.

The entire sixteen days was blessed with dry weather, except for a few sprinkles in port, at night.  And for the power boaters, the light winds were a boon, though not for sailors. still, we were spared stormy winds which in past cruises have persuaded some captains to avert from the itinerary for a day, waiting calmer weather. I recall one cruise when we all looked at the weather in Shelter Island, saw a hurricane coming and completely diverted from the plan to make for the hurricane hole of Hamburg Cove in the Connecticut River, just a bit north of Essex, where took a non-scheduled lay day while the storm roared. So we had great weather and good tides. Thanks again, Bruce, for planning such a good cruise.

All told, nine Harlem boats bearing eleven Harlem families participated in the cruise by boat for one or more days at the beginning, middle or end. An additional four Harlem families visited the cruise by land bringing the total to fifteen participating Harlem families. Of those fifteen, seven had a member who was a Past Commodore. (Not me, I hasten to add!). The PCs, who have so selflessly devoted themselves to our Club, seen to know something about the pleasures of cruising that some of the rest of us have not yet learned. Wait till next year!

HYC Cruise -- Days 14-15 August 7 and 8 -- Port Jeff LI to Centerport LI and Lay Day There -- 18.1 Miles

ILENE hauled anchor at 10:45 and was passed by North Star only about two miles outside PJ inlet. Waves from aft gave North Star a roly ride. The wind was broad on ILENE's starboard quarter and while only about 10 knots true, was strong enough to push us on a course close to the entrance to Huntington Bay. There we jibed and continued sailing until the narrow, well marked entrance to Northport Bay. Another good sailing day with enough time to go slow. We were on our mooring at three.

We saw North Star, a few moorings away and chatted a while in the Centerport YC bar with PC Bruce and Dianne, before taking the launch to town to explore. Another postcard run. 


The Centerport YC is on a peninsula projecting northward into Northport Bay. Centerport Harbor is on the west side and Northport Harbor is on the east side of the peninsula, but both Northport and Centerport YCs are in Northport Harbor, which is nicely protected by high hills on with sides. There is a channel between them, visible in this picture taken from Seymour's Dock.


We learned that Dana and Ellen of Frabjous were on a mooring here. But it was an evening when everyone did their own thing, with the big dinner celebration the next night. Unfortunately, Frabjous had to go to Seacliff YC on the 8th, so we did not have the opportunity to break bread with them. The water's surface was still as a morgue and the heat of the day switched into a light blanket night.

On the lay day our group was enlarged by the arrival of No News with Ken and Camille, last seen several days ago. 

"Sangaris" arrived with PC Craig and Katherine and PC Erwin as well as their friend Bill, who had made great time up from South Florida in the past three weeks. Also in our party at dinner were Doug and Hedy of "Hurley" and Walt and Rita of "Into The Mystic". These Harlemites joined us by land, not by sea. We all enjoyed the company of each other in the dining room of the elegant Centerport YC, which provides excellent service.

 They printed up a special menu for us. 


But I have to tell ya, the food is better at the Harlem.


 

Walter, Rita, Diane, Bruce, Doug, Hedy, Ken and Camille.


PC Erwin, PC Craig, Katherine, Bill and Lene.
We also met two other former Harlemites who were at the club on their boats: Rick, who has joined the Norwalk YC after moving "Messing About" to Connecticut, and Bruce and Linda of "J-Erica" with the Huguenot YC. 

Another blissfully peaceful night to sleep aboard.

HYC Cruise -- Day 13, August 6 -- Milford CT to Port Jefferson LI -- 17 Miles

Alphie Girl is enjoying the day.  Tides were favorable in the afternoon so after buying a quart of milk and a postcard for my wonderful grand daughter, ILENE left at 11:45 for a leisurely sail across the Sound, anchoring in the huge anchorage just inside and west of the Port Jeff inlet. North Star had a hankering for "2 for 1" lobster and hence took a mooring at the Setauket YC, near town. They left before us. On our way out we stopped to fuel up and got hailed by Dana on "Frabjous". They will be joining us in Centerport. 

It was a day made for sailing. We had plenty of time to go 17 miles and sailed the distance in light wind. Too often we cruisers have miles to go and do the math to conclude that at the speed over ground that the wind will give us, we can't get from here to there before dark without a motor assist. But today we put up sails before clearing Charles Island and headed south, close hauled on starboard, across the Sound, only about ten degrees off the rhumb line to the way point. Then tacked and sailed over Misery Shoal to the mouth of the inlet. Anchored is 22 feet of water at near high tide with northerlies of only ten knots expected tonight on 80 feet of snubbed chain. But it is near dead calm.

Home cooking tonight and blissful solitude. Attempts to watch the Fox political debate were unsuccessful so we will have to read about it tomorrow. There is room for about a hundred boats here and only three are present, as these sunset photos show.