Deep River CT to Annapolis MD via the C&D Canal -- September 18-21 on Pandora

Last time I sailed Bob's Pandora, another of the Saga 43s, was in 2011, from Norwalk CT to Mystic CT. (See "Local Peripateticms", posted July 3, 2011). That was our boatless summer while ILENE was on the hard in Grenada. This time, it was the start of Bob's trip south where we may meet up with them in Florida, and so the trip was a rehearsal for our making the same passage, early in October, aboard ILENE.

For this trip we were joined by Jim, who has more ocean experience than both of us, and is a very personable guy. Bob's idea was that his wife Brenda, should join him part way to Florida. This put Lene of the same mind: Why can't we do that too? Luckily, Jim has agreed to accompany me for this first leg of ILENE's cruise, next month, so Lene and the kitties will drive down and join me in Annapolis. Jim recently sold his Saber 38 foot and thinks he wants to buy a Saga; wanted to find out how these boats feel in the ocean. He got half of that experience on Pandora -- the motion she has when the wind is aft the beam. Yes, with excellent weather forecasting by Chris Parker, and a willingness to change our departure date twice, we had a perfect weather window, with following winds and seas except for light winds the last seven hours, the second short leg, from the anchorage in Chesapeake City, MD to Annapolis, where Pandora now rests in Jim's slip. ILENE was also offered the use that "free" slip upon our arrival except that the condo has a very strictly enforced rule against pets, including guest's pets and including cats. So we have made reservations at Bert Jabin's Marina, across Back Bay from Jim's place. This is where ILENE was when we bought her, back in November 2005. If we get so lucky with a weather window on ILENE's passage as we were this time, I will simply turn the boat around for a few minutes, so Jim can get the feel of a Saga beating to windward.

We left the dock at about 4 pm on Thursday. I had the helm down the Connecticut River into Long Island Sound passing old favorites that we did not visit this summer: Hamberg Cove, Essex and North Cove of Old Saybrook. We headed  a bit to port to pass through The Race and around Montauk Point, making the rounding at about 11:30 pm. My nighttime off-watch preference was honored -- from 8 to midnight, when I am at my most tired condition. So I awoke after we had rounded and had reefed the main. From Montauk to the buoy off Cape May, NJ, which we rounded at about 11:30 the next night, it was 198 nautical miles. The furthest we got off shore was a point about 35 miles south of Long Island, the same distance east of the Jersey shore and about 45 miles SE of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.
 
The scariest part for me was as we were rounding Cape May:  I had just risen from my good sleep and my lack of familiarity with Bob's newer chartplotter, with many more functions, meant I really did not know where we were. Bob stayed with me until we got up to the clearly marked shipping channel up Delaware Bay and I hugged it, just outside its north side, all the way up the Bay, giving the big freighters coming the other way the entire width of the channel.

Thursday night it was quite cold but no so bad that a long sleeve shirt, fleece and foul weather gear were insufficient to be comfortable.  The second night was not so cold.  We all wore life vests with harnesses and were tethered to the boat's strongpoints whenever in the cockpit. Bob figured that we averaged 7.1 knots which is quite impressive. Much of this time, during daylight hours, the winds were strong and we furled the small jib and ran under only the reefed main, at speeds of up to eight knots.
The wind built up the seas, which raced and overtook us from behind. The bigger ones were over my head standing in the cockpit, until they caught us and lifted us up out of their way while whooshing under us. A couple of them entered the cockpit from the rear, over the swim platform, which is only about 16 inches above the water, putting a few gallons on deck, which drained out immediately over the same open stern that admitted them. When my sneakers got wet during the first such wave, I switched to a dry pair of socks and my sea boots so it was no problem.

Here is  sunrise over the west coast of New Jersey, Saturday morning as we were sailing up Delaware Bay with the tide.

Bob's boat is meticulous and fully equipped. He is a self confessed obsessive perfectionist when it comes to his boat and it shows. When we stopped to refuel, Pandora got a washing. The dew was mopped up the next morning. Here is Pandora's new Rocna anchor, rolling on new rollers attached to the shiny new apparatus. It hangs lower but further aft than ILENE's starboard bow anchor.

Jim with a bit of the rum punch.

It held very well in the mud of Chesapeake City.  We stayed there from about noon on Saturday until our 07:00 departure on Sunday morning. We toured the tiny quaint old town, partook of some free food and wine at a wine and food festival, ate ice cream, tried to visit the museum (but it is closed on weekends), took naps, enjoyed some rum punch and had dinner ashore.

Bob with same.

One always learns from sailing with others on their boats. I also learned and have downloaded to our I-pad, a much better weather app called "Pocket GRIB".





We were very well fed throughout, (Thanks Bob!) including delicious boat baked dropped biscuits and honey with our morning coffee.

The only thing that could have been better for me was visibility.  Bob likes to keep the dodger front closed, and connected to the bimini with side flaps down when sailing. Despite excellent new clear plastic, this impeded visibility due to my older eyes. It required me to poke my head out the sides to check for approaching vessels. Also with the RIB inflatable dinghy inverted, mounted under the boom, partially deflated and lashed down securely there, while safety was improved (no chance for one of those big waves to fill the dinghy with a ton of water hanging off the back of the boat), forward visibility was further impeded.

The captain/owners decision is always right, but my personal voyage would have been even more enjoyable with better visibility.

I know that Ilene will want one of these customized non skid floor mats. It is not a rectangle but wider at the foot than at the top, to match the area covered. The only potential problem with this is that the cats will like it too -- as a scratching pad! Now back to myriad activities to get ILENE ready for her cruise.

August 25 to September 10 - Getting Ready to Cruise

Well the Labor Day weekend was spent in the Berkshires, welcoming Lianne's new puppy, Finn,  who I call "two pounds of cute fluff"

and visiting her new grandson, Jude.

Ilene climbed with me to the top of Monument Mountain, just north of Great Barrington so we know that her recovery from the removal of the tumor from her lung is making great progress. And I spent at least a day trying to get her medical insurance restored after a foul up of monumental proportions. But this is a sailing blog so let's get to it.

Well actually I did more working on the boat than sailing during this period: 24 hours of work spread over five days, two of them with helpers: Peter, who sailed with me from Virginia to Tortola in November 2010, at the outset of this blog, and our nephew Mendy, who washed the black streaks from the freeboard with salt water while

standing in the dink, and got a sunburn  (and my gratitude and a steak dinner) for his efforts. This working time compared to only 11 hours underway on four days. Such a sailing ratio, once per four days, is below average, but an unfortunate necessity when preparing to go cruising

We got the dink fully inflated after obtaining its parts and accessories from several places, and got it hoisted and secured to its davit bar after Mendy's work. I did a lot more sanding and varnishing of the teak cockpit table, the 13 new brass switch plates and the 21 old brass trim rings for the overhead lights after the green corrosion was sanded off. The single biggest task involved the handles used to protect against accidental turning on of the cabin sole lights by brushing against that switch at the companionway, for which new holes had to be drilled.

Another major project was the installation of a "T" valve to be able to divert fresh water from the water maker to the starboard water tank. Peter helped me on this which required removal of the cabin sole to run the pencil thin low pressure black hose from port to starboard, tie it to larger hoses with wire wraps, figure out how the valve worked and attach it to a much bigger and more solid hose so it won't bounce around, and removal of  the aluminum viewing port from the top of the starboard water tank, drilling holes in it, and using blue liquid gasket material to seal the fitting to it and it back onto the tank. Peter also winched me to the top of the mast to inspect and adjust the genoa halyard and this time I got in a photo op of the Club from about 62 feet above sea level, but at low tide.
I also refilled the propane tank and re-installed it in its newly waterproofed locker and took the life raft off the boat to Westmarine to be sent to the repacking company which should be done every three years -- but we have "used" it for four. And while in such a mindset I checked out the inflatable life vests. Ive learned his should be done annually but had never done this before! A decade! The CO2 cartridges are corroded beyond repair and one needs to be replaced. But even worse, the other vest, when inflated by blowing through the tube, failed to hold air -- it was down to 1/3 of its air after an hour. So a new one has been ordered plus a two million candlepower flashlight for finding one's mooring at night.

Getting the dink hung aft and the propane filled really reminded me that cruising is right around the corner.

Oh yeah, some sailing days were fun too.
First with Lene, Cynthia, who sailed with us earlier this summer and has moved to Israel, and Rhonda,

a friend of Lene's since third grade, shown here at dinner at the Black Whale after sailing. The three ladies chatted the entire time, moving gracefully out of my way from time to time as needed for my sail handling. In modest winds we hit a tide assisted 8.1 knots under main and small jib enroute to the far side of Manhasset Bay.
Next, Lene came with me and Peter, who later spent a day working with me and Debbie,

our Rabbi, during which we got to Matinecock and back, with Peter at the helm most of the way.










The excitement on this trip was a "hat overboard" drill during which we successfully retrieved Peter's expensive Tilley hat. This picture was taken before it went swimming.

The ever lovely Lene on the leeward
side, with Debbie and Peter

I also sailed for a couple of hours aboard Bennett's Beneteau, to Great Neck on the east side of Stepping Stones, and back, in about four knots of wind. Upon returning I joined Morty and Clara, Mike and Sandy and Richie and his friend Charley, a survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor, for refreshments aboard "Easy Living." The Wednesday afternoon ritual.
Finally, on one of the work days, after completion of the chores, Rhoda came out and we had the best sailing, due to stronger winds from just a bit east of south. After close reaching it out of Eastchester Bay on port tack, we got on starboard and made it to green can "1", NE of Stepping Stones before returning via Hart Island Sound.

Sailing Alone Around The World

No, not me! Definitely not on the bucket list! We are content to have sailed between Eastport, Maine and Grenada, West Indies -- only about 6,000 miles, round trip, less than a fourth of the distance of the equator and one must also put in a lot of northing and southing to circumnavigate. Europe still glimmers in my mind but is improbable. There are many ports in the areas we have sailed that we have not entered.  And the "alone" part has no appeal to me either. I believe that I could handle the boat but I'm far too social an animal. Without Ilene it would be no fun. And in certain longitudes one encounters pirates. No thanks.

No, the sailor in question is Captain Joshua Slocum.  A New England Yankee retired merchant sea captain:  both square riggers and steamships. Slocum set off for his 38 month adventure when he was in his fifties during 1895-98. His was the first such long cruise for pleasure.

I read his account, a classic, at the suggestion of my friend Jim. It is quite interesting and well written with footnotes explaining some of his few archaic sailing terms and references to the personalities and current events of the day (meeting Stanley of Stanley and Livingston in South Africa; avoiding mines when entering Newport RI during the Spanish American War). He also included 65 illustrations (no photos) among the book's 265 pages. These include his boat's sail plan, lines, and other views and views of some of the more exciting incidents. His writing is better than mine but shares a common characteristic: an unemotional recounting of the facts which speak for themselves; he does not need to characterize them. He was opposed to witchcraft and I believe organized religion, and liberal in his political outlook except as to race and colonialism, in which he was of his times. He includes in the narrative as to each stop along the way, his dates of arrival and departure; from this someone could calculate the number of stops and the percentage of sailing days as compared to lay days, as I do in this blog at the end of each of ILENE's long cruises.

"Spray" his wooden gaff rigged sloop (reconfigured as a yawl half way round), was only 37 feet long on deck, compared to ILENE's 42 feet (but with a long bowsprit and aft extension for the sheet of the jigger, Spray was quite a bit longer than ILENE's 45 feet overall). She was 14 feet wide compared to ILENE's 12, with less draft, concrete ballast instead of lead and double the weight. And he had rebuilt her himself using hand tools on the hulk of an old fishing boat. And Spray had no engine or fuel tanks, no refrigeration, no GPS, no EPIRB, no chart plotter and no radio -- he was rather alone out there, taking pleasure in frequently referring to himself as "the crew of the Spray."

My interest in this book was enhanced when I toured a modern-day, fiberglass, larger-scaled replica of Spray at the dock of Marina Cay in Tortola in November of 2010, before Ilene and the kitties joined me there for our trip down to Grenada. The replica had modern amenities and was home to a family with several small children.

Slocum was a self educated man about writing as well as about the sea. I could not help but compare his chapters to posts of this blog. Of course my own adventures and accomplishments pale by comparison to his, qualitatively as well as quantitatively, but both of us are sailors who write. Generally, when I read, I find the stories interesting substantially to the extent that I can identify with and compare myself to the characters. There are a lot of things in this book to which I could identify.  He wrote comparing himself to the early explorers, who did not have accurate clocks or charts and found himself wanting; and I am not a fraction of the sailor he was.

Yet there are many episodes that resonated for me. He wrote that following a big storm he took out his palm and sewed a new sail to replace the torn one, calling it "serviceable if not beautiful". I recalled my adventure aboard On Eagles Wings this past winter during which I used such a palm to repair a sail.

He was given a set of books by the widow of Robert Louis Stevenson during a visit to her island in the South Pacific off South America. This put me in mind of the generosity to me of Eve, the widow of Selwyn, a great sailor of our club and a great mentor to me.

Nearing home Slocum encountered the USS Oregon, which I learned about in the Oregon History Museum. She signaled "CBT" -- i.e., "Are there any men of war about?", referring to Spanish warships, to which Slocum flew the negative flag.

An interesting unresolved question that this book raised involves usage. When I hail another ship, my usage, which I believe is the common one today, is "Ahoy [name of vessel]". The "Ahoy" serves to capture the attention of the listener to listen for the name of his or her boat. Slocum, if he greeted us would reverse this: "ILENE Ahoy!" There is a lot of "ahoying" in the book and it struck me as wrong each time. I wonder when and why the custom changed.

He described an incident in which he mistook the light of a lighthouse flashing on wave crests as a reef, way to close, and the scare it gave him, This reminded me a moment of horror of my own off the Maine coast one dark and stormy night in 1992 -- the moon peaked out from behind the clouds, low, near the water and I thought it was a strong light on a large ship crossing our bow.

Slocum's description of the joy of a landfall at the end of a long voyage will resonate with every cruiser and his description of ports in my home waters --from New York to Maine -- were very rewarding.

He did not keep cats like ILENE and humorously described a short passage with a goat which had been given to him as a gift. He used rope instead of chain to tie the goat to the mast and after eating through the rope the goat ate Slocum's hat and his chart of the Caribbean

He had a few groundings and was hit by another boat while at anchor; all things that have happened to me and are going to happen to you if you are out there enough.

He tried to tow a much larger boat that had grounded but the captain refused his offer and the ship was later lost. On my first boat, "Just Cause;" I went out from the safety of Three Mile Harbor (the back door of Easthampton, Long Island) to tow in a much larger sailboat, and during another Club cruise was the beneficiary of a tow from a power boat when both my engine and the wind failed (Thanks again, Stu).

News of Slocum's voyage had spread and he was greeted as a celebrity in most ports, large and small, and fees were waived while he was feted by the local dignitaries. This has not been my experience.

He also traded in merchandise that he picked up along the way in Port A for sale in Port B; you couldn't take the merchantman out of him. And later in the voyage he was given the use of lecture halls to earn money by telling his sea stories.

The most exciting portion of the trip was his circumnavigation of the western half of Tierra del Fuego, which lies between the Strait of Magellan and Cape Horn. This was also where he encountered natives who were pirates. He had not intended to circumnavigate these islands, but upon exiting the Strait into the Pacific,   he was hit by a storm that simply blew him back south and east of the Horn. The book contains several charts of his path, and a separate one for the tip of South America where all of this action occurred.

Having transited a good part of the Pacific from an island 340 miles west of Chile in 43 days, he passed just south of the Marquesas without stopping there and continued for another 29 days nonstop to Samoa -- 72 days at sea. He read a lot underway and reported on what he read.

He also had many pertinent observations on the winds tides, currents mileage made good, sun sites, and such matters as crossing the Equator and crossing his own track.

One amazing feature of his boat and his own skills was that he could trim his sails so well that he could lash his wheel in place and let the boat steer itself for days at a time. Only once, in a storm, did he tend the wheel by hand for 30 hours. Many people doubted the veracity of this self steering assertion and he repeats it several times with an illustration of how he lashed the wheel but with the caveat that he could not vouch that boats with large overhangs, fore and aft, could perform this way.

This will be the last nautical book review in this blog -- for 2014. I plan to help a friend bring his boat from Essex CT to Annapolis at mid month.

August 10 to 24 -- Not Much Sailing

We began by going to a lovely wedding of friend's daughter, out on Long Island.

Lene, Lianne, Ellen and Rudy

Then came Lene's successful surgery: laperoscopic removal of the malignancy in her left lung and her return after two nights in the hospital. We were very lucky to have such a good outcome due to an accidental early detection.

There was also a membership meeting at the Harlem YC to discuss our need for an assessment to pay for mistakes of the past such as forgetting to pay the taxes we collected and the need to come up with not just the taxes, but  penalty and interest as well. Self inflicted wounds caused by volunteers who are human and hence fallible. Been one; done that. The more important issue was how to create a mechanism to try to insure against repetitions of such debacles. Creation of a new position: A designated Pain In The Butt Officer who will have a calendar of dates when payments and license renewals, etc. are due and whose sole function will be to bug the other members of the Board and demand to see that the checks (taxes, payroll and insurance) and applications (occupancy, fire safety, etc.) are written.

And a visit to Fran, in Western Connecticut where a smaller boat was involved.

Mendy in the bow; can you see his muscles?

Also, I worked about thirteen hours during three days on many small projects involving electrical, carpentry, plumbing, sanding and varnishing. I'll spare you the details.

And there were three days of sailing though short ones, totaling only about eight hours.

1)  With Bennett, bringing his boat, fresh from the repair of damage caused by a close encounter with a rocky bottom, from Barron's Yard, on the other side of City Island, back to the Club, but with a sail through the channel off Kings Point and to Throggs Neck, about two hours, in light winds and smooth seas. A pleasant day.

2) With the Wednesday afternoon sailing club (formerly and sometimes currently called The Old Farts). This group assembled automatically and organically in prior years but has had a rocky start this season so I organized this outing, the second one this year. While still not a success, we did get nine folks out on two boats for a couple of hours. With me on ILENE were Richie, who no longer owns a boat, Rhoda, and Alfred and Leona. The latter two are older, averaging in their higher 80's,  and while Alfred's ability to steer, learned in German waters before WWII, is unimpaired, his ability to see is not as good and I had to stand close while he was at the wheel to get us back on course. Leona had great difficulty in the transfers between the launch and the boat -- knee problems -- and actually hurt her arm on the way off. Sorry Leona. Both great sports and Alfred will be back. The other vessel was Brian and Angela's "Debut," a Bristol. With them were Morty and Clara. The G&Ts were supplied by Alfred and Leona after two hours of sailing in light winds to the east coast of Mamaroneck Bay and back.

3)  We sailed in the Club's 60th (or so) running of the Sidney J. Treat Regatta. Lene steered, our nephew, Mendy, did most of the winching and Rhoda and Lloyd helped out as well.  But we are the scratch boat and have to finish far in front of the other boats so our time after PHRF handicap correction, will still have us as the winner. Specifically we were assigned a handicap of 87 compared to the others in our division, which ranged from 123 to 234.  And the upshot is that of the five boats that finished (out of six that entered), we were next to last in actual time and dead last after corrected time.  So I guess I better explain why we lost. These are the reasons, not excuses. The biggest problem is that due entirely to my fault, we were way out of place and did not get to the starting line until about two minutes after the race started. In a race that lasted less than 43 minutes, this is a deadly sin. Another thing was lack of crew training and practice. Mendy is very strong and very willing, but I had not trained him so I had to tell him what to do which slowed things down.  The last reason other than my mistakes was the nature of the wind on race day. In very strong wind I can use ILENE's small jib, which is self tacking, making the tacks and jibes very fast, i.e., we do not lose much speed. But in lighter wind, as on race day, the power of the big Genoa is needed and to tack or jibe with it, one has to furl it, do the maneuver and then let it out on the other side, which in such a short race takes ages. For long distance ocean racing, where a tack of gybe might be needed every few hours or even every few days, the loss of a few minutes per maneuver is no big deal and ILENE can do well. Every boat's handicap is computed based on the performance of other boats of the same model in all kinds of races. These results are averaged out. In strong winds ILENE will do well against her handicap but not today.
After the race we took a long loop into Littleneck Bay before returning to the Club to congratulate the winners. ILENE has won Club races but this was not our day. Nevertheless, a good time was had by all.

For a more interesting post than this one, Google: "Sail Pandora" for an account by our friend, Bob, of his sail on a 180 foot luxury yacht out of Newport RI.

Our Part in the Harlem Yacht Club Cruise of 2014

Sunday Aug 3 - Work Day on the Mooring

The Club Cruise ran from Aug 1 to 10 but ILENE's part became five nights and five days, with three nights with the main contingent of the Club Cruise in Mattituck and the Seatauket YC on the North Shore of Long Island. I worked four hours the day before we got started. I found the missing green washer for the dink's air pump -- under the dink and made some progress on pumping it up, but it is not right yet. But we will be on anchor, on dock or on a mooring with launch service for this entire mini-cruise so the dink will not needed. So I moved the outboard from the car's trunk, the gas tank from the boat and the air pump from the dock -- all three to the locker with the oars I found located there buried under the winter covers. Also, I am not putting the water maker into service until we leave for the winter -- unless the manual says it can't remain pickled for a whole year. I'd hate to foul up that expensive piece of machinery.

Other work included: (1) sawing the three pieces of veneered wood to close up the port aft cabinet to size, though installation requires return of our drill which was lent out; (2) cleaning birds' mess off the dodger which needs more scrubbing. Actually is is not guano but fish guts, scales and bones -- birds being such messy eaters;

(3) attempting to knock out the boom's thumb cleats, which was not successful, though I did learn that the first reefing line had been led through the forward part of the boom on the wrong side of the thumb cleat, which was what was causing the harm to the line. So by releading and repairing this line I may not have to do the knockout or replace the line; (4) locating and installing the hatch board bag and inserting the boards therein and installing the cafe doors. These doors put me psychologically into cruising mode. I'm ready!

Mon August 4 - Prep Day and Sleep Aboard, Anticipating an Early Start

This was mostly a land day for prep, provisioning and packing. We loaded the car, including the cats, and arrived at the Club at 8:30 pm. After getting everything aboard and put away, we slept peacefully in calm water. This was the cats' third trip to the boat this season and they did not complain about being locked in their stuffy carrier in the car. I think it is because they have associated the carrier with boating, which they seem to love. So much for my amateur feline psychiatry.

Whitty: "Do I look like I'm worried"

Alphie: "I'm Captain of all I survey"

Our efforts to keep out flying biting pests at night was thwarted by the cats ability to "break and enter" by pushing in the screens covering the small side opening ports. They want free rein of ILENE's cabin AND exterior, 24/7. But if we close these ports, the screens cannot be pushed through and the cats have to elect between the two sides of the boat: in or out.

Tues August 5 - HYC to Port Jeff Cove

Underway at 7:00 am for six hours. It was eerily still with mist on the water that the sun had not yet burned off but fine visibility. We were the only boat moving. We waved to some fishermen on the Morris YC dock. By nine a.m. there were a few other boats out but far away. We motored the entire way and never set a sail. Normally a sail will stabilize the boat against rocking but the seas were flat calm with occasional 2 or 3 knot winds, so rocking was not a problem. It was a day made for power boaters, who like flat seas, but not for sailors. Perhaps all that great wind in July has blown itself out and we will have to content ourselves with weak weather sailing conditions in August.  

Clouds and Northport stacks mirrored on the water

Our wake, if you can call it that, as if cut through oil

The last time I recall sailing with such views was crossing the Caicos Banks.  See blog: "Judy and Meridel and Turks and Caicos Part 1", April 3, 2012.

 We took someone's mooring in the big cove to starboard just past the breakwater in Port Jeff, hoping the owners didn't show up that evening, but there are about seventy private moorings here and only five boats at the maximum. On a weekend its quite different. Lunch, a nap and then chores before dinner, reading and sleep.

My primary chore was removing, repairing and reinserting the first (red) reefing line. The strength of such a braided line is in its core. The outside, which we see, protects the core from chafing and makes it feel better in ones hands. The covering was all bunched around the two ends and about six feet of the white core, where it runs through the boom, were bare. So the first thing I did was to pull on the cover from the ends to the middle, over and over. Gradually the cover moved toward the middle until the bare spot was only about eight inches long. Then I sewed some light thread through the cover and the core, to try to hold things in place. Then red electrical tape was wound around the remaining exposed core. The reefing line certainly carries a heavy load. More experienced sailors who may think this is a bad idea, please chime in. Otherwise, time will tell if this red line parts, and if the storm is severe enough to do this to the red line, there is the second black reefing line waiting to take its load.

My other chore was installation of self adhesive rubber weatherstripping to the underside of the cover of the aft port lazarette -- the propane locker. Practical Sailor magazine told me that this compartment should be locked and watertight, except for a hole in the bottom, through which any propane that leaks from the tank, being heavier than air, could escape outside the boat. We have gotten some water in this lazarette, when heeled in the rain, because it was not watertight. Most of this water escaped through the hole in the bottom but it's much better bone dry. The latch went on this past winter and now the weatherstripping.

August 6 - Port Jefferson to Mattituck

We hoisted the main at the mooring at about 8:30 but also used the engine to head north out of Port Jeff, through its wide channel, rather than tack in there. Then northerly winds made the next two hours of our 25 mile eastward passage something of a beam reach and the genoa got to play as well. With full sails, and a bit of help from the tides, we were making speed over ground in excess of two thirds of the apparent wind speed, averaging better than six knots, and without the engine's noise. But starting at about 11:00 the winds dropped to behind us and in strength so we had to use the engine the rest of the way. There was a mess in the compartment under the cabinet under the galley sink, which I cleaned up while Lene maintained the watch. She also had the helm from the breakwater up the two mile long bending bayou-like creek to the dock at Strong's Marina. We did this at low tide which made for a nervous time. In the bayou the deep water is not in the center and at times was only five inches below the bottom of our keel. We were on the dock, across from "Blast," Ernie and Camille's big Albin trawler, by 1:30.

This was ILENE's first docking this year except for her initial watering. I worked the afternoon, washing the top of the boat, filling the port water tank and then I caused a very expensive stupid mistake -- by not following the advice I always give to Ilene. "Make sure that the deck fill hole into which you put the water hose says 'WATER'".  Yes, I put the fresh water hose from the dock into the starboard fuel tank. Water being heavier than diesel, it went to the bottom of the tank and pushed a few gallons of diesel fuel out onto the deck and into the water before our neighbor, Bert, yelled that we were spilling fuel. Probably a few gallons, which subjected us to a potential fine and cleanup costs from the Department of Environmental  Protection. I mopped up what I could and did get to the marina's very nice pool to cool off a few minutes before it's five PM closure time.

I'm sure these guys didn't like my mucking up their home.

I think it was the anticipation of that dip which caused me to not be thinking about the right deck fill. A shower and dinner with our new friends, Bert and Margie of the fast powerboat "Blue Bell" from Mashpee, on the Cape and Florida. Dinner was at Paces Dockside, the restaurant on the marina's grounds. Bert bought a bottle of wine and shared it with me. And another good night's sleep before I had to face the music the next day.

August 7 - Lay Day in Mattituck

The morning was pleasant, with a walk into town to visit the hardware store, post office, book store, grocery, drugstore (for a postcard to send to my granddaughter), cheese store, and wine shop. But the afternoon entailed taking up the entire cabin sole to get to the top opening of the forward fuel tank (where the inoperative fuel gauge is inserted). That hole is inconveniently located directly under the one small piece of the sole that holds all the other pieces together. About 60 1.5" wood screws were removed. John is an excellent mechanic but took three very expensive hours to do what he could have done in a fraction of that time if he had been supplied with a stronger pump attached to larger diameter hoses. Out came the pink diesel fuel and the water, all told about 40 gallons, into five gallon cans which were poured into a fifty five gallon drum that was hauled off to an authorized hazardous waste disposal site. The pumping done, I shooed John out and put the boat back together again myself. Too late for that refreshing dip today. Instead the bitter pill of the bill. Let's just say with the replacement of forty gallons of diesel fuel my mistake cost north of one grand. And I have remarked how proud of myself I am when I accomplish a new task on the boat. So I better fess up about how rotten I feel about a stupid very costly mistake that harmed the environment. I know better and it won't happen again.

Dinner was a pot luck affair at a picnic table in the marina. This would have been better if we had had six or ten boatloads of folks. As it was there was us, Ernie and Camille from "Blast" and Marcia and Mark from "Leeds The Way". 

Marcia is the Club's current Fleet Captain, a position I held for a few years and that Ernie held for more than 20 years before me.  We love cruising but can do it without the Club, such as our 93 days in Maine last summer. It is sad that those who could benefit from our experience do not avail themselves of this resource. Anyway, there was no shortage of good food and beverages among our tiny group.

August 8 - Mattituck to Seatauket YC, in Port Jefferson Harbor

Underway from 10 to 4:30. We tried to sail and actually did sail a few miles, close hauled, easterly, along the North Shore of L.I. But we tacked to a northerly course and stayed on it too long. Too long because the wind had shifted and we could no longer sail east so we gave it up, keeping the main up for stability and headed directly for the Port Jeff breakwater, with the wind directly in front of us. Turning south to enter the harbor, the wind helped us and we sailed to about 150 yards from the mooring field, headed into the wind, popped the main halyard clutch and expected to hear the familiar "whoosh" of the mainsail tumbling down into its bag. But no whoosh. I went to the mast to tug down on the sail's luff. Nothing doing. I told Lene to head back out into the open part of the harbor and watch our depth and for other boats, like this ferry coming out,

while I would get into the bos'ns chair and she would haul me to the top of the mast (using the spinnaker halyard) where I planned to use pliers to unscrew the shackle and let the sail fall down. Luckily the wind was light, reducing both heeling and our speed. Lene said "Check the mast." Smart girl! Somehow, two loops of the end of the port lazy jack halyard had worked loose from their coil and in fact four lengths of this thinner line had become wedged between the main halyard and the housing of its block at the base of the mast. I managed to get the sail down by pulling the halyard through this block, a few inches and then feet at a time. Once the sail was down and stowed, we were able to take a guest mooring and then came the task of fixing the problem. First I cut the lengths, about 2.5 feet that stuck out from the block. Then I tried pulling the stuck bits out with pliers. I removed the block and it's shackle from the base of the mast to make the work easier. Next it was knife, ice pick and pliers, trying to pluck fibers from the errant bits but this was very slow going.

Fluff

Notice how flattened these formerly jammed bits are compared to the width of normal line.

 (If anyone knows how I can get rid of the underlining below, which is unintended, please let me know, thank you.)

I thought to pull the main halyard out of the shackle in the direction I had pulled to get the sail down, to thereby relieve the pressure in the jam. But this would have required use of the snake, to get the line back through its channel under the deck after it was freed. The same snake used earlier on this voyage to repair the reefing line, had been put away in a safe place and could not be found. Lene is the one who always wants things to be put away and I should let her do the putting because she is better at the remembering. In any event, after diligent search, no snake. So another plan was needed. I noticed that the block seemed to be held together with three small Allen bolts and disassembled it. Then everything could be easily removed. A similar jamming had occurred in the block at the clew of the small jib during the passage from Providentiales in the Turks and Caicos to Mayaguana in the Bahamas. Some physicist is going to have to tell me about what force of magnetism draws small lines into the narrow spaces between larger lines and the housings of their blocks.

Free at last.

Roger, Mark, Ernie, Marsha, Lene and Camille -- after ice cream.

Dinner was at La Parilla, good Spanish food, followed by the traditional desert of the Harlem Cruise -- ice cream.

August 9 - Seatauket YC to Harlem YC

Port Jeff waterfront from our mooring; ferry docks to the right.

We got off the mooring at 7:45  and at 8:00. Huh? Well, Lene and I had a "failure to communicate." She did not hear me say "Reverse," to back away form the ball, and took my pointing out where the ball was as a direction to turn toward that side. We drove the boat over the mooring, getting its lines tangled on the propeller. So I got a refreshing early morning salt water dip and got us off in short order, without cutting any lines.  In the harbor we saw about five knots of wind from the north and hoisted the main in anticipation of a beamy starboard reach while we retraced the first day's passage, in the opposite direction. We even set the genoa, a couple of times. But the wind died. This time, it being a Saturday, numerous wakes of large high horse-power floating big-ego machines roiled the surface so the main did serve its anti-rocking purpose. A rather boring passage and we were on our mooring at 2:20 and home in our apartment at 4. So, while a lot of things went wrong, everyone got home safely and a good time was had by all.

Who Is Reading This Blog With An Interest In Estonia and The Northern Bahamas

 I've recently observed an unusually high number of "page views" of the posts I wrote about these two places. I'm wondering if the readers liked something I wrote, hated it or have comments:

Our Last Three Bahamas May 2, 2012   -- 396 page views
Talinn (Estonia) Maritime Museum June 21, 2014   71 page views

This blog has never "gone viral" but I am enjoying writing it and wondering what I said that caused such a stir. Feedback appreciated.
Thanks. Roger

FYI: Our plans are for a short five day mini-cruise in Long Isalnd Sound starting today, and a seven to eight month one starting on or about October 8 to Key West Florida and maybe the Bahamas

Four More Great Sails Round Out July And A Serious Health Issue Changes Plans for August

Four more day sails and one work day closed out July. Regrettably, Lene was not aboard. Average of 4.55 hours per sail.
First was Greg and Kathy. Greg is a member of my Mens' Book Group. We men get to meet each other's wives when we have dinners at each others' homes and at our annual Spring social. Kathy and Greg have also visited the Barnes Collection in Philly with us a couple of years ago. Greg, a terrific artist and retired professor of drawing has sailed with me several times and Kathy, a retired teacher,

Greg's drawing, sorry about side view.

overcame her fears on this rookie voyage. The wind started at less than ten and grew to more than 15 as the day wore on. We used the small jib and main, getting to Sea Cliff YC and then dipping into Manhassett Bay far enough to see Port Washington, on the way home. Pinot Grigio on the mooring at the end. We have been enjoying stronger than normal winds this July.
Next up was Cynthia, a past guest, in a lot of wind for 2.25 hours underway. We used reefed main and no head sail and made speeds of five to seven knots on beamy reaches back and forth into Little Neck Bay.
The excitement came at the end, when it was time to fetch the mooring. This is no task for a sweet petite lady who is a bit older than I. So I had to try to get close to the pickup stick and slow ILENE before running forward to the bow to grab the bobbing pickup stick and then pull up and grab and attach the bridle before the wind blew us away. I made six tries. The problem is that when you slow down enough to not race past the mark, even though you aim as close to the wind as possible, the wind will come a few degrees on one side or the other and blow the boat's bow away. I gained a new appreciation for the accomplishments of my friend Jim, who sailed "Aria" solo for many years, though his run from tiller to bow, on a 26 foot boat, was shorter than mine. Twice I grabbed the pickup stick in these six tries. The first time the boat turned and the wind pushing on its side made the boat too heavy for me to hold; I had to let go. Frustration!!!! The second time the cheap flimsy line with which the mooring servicer had tied the pickup stick to the bridle -- parted! I had the stick but it was no longer attached to a bridle. FRUSTRATION! And in all this I had a few close encounters with friends' moored boats -- but no touches. Strong reverse gear pulled ILENE's bow back past the bow of the neighboring boat. So what to do? Call the Harlem launch and ask for help! The operator wisely let me wait, circling, for a few minutes while he got reinforcements. Two strong men Dave and Jeep, jumped from the slow moving launch to the slow moving ILENE. Then, when I got ILENE's bow to the mooring ball, and held her there, they used a boat hook to grab the bridle and the problem was solved. The alternative plan B I had contemplated would have been to go a bit outside of the mooring field and drop anchor. Cynthia professed that she was never worried. This was because I never showed my fear. Lene joined Cynthia and me for dinner at Neptune Restaurant, a favorite, on First avenue near 12th Street.

Next I enjoyed a very productive work day with Lene's cousin's sons, Jake and Jared. They were transformed from guests the weekend before, to worker bees, for five hours. The economy is so weak that they don't have summer jobs. So they liked the money and I liked the quality and quantity of the work they accomplished, largely helping me bring the RIB dink from the upstairs locker to the dock and compounding and waxing the topsides and cockpit. While they worked I varnished the other side of  the cafe doors, replaced the mooring bridle to pickup stick line with a stouter one, whipped a few ends and cleaned up the galley stove top. I also picked up the outboard from Tony, proprietor of Island Outboard, two blocks from the Club, on City Island Avenue (718) 885-2012. Tony has done a lot of good work on my outboard over the years and we use it many times more than most people.
Next day being a Wednesday, I tried to revive the Club within a Club (See Blog, July 2012.) This is the informal group of people who have Wednesday afternoons available. With the loss last year of four of our larger boats (ILENE was in Maine), the group had sort of fizzled out. But on only 15 hours notice only three other folks showed up. The very light winds may have held down attendance as well and I have been encouraged to try artificial respiration again later, with more notice. Morty asked that we sail with him and his wife Clara on their 30 foot Catalina, "Easy Living." Completing our quartet was a new member, Mary, an Oncological Nurse Practitioner, who does not have a boat yet but has been found qualified to use the Club's J-24s and is enthusiastic.  The sailing was rather listless with very light wind but we did get up to 4.5 knots on two occasions when puffs lifted us. And the lunch before hand, the conversation during and the G&T (vodka actually) after were all quite good.
Finally, on the last day of the month, I helped set up a sail with our former member, Nick, whose boat we helped sell last year after he became a resident of the Hebrew Home for the Aged due to memory issues.

Master carpenter and dance instructor, Nick, at dinner after.

I signed him out and was met at the Club by three other old friends of his, one of whom, John, had driven up from Maryland's Eastern Shore.

Don and John

We were off the mooring for five hours: close hauled out of Eastchester Bay, then broad reaching with a couple of jibes to about six miles east of Matinecock Point before tacking for one long  close reach back past Execution Rocks. Then to give them some excitement, after changing back from the genoa to the small jib, we tacked back up through Hart Island Sound, over to near L.I. and then to the mooring. After dousing sails we passed through the channel behind Big Tom under motor and went through the City Island YC fleet looking for Nick's old boat but we did not spot her. All of these men are good sailors. Like Nick, Don and John are past members of the Harlem. Nick taught John how to sail. Don preferred to trim sails and the other three men shared the helm. Nick's memory problems definitely did not involve any impairment of his ability of to handle the helm.  Pat, rounded out our group.

Co-organizer of the event, a nurse, and one of the most knowledgeable and helpful men in the Club.

He spotted a damaged ring clip at the tack of the jib,which we replaced and taped. It was catching the Genoa jib sheets, causing damage to them and itself. I usually try to "improve" my friends' boat when I sail with them. This time Pat did this for me. He had also brought the Chardonnay that we shared in the cockpit, apres sail. Then the guys helped my try to inflate the dink on the dock noting that the washer at the end of the pump hose was missing, which was the problem. (A new one is on order.) The day ended with dinner together before the three others drove Nick home.
And proving that our rosy life does not exist without a few thorns, I got a call from Lene during our dinner. The needle biopsy of her left lung came back as malignant, but stage one, slow growing and small. It gives one cause to pause. It will be removed by laperoscopic surgery on August 12, with preparatory tests between now and then. If one has to catch cancer, this is the type to get and the early dtection was quite lucky.
But, of course,  this means that our plans to cruise up to Nantucket during the entire month of August will not come off. We are now planning a short five day cruise in the Sound before the surgery, during which we hope to catch up with the HYC Club Cruise, at Matinecock, in the Sound. Lene's attitude is really great. She is cheerful, positive, determined and optimistic. She knows that worry does one no good. NYU's Langone Medical Center is a world class hospital and she has excellent doctors. Stay tuned!