August 4-5 -- Two Days In Nappatree/Watch Hill

Well we did not leave Stonington until 11. Before that we met up with Huck and Cindi, took breakfast at Noah's and the walking tour of Stonington, including the southernmost point (shown from the sea)

and the Portuguese-American Club,

a tribute to the Portuguese contributions. mostly in fishing, to our entire coastal New England region.
The 60 minute, five mile, all motor passage from Stonington to Watch Hill was easy, mostly through a narrow but well marked channel, to a good spot for our well placed snubbed anchor.



After lunch, Lene wanted some alone time aboard and I met up with Huck & Cindi for the afternoon's activities: We dinked to the beach, its bay side, as seen here from ILENE,

crossed the barrier island and walked its entire length (as seen from the lighthouse). My phone recorded six miles of walking that day.

The water was not cold but none of us took the plunge into the Atlantic. Funny thing: I distinctly remember that the beach surface was of pebbles, like in Nice and Cannes, but I was mistaken -- it is beautiful yellow sand. It being Sunday, a lot of folks were out.  Walking back to the dink we drove it to the seaside town of Watch Hill, tried to dock the dink and learned that the dinghy dock had been moved slightly, to north of the Yacht Club rather than south of it. We toured the town, its ancient carousel which uses centrifugal force to swing the horses out, and the big new yellow luxury hotel overlooking the sea.

I got the best views I've ever had from there -- due to lack of hazy fog. We saw Block Island, Point Judith (at the right end of the land)

and Long Island. We saw many examples of the unusual Watch Hill Stone Fences.

Returning to our boats we separated for the night, before a light brief rain fell, leaving this peace sign over the town of Watch Hill.

Cruiser's progress toward acclimating to the sea has been quite slow; he is so timid. And this has caused a reemergence and reinforcement of Lene's mourning for our beloved easygoing Witty, whose ashes we will disperse soon.
Next day the four of us met at 10:30 aboard ILENE for brunch of mango-blueberry sweet potato pancakes with maple syrup, bacon, fruit and coffee and conversation -- which morphed into wine and cheese and fruit until about 3 pm. Lots of discussion about where to go tomorrow and when to go to get favorable tide both out of Fisher's Island Sound and in over a shallow spot in Coecles Harbor on Shelter Island.
Then we went in to town again, visited some shops, the lighthouse (from which we viewed the three buoys marking Watch Hill Passage -- but the photo couldn't catch them -- just off the end of the wall)

and finally the big yellow hotel for dinner on its big shaded breeze cooled veranda.

Truly a lay around lay day.
The NY Times was here too; see www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/05/travel/south-coumtry-rhode-island-beaches.html.  They got it right except in saying that the only way to get to the beach is by car and then paying for parking and admission. If you come by boat, anchor and take your dink to the beach, ITS FREE!  Also, the pictures of Cindi and Huck were taken at the big new hotel. No champagne for me, I had my oysters with local beer.




















































































































































































































































































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August 2-3 -- To Duck Island Roads Anchorage And Stonington CT.

Two passages of about 31 and 28 miles taking 5 3/4 hours each. There was some wind the first of the two days but it seemed to be from the NE, where we had to go. After going about 3 miles east we headed north toward the CT coast. When off New Haven it was time to tack back to port again, I realized I had been misled, by my instruments perhaps, and turned only about 40 degrees to starboard and continued motorsailing on the same tack! For the last hour we cut off the engine. Assisted by the tide, we sailed without motor noise for the first time on this cruise.

The itinerary had called for the Cedar Island Marina in Clinton CT, but Huck pointed out that by not having to up the shallow river into Clinton, Duck island Roads was about as far from Port Jeff and a couple miles nearer to Watch Hill, our next scheduled stop.
Duck Island Roads was created by the erection of two seawalls that emanate from tiny Duck Island in their SE corner. One extends west and the other north; they form protection from winds and waves from the east and south. So with gentle winds forecast from the SE, it was a perfect place and the first anchor drop of 2019. My college roommate, Stan, had sent me this present which came true that night.

It was a quiet night.

Miraval, being slower, got in later and suggested we dine alone without waiting for them.







The next day, ten knots from the south were predicted, for a nice starboard beam reach, but that wind never materialized. We put up the genoa on the port side and it gave a little help for the first half hour during which Miraval took this nice picture; thanks Huck!

But then it died so we furled it and motored all the way, first opposed by and later helped by the tide.
A sunny warm Saturday and I've never seen so many boats of every size and style out there fishing.






Also lots more ferry traffic into and out of New London, taking folks to Orient Point LI and Block Island than I am used to.

We passed close to some sort of overturned small boat but TowboatUS and local law enforcement were on the scene. No calls to the Coast Guard about this one, though they were busy with other problems.

But no submarines this time when passing New London.We passed a small wooden boat with two men and a huge sail way out to port being pushed along at less than a knot. (Wind appeared to be in front of us at five knots.) They had no motor and their rubber dink was likewise engineless. I was tempted to offer them a tow but they seemed happy.
The itinerary called for two nights in Watch Hill, a bit further than Stonington, followed by one in nearby Stonington, but we reversed the order of these two ports. Another good idea from Huck.
On arrival in Stonington we watered and fueled ILENE. The fueling, 25 gallons in the starboard-fill tank, which we have been using all season and will continue to use, was an excuse to fill the two water tanks and the four one gal bottles of drinking water. No water had flowed from the taps powered by the electric fresh water pump and I wanted to make sure we had water in the tanks before trying to mess around finding out why. Turns out the only problem was easily fixed: gunk trapped in the small mechanical filter just before the water from the tanks reaches the pump. Lene is a happy camper again. Alfie is not jealous about the attention we are giving to Cruiser, but asked for equal time.

We went ashore using the Dodson launch in Stonington, free (subject to tips) once you pay the $58.50 for the mooring. A very professional operation with lots of expensive name brand boats kept here by their owners.  Once ashore we Ubered to a nearby supermarket and got a lot more food and then took showers in Dodson's newly renovated shower rooms before returning to ILENE to unpack and refrigerate before going over to Miraval for dinner. The launch does not respond: "... alongside shortly" as at the Harlem, but rather: "...alongside as soon as possible".  We went during the dinner rush hour and though two launches were running, the wait was half an hour! If I had known, I would have lowered the dink. Good food, wine and conversation with our new friends but we had to leave by 9:30 to get the last launch.
The launch picked up the two men from what I recognized as that wooden, motorless sailboat we had passed. It is a classic Herreshoff from 1929, all gleaming brightwork, that they have brought up from the Chesapeake, in stages, for a big Herreshoff convention coming up soon in Newport.
Three calm pleasant nights interspersed by two almost windless days; all three days so far have had insufficient wind and we are on the CT-RI border already.

July 31 - August 1 -- Days Zero and One: Boarding and to Port Jeff: And Is Cruiser a Cruiser?

Two more suitcases and two carts of stuff (one of which contained two cat carriers and their cargo) and we were set, except for provisioning. I  bought the perishables on our list at the Throggs Neck supermarket and got back aboard before the squall hit. We were safely on our mooring but near 40 knot gusts thrashed ILENE around, yawing and heeling. Cruiser's first experience and he did not like it. He is a quiet, cautious "fraidey cat" and he nestled himself among bags of stuff on the small sole of the aft cabin. The wind dissipated after about 15 minutes and during a lull in the rain, after dinner, I drove our car into the garage at our apartment and took the subway back. Now we were really ready!

The passage to Port Jefferson, about 35 NM, was windless. Sure we put up the main, but it did nothing. There was no sailing at all. The tide was adverse at first and got favorable later. During our 5 3/4 hours underway we passed a merchantman, 508 feet long according to AIS, and going to New York to pick up a load,

and someone's idea of a pleasure boat:

Early in the day, I believe it was an unexpected sudden wake that freaked out poor old Cruiser. He found his next hidey hole in a mad dash for it, an enclosure under the forward head. Not the most comfortable spot on the boat; the ends of a boat are never as comfortable as amidships, but he has found it and Alfie kept him company there; maybe she is trying to help coach him through boot camp? We get him out for food and we got to pet him a bit on our bed, but he knows the way back to his hidey hole. I think that he finds comfort in his familiarity with us two humans, even in a new place, an environment that moves under his paws, as if in an earthquake. So he is not a cruiser yet, but he has made great progress in his first two days aboard.

Our "buddy boat" for the first week of this cruise is Huck and Cindy's "Miraval', from the Harlem, a Pearson 36. Its engine is reliable but currently gives it only about four knots, considerably slower than ILENE, so they leave earlier and get in later, as we did in our early days of club cruising, relative to Ernie and Camile's "Blast", a trawler.
Being the only two boats on the cruise, we have taken the liberty to change the itinerary to suit ourselves. Thus, while our first night was in Port Jeff, as scheduled, it was not at the Yacht Club but at the anchorage west of the breakwater. On a weekend evening we would have anchored but on a beautiful cool Thursday night, we were two of about six boats using the 100 or so moorings dotting the water.

We saved money and cut two miles off the day's passage and the next day's passage. I have never thought that Port Jeff was a great town for touring cruisers, anyway, and the forecast for a calm night made this an ideal choice for us.
I took the dink down and straightened out its starboard davit's lifting block. Its outboard started right up; the Uber for our dinner aboard ILENE. They brought cheese and crackers and wine and Lene cooked up penne bolognese and green beans.
But before they got here I got a chance to scrub off the worst of the black stains on ILENE's  starboard freeboard where rain collects dust and mud and washes it through the holes in the toe rails. I also got to replace the decaying soft plastic anchor roller with a new black one. Its groove was tailored for the shank of the Rocna.

I had met Huck at the all day seminar at the New York Explorer's Club featuring circumnavigators that we both attended this past off season. We, who don't go that far, can always dream though.

July 29-30 -- Unplanned Water Related Activities

I had told you that the next post would be from the cruise; but pleasant things happened.

I walked to an outdoor amphitheater on Corlear's Hook, (south of the Williamsburg Bridge between the East River and the FDR Drive) for a free daylight performance of Euripides "Iphigenia At Tauris", written more than 2400 years ago   Iphi was replaced by a deer through divine intervention from being sacrificed by her father (shades of the binding of Isaac by Abraham) and assigned as the ritual preparer of men for sacrifice in Tauris (Crimea). By Taurian law, anyone who enters must be sacrificed -- an immigration policy that is harsher than ours!  Her brother. Orestes, who had killed his (their) mother to avenge his father (shades of Hamlet), was ordered to come to Tauris to bring a statue back to Greece, and was captured and hence must be sacrificed.  But all the blood was shed before the story, off stage.  The siblings eventually reveal themselves to each other and plot to escape and return to Greece together. But wait; where is the water? Well the round trip from Greece was on a "well oared boat' lying protected in a cove. But the winds and tides thwart their escape, and threaten to drive them on the rocks until the intervention of everyone's favorite trickster, the Goddess Athena. She also had helped Ulysses and Iphi learns from her brother than while he has not yet gotten back to Ithaca from Troy, he is on his way.

Next day I visited the New York Historical Society for their show about the Hudson River, illustrated

in part by many paintings of the Hudson River School.  The arc of the story was from primeval natural beauty, exploration by Henry Hudson, use as a highway for commerce, murder by industrial pollution from tanneries, sewage, dynamiting of the Palisades for rock to build Manhattan and PCBs from GE, to gradual rebirth. The word "ecology" was coined in an 1860's book. preservationists and land owners on the east bank wanted to preserve their view. The Palisades Interstate Park and Bear Mountain Park were created, partly by the influence of Teddy Roosevelt before he was President and by the Museum of Natural History (located across the street from the Historical Society). "Silent Spring" in the early '60's and the 18 year legal battle against Con Ed's plan to turn Storm King mountain into a kilowatt producer, the enactment of many state and federal conservation laws are all described. Even to the reintroduction of oyster beds after hurricane Sandy. Sadly the exhibit closes August 4. One of the best pieces of art in the society's collection was the five views of the same scene by Thomas Cole. We know it is the same scene because of a prominent oddly shaped peak toward the upper right corner.  Its five paintings likewise trace the history of the place from nature through "Empire" and its ruin. These paintings were relocated from their normal place of honor to the anteroom of the exhibit space
This post was written aboard ILENE, before the first passage of the cruise.

July 18 - 28 -- Getting Ready For The Summer Cruise

Three short sailing days -- short because of lousy wind -- totaling only seven underway hours. Maybe that was the Lord's way of reminding me that we had had such great wind the last time out.

First, a couple hours with my daughter, Devra, and her fiancee, Vin. I don't have a picture of them, but of her with me in the back- ground. Vin brought a replacement cassette deck and installed it. He remembered that ILENE's did not work during his prior sail, several years ago. The new one gets power and he told me that on his next sail he will have figured out from the manual how to get it to play music. Lunch at the Club with them was fun. I'm very pleased with how much they admire each other. To make a relationship work the couple must both admire and desire each other; that's my  theory anyway.
Next was eight former strangers -- friends of Bennett. He and Harriet threw a catered party at the Club for  more than twice that number and needed another boat for the pre-party sail ride.
Each of my guests took the helm and I tried to teach them what I know about sailing. The wind was not great, but the best of the three days. Enough to move the boat so that the 95+ degree heat was not oppressive. Nice people. Bennett told me that they had given me good grades for my efforts.

If I had charged a fee, I would have been in violation of the law (and perhaps my insurance contract too), but I've never charged a fee and intend never to do so. I later attended much of the after-sail party, in part because our apartment was filled with over a dozen cast and crew for twelve hours for the filming of a movie version of the one act play that Lene was in this spring. The play was good and the movie, perhaps ten minutes, will be even better. Stay tuned!
The third attempt to sail was with the Old Salts, on Bennett's Ohana. Only two hours in the worst air of the three tries, zero wind really, so while the sails went out, it was all motor all the time. Though it was only in the mid 80's, it felt to be the hottest day of the three. I hardly stayed for the after sail refreshments; I was so wrung out by the heat. I thought to go over to ILENE and do some work but nah.
Four work days in this time period, but short ones because of the heat. A total of only 9.5 hours plus three more hours of work by Lene on one of the days -- her annual interior spring cleaning. I also glued the top and bottom of the refrigerator lid to each other, which was a three stage process: first the major part of holding the two pieces together, then filling in the seam neatly and finally scraping off the excess silicone sealant. The good news: it fits and the six hinge screws fit too. I also sewed a barrier across the aft two inches of the zipper atop the stack pack that encloses the main sail when it is not in use. I saw a broken tang back there and sewed to avoid having to replace the whole zipper AGAIN, by preventing the slider from getting back to the broken part. I was able to put back the access cover in the ceiling of the aft cabin, which had been removed to gain access during the stanchion replacement. One thing not done yet is installation of the new anchor roller on the bow. I need a calm day to work on it from the dinghy under the bow. So far it was either too hot or, on the last day, too windy; Id have liked to sailed in that wind, but stowing a lot of stuff and cleaning was the plan of the day.
It looked like no other Harlem boat would able to get away for the Club Cruise this year. Not that Lene and I need other boats to go sailing with, but companionship is always good and it is a great way to make new friends; and it is really not a "Club Cruise" unless two or more boats from the club participate. I sent out an email that if no one else came along, we would abandon the itinerary we had created. But Huck and Cindi on "Miraval," their Pearson 36, will be joining us, and later during our six weeks we will try to rendezvous with Franklin and Esther on their Caliber 36, "Estica".
A few more things to bring from home plus the kitties and then provisioning of perishables are the only things left that need to be done.  I expect the next post to be sent from the cruise.

July 9-15 -- Three Work Days and Two Sails, Including a Great One.

The work days added up to fifteen hours plus five more by the saintly Pat who knows how to do things and whose generosity toward me was beyond belief.  I was also visited by our rigger, Jeff, who installed the new radar reflector and a new VHF masthead antenna to replace this one -- which he thought had been fried by lightning --, inspected everything, and told me to buy three new halyards and new rope clutches. So his expert service fee will be the least of the expenses associated with his visit.
The primary accomplishment of most of this time (yes, a couple of hours was expended looking for misplaced things, and cleaning) was the completion of the re-installation of the new stanchions and lifelines. The most recent blogpost described how I got ILENE to the dock, sat on it and drilled out the bolt, holding the bent stanchion. Well, not quite straight or clean. The casting which is the base for the stanchion has a groove that fits atop the vertical part of the toe rail. So the hole is discontinuous, first through the part of the casting outside the toe rail and later, the part inside. And we ended with a 5/8" hole that slanted downward diagonally a bit.  What we did, Pat's idea, was fill both holes with JB Weld stick: Pat cut off a piece, I kneaded it to mix the black center with the grey outside of this two part epoxy and pushed it into place using thin plastic scrapers that Pat had brought. Then he scraped off the excess and I washed the residue off my hands with soap and water and waited an hour for it to cure. Meanwhile he set up his huge full sized drill press that he had brought from his home shop and we clamped the casting in the perfect position and drilled a hole, starting with a small bit and increasing to 7/32". Meanwhile I borrowed a 1/4" by 20 thread tapper and its handle from Buddy's, the island's hardware store. Karl, at Buddy's said it was free but I felt better giving his $3 anyway. Let's hear it for Buddy's!
But we then had to go to the boat to measure and mark the place for the 3/8" holes, one on the side of each stanchion where the threaded top of the diagonal brace screws in, and to dry fit and then, after removal and liberal application of Boat Life caulking so water will not drip down into the boat, secure attachment of the newly drilled aft stanchion base. Pat did the hard part, on the inside of the boat, feeling where he could not see to fit the bolts onto the nuts and then hold them in place with a wrench while I screwed the bolts tight from topsides. Then a lot of acetone to get the caulk off hands, tools and boat.

Next day I put it all together, except that the flat "foot" of the diagonal, bracing rod, while attached to the flat part of the toe rail, was not securely flush down to it.  I was now working alone again, thanks, Pat, and the slowness of my work gave me time to think. And the solution applied the day after that was to back some of the tread out of the new 3/8" hole at the top of the diagonal, making it "longer" so its foot met the "ground". And, following Pat's advice, I had obtained a Number 3 (big) Phillips head screwdriver bit, which I fit into the ratchet wrench and slowly pulled the foot down to the ground. DONE!

Hold on a minute pardner! Next step is to insert the new lifelines that I had paid Defenders to make up to match the length of the old ones that I had kinked in the summer of 2016 in Hyannisport. Defenders is a very reliable and responsible discount vendor of all things for boats and I have bought many things from them and will continue to do so. The lower lifeline fit, fine but the upper, inexplicably, was a bit too long!!  After the fitting at its aft end was attached to the aft stanchion and the wire\was run through the holes at the top of each other stanchion going forward, the piece has a threaded rod. So does the piece hanging from the aft end of the pulpit. By threading those two threaded rods into a turnbuckle and turning it, those ends are pulled together, stretching out the wire to the desired tightness.  Nuts on the threaded rods are then tightened against the turnbuckle's ends n to prevent it from turning and loosening. But when I had turned the turnbuckle as far as it would go -- so that the two ends of the threaded rods had met and blocked each other from being tightened further, the wire still had some small loops in it. By the next day I had figured out what to do. Using the cutting wheel of the Dremel tool (a tiny hand held electric drill which does the work slowly without pressure) I cut about 3/4" off the end of each threaded rod and then used a different bit to round off the threads at the ends of those rods. Then the test fit, and it fit, nice and tight! [Add pic of turnbuckle.]
[Preview of the next job: the lid of the refrigerator box is about 4" thick, with a top surface and a bottom one, enclosing about 3" of styrofoam like material. It really provides great insulation to keep the contents of the refrigerator cold. But the top and bottom have come unglued, hence the next job. Stay tuned!]
And of course all work and no play makes Roger a dull boy, assuming a 76 year old man can still call himself a boy.  I've seen a meme recently: picture of a boy and his mom. Boy: "When I grow up I want to be a sailor!"  Mom: "Well son, you have to chose; you can't have both."
In any event, we had five Old Salts, including Mark, of "Deuce of Hearts" and Morty, Peggy and Sarah on ILENE on Wednesday. We were underway for about 2.5 hours but didn't get very far.  Light wind continued to curse us. We did get to 3.4 knots for a few seconds but the sailing was quite unsatisfying, compensated for by the good company. Five more folks who had sailed on Ohana came over for the refreshments.
The great sail took place late on Sunday, with winds out of the north of up to ten to twelve knots but no waves, just about perfect conditions.

Lene and I and Bennett and Harriet (and Milo, contented on her lap) made it out to the American Yacht Club on Peningo Neck in Rye for dinner and then back. That club is very posh and the dinner buffet (including the "service charge" because we were not members) and tax and tip was $60 per person. But the food was truly excellent and varied. This is still a club which refuses to touch money: they mail a bill to the Harlem, which notifies us of the charge; we pay the Harlem and then our club pays them. Quaint, in the internet age and it uses four postage stamps and involves a big delay, but that is how they like to do it. A funny thing happened while we were taking the free mooring they assigned us: Bennett lost a sneaker overboard and we failed to snag it with the boat hook on several attempts until it got too close to the rocks to continue trying. And this is a club that requires collared shirts (I was lucky enough to have one aboard). So bare feet, even in the outdoor patio dining room with its magnificent view of the Sound, would not do. We borrowed a pair of sandals that that had been left at the dock house and entered, but soon the owner came in to get them. As a result, for the buffet, Bennett and I switched back and forth using my sandals to get plates from the buffet.
We left the Harlem at about three-thirty and after two hours ashore, got back onto our mooring just before the last glimmer of the sun, which had set, was replaced by the light of the near full moon. We used the small jib on the way out and with slightly lower wind, the genoa on the way back. We averaged close to seven knots and touched eight. This was one of those few days a season when we are reminded why we like to sail. Here is the sun setting with new Rochelle to the right, followed by the same, rounding Belden Point and headed for home a while later.

July 1-8 -- It's The Second Half of the Year with Light Wind, High Heat and Eight Days of Boating Activity

It amazes me how quickly the first half of 2019 has gotten past us; whoosh! It has been quite hot here, with light wind. But four of the eight were sailing days. In each case we rarely achieved five knots, but being out on the water underway made it cooler than on land.
First, was with Tom and Marie, friends who Lene and I met on a bus tour of National Parks out west a few years ago. Dinner at Artie's because the Club restaurant is closed on Tuesdays.

Second, was with the Old Salts. I was one of fourteen, probably not a record number but I can't recall that many folks.  I sailed aboard Ohana and I suggested that the jib halyard be raised two inches to get the wrinkles out of the headsail's luff and tightened the lines holding the dink on its davits to snug it against the rear pulpit to prevent potentially dangerous swinging. Refreshments were aboard Deuce of hearts.

Third, was with Mendy. I taught him the location, color, purpose of proper handling of all of ILENE's 19 sail control lines. I had never counted them up before. And at the end I drew diagrams for home study. Photos would be better. We got a mile past the Whitestone Bridge before heading back. Mendy  had the helm most of the way. And after our return me met Lene at the subway and drove with Mendy to Bennett and Harriet's house for a BBQ. Mendy's Dad, Ken, joined us there in admiring the koi pond, swimming in the pool and playing ping pong before dinner and a board game after.

Fourth, was with Lene, her actress friend Sacha ( who has sailed with us before) and Sacha's mother, Irina, a first time sailor.  My error, no harm done, was inattentiveness while auto steered. We passed, by only about fifteen feet, past a floating fishing boat. Way too close. "Where did HE come from?!" All told, about 15.5 hours off the mooring, and not exciting sailing due to the lack of wind, but good times with friends.
And three work days, for a total of 14.5 hours. The first, was mostly a trip to the City Island fuel dock, about 90 percent of the way around the island counterclockwise, for 35 gallons of diesel in the starboard fill (empty) fuel tank. The biggest bill I ever paid at a gas station at $4.11 per gallon. I did put out the small jib on the way back for a while, but I can't count this as a sailing day. And I poured almost half a gallon of distilled water into the 24 ports of ILENE's seven batteries to top them off.
The third work day involved three primary tasks.
1. Changing the zinc in the refrigerator's salt water cooled condenser. I wasted a lot of time looking for the replacement zinc in the life-raft locker but found two rusty tools there that I cleaned up, oiled and stored in plastic, and cleaned out the dust and dirt that had accumulated in that locker. (The zinc was in the second place I looked, a small drawer in the aft compartment.) I have to remember, for next year, that the zinc change should be done with Lene's help. That way I could have avoided squeezing myself into the awkward space aft of the engine -- four times. She could have taken the yogurt containers full of seawater that drain from the condenser once the sea cock is shut off and the zinc removed, and brought me the plumbers tape which I forgot.
2.  I motored port side to the Club's dock, and used the recently recharged electric drill to drill out the bolt holding the port aft-gate stanchion in place. This picture shows the significant bend just above where the stanchion goes into the base.

Nothing is ever easy and I used the dentists pick and the miniature curved needle nose pliers to get the head of the broken bit and the remnant of the bolt out of the hole. And the old bolt and its hole were 1/4" diameter while, when I shop for the new one, it has to be 5/8". But now with the help of Bob and Pat, we will get the port lifeline back into place. Pat suggested using JB Weld, a glue that hardens like steel, to fill the 5/8" hole and then drilling out a new clean 1/4" hole through it. This shows the toe rail with the stanchion that was broken off removed from the base to the right and the base removed on the left.

3. And at the dock, I both pumped the port fresh water tank dry and refilled it, and gave ILENE her first bath of the season.
The eighth day was the Club's annual Fourth of July BBQ, with all the trimmings. Mendy went with me. It is an all you can eat affair and I fear that Anne, our caterer, did not make a profit on him.

In about three weeks our cruise to Rhode Island will begin. That state has 27 anchorages and ports with water deep enough (and located seaward of low bridges) that ILENE can visit and I have only been to ten of them - so far. A challenge!