February 21 -- Expedition to The Noble Maritime Collection at Snug Harbor, Staten Island

I named this event the "HYC's Fifth Anualish, Dead-of-Winter, Out-of-Clubhouse, Maritime-Related, Educational, Social and Dining Excursion." A wordy but accurate description -- like much of the writing in this blog I'm afraid.

 All told, sixteen folks turned out to visit the history and art museum and thirteen of them stayed for lunch at Blue Restaurant, five blocks away, overlooking the Kill van Kull. All but two who drove, came to The Battery by car, train and/or subway, and proceeded from there by ferry and bus to the Snug Harbor grounds. There were about equal numbers of Harlemites and Corinthians. I flew both burgees, as it were.
Snug Harbor was a retirement community for worn out destitute sailors established, about 180 years ago, by Robert Richard Randall. He had made his fortune as a privateer, first for the British, in the French and Indian War, and later, against the British in our Revolutionary War. Ship Captain/Owners were the entrepreneurs of their day, engaged in a high risk/high reward business; especially privateers who worked as government approved pirates! Randall made his fortune from the sea and sought to pay it back by donating the land and a huge endowment to help needy old seamen. He also provided the barge in which George Washington was ferried from New Jersey to New York City for his first inauguration.  And Alexander Hamilton, Esq., pictured here, is reputed to have drafted Randall's will. Randall is buried under a monolith inside the entrance to the grounds. Fifty yards away is a statue of him by Saint-Gaudens. The place has lovely gardens, but that is for a summer visit, when we'd rather be sailing.

Our primary docent, was Dawn, the Center's Assistant Director. She filled our heads with history. She told us of the gallant lady who, for 35 years, was the keeper of Robbins Reef  Light, which we passed on our ferry rides between the boroughs. Her organization acquired and restored the light. Dawn wants to use s/v ILENE as an anchored party boat near that light, to which the museum would bring a caterer and as many folks as we can handle, via  their work boat, used as a launch. Sounds like fun for the summer of 2017, when we will have more availability. Dawn is willing to wait until then, though I've told her that a big trawler would permit her to accommodate many more people. I have to check the depth there on the charts to make sure it can be done safely. Lots of time to work out details.

Dawn speaking to us.




There is a lot of art in the building and I liked these two showing heavy weather and its effects.

A brilliant model of the battleship USS Alabama, BB8, which was part of the Great White Fleet that Teddy "Speak softly but carry a big stick" Roosevelt sent around the world as a good will gesture and as a show of our nation's ability to project naval power. Its placarding was missing its draft, beam and length so I looked up these specification and sent them to Dawn.

Below is the only true City Island item I found in the collection: a name board from the ferry that used to take prisoners and guards between City Island and Hart Island, though, as you can see, it was then called "Hart's Island".

And here is a model of the Bremen, on which my Dad immigrated to the U.S. in the 1930's.

The excursion was particularly poignant for one of the Corinthians whose great grandfather  had lived at Snug Harbor when retired, one of as many as a thousand residents when the place was in full operation. He is buried in its cemetery. An interesting part of the exhibit is devoted to showing what life was life for The Snugs, as residents called themselves -- a life of dignity.
When every one's head was stuffed with learning, we nourished our bodies at Blue Restaurant with a delicious luncheon and then retraced our path, and our wake, back to the Battery.
Corinthians and Harlemites:

A full fun day. The weatherman cooperated nicely with temperatures in the low 50's. I even was able to turn it into a fund raiser (for the Harlem), by marking up the admission to the Noble Maritime Collection.

Harlemite Dave informed us of a lecture about the history of the Sandy Hook Pilot's Association given at the American Lighthouse Museum, close aboard the Staten Island ferry dock. The timing was such that we could have enjoyed it on our way back, but we had all already enjoyed a full day and passed it by.

Feb 3 to 20 -- A Cocktail Party and a Day of a Little Boat Work and an Open House

Did I ever mention that I'm a Corinthian? One of that word's  definitions is "amateur". The Corinthians is a paper Yacht Club. A Paper Yacht Club?  Yes: no club house nor mooring field or docks, so members must keep their boats elsewhere, such as at the Harlem.  They run cruises, races, educational events and parties. What's not to like? Actually, with the Internet, it's more an electronic club these days than based on paper to notify members of events.

A cocktail party was announced at Rodney and Genie's apartment, on Park Avenue in the 80's. We were available so we signed up. We had not known our hosts before, but we learned that their eight month summer home is in Essex CT and they have sailed with Bob, whose "Pandora" I sailed to Hampton VA in October. Small world, the cruising community. (Bob is now heading for Cuba, see sailpandora, and has asked me to join him again for the north bound trip from Florida to Connecticut -- one non-stop passage -- in May; my only hesitation is whether I can find a ten day block of time then.) Meanwhile, here in New York, we enjoyed our hosts' lovely and elegant apartment, some wine, some nibbles and most of all, the company, which included some others I had not known and several people we did know from prior events, such as Harlemite CJ, with whom we sailed with L'Hermione on NY Harbor last Fourth of July and Boo, of City Island, a historian of the area. It was mostly a telling of sea stories and plans for future sailing adventures.

Also present was Larry, an officer of the club who lives near us in Greenwich Village and is responsible for organizing social and educational events for the metro area chapter. Lene and I got to thinking and I invited all present (and via email, all the rest of the Corinthians) to join the upcoming expedition to the Noble Maritime Collection at the Snug Harbor on Staten Island.

My work on the boat was on a rare warm day, brief (only about 2.5 hours) and not a lot got accomplished. The newly re-galvanized chain was slid from the SUV's trunk to a dock cart and dragged to a point under ILENE's bow, for hoisting up on deck. But so much zinc was galvanized to it that some of the links had to be hammered to break them apart. Then, most of it got hauled up over the remaining bow roller, onto the bow.  I also pumped about ten gallons of icy dirty fresh water from the bilge into buckets and threw it off the swim platform. During all this, the battery charger was working to make sure those important cells maintained high voltage. The top hinge holding the door of the aft head had somehow gotten loose and is now tight. Some searches were conducted, alas, unsuccessfully. The Mifi receiver  has not been located yet. I'll keep trying. One of the "collets", tiny crescent shaped pieces of metal that hold the pieces of a winch together, was missing at home when I cleaned the other parts there. I assumed I had left it on the boat so I conducted a thorough search. But it's gone, so I have to buy another, make that two, just in case.
Then a quick change into better and cleaner clothing and I participated in an open house for prospective new members at the Harlem. Remember that we went to the Boat Show to try to locate prospective members to invite? Well this was the second half of the process and I met a few nice folks, gave them a tour, told them of our history, how things work and our rules. The other half of the fun of such events was sharing some wine and cheeses and crackers with old friends from the Club. We do not see much of each other in the winter. But spring will be here soon.

Jan 17 to Feb 2 -- One Work Day and a Visit to Oregon

It has been cold in New York, not conducive to boat work. But we had a 26" snowfall so I thought I better get out to the boat the next day to try to shove the snow off the canvas cover to prevent it tearing under that big load. The streets were clear and light traffic made getting to the Huguenot easy. The hardest part was wading through the snow from the car to the boat through drifts more than 26" deep. The wind that had delivered the snow had also blown almost all of it off the cover. Just a bit was left, on both sides, forward of the mast. Easy. But I was there, so I took off the starboard coach roof winch, except for the central core, which has not budged. That one will require me either to reread the manual again and/or to enlist the help of Ed. I wrapped the parts in plastic and scrubbed off the old caked-on grease at home, where it was warm. Only an hour at the boat, and four total.
The Oregon trip was to hang with family and friends, which is great, but I missed out on some warm days back east.
I had a free day and visited the Oregon Historical Society, which has a museum. They displayed a collection of propaganda posters published in WWI and WWII. This image, of  action at sea was arresting.

But the primary purpose of the trip was friends and family. Here are family: Mario, Sharyn and Alexandra. I stayed in their lovely home in Lake Oswego. Alexandra helmed ILENE out of Provincetown MA in June 2013.

And friends: Meridel and Judy, who sailed with us aboard ILENE for a few days in the Turks and Caicos in the early spring of 2012.

January 1 - 16 -- New York Boat Show and One Work Day

This was a really crappy boat show, for sailors -- not even one sailing dinghy! It was purely a power boat show and even the large vendors of electronics and other chandlery supplies had given this show a pass. But the Club manned a booth. Like most clubs, we need new members and use the show to strike up conversations, invite the prospects to an open house and permit the Club, with it's great location, it's facilities and its friendly members to sell itself. Last winter I was in Florida  and not able to help. So I volunteered for a double shift - noon to nine. I used New York City's newest, one month old, extension of the number 7 line from Grand Central Station to get to a new station, a block from the Javits Convention Center -- at Eleventh Avenue and 34th Street. The show was not in the large southern pavilion of the Center as in the past, but in its central pavilion.

Peter, our Rear Commodore, who has a ton of leadership ability and energy, worked with me the first half, replaced by Phillip, our Race Chairman and Jill at around 4:30.  In these shows we always have more than one person at our booth so everyone an get relief periods to eat and explore the show a bit. PC Art was working on the other side of the hall, selling power yachts, but came over to say hello, and Bill, our Board Member responsible for the Restaurant and Bar, helped for a while too.

                                Bill, me, Jill and Phillip at the booth.
And while there was a long line of folks waiting to be let in at noon, the crowd had thinned so I was released at 8 p.m.

One of the only two things I did for ILENE at the show was to figure out how to send our EPIRB out for a battery replacement, after five years in readiness - which I call use. This being the toy that alerts the Coast Guard to come rescue us, we are fortunate not to have actually "used" it. And it's the kind of thing you want to have a nice strong battery, in case. I have to send it off in time to get it back before we leave for Nova Scotia in June. The other thing was to contract for the installation of a faux teak deck to be measured, cut and installed on the swim platform. This area is quite small and rather ratty looking and I figured out how to install it by removing the folding retractable swim ladder and reinstalling it atop the new decking.

The reasons for only one day of boat work during this period were first that my back had gone out a bit and second that winter has indeed finally arrived in New York. But the one warm day I worked with mechanic Ed, for six hours. That's twelve man hours. The results: both it ILENE's two large "primary" winches were disassembled, all parts had all old grease scraped off and then scrubbed with a toothbrush in a bucket with paint thinner to get what couldn't be scraped. Once clean, the parts were dried, regreased and reassembled. The book says this should be done annually! After 17 years, the last five with heavy use, these workhorses were overdue for the TLC they got. The other two winches that I'm going to do are those on the coach roof. (I don't think I have to do the fifth winch, the one on the mast, because it gets so very little use.) The next two are smaller and with the benefit of our learning curve, should not take as long.  Having learned a lot from watching Ed, I'm thinking of trying to do these myself, taking off the parts and cleaning them in an indoor location. Then will come the steering and some electrical work, with Ed.
And here is a picture of ILENE's mate, just cause I like looking at her.

An Invitation From Halifax

The following intriguing comment was posted in response to the most recent posting on this blog:

    "Hi. I am a long time reader of your blog and enjoy it very much.
      I see you are planning to visit Nova Scotia this year and would
      like to invite you to visit Armdale YC in Halifax NS. Anonymous"

Well:
Ahoy Dear Mr. or Ms. Anonymous,
          First, I am grateful for your readership and your praise. I am always interested in how people discover my blog and what they like about it -- and dislike.
          Lene and I are pleased to accept your invitation. (The kitties have no say in the matter.) I looked at the Armdale's website and it looks like a very nice club.
We would like to meet you, because the best part of such an invitation would be the opportunity to speak with real Canadians, especially ones who sail.
           I'm trying to figure out how we can get in communications beforehand without one or the other of us posting his or phone number or email in the blog. Here is my plan: I could send an email to someone on the Committee of Management of your Club, who you would designate by his title.I would send my information to this individual at his or her club email address, not personal email address. You would alert that officials to expect such and ask him to forward it to you. Sound like a plan? Or you could send your info to secretary@hyc.org asking her to forward it to Roger.
         Our current plans would get us to Halifax sometime in July and I will have a better fix on the date as it gets closer.
         We visited your city for a day from a big 2000 passenger cruise line (it was simultaneous with the destruction of New Orleans by hurricane) and saw the maritime museum and the big fort atop the hill. We learned of the history of your city and the aid it gave to survivors of the Titanic and the explosion. This was before I had started the blog.
Best wishes,
Roger

December 25 -31 -- Final Work Day and 2015 ROUNDUP -- A Great Year!

I had planned on more than one final work day before the end of the year, what with such good warm weather so late this year but a wrenched back put the end to that. The last work day was devoted to the cabin sole. I want to check out how good the pieces I have done look, before committing to do the rest. I have been doing the bottom side of this flooring to encapsulate the wood in plastic to avoid a softer surface on which mildew could potentially grow, not that mildew has been a problem for ILENE.

Another non-boat day for calling Dave to make an appointment for January to work with me on cleaning and lubricating the winches and steering gear and fixing some pesky wires that no longer transmit sound to the cockpit speakers, etc. And then I had to figure out what parts and supplies I need for these jobs which involves a lot of calling and computer searching before ordering. But the non-boat water relatedday involved some play too: While my two favorite ladies, ILENE the boat and Lene, her mate, are thoroughly land locked on the hard in New York in late December, I had fun with Dames at Sea:

And while laid up resting the lumbar-sacral region I have been reading this month's selection of my book group (all right, it was my suggestion): Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea". So avid readers may expect another book report soon.

So what can I say about 2015. I sure got a grand dose of sailing and boating related activities - a lot of water under our keel. It was a very satisfying year, the year that my beloved Lene finally lost her ability to continue to claim "I'm really not a sailor.".
We began the year in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to which we returned on March 5, after a lovely multi-stop visit to Key West Florida and 20 miles past that. Next were a lot of great passages and ports until we got back to the Harlem on May 26, the 146th day of this calendar year. Also: a two day trip down to Gravesend Bay to sail with L'Hermione, 17 days on the Club Cruise to Block Island, five days with Bob on s/v Pandora from The Connecticut River around Montauk Point to Hampton Virginia and 22 additional days of day sailing from our mooring and back for a total of 190 sailing or living days. My career high total, and possibly a number that what with aging, may never be equaled or exceeded. And as they say in the infomercials: "But wait, there's more! Add on 21 days involving the water that are not related to living, sailing or working on a sailboat, and 25 work days on ILENE. (Or course, many of the cruising or living days also involved some boat maintenance and repair, but those are not counted as lowly work days.) So the grand total this year was 236! A goodly percentage of the 365 available. I have nothing to complain about.

The way I have looked at it, sailing is a social activity with much of the fun coming from sailing on other peoples' boats and inviting them onto ours. Most of the sailing days, including the first 146, were aboard ILENE. But 5 were on Pandora, 4 on Deuce of Hearts, 2 on Ohana and 1 on Pas de Deux, totaling 12 -- 178 out of the 190 were aboard ILENE.

Continuing my lifelong desire to share my boat with present and future friends, a total of 38 different people in addition to Lene sailed with me on ILENE, at least once day this year. Some sailed multiple times and others, not counted among the 38, did not sail, but came aboard for meals. Friends of mine, of Lene, from the Yacht Club, from our Synagogue, and from our condo.

And 2016, with a three month cruise to Nova Scotia as a goal, starts in a few hours. Before Nova Scotia comes after both a week with Bennett and Harriet (in whose home we will celebrate the New Year's arrival) on s/v On Eagles Wings in the Virgins in early April and a week with Lene's family on a cruise liner from Galveston Texas in the Gulf of Mexico in early June.

On the macro level, the world may be going to hell in a hand basket with democracy threatened by big money at home, climate change destroying the world, gun nuts (both domestic and foreign) running amuck, a certain redheaded egomaniacal reality show star trying to move us from love toward hate, educational standards low and sliding, etc. But all I can say is that focusing in on the micro level I am blessed to have such a great life. And I recognize and am very grateful for the bounty bestowed upon me and my family.

Deember 8-24 -- Slow Steady Progress But There Is a Lot Left To Do

Three visits to ILENE for a total of 14 hours during this period.  I lowered the chain from the boat to the ground, loaded it into a yard cart, and from there to a cardboard box in the cargo area of our mini SUV. An estimated 200 pounds, but easily movable, a few feet of links at a time. A few days later I drove to Jersey City and located Nicholas Galvanizing, in a thoroughly industrial area by the Hackensack River. Its staff slid the box off the back of my vehicle onto a wooden pallet to be moved by fork lift. The chain should be nice and shiny and protected for another 16 years soon after 2016 starts. While in Jersey I enjoyed a delicious, leisurely, Thai lunch in Berkely Heights with Jim, formerly of s/v "Aria", who is now sadly too disabled to sail. He gave me three excellent sailing books including Nigel Calder's maintenance bible.
On the first of my three boat visits I also took most of the three bladed feathering propeller off its shaft, to be sent to its manufacturer, PYI, on the west coast, for refurbishment. Before going, I watched PYI's how-to video -- four times -- took notes and called the company to speak to the demonstrator, three times. But he demonstrated the disassembly of a shiny new prop and the video left out some pre and post steps. The parts are held together with ten Allen Head bolts. These are locked in place with tiny cut-off half length cotter pins inserted through holes in the sides of their heads, which pins were encrusted in place with layers of paint. By use of the scraper, ice pick and needle nose pliers, the pins came out. Also, I knew that unlike his model, my prop was loaded with heavy grease because I had pumped it in each year through zirc fittings. So I had a lot of rags and paper towels and Fantastic to get the grease off and into a plastic bag. And after the end of the video, the prop's central hub has to be removed by first removing two rods that hold a locking bolt on the tail end of the shaft in place, unscrewing that bolt, which required no tools, and then sliding the hub aft, off the shaft. The bolt removal was accomplished during my second visit, and that is when I ran into a problem for want of a tool that costs several hundred dollars but that I needed to use only once: a prop puller. But I met with Fernando at the boat to plan a big job that he will do with me: sanding off and spraying on primer and two coats of Awlgrip paint to renew the dark blue decorative boot stripes around the boat, just above the water line. Fernando did excellent work in repairing ILENE's stainless steel and fiberglass which were damaged by a hit and run at the mooring one night in the fall of 2013. In addition to telling me that the bottom is not ready for barrier coating but requires thorough sanding, a lot of sanding, he put me onto the man who does the diving work and other work for many folks at the Huguenot, Brian McCauley, who was present and who has a prop puller. The job will take only ten minutes and of course I was prepared to pay for his services, but he said he would just leave the tool under ILENE, so I could do the job myself and would pick up his tool later -- at no cost! Thanks Brian!
On my third trip the tool was there but I had to loosen the Spurs line cutter to fit the forward end of this tool at the forward end of the hub. This required a spraying of penetrant and then heat from the heat gun, but was accomplished and then the puller did its job, easily. Here are the pieces of the prop, except the bolt, at home, awaiting shipping.

I have also taken out four of the smallest pieces of the cabin sole, and done two of them, the ones that collar the mast. I sanded them down on the sides to make them a bit smaller so they will fit better, let them dry thoroughly and applied two coats of spray-on low-gloss polyurethane to their sides and bottoms, to seal out water, which drips from the mast boot, making this a damp area, and finally, lightly sanded their top surfaces, and applied the plastic paint. It looks good, so I can now do the rest of the cabin sole, piece by piece.
Also, the new teak flagpole, to which I had previously applied many coats of varnish, is finally complete: I got a 5/16th inch Phillips head bolt and after first using the Dremel tool to grind a flat spot on the side of the chrome plated brass base into which that bolt goes to hold the pole in it, I drilled a hole through the base at that flat spot,  and into the wood. A snug fit resulted, but removable, so that the new flag will not get torn to shreds in storms. And pole and flag will not be blown away again, as the combination did during a windstorm in Fort Lauderdale last winter.

I had two other ashore days in addition to the day of the drive to New Jersey. One consisted of about six hours at home on the computer and phone. In addition to learning from PYI about the prop disassembly, I called three potential sites for this winter's Harlem winter excursion. The US Merchant Marine Academy's Museum at Kings Point, directly across Long Island Sound is not available this year. The other two candidates were the National Lighthouse Museum, a short walk from the ferry terminal, and the Noble Maritime Collection at the Sailor's Snug Harbor, about a ten minute bus ride from that terminal on Staten Island. After reading as much as I could and talking with all three places, I spent a day on Staten Island checking out both sites for that I have now called "The Harlem Yacht Club's Fifth Annual-ish Dead-of-Winter, Out-of-Clubhouse, Salt Watery/Maritime Learning/Social/Dining Excursion".  The Lighthouse Museum is planning a major expansion over the next couple of years so I decided to wait until it is complete. For 2016 The Noble Maritime Collection is the winner and the event is being offered with an additional attraction -- two optional free boat rides -- on the Staten Island Ferry! For those who prefer to drive, it requires getting to Long Island and then crossing the Verranzano Bridge with its $15 toll, though parking is free.
The Noble Maritime Collection is a little gem of a museum located on the site of the Sailors' Snug Harbor, formerly an old age home for destitute, family-less, worn-out seamen. The Snugs, as residents were called, were offered a comfortable somewhat spartan free ride. I have characterized it as a way station on their route from their life at sea to Fiddlers Green. Ciro, the Associate Director, opened the place for me on a weekday, when it is normally closed, so I could scope it out to describe it to the Harlemites. More on this place after Sunday, February 21, when the excursion is now scheduled. Ciro also put me onto Blue, a nice waterside (to the Kill van Kull) restaurant less than a quarter mile away, where the dining portion of our excursion will take place, at prices that are comparable to those at the Club's dining room.
I checked out my friend Bob's blog: SailPandora. When I left him in Hampton, VA he was excitedly planning his cruise to the Caribbean. But a delayed start due to weather and then possible mechanical problems early on the route to Tortola forced him to divert to Beaufort NC; he had lost the availability of his crew and the good weather and was compelled to change his destination to Florida and the Bahamas, where he has been the past two seasons. He did find friends to help him jump the boat from Beaufort to Florida and is now back in CT with Brenda and family before rejoining Pandora in the first days of 2016. As a man of my own passions, he likes to have new horizons in his sights. Currently he has an application pending with the US Government for a permit to visit Cuba. He is applying under the journalism category and has submitted his blog as the journal in question with the hope that the government reviewer of his application has a sense of humor, because he injects a lot of humor in his postings; would that I could be so witty. He also hopes that the reviewer is a sailor who can understand the difference between beating into the wind and letting it push you from behind; due to the prevailing winds being almost always from the east, he prefers a clockwise circumnavigation of Cuba, departing from the Bahamas and returning to Key West. However, the regulations seem to suggest that at a U.S. registered boat he can only visit Cuba leaving directly from a U.S. port, without a stop in another nation. I sure hope Bob's plans work out.

And speaking of plans, I also spent some time learning more about ILENE's proposed summer cruise to the Bras D'or Lakes at the NE end of Nova Scotia. The SCCA's journals include one account of a voyage to Nova Scotia from Mount Desert Island, Maine, in 2002. Old, but while the shoreside amenities may have changed, the waters and rocks do not change that fast. The 18 foot tides of the Bay of Fundy, which we experienced on our voyage to Eastport, Maine in 2013, do not extend to the ocean or Atlantic side of that Province, where six foot tides, comparable to those at the Harlem, prevail, I am told. And  the distance from Northeast Harbor in Mt. Desert Island to the check-in town in Nova Scotia is 165 nautical miles, which I compute as about 24 hours at 6.5 knots. So an overnight sail is in order. With tidal currents running swiftly around Nova Scotia's SE cape, it's a passage that has to be carefully timed and on a good weather day. I think we can get nearly a month in Nova Scotia between our scheduled arrival in Maine in late June and the beginning of the Corinthian cruise in Mt. Desert Island starting July 25. My mate is not yet totally committed to this summer float plan

(the other two crew members do not have votes) but I am continuing to plan for Nova Scotia and my gal usually comes around once she can see the fully thought out plan with enough safety lay days to avoid problems. Wish us luck, both Pandora and ILENE.