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

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

It was a day made for sailing. We had plenty of time to go 17 miles and sailed the distance in light wind. Too often we cruisers have miles to go and do the math to conclude that at the speed over ground that the wind will give us, we cant get from here to there before dark without a motor assist. But today we put up sails before clearing Charles Island and headed south, close hauled on starboard, across the Sound, only about ten degrees off the rhumb line to the way point. Then tacked and sailed over Misery Shoal to the mouth of the inlet. Anchored is 22 feet of water at near high tide with northerlies of only ten knots expected tonight on 80 feet of snubbed chain. But it is near dead calm.

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

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HYC Cruise Day 8 August 1 Block Island RI to Stonington CT 18 6 Miles

Ohana left Block first, at about 7:30, after fueling up at Champlins dock, where he had to slither into a relatively short space between two megayachts on the fuel pier. He is heading as far west as he could get today, but later advised that he would not stop before City Island where he will arrive tomorrow. Sunset from Ohana.

ILENE left next, at 8, after raising and securing the dink, Again, the mooring painter hardly had time to get wet before the next boater picked it up. Today was a good sailing day, we put up full sails immediately after leaving Blocks channel and sailed all the way into Stonington on a port tack. Not a white knuckle speed day, what with ILENEs dirty bottom (Barnacle Buster didnt get to us before the cruise) but speeds between four and six knots depending on the wind. We picked up a mooring from Dodsons at noon and spent a few hours aboard before going ashore to tour the land. This is my first time here that coincided with the annual "Stonington Day" festival -- a lot of craft booths on the green. Long hot showers at Dodsons.

We heard True North call the Yacht Club, where Blast is also now, on outside berths. I had mentioned how packed in the boats were at Paynes Dock in Block. Ernie provided this photo. This is way too close!

We took Dodsons free launch from shore to the YC for dinner with a stop at this "cruise ship" out of Mystic in the harbor where its guests embarked her.

Also joining the cruise and on a mooring is "No News", Ken and Camilles Nonesuch, They are active cruisers but this is No News first Harlem Cruise and they love the extra room their new boat has. They will detach tomorrow and join us again in Centerport.

Dinner for ten at a big round table at the Yacht Club [photo on PC Martys camera will be added here later] was delicious and long. We just sat around telling stories long after the foood was gone.

On the walk back to Dodsons to get the launch to our boats we showed Ken and Camille the location of the 24 hour, freshly caught fish store, with payment of the marked prices by the honor system. But it was closed, sadly an apparent victim of lack of honor.

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HYC Cruise Days 11 and 12 August 4 and 5 Westbrook CT to Milford CT and Lay Day There 19 Miles

 I had a bit of trouble backing ILENEs stern to starboard in order to get off the Westbrook dock; bit more wind than I had thought, but no harm done. ILENE motor sailed south, past the east side of Duck Island before tacking to the west. I had hoped to clear east of Fishers Island and its shoals on their south side, but there was too much west in the SW, and we had to clear that obstacle on its north side before tacking south again. This time Lene intelligently pointed out that the wind was too light to make the sailing part of motor sailing worth the game and so after a bit more, we headed west, just on the edge of being able to sail. So it was a motoring day until the last fifteen minutes, when the wind came more southerly and we close reached with the engine at idle speed.

North Star had passed us early, much closer to shore, and we were assigned a slip very near her. But a failure of communications and Lene commenced the turn to port into the slip too late. We missed the assigned slip and were floating sideways, north, to the shallow end of the Milford Landing Marina. Not a problem. North Star and ILENE were the only boats in the marina (two more came in the next day) so we just pulled in to number 13 instead of number 7. Perils of Pauline!
Underway from 9:45 to 2:45.

Next up was a party with North Star and Stu and Barbara, who came by car from Westport. We had a big round table with six chairs in a shady public spot, lots of food and wine, and the enjoyment of renewing old friendships. It was one of the high points of this cruise, in my opinion. Bruce and Stu are Past Commodores and senior to me in the Club and I joined in 1990. Everyone present except Lene and Barbara knew Stus late wife, Deena. And everyone except possibly Barbara knew my ex, Dorothy. So we all go back a ways but never fail to enjoy retelling old stories of funny and exciting moments from past cruises. This is not to say that newbie cruisers would be unwelcome. Indeed, they would be most welcome.

 
Another quiet night, but from a side port, when I went to the head at midnight, I saw the visuals of a big thunderstorm over Long Island. Too far to be heard, but quite the light show.

During the lay day, we had more visitors by car. Joan and Jerry drove up and had lobster rolls for lunch at the Milford YC with Bruce and Diane. Lene got a haircut in the AM, and we had lunch with a classmate of hers from Lincoln HS at a local eatery before I gave ILENEs top sides a thorough scrubbing. Dinner aboard.

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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 others 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,

Gregs 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 boats 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 ILENEs 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 ILENEs 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 Lenes cousins 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 dont 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 Clubs 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 Marylands 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 Nicks 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. Nicks 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. Lenes attitude is really great. She is cheerful, positive, determined and optimistic. She knows that worry does one no good. NYUs Langone Medical Center is a world class hospital and she has excellent doctors. Stay tuned!

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August 10 to 24 Not Much Sailing

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

Lene, Lianne, Ellen and Rudy

Then came Lenes 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. Ill 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 Barrons 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 80s,  and while Alfreds 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 Angelas "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 Clubs 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 ILENEs 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 boats 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.

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August 20 to 29 One Goofed Up Day and Five Day Sails 23 75 Hours

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

Sue and Seth

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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HYC Cruise Day 16 August 9 Northport LI to City Island NY 25 6 Miles

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

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

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

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HYC Cruise Day 9 Sunday August 2 Stonington CT to Westbrook CT 29 Miles

ILENE got underway at about 9 am, half an hour before Ohana was arriving back at City Island. After a few hours of sailing, it was motor sailing the rest of the way for Ohana.  The wind was too light for ILENE to sail as well, and what apparent wind there was came directly in our faces. So ILENEs main was up but just to prevent rocking.
We passed a green 30 foot sloop with sails up, headed east, going nowhere, with Towboat US and the Stonington Police at her side. Later we heard that the owner had reported a slow leak and the Coast Guard demanded slow speeds from passing boats and discussed with TowboatUS that they were having trouble finding a facility willing to take responsibility for the boat.
The tide was very strong and favorable for the best part of the trip and ILENE got into the Brewers dock in Brewers Pilot Point Marina at Westbrook at 1:15.
The only other Harlem boats here are Blast and North Star, which both passed us. Not a good photo, sorry,  but they were going too fast for my camera to warm up!

I have learned that North Star is a "Rhode Island Lobster Boat", not that any lobster boat has ever had such elegance, but she is based on the lines of such a working boat.
 We all said goodbye to Marty and Ghennie who have departed for home from Blast, picked up by daughter Darrah with two of the grandkids.
This Brewers marina is pricey, $4 per foot, but friendly and efficient with lots of extra services such as free wifi, free electricity, a nice pool, courtesy car rides and free propane for the community barbecue grills.
I got a ride  to West Marine to get a replacement halyard for ILENEs burgee while Lene shopped for provisions.
I then tested out the pool. Dinner involved shared foods grilled on the barbi.

Camille, Dianne, Bruce, Lene, Ernie and your Fleet Captain, as photographer; we are down to six but reinforcements are on the way!

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

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

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

Dinner at the Club was again excellent.

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

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

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August 25 to September 10 Getting Ready to Cruise

Well the Labor Day weekend was spent in the Berkshires, welcoming Liannes 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 lets 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 Mendys 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 wont 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 ones 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 Lenes 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 Peters 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 Bennetts 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.

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