The Good Old Boat Redwing

Congrats to Tugster

2011-02-18T21:20:00.002-05:00

Tugster got a write-up in the Gray Lady herself!. You may recall Tugster from our very own LI Sail.

The Rudder

2011-01-01T23:06:00.002-05:00

The Rudder is one of those magazines you often see referenced, but never actually get to see. Well, Mystic Seaport has the entire first volume online and available for your viewing pleasure. I love the writing, the ads, and most of all, the pictures of schooners. I have Schooner Fever, baby, and the only prescription is more cowbell, uhm, I mean, more schooners.

And happy New Year, dear reader(s)!

you guys know about Shorpy?

2011-01-01T19:54:00.003-05:00

If you like cool, old images of, well, anything you can think of, really, you should check out Shorpy

"And always it has been the playground of the people."

2010-12-30T10:56:00.003-05:00

I was wondering around the library (I wonder what Hornblower books they have...I wonder what books they have on sailing...I wonder what books they have on the great sea battles of the Napoleonic wars - I'm halfway through the fourth book of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series) when I stumbled on a book called Huntington-Babylon Town History, published in 1937 (call no. 974.72 Hunt). What a great little book! I read through the settlement part of it - Dutch and English immigrants who wanted more space and so left "the city" of New Amsterdam, and later, of course, New York. Funny how after 400 years, people are still moving out here for the same reason.

So I read the beginning, skipped the middle, and then landed in the Babylon section. Pretty interesting reading: the land sections were divided, on the north and south shores, by the necks, as in Great and Little East and my own beloved Sumpwams; one of the first public buildings was a school that enrolled kids from West Islip and Babylon; and it seems like it'll be pretty easy to remember the history because all the street names come from these very settlers: Higbie, Cooper, Thompson, Litchfield, Ketcham, Eaton, Sammis, and so on. Later on I'll scan and upload the map that shows all the towns, the necks, and the LIRR lines.

And they have a section on the great Great South Bay and Beaches (I skipped the section on the establishment of the Life-Saving station on the Great South Beach):

"To estimate the value of the Great South Bay to the Town of Babylon is impossible. Safeguarded by the Great South Beach against the onset and force of the Atlantic's tides and gales, it yet furnished access to the sea for the boats which carried necessary freight and passenger traffic for the town in the days when railroads were not known on Long Island. And always it has been the playground of the people. In the late 1800s, when summer hotels and boarding houses flourished along its shores, their business was a source of income to the town; but the joy given by the multitudes of small boats, sail and motor, which traverse its waters each summer can not be reckoned in dollars...The Great South Beach, protecting the inner water ways, stretches from the west end of Long Island nearly to its end, broken at intervals along the way by inlets which are altered from time to time, by the action of winds and waters on its sands, as in 1862."

Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische

2010-12-28T21:57:00.004-05:00

This image, the Q of the 7th alphabet series, comes from Jessica Hische's site, which you should check out immediately!

2010-12-24T08:42:00.001-05:00

Gardiner’s and Peconic Bays froze solid at least a few times in the last century, such that foxes and deer were able to walk across the ice from one island or one mainland to the other. Large portions of the Great South Bay freeze over once every three or four winters, such that the iceboats come out and sail back and forth at speeds exceeding 20 miles per hour. The frozen tops of Noyac Bay and Three Mile Harbor have also been skimmed by iceboats several times in the last century.

24. an October run

2010-11-10T06:47:00.006-05:00

We popped out to see the sunset. We sailed southwest for about 30 minutes and then made 10 minute runs north, tacked and for another brisk upwind leg and then turned back for home with the sun setting over our left shoulder.

And we finally managed to get a shot of the osprey who lives on the creek. I think it's more of a second home, myself, because he is very irregular in his visiting habits.

23. crewing on Karma in the C&C 25 Regatta

2010-09-26T08:57:00.002-04:00

22. North Channel exploration

2010-09-26T08:56:00.002-04:00

Where have you been all my life!

I find the possibilities of this North Channel to be very exciting. How close to the lighthouse can I actually get? I mean, why aren't there a pack of boats just tied up underneath, hanging out, soaking in the view? Dinking to the beach for a walk around the lighthouse and to the ocean?

21.

2010-09-03T19:44:00.001-04:00

A better breeze!

Out to 9 and back.

20. Alli and the Light Breezes

2010-09-03T17:09:00.003-04:00

If tonight's sail was a band it's name would be Alli and the Light Breezes.

We sailed down

and out

of the creek,

slowly,

made it to the imaginary line

that runs from the point of the pool at one end

to the yacht club on the other,

which I guess is where Babylon Cove

turns into the Great South Bay.

19. aboard Ceol na Mara

2010-09-03T17:08:00.001-04:00

Aunt Carol's visit:

18. Oak Island Lee Fail

2010-08-21T18:46:00.003-04:00

Sometimes I think I'm pretty salty. Or at least, a little bit salty: like when our starter failed during a committee assignment and we picked up the marks and got back into the slip all under sail.

But I also know that True Saltiness is like being Truly Content, a goal ne'er to be reached, only approached.

But there are (many) other times when I feel like a total dope; like today, for example, when we tried to get to get to the Oak Island Lee, or the lee of Oak Island. We failed for the following reasons (pick one): A) it was a low-but-incoming tide and a mostly-following/east wind, we were in a narrow channel and we have a deep keel, or, in other words, I'm a chicken; B) I got a little lost and I wasn't sure how far down the channel to go to get to the lee, or, in other words, I'm a chicken; and C) in a spot of bad timing, I set the anchor to get my bearings right in the backyard of a guy who heckled us: "you're in a channel," and "are you in trouble," and "you can't anchor here" and so on until down the channel comes what had to have been almost the whole LI Power Squadron Rendezvous.

So we turned around and motored back out (Trying to avoid the spot where we went aground, did I mention that? No? Weird.) and went for a sail.

Next time we go, we go with a guide or at least with a more friendly wind.

17.

2010-08-20T21:59:00.000-04:00

Damn you, light breezes. Damn you!

16.

2010-08-19T10:01:00.000-04:00

Not exactly sure what day this sail happened, but I do know it was during the week. Apparently it was nearly unremarkable.

15. Team California comes to the GSB

2010-08-16T14:00:00.000-04:00

It was a grey day as we took to the water with Ellen & Doug, who are visiting here from Santa Monica.

14. take the kids for a sail day

2010-08-07T16:35:00.003-04:00

Not my kids, of course, but we did have kids on the boat for the first time, today. My friends Matt & Missy and their two sons came out for a quick trip around the buoys. We went out to 6, turned around, and then hooked around 9, for a nice run back into the creek.

While we were coming back through the bridge we saw Larry out for a sail on his Pearson 35, Miss Gracie. I will have the picture burned into my memory forever, but I really would have loved to have a camera on me as we passed each other. Here's the scene: Miss Gracie in perfect trim under jib and jigger, Larry standing at the shrouds, and look at that, Laurence being all salty at the wheel (with a far off gleam in his eye, dreaming of South Pacific islands).

Dylan and Jason were a salty crew: Jason, who is about 4, kept a watchful eye out for boats under the jib and made sure we didn't hit the bridge when we went underneath. Dylan, about 8, helped steer and helped trim the jib. He also kept a watchful eye out to windward when he sat on the rail. It's always good to sail with good, steady crew.

13. ladies asail!

2010-08-07T16:28:00.002-04:00

Just the nicest little sail with Sara, Jess, Wendy, & Alli.

12. 14 miles with Tracy & Jim

2010-07-30T20:30:00.001-04:00

11.

2010-07-25T23:16:00.001-04:00

Out with the sun up, in with the moon up.

10. Sail & Swim with Dan, Sherri, and Alli

2010-07-11T21:54:00.002-04:00

What a great day today was: hot and not too windy. I had been watching the wind all day, kind of glad it was coming from the north because I like sailing out of the creek (with a southerly breeze we can sail into the creek, of course, but it gets a little temperamental up past the Crispy Condos*).

But by the time our guests arrived, the wind had veered around to the southwest. We could almost sail close-hauled out to the Bay, but I left the engine going to help us get out faster.

Then off we went to the south and then toward the bridge. We were hot and once we made that little left to the east the wind was coming behind us enough to get us even hotter. A swim was definitely in order. We got through the bridge and managed to evade whatever that funk water is falling off the roadway construction. Part of me thinks it's really just water, but another part of me strongly believes that if it spilled on us our hair would fall out.

I expected the wind-shadow of the bridge to make a nice flat section for us to swim in. Not so much, though I guess I could have sneaked closer and closer to the bridge. Once we anchored it wasn't long before all four of us were in the water. It was so warm! We swam for an hour and even had a nice cold beer while we bobbed around.

We sailed back and managed to get pretty far up the creek under sail alone, but for some reason the program I used to track this didn't finish the recording even though it's supposed to keep working in the background.

*so named because of the fire one of the units had shortly after they opened.

the animated Handy Guide to the Racing Rules of Sailing

2010-07-09T09:00:00.001-04:00

See it for yourself instead of trying to figure out what they're trying to say!

Heart of Sailing Foundation

2010-07-08T22:54:00.000-04:00

...the Heart of Sailing Foundation (HOS) is a non-profit international organization that introduces sailing to children with developmental disabilities as a form of education and recreational therapy."

9. Sunset sailing with Alli

2010-07-05T22:35:00.000-04:00

8. Happy Birthday, America!

2010-07-04T21:38:00.000-04:00

Alli and I went out after breakfast and tried to clean the bottom for the first time this year. I was worried about the grime on the hull and how many barnacles would be on the propeller and I had good reason to be. The barnacles were intense. All along the hull, on both sides, pretty much up to the waterline, were big patches of small barnacles. Bad. I had a nice shallow spot where I could touch the bottom, plant my feet, and really lean on the green scrubbie.

But after I had gotten about halfway down the port side we had to move because of the 4th of July regattas. Bummer. We were anchored right in the middle of the Opti course.

So we moved, but there were race courses all over the place. I thought if we got right next to the sandbar off the cove we'd be in shallow water again. But when we anchored, the water was too deep to touch with one good push from the top. And more power boats were out, zooming by creating a whole mess of chop. This makes the back of the boat go up and down and creates a kind of video game situation: can you get anything scrubbed before the stern comes crashing down on the top of your head, giving you the Mother of all Concussions, or breaking your head open and giving the crabs all that knowledge to eat.

The most important thing was getting the barnacles off the prop so I could actually get the boat moving under power. Before I even got into the water I dropped my goggles overboard, so I'd have to work by feel instead of by actually looking at what I was doing. Great. Right to the prop I went, and using the big scraper, got some condo-sized barnacles off the blades of the prop. Cleaning barnacles by feel is like cleaning barbed wire in the dark. My fingers look like they went through an industrial paper shredder.

Home we went, with three quarters of the bottom still acting as a host organism for a barnacle colony. (They've since organized Committees of Correspondence, sent me their own Olive Branch Petition, their own Declaration of Independence, and formed a Keelinental Congress.)

But there was some good news:

Rob & AJ came out for some BBQ!

And then we went out for some fireworks watching:

this is not good:

2010-07-03T22:41:00.001-04:00

"Suffolk County's bays are polluted by nitrogen and one main reason is the outdated household cesspools all around them, says Kevin McAllister, head of the non-profit environmental advocacy group Peconic Baykeeper," in this article in the Riverhead News Review.

2010-06-30T14:40:00.004-04:00

I had an article about sailing blogs published in the newest issue of LI Sail!

I wrote this about a year ago, shopped it around, and finally LI Sail said yes. LI Sail is a fairly new online-only magazine that covers pretty much anything that happens on the water around LI (in one of the issues you'll see an article about winter sailing in Babylon - I did not sail that day).

My article's in the July 2010 issue. You can find it HERE.

And if that doesn't work try clicking on the July issue HERE

Once the magazine opens you'll see a table of contents on the left side. It's in the form of a drop-down menu. Or you can "flip" to the table of contents and just click on the article. Flip pages by clicking the bottom corner of the direction you want to go (right for forward, left for back).

I have a few iPhone articles planned (weather, gps, and "other"). Any suggestions about what you'd like to read about?

7. DFL on CnM

2010-06-29T23:19:00.003-04:00

Raced on Ceol na Mara.

I'm still trying to get the hang of iNavX, the GPS app on my phone. Grrr...

6. up to the sandbar

2010-06-27T20:21:00.000-04:00

I have a few GPS/Mapping apps for the iPhone, and the one I have been trying out the most is iNavX. As soon as I can remember I open it up and it begins to keep a track. As we sail along, dotted lines represent where we have been. Then, when we're done, I can export this track to x-traverse and upload it. This is what it looks like. I have to admit, I don't quite have the hang of it yet - like, what was happening when the track wasn't being recorded? Was that when we didn't have the app open? It keeps track when the screensaver comes on, but it doesn't keep track if I close the app. And I also find it interesting that we sailed right over the same track on the way in that we sailed out. I guess it's not that amazing, since we have to go through the center of the bridge, but to be so close surprises me.
View Larger Map

For today's sail we had a small breeze from the south. It was very hot and very humid and hazy. Jessica, Cory, Allison, and I sailed out past the bridge and tacked right before we got to that oh, so annoying sandbar that juts north and forces all sorts of maneuvering to dodge.

A few years ago I was obsessed with hanging over the bow and taking pictures of the front of the boat cutting through the water. I took dozens of dozens of shots trying to get that perfect shot (horizon level, the bow perfectly in the middle, and maybe something interesting in the background). This year's obsession seems to be taking pictures of sailboats when they are positioned in the wedge between the bow pulpit and the first stanchion. But what I particularly love about this picture is the tell-tales on the jib. Mmmmm...flow...

no more party poopers!

2010-06-13T21:53:00.002-04:00

Check out Timothy Bolger's Long Island Press article on new regulations to help the great Great South Bay get cleaner:

"Boat season has arrived and Long Island’s recreational seafarers are preparing their watercraft for their much-anticipated return to the water this month, but not all are aware that awaiting them off most of the South Shore are marine law-enforcement units armed with a new, strict anti-boat-sewage regulation hailed as a landmark victory for environmentalists when enacted in November."

5. reach, tack, reach, and run

2010-06-06T22:18:00.000-04:00

And that's the way it was on the good old boat Redwing, on, I think, 6 June. I can't remember when it was and no pictures of the day exist to help me figure it out.

Race Committee: thank you faithful crew!

2010-06-03T19:30:00.004-04:00

4. Racing on Ceol na Mara

2010-06-01T20:08:00.003-04:00

What a beautiful night it turned out to be! After we got out of the canal to find ourselves alone, surrounded my grey skies we were hoping wouldn't turn menacing and green (like that unforgettable retreat back into Sumpwam's Creek a few years ago), we saw Rick and the rest of Race Committee headed for us through the bridge.

Yes, the race was on! Why wouldn't it be? Plenty of other racers showed up to chase the thunderheads away; Rick and crew set up a great course, perfect for the calm, flat conditions.

And I'm sure Jack is sick of me taking pictures instead of intently trimming the jib, but I can't help it when it's so freaking gorgeous out there!

Race Committee Thursday!

3. A special kind of homecoming!

2010-05-30T12:26:00.003-04:00

Alli and I went out for a sail on this windy Sunday and as we got closer and closer to the Robert Moses bridge, I couldn't take my eyes off of a stout little vessel coming from the other direction: it was just so hearty and hale, with its port rail nearly in the water and all its sails up and out while other boats around it were reefed, or sailing with just jibs. And as it got closer I could hardly believe my eyes!

It was my old good old boat Persuasion (a South Coast 23)! I recognized it as soon as I saw it, but when I saw the distinctive SC logo and its classy two digit sail number I almost fell over.

Hundreds of questions gusted into my head! What was it doing down here? How was it? Who had it? Where was it going? Last I heard of the boat -

No, wait, let me start at the beginning: A few years ago I got a call from Uncle Larry who asked to my disbelieving ear if I wanted to have his sister Paul's sailboat. I could have kissed him. And her. I immediately said "YES, of course, yes!" Paula was moving, Larry and family already had the beautiful Loon, and I loved that little boat so much!

I went to boat-owner school with that boat: replacing the toerails all the way around; fixing/fiberglassing/rebuilding a block that one of the shrouds connected to; replacing the coamings; replacing the handrails, and rebuilding the head; and fixing the missing rudder gudgeon with an overpriced hunk of stainless steel.

And I would still have that gorgeous little boat if it weren't for my brother Lucas who called one day to tell me that Uncle Jack's old good old boat, my beloved Redwing was on Craig's List.

We sailed on with all of these questions lingering. Last I saw the boat it was headed to Sayville with a guy named Joe whose wife and two little kids were going to sail it like crazy.

And then driving home from work the other day I see the boat docked in the village slips by Argyle Lake! It's back in Babylon!

2. Racing on Ceol na Mara

2010-05-18T19:14:00.000-04:00

Here's me sporting my new West Marine foulies. Thanks to Dan for the gift certificate!

137 @ 9!

2010-04-28T22:33:00.005-04:00

We got a boat slip in the Village!

For years we have been renting a private slip, and while we absolutely love our landlords (waterlords? sliplords?) we have been eager to move into a slip in town. As a resident of the village we are able to rent a public slip, and we've been hoping for one on the street in front of our house.

And we got one! #9. It's kind of got a nice ring to it.

The slip's way up the block, but it's so close to our house. And it's in a spot that will be well-watched, right in front of a couple of houses, right near a (power boat) boatyard, and is on a well-traveled block. Everybody wins!

And check out my great neighbors! To the left in this picture is some kind of good old boat (I'll find out what kind). And to the right is a sweet restored clammer! And I love those boat garages across the creek. That's salty!

1. to Good Old Molly Malone's

2010-03-22T21:28:00.003-04:00

First sail of the season in the books! It was a spectacular Winter day when we left the dock to sail to Molly Malone's and a spectacular Spring day when we returned. Marty, Rick and Jack sailed on Ceol na Mara and Alli and I sailed on Redwing. We left the dock about 11, passed the BYC frostbite fleet of Flying Scots, and sailed on one tack down to Bay Shore. After some corned beef and cabbage at Molly Malone's - we were the first boats of 2010 - we headed back and arrived home around 5. What a great day. Sitting at Molly Malone's was nice; it's always very cool to arrive anywhere by sail boat. And I got a sun burn on my starboard side from eating lunch outside. Well worth it.

And in other news:

Over the winter I got an email from a guy doing some research about his own Redwing: Alan, in Nova Scotia, just bought Redwing's sister, Exploit, hull #136. How exciting is that? I love the name Exploit! And it's always very interesting to see pictures of another Redwing, but to see pictures and talk to the guy who has the actual boat built right before us is really too cool for words. I'm very much looking forward to reading about Exploit's travels.

it's only natural that a Redwing would tweet, right?

2010-01-18T21:56:00.002-05:00

I think technically the black-shouldered Redwing doesn't tweet; it makes more like a skirreee sound. But skirreee wouldn't be as good a name for a web company. Or would it?

I'm not sure I totally get it, and I'm not sure exactly how it works, or why anyone would do it, but the Redwing is on Twitter and can be found/followed at Redwing137. It probably won't be that useful until the summer, either, when we get sailing more regularly. But I DLed some GPS apps for the iPhone that allow for twittering (or is it tweeting?), so maybe you can follow along on some of our sails.

Technology is so freaking cool.

24. on a cat!

2010-01-13T21:30:00.004-05:00

So my last sail of the year was, believe it or not, on a catamaran, in Key West.

I sail in a disaster area...

2010-01-12T20:54:00.002-05:00

"We cannot wait any longer to address the critical condition of the Great South Bay,"said Schumer, who last year renewed the request for federal help. "The federal disaster declaration would put us on track to receive critical funding to reverse the devastation of the brown tide."

Well, that's all well and good to think about saving the Bay, or restoring the Bay, or working to make the Bay full of clams again, but unless we also address all the crap that is sliding into the Bay from our storm drains and creek and stream systems it isn't going to matter.

If you ask me, which you didn't, we should really use all that money to put more clams into the Bay to filter out the shite. And get the Nassau and Suffolk Legislators to limit the use of fertilizers by the armies of landscapers that do all our yard-work.

Hey, this legislation and regulation may actually spur investment and development in alternative methods for helping us suburbanites get that fresh green look on our beloved lawns and in turn fuel our local economy. Think of that!

another Redwing on the youtube

2010-01-10T23:08:00.000-05:00

D'Avalos' Prayer

2009-12-31T22:30:00.000-05:00

When the last sea is sailed and the last shallow charted,
When the last field is reaped and the last harvest stored,
When the last fire is out and the last guest departed,
Grant the last prayer that I shall pray, Be good to me, O Lord!

And let me pass in a night at sea, a night of storm and thunder,
In the loud crying of the wind through sail and rope and spar;
Send me a ninth great peaceful wave to drown and roll me under
To the cold tunny-fishes' home where the drowned galleons are.

And in the dim green quiet place far out of sight and hearing,
Grant I may hear at whiles the wash and thresh of the sea-foam
About the fine keen bows of the stately clippers steering
Towards the lone northern star and the fair ports of home.

- John Masefield

Happy Christmas

2009-12-25T01:37:00.001-05:00

Thanks to casaCara for the image...

Christmas Eve at Sea

2009-12-24T01:37:00.001-05:00

A wind is rustling "south and soft,"
Cooing a quiet country tune.
The calm sea sighs, and far aloft
the sails are ghostly in the moon.

Unquiet ripples lisp and purr,
A block there pipes and chirps i' the sheave,
The wheel-ropes jar, the reef-points stir
Faintly --and it is Christmas Eve.

The hushed sea seems to hold her breath,
and o'er the giddy, swaying spars,
Silent and excellent as Death,
The dim blue skies are bright with stars.

Dear God -- they shone in Palestine
Like this, and yon pale moon serene
Looked down among the lowing kine
On Mary and the Nazarene.

The angels called from deep to deep,
The burning heavens felt the thrill,
startling the flocks of silly sheep
And lonely shepherds on the hill.

To-night beneath the dripping bows
where flashing bubbles burst and throng,
The bow-wash murmurs and sighs and soughs
A message from the angels' song.

The moon goes nodding down the west,
The drowsy helmsman strikes the bell;
Rex Judaorum natus est,
I charge you, brothers, sing Nowell, Nowell,
Rex Judaorum natus est..

-John Masefield, from Salt Water Ballads, 1902

Going to the chapel and we're gonna...

2009-12-18T19:25:00.000-05:00

...get married. Tonight! (I actually set this up last week to post as the ceremony begins. Not as bad as changing our facebook status midway through the ceremony, I hope.)

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! See you in 2010!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

2009-12-13T20:05:00.001-05:00

Santa's sent Redwing a message!

FOCUS: 5th graders on the Bay!

2009-12-04T06:23:00.003-05:00

Fifth graders from Stratford and Stewart schools are participating in a new initiative this year known as F.O.C.U.S. (Fifth Grade, Outdoor Education, Community, Unity, Service). On September 16, 2009, F.O.C.U.S. began with a kick-off event at the Garden City Middle School. Members of Garden City's Class of 2017 posed for a group shot before embarking on their marine biology trip: a boating adventure on Long Island’s Great South Bay.

While on board, BOCES naturalists guided the students in a plankton tow and a dredging of the bay floor. Many different specimens were collected and examined under microscopes and in a touch tank. Water samples were also collected and tested for salinity, clarity, and temperature. The captain and crew of The Miss Freeport and The Dolphin taught the students about navigation and boat safety. A perfect ending to an already perfect day came when the crew led the students in a fishing session where many of the children even caught their own fish!

(The above was rephrased from today's Garden City News." See link.)

This is pretty cool. One of the guys I race against is the captain of a fishing boat (not mentioned here), who has been doing this in the off season for a few years. He loves it, and it's a good way for the fishing boat to make some money when it can't go fishing. And, of course, any time schools, clubs, or sailors can get kids on the water we should take it.

BOCES, in case you don't know, is a program run by the county that gives kids opportunities to do things outside the classroom. And it's especially great for kids who haven't been successful in traditional school settings. I often wish I had gone to BOCES for to be a carpenter or electrician.

a new neighbor...

2009-11-28T21:07:00.001-05:00

Jack moved his boat down to Babylon for the winter, and it turned out that they gave him a slip right in front of our house.

The Lightship Nantucket

2009-11-27T10:39:00.008-05:00

The Nantucket Lightship, officially known as the LV-112, guarded the shipping lanes near the deadly Nantucket Shoals for nearly four decades. Built in 1936 at the Pusey & Jones Shipyard in Wilmington, Delaware to replace the LV-117, the Nantucket Lightship was the largest lightship ever built for the Nantucket Shoals. It replaced the LV-117, a lightship that was split in half and sunk by the RMS Olympic in dense fog in 1934.

Last week the Nantucket Lightship was sold for $1 to Robert Mannino of New Hampshire. "We are looking at moving the ship in late November, early December and restoring it," said Mannino, who formed the nonprofit U.S. Lightship Museum for the purpose of saving the vessel. "We plan to open it as a public museum, get it fully operational and take the ship out a couple of times a year in the New England area."

(The above was rephrased from the Nantucket Independent. See link.)

When I took that US Sailing Keelboat Instructor class last Spring it was held in Oyster Bay, where the Lightship has been hanging out, waiting for a buyer. Definitely read the article. Good luck, Nantucket.

There's another Lightship Nantucket out there, as it turns out. And, from the same great blog, tugster, is the restored Nantucket Lightship (not the one in OB).

Thanks to Soundbounder for the news. If you live on the islands of Long, Block, Nantucket, Fishers, City¹, or Manhattan, or you live on the mainland that borders the Sound, you should be reading Soundbounder!

¹: yeah yeah, I know.

50,000 clams in Mt. Sinai Harbor waters!

2009-10-30T06:30:00.002-04:00

Although this has nothing to do with sailing, my boat, or even the great Great South Bay, I thought it was important enough for all two or three of you.

"On a bright October morning, 30 students from Mount Sinai High School and Comsewogue High School waited eagerly at Mount Sinai Harbor to discover the results of five months of work raising clams for the Town of Brookhaven."

Sweet! A Redwing in action!

2009-10-27T21:54:00.001-04:00

2009-10-18T19:50:00.002-04:00

Ode to the North-east Wind
Charles Kingsley (1819–1875)

WELCOME, wild North-easter!
Shame it is to see
Odes to every zephyr;
Ne’er a verse to thee.
Welcome, black North-easter!
O’er the German foam;
O’er the Danish moorlands,
From thy frozen home.
Tired we are of summer,
Tired of gaudy glare,
Showers soft and steaming,
Hot and breathless air.
Tired of listless dreaming,
Through the lazy day:
Jovial wind of winter
Turn us out to play!
Sweep the golden reed-beds;
Crisp the lazy dyke;
Hunger into madness
Every plunging pike.
Fill the lake with wild-fowl;
Fill the marsh with snipe;
While on dreary moorlands
Lonely curlew pipe.
Through the black fir-forest
Thunder harsh and dry,
Shattering down the snow-flakes
Off the curdled sky.
Hark! The brave North-easter!
Breast-high lies the scent,
On by holt and headland,
Over heath and bent.
Chime, ye dappled darlings,
Through the sleet and snow.
Who can over-ride you?
Let the horses go!
Chime, ye dappled darlings,
Down the roaring blast
You shall see a fox die
Ere an hour be past.
Go! and rest to-morrow,
Hunting in your dreams,
While our skates are ringing
O’er the frozen streams.
Let the luscious South-wind
Breathe in lovers’ sighs,
While the lazy gallants
Bask in ladies’ eyes.
What does he but soften
Heart alike and pen?
’Tis the hard grey weather
Breeds hard English men.
What’s the soft South-wester?
’Tis the ladies’ breeze,
Bringing home their true-loves
Out of all the seas:
But the black North-easter,
Through the snowstorm hurled,
Drives our English hearts of oak
Seaward round the world.
Come, as came our fathers,
Heralded by thee,
Conquering from the eastward,
Lords by land and sea.
Come; and strong within us
Stir the Vikings’ blood;
Bracing brain and sinew;
Blow, thou wind of God!

23.

2009-09-15T22:49:00.002-04:00

Alli has been wanting to take a friend of hers and his GF out for a sail, and we finally got it together today. We left about half an hour before sunset, sailed toward the bridge in the vanishing sunlight, turned around by the bridge and headed home.

Tonight was one of those September nights that I love: light breeze, warm and then cool, and just enough clouds to make a killer sunset.

22.

2009-09-15T22:48:00.002-04:00

21. back to school eve

2009-09-15T22:47:00.000-04:00

NY Harbor School

2009-09-12T22:45:00.004-04:00

I interviewed at the NY Harbor School three years ago. They offered me a job teaching Social Studies the day after 'Pequa gave me an offer I couldn't refuse (teaching English). I was convinced that NYC would not do the right thing and put them on Governor's Island. They were in Bushwick! It's about 40 minutes by subway from the Harbor.

The school, the principal, and Murray Fisher deserve recognition. Harbor School deserves the 10k. Can you imagine the dedication it takes to run a maritime-based high school that is almost an hour from the Harbor?

Vote early and vote often in this GQ poll.

20. a light breeze as the sun sets

2009-09-01T21:12:00.001-04:00

Another quickie on the Going Back to School Eve.

Mega-Millions

2009-08-27T10:21:00.004-04:00

If one of you wins the Mega this week (I think it's at about 300mill), I'd like a Hinckley Bermuda 40, please. I'd prefer the yawl rig, not the sloop.

Surely you can spare 250k for a brother in need. Right?

I always think of the B40, but I think of it right now because the new issue of Good Old Boat magazine has an article profiling this great, great boat. Check out the article and the magazine right now! And, if you have a good, old boat, you should subscribe. Every issue has something for you.

19. Ode to the West Wind

2009-08-26T09:15:00.000-04:00

How I hate thee, West Wind!

Out with Allison and her brother Rob: steep, fast waves that made lots of spray.

I thought there would be enough South to it that we could sail to the bridge and back, but when we got out there it was mostly West. So going to the bridge would have been an absolutely lovely, brisk sail. Coming back, well, gentlemen don't sail to weather for a reason. It would have been ugly.

So we went near 9, turned around and came back in.

And then! mmmm...Kotobuki!

18. another evening excursion

2009-08-15T09:13:00.000-04:00

20 years ago today!

2009-08-15T01:37:00.002-04:00

17. I broke Sara

2009-08-01T20:20:00.002-04:00

I must remember to attach the topping lift before I lower the mainsail.
I must remember to attach the topping lift before I lower the mainsail.
I must remember to attach the topping lift before I lower the mainsail.
I must remember to attach the topping lift before I lower the mainsail.
I must remember to attach the topping lift before I lower the mainsail.

Sara is fine, but it was a scary thing to drop a 13' boom on someone's noggin. She had a sprained neck! And we're all so glad it wasn't worse. I'm an idiot.

Happy Birthday!

2009-08-01T00:01:00.000-04:00

16. the briefest of sails

2009-07-31T00:03:00.001-04:00

we took a short little sail out of the creek (so flat and calm and quiet) and back under half of the moon.

15. the inlaws under sail

2009-07-26T13:56:00.010-04:00

This summer is turning out to be the summer of first-timers. We took out Allison's two brothers, Rob and Steve, and her sister-in-law, Natalie. We had a perfect day, though toward the end of the sail it got a little, uh, I don't know exactly hot to describe it: hazy, foggy, and threatening sky-ish. It was weird. But it was nice and hot, sunny, and just windy enough.

We sailed around 6, dropped sails, and dropped the hook behind the bridge so we could eat lunch. Anchored right next to us was the beautiful Svedee.

Then we took turns sailing. Here's Rob, looking like he's been doing it his whole life.

And on the way home we saw pretty much my favorite boat on the Great South Bay, Wigeon. This boat lives near us on Sampwam's creek and I always love seeing it go out or come home. It's called a Timber Point, and while there used to be a bunch of them, like a hundred years ago, now's there's just this one sailing and another (also on the Sampwam's creek) that I hear is about to be rebuilt. Sweet.

14. night sail

2009-07-15T23:53:00.002-04:00

Alli, Dan, Jar: Out to 6 and back as the sun went down. Only one tack.

13. Stout breeze II

2009-07-05T23:06:00.002-04:00

More guests = more breeze. But we had a glorious sail, yet again.

12. We had guests, so...there was a stout breeze...

2009-07-04T22:27:00.002-04:00

We had some guests aboard, first time sailors, and as is usually the case in these situations we had a big wind. We had some brisk sailing!

My sailing mojo is as high as ever, but my blogging mojo is non-existent.

Sunset cruising (motor only)

2009-07-03T23:19:00.001-04:00

Redwing for sale in Saskatoon

2009-06-20T00:01:00.002-04:00

Saskatoon? And what the hell is with all of these Redwings for sale? This one looks like Hull #51, built in 1968. Pretty cool. Some unique additions/edits, especially in the cabin. And it has a steering wheel!

Redwing for sale in Michigan

2009-06-17T21:14:00.002-04:00

This one here is in mint condition, and when I say "mint" condition...well, check it out for yourself.

11. Bridal Brunch Sail

2009-06-14T01:37:00.000-04:00

Alli had bridal party brunch and dress shopping with the girls, so Dan and I went sailing. Then, when the girls were through, we picked up Allison and went out for a bunch more sailing...

A Redwing for sale in Canada

2009-06-12T23:01:00.003-04:00

Yet another Redwing for sale. This one is way up in Vancouver, far from Redwing's hometown Ontario.

1968 Redwing for sale in CT

2009-06-07T22:11:00.002-04:00

This Redwing is a little older than ours, but just as pretty. And it's for sale.

10.

2009-06-07T01:37:00.001-04:00

Sailed with Alli. It was sunny and perfect!

Clams return to Great South Bay

2009-06-06T06:23:00.002-04:00

It's less a return than a regeneration, but we'll take it. The following whole article was taken from here. Thanks Nature Conservancy!

Carl LoBue from the Conservancy’s Long Island program presented another phenomenal success story about bringing back clam populations in Great South Bay.

Great South Bay once produced more than one-half the clams eaten in the United States, but over-harvesting reduced clam populations to trace levels. The loss of the water filtration provided by thousands of acres of clams led to out-of-balance plankton populations with serious impacts to seagrass and other species. In 2004, the Conservancy acquired 13,000 acres of underwater land in Great South Bay and has worked closely with local communities to develop thoughtful and adaptive clam restoration strategies. It’s working!

Carl and company intercepted clams harvested from nearby estuaries that were on the way to market, purchased them, and relocated over 3 million of them onto the 13,400 acres of submerged lands owned by the Conservancy. The adult clams were placed into a network of carefully selected “spawner sanctuaries” covering approximately 50 acres. A critical interim measure of success for reclamation of the bay was to increase juvenile clam density from near-zero to five juvenile clams per square meter.

Carl’s presentation unveiled the latest survey results: 5,000 acres met or exceeded the interim target density, and about 320 million baby clams are estimated to have settled on Conservancy property as well as adjacent public property. Each adult clam can filter up to one gallon of water per day…one female clam can release up to 6.3 million eggs each year.

So what’s going to happen next? Suffice to say that about 3 million parent clams helped make over 300 million babies and Great South Bay is on track to being great again. And some bonus good news: Preliminary indications from the Sound this spring suggest that without harvest pressure (and at high-enough densities), clams may be more resilient to algal blooms and predation than they previously have been given credit for.

Happy Birthday Mr Masefield

2009-06-01T01:37:00.000-04:00

John Masefield's birthday today!

"Let no religious rite be done or read
In any place for me when I am dead,
But burn my body into ash, and scatter
The ash in secret into running water,
Or on the windy down, and let none see;
And then thank God that there’s an end of me."

Monday's sail

2009-05-28T19:20:00.002-04:00

Here's our approximate course on Monday's sail. It's not as fancy as using the GPS to track our exact course. In fact, it's little better than grease pencil on a plastic flimsy overlay on the real chart.

We may or may not have hit that big old sandbar sticking out into the middle of the bay. That thing is annoying! But now I have a better idea of exactly where it is.

We bounced a few times, and then bounced to a stop, like a rubber ball. I got all of us on one side of the boat, jibed the sails, and got us off the sand. We bounced a few times as we clawed our way north, back to buoy 11. But the we were off and running again. Back through the bridge for a few laps on the plum-pudding side.

9. bittersweet sailing

2009-05-25T22:00:00.001-04:00

Today we had the most guests we have had at one time. It was a sublime day that would be diminished by any explanation. Or at least any explanation that I could put down here in a single post. More on today's sail later on this week.

Today was also one of the saddest days as a sailor that I have experienced. You may recall that last year, on Labor Day, there was a fire at our dock. The idea sends chills up my spine, and the fact left me cold and worried for weeks afterward.

Today when we got to the boat we discovered that a beautiful Hylas at the end of the street burned down overnight. The owner's dog barked at about 1 am, and they heard a car tear off down the street. Then banging at the door, and the word that their boat was on fire. By 1:15 it was all over. The boom and sails caught fire and destroyed the entire cabin top, melted two feet of the foot of the mast, the entire cockpit, and a lot of the cabin. The sight of the destruction was really unbelievable. Sadder because the owner was, like many of the guys in our club, one of the guys who enjoyed working on his own boat: waxing, sanding, varnishing, and so on.

And so as we prepared to go out for our sail we saw mourners come and pay their respects to the owner, a former commodore of our cruising club and a very popular guy on the Bay. One of the Old Salts. I'm assuming this continued throughout the day - today was Opening Day for the club - because when we got back people were still coming around. It was like elephants who don't want to leave a fallen family member, and urge the victim to get up, please get up!

And so we, the boat owners on the block, have a problem. Fire #1 on Labor Day, and now this.

I'm nervous for July 4th.

8. out with Alli

2009-05-24T20:00:00.003-04:00

After being very disappointed with our attempt to go sailing with some friends on Saturday, Alli and I got out for some private sailing time today.

We were really looking forward to having new guests, a couple we really like, out on the boat yesterday. But, as usual, the weather-folk completely misforecast the weather. I guess I should know by now that when they say SE 5-10 they mean 22 with gusts to 30. Silly me!

We were fortunate enough to run into Mike D of Loon at WestMarine who told us that all hell was breaking loose down on the Bay. Not good for guests. So we went for a bike ride with them on Saturday instead.

But today, we went out and had a perfectly glorious sail. We just rolled out some jib and reached to the bridge and back. Al has a serious cough (it's not H1N1, we swear), and so we called it quits early so she could get some rest.

We did see Loon out there, though, looking so, so good with all three sails out.

Loon is a Pearson 35.

So pretty.

7. a plum-pudding voyage

2009-05-22T20:28:00.003-04:00

I'm reading Moby Dick with my 12th graders as the school year comes to an end. I find it so very interesting, and I'm glad we are doing it. I'm not sure they're so happy, and I'm hoping for one of these "you'll thank me for this later" kind of things.

Anyway, I came across this expression in Ch 17 that I am going to use here on the blog.

"I went down to supper. After sitting a long time listening to the long stories of some sailors who had just come from a plum-pudding voyage, as they called it (that is, a short whaling-voyage in a schooner or brig, confined to the north of the line, in the Atlantic Ocean only); after listening to these plum-puddingers till nearly eleven o'clock, I went up stairs to go to bed, feeling quite sure by this time Queequeg must certainly have brought his Ramadan to a termination."

Today we went for a plum-pudding voyage, staying on our side of the bridge, just taking laps back and forth. The wind was weird, for us, coming out of the west. It was also a good day because we were able to take out two people from work who I have been wanting to go sailing with since I started there.

39!

2009-05-22T01:37:00.001-04:00

Happy birthday Redwing! Long live the 'Wing!

List: a code of conduct for keelboat guests

2009-05-21T01:37:00.001-04:00

Tillerman, over at Proper Course, is running another writing project. I have been meaning to make this list for some time, and so this invitation is the perfect motivation. We have a lot of guests onboard, and we go through the rules (more like guidelines) as soon as they get on the boat. Please add any that I forget in the comments section, and I'll do the same (rather than hitting "edit post" 50x).

1. One hand for the boat; one hand for you. This means hold on. Do not let go of the boat!

2. No glass bottles. Cans can barely stay on their feet, so a tall, tippy glass bottle has no chance.

3. One hand for the boat; one hand for you. This means hold on. Do not let go of the boat!

4. The head, rule #1 (get it?): You could go #2, the head can handle it, but you could probably also hold it until we get back, right?

5. One hand for the boat; one hand for you. This means hold on. Do not let go of the boat!

6. The head, rule #2: Ladies, I know this sounds weird, but the head can't really handle TP. Yes, it can handle poop, it mashes it up, and sends it right through, but TP just gets wadded up at the masher-part. So just throw your TP in the garbage bag.

7. One hand for the boat; one hand for you. This means hold on. Do not let go of the boat!

8. The lifelines! They are designed to catch you if you lose your balance and head overboard. They are NOT back rests, arm rests, or ladders to climb out after a swim.

9. One hand for the boat; one hand for you. This means hold on. Do not let go of the boat!

10. I'm'na forget to tell you, so this is more guidance than a rule, but you can sit wherever you want. I particularly like sitting up on the foredeck, leaning back against the front hatch. You're on top of the world!

2009-05-20T01:37:00.000-04:00

Another shot from last week's committee assignment: Jack keeping the clock. I'm not racing this week, but I plan to race on Monday in the Creepstakes, the single-handed race that starts the season. (My favorite is the Turkey Race on the Saturday after Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday!).)

I always thought the Creepstakes should be the last race of the season as a sort of Crew Appreciation race (crew drinking cold beers watching us flop around the bay without them). And having 20 boats out there racing single-handed with rusty skippers and boats just in the water seems to me to be a recipe for disaster.

2009-05-19T01:37:00.000-04:00

6. Small Boat I is done.

2009-05-17T13:37:00.001-04:00

I successfully completed the requirements of the course, and man, am I tired!

Correctly anticipating that today's weather would make it difficult or impossible to do our power boat practicals, our instructor had us out on the water for most of the day yesterday. Here in this picture you can see where we go sailing: between the basin and the Throgs Neck Bridge. Even toward the end of yesterday it was starting to get snotty, with white caps and gusts. We sailed the FJs and one Laser (switching off as we finished water drills).

We spent the morning doing presentations and land drills. Then we rigged the Flying Juniors, and I got to do my power boat practical. We had to leave the dock without pushing off, do a slow-speed figure eight forwards and backwards, do a pivot turn, do a high-speed figure eight turn, a quick stop, a MOB drill, and return to the dock without hitting it. No problem!

Then we took to the boats for the rest of the day. Each of the 8 of us had to go through our water drills. I had "tacking" and so for my lesson I went over the three sailing tacks (turning through the wind, the front corner of the sail, and which rail the wind is coming over), the commands, and the responsibilities of skipper and crew. For my land drill I had a kid sit on a chair and pretend to tack with a flagpole serving duty as a tiller. Then, finally, for my water drill I had the kids do a ladder drill, which is a pretty cool drill for practicing tacks while keeping the fleet together. I trailed in the powerboat, first on the wrong side (talking to the sailors through the sails) and then I powered across them and spoke to each boat up close and personal. Talking to them through the sails seemed right, at first, because we were face to face, but it's not practical. When you are behind the sails, you're downwind talking upwind, they have to duck to see you, and they sail down on you if they lose their concentration. Getting behind them means I am upwind talking downwind, they can hear me without looking at me, and I have better access to what they are doing with their hands and feet.

The ladder drill has the kids sailing toward a windward mark, following the leader in a line. On my whistle the first boat tacks for the mark, and then each following boat tacks in the same spot. Still following the leader they tack on each whistle, gradually zig-zagging their way up to the mark (which is an arbitrary stopping point, you can have them keep sailing, or have them tack and then fall off to run back down the course).

Today we finished presentations, land drills, and had our knot tying practical.

I am pretty happy with what I learned from the course. I feel more ready to start the summer than I did before, and I have a better idea of what I can have the kids do. Mmmm...structure!

The most amusing part of the course was meeting this guy who sailed for SUNY Maritime and who knows some of the racers on the GSB, even the Notorious One. It's amazing how small the LI sailing world is. I don't really know anybody, yet I was able to make connections in the sailing community, on both the south shore and the north shore.

race commitee

2009-05-16T01:37:00.002-04:00

It seems to me that every time I have race committee, the weather and I agree to disagree. I haven't pulled a lot of committee duty, because I hardly race. Thanks to Jack for helping out!

My first committee assignment, on Persuasion, was tough. Rain, wind, and lumpy seas had us tarting the race in a stiff breeze. The rain was pelting us so hard I still have bruises three years later. We spent the race trying to eat the traditional bucket of fried chicken (local, not KFC) in the cabin while we hobby-horsed on the hook. Fun! This is a shot of Dragonfly at the start. I thought that picking an early assignment would be best because if I screwed up not as many boats would notice, it'd be easier to handle fewer boats, and there'd be less risk of race-mayhem and hijinks. In midseason there's 20 boats on the line. That year I think we had near a dozen. We didn't make any mistakes. But nobody noticed, which I guess it exactly how it's supposed to work.

And this picture of Radio Flyer became the back cover of the yearbook that year.

I spent the next summer at C-Span, and so I guess it was sunny and beautiful every race day.

My second committee duty, last year, seemed to be perfect. Too perfect. It was my first committee duty with the new boat, and everyone was glad to see it back on the bay. We had a nice starting line set. About a dozen boats showed up. Everything was going to work out! Just about three minutes before we started the sequence a big wind shift came in and settled, nice and steady, and destroyed our start line. One of the racers moved the buoy for us as we scrambled to figure out the new course, reset the flags, and restart the sequence. Be there when it all goes wrong!

This past Thursday was no exception. On Sunday, when I saw the five-day-forecast predict rain on Thursday I thought to myself, "They never get the forecast right this far away." But they nailed it! Right on the money! First forecast all year they got right! The wind seemed a lot worse on shore, as usual, but as soon as we started the race it started to rain and get gusty. I love this picture of Flying Wasp getting in the parade.

Here's another shot of Dragonfly getting another great start. For next year, I'll let you know what day(s) I have committee and thus we'll have rain, big breeze, and chilly temps.

5. Twice around Babylon Cove

2009-05-15T22:23:00.001-04:00

Al and I went down to the boat to clean up from last night's committee duty (which was a wet and wild night in 15+ breeze in a very lumpy bay).

The day was so nice that we had to go for a short sail. We jogged back and forth under jib alone (the battens aren't even in the mainsail yet) just outside of the yacht club.

We did get to watch HS sailing practice, which was very cool. Like looking into my own future.

homeward bound!

2009-05-13T01:37:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Alli and Dan who helped bring the boat around!

4. Small boat Instructor I, day 1. Laser sailing!

2009-05-11T01:37:00.004-04:00

Another treat! I may just keep taking these US Sail courses to check out cool waterfront centers across the northeast! And I'm already up to Sail #4 for 2009!

This past weekend (and next weekend, too) I'm taking the US Sail's Small Boat Instructor I class at the Merchant Marine Academy in Great Neck. Allison used to live in Great Neck and we'd drive by the place, gaze at the gates, and wonder what it looked like in there. Wonder no more (pictures after next week's class session)! The place is absolutely beautiful. And they have an AMAZING waterfront center; the Yocum Sailing Center is super sweet! I can't get enough of the place. It's like Salty Dog Heaven. All that's missing is some dark, mysterious pub with wool-hatted geezers nursing rum drinks while adventurers come and go.

Anyway, enough atmosphere.

So far the class is quite good. There are 8 people in the class: one guy, a Serbian immigrant of an indeterminate age, but probably about 40, me, a guy who just graduated from SUNY Maritime, and five HS kids. Just two of us are from the South Shore. Like the Keelboat class, we have a brisk schedule. Yesterday we did some classroom business and then went dockside for more class. And then we got to go sailing on Lasers!

Now, I haven't sailed a Laser since I learned to sail in 1990ish in San Diego. I remember it as being great fun and very fast. Whenever anyone says, "hey you should think about dinghy racing" I think, "Ah yes, get back into a Laser!" What a fool!

They are great fun and they are very fast. But I'm older, heavy in a different way than when I was in the Navy, and not as flexible. And those kids are good sailors; they were sailing circles around me! I was able to sail around the box, but I was the guy who everyone else had to consider before they made their decisions. Mildly annoying, to me, and I'm sure, to them. And then my mainsheet came free on the second half of a gybe. That was great.

And then one guy in the class capsized and took a very. long. time. to get his boat back up. Our instructor finally had to go down and take him in while we got to sail around and practice. I eventually got the hang of it. And by hang of it I mean 1) I didn't capsize; 2) I didn't lose my mainsheet again; and 3) nobody asked me "what the hell was that you did there?"

I quite liked sailing the Laser; body weight/position is so important! But the tacking and gybing with the tiller extension and no way to cleat off the mainsheet is an interesting moment of too many things to manage at once. And forget about doing a 360° on command. I mean, I can do it, but not like the kids who just put their tiller over, hop around in the cockpit, and then sail away.

So after the Instructor returned we went back to the dock, de-rigged the Lasers, and then had a quick walk-through of the rigging of a 420.

We pushed the 420 into the basin with a line on the bow. The idea was that pairs of us would take turns doing capsize drills. Each group would do two capsize recoveries using the scoop method: one as skipper and one as crew. The scoop goes like this: as the boat goes over the skipper climbs over the high side, if he can, and stands on the centerboard. Meanwhile the crew gets clear of the sails and rigging, grabs hold of the seat and yells "ready!" Then the skipper moves his weight to the end of the centerboard, leans back, holding the edge of the boat, and pulls the boat upright and sort of on top of him. The crew, still holding onto the seat, gets dragged into the boat. Scooped up. Then the skipper swims to the transom and the crew helps pull him in.

And I got paired up with the dude who had to get towed in. WTF! I didn't even think of it as a big deal until a few minutes into the drill.

I successfully completed my skipper portion. (The water was cold enough to take my breath away. (I looked it up: it's about 50°.) At first I was cold. Then my skin began to burn. Then I was too busy to notice any discomfort. Then I go to do a bit of swimming. And then I didn't notice the water at all; I got into a kind of mellow. It felt good.)

So then my partner goes to do his recovery. And as the boat goes over, he sllllllooooooooowlllllllly climbs over the side, passes the centerboard and keeps going onto the bottom of the boat. Bad news, man. I'm yelling Stop! The Instructor is yelling Stop! But by then he has turtled the boat. Upside down. Top of mast implanted in mud. No chance of getting it out by two swimmers, one of them clueless.

So we go over to do our swim check (swimming, pfd on/off, tread water) while the Instructor watches and gets out the keys for the powerboat. I was frickin annoyed because I already felt like an idiot for being a slow Laser sailor and now I'm swimming for extra time in frickin 50° water and I look like a bigger frickin idiot with this frickin dude who can't do a capsize recovery.

The Instructor got the boat unstuck by spinning it in a circle until it came free. Then I wriggled up onto the centerboard (not so easy!) and recovered from the capsize. Once we got back to the dock we headed for the showers. Dude says, "he can't fail us because we were in the water the longest." I'm not sure I saw that on the rubric, actually. I had a brief vision of pushing this dude in for a little more swim time, but decided it wasn't in the Corinthian spirit.

And now I am even more stressed about next weekend's powerboat practical. Gasp.

1. 2. & 3. Oyster Bay!

2009-05-09T01:37:00.003-04:00

So much to say and little idea how to organize it, so I'll just sort of ramble and try to keep all the ideas in the proper ~~cages~~ paragraphs.

When I was in 6th and 7th grade we lived in Oyster Bay, right by the railroad tracks on a block with a lot of two-family homes. We three boys would ride our bikes around the block, past the Jakobson shipyard, and down to the beach. There we would explore a huge tunnel that fed Mill Creek overflow into the bay and we'd float leftover beer bottles and see who could be the first to peg them with rocks. Smart.

I went back there a few weeks ago to take the US Sailing Keelboat Instructor class at the Waterfront Center.

WOW! The place has really changed! It is so different it's really hard to describe it. What is there now is a real waterfront center: sailboats for class and for rent, the Lightship Nantucket, and two old wooden ships, including an oyster sloop. They have a building, on lease from the DEC, that they use for sailing classes, water education classes like biology and environment, and all sorts of other stuff.

The Keelboat class was very good. It was a three day class and we had two very salty guys who were really good at teaching us to be sailing instructors. And we got to sail every day! I had always heard good things about the Sonar, and after I got used to it I liked it a lot. It's a bit difficult to sail alone, and for our practical exam we had to run through a bunch of drills to show the Instructors that we knew what we were doing. To sail it solo means you have to sit in front of the traveler and the main sheet and steer with a tiller extension. My main difficulty was that the main sheet block never rotated all the way to forward, so every tack involved main sheet all over the place, on all four sides of the traveler block (over, under, left, and right) and wrapped between and around both feet. It was a mess.

The sailing practical wasn't easy, but I passed. We had to do two MOB drills (Quick Stop and Figure 8); sail around a box for a few rounds so they could see us do some tacks and gybes; reef; shake it out; dock under sail; heave to; and pick up the mooring. We also had to tie about 6 knots, take a few written exams, and do two presentations. A lot of work jammed into three days!

In the Defense of Varnish

2009-04-28T01:37:00.005-04:00

If you are like me, and you love the warm honey-glow of a newly varnished coaming, the glint of light off a distant toerail, or the intimidating majesty of the solid golden wall of hatchboards, you insist on using varnish despite many new-fangled inventions like, say, Cetol.

Part of why I like using varnish is the mystery of its mixture; like home made BBQ sauce, we could tell you what's in it, but we won't. The ingredients were figured out by experience, by some toothless old salt in a New Bedford shipyard, not by some chemist in a lab comparing the essential properties of wood and cell structure and how these would best be served by a certain mix of poly-this and esther-that.

Varnish is one of the ways we can carry the Old Ways forward. Even Shakespeare wrote about varnish. It was something like, "We few. We happy few. We band of brothers. For those who spread their varnish with us today shall always be our brothers."

Now, not everyone appreciates the varnish. There's a faction of so-called traditionalists who "prefer to let their teak silver." These guys also prefer to let their teak splinter, crack, and get replaced.

But if you are planning to use varnish on your teak, prepare to be insulted. For example, just the other day a guy in the boatyard remarked about how much wood there is on the Redwing. This is a well-sailed path and I knew what was coming next. And sure enough, he said, "you should think about using Cetol." So, playing my part, I said, "Yeah, I just like the look of varnish better." Right on cue he said, "I figure I'll get the boat with a lot of wood on it when I retire; I don't want to waste my life away varnishing."

There are dozens of permutations of this conversation but this is pretty much the way it goes. People invariably have "better things to do" than varnish, they "have a life," or they "would rather be sailing." No shit; me too. Nobody would say, "yeah I see you drinking a Bud Light, but I don't like to drink beer that tastes like it run out the back of a horse." But with varnish, there is no holding back; if you want to put in the time and effort you must have nothing better to do, enjoy wasting your time, and don't like sailing. It's strange. I don't get it.

But we happy few will persevere in the face of new "traditions." We will rest our backs on coamings buried under eight coats of high-gloss Epifanes and know that somewhere an old toothless salt is watching us, grinning into his mug o' rum.

2009-04-23T01:37:00.002-04:00

And before the show Crumbolst, Mrs Crumbolst, the future Mrs Redwing, and I will be getting together for some BBQ and ice-cold beers...I absolutely cannot wait!

Robin Knox-Johnston Day!

2009-04-22T01:37:00.006-04:00

Yes, today is Earth Day. But it's also a famous day in sailing history. Today is the 40th anniversary of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston's completion of the first-ever single-handed solo non-stop circumnavigation. And he did it in a 32' home-made boat, not a computer-designed, super-tricked out, technology from the future kind of racing sled. He did it on raw Manliness. And so we, the sailing community bloggers, have decided to celebrate Sir Knox-Johnston today! It all started here.

"Forty years ago, nine men set out to be the first to sail around the world without stopping. The craft ranged from suicidal to merely questionable, as did most of the sailors themselves. One man, however - a merchant marine with a small, heavy, hand-built teak boat - decided to give it a shot. He sailed out of Falmouth with what some called a pipe-dream, and sailed back a Legend.

There are few living legends. Certainly there are people walking around who've achieved celebrity, respect, and even greatness, but 'Legendary' is an adjective reserved for only a hand full of exceptional people - a very exclusive club. Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to single-hand around the globe non-stop, is most certainly that club's Commodore.

Sir Robin was, is, and shall forever be the first man to circumnavigate solo and non-stop. With over a half-million miles under his keel, and a number of other records since his first trip 'round (including the Jules Verne Trophy), Knox-Johnston is the sailor's sailor."

-Excerpted from the introduction to this great interview.

Here's what Sir Knox-Johnston had to say about his first race after finishing the Velux 5 Ocean Race in 2006: "It was much easier 38 years ago, no messing around with technology. They said I was missing for four and a half months and prepared my obituary, but I always knew where I was."

Enjoy other RJK Day celebrations listed here and here.

boat games

2009-04-12T01:37:00.001-04:00

We had rain ALL DAY yesterday so there was little hope of going to the boatyard. I did think about going over there and washing the topsides, but I got lazy. And the thought of standing in cold rain, well, just didn't sound that appealing. I could have gone down and read some sea stories, like Sjogin did, but decided to stay in and prepare for company.

We had some folks over for game night, and we played some really fun games and had a lot of laughs. That got me to thinking about what kind of games are good for the boat. Space is limited, so games can't require a lot of people, or have a lot of pieces. Nor can they require a great deal of time because there is usually something to do or check on when we're sitting at anchor. So Risk, Monopoly, Diplomacy, and Axis & Allies are all out. I have always had a vision of playing dominoes on the boat, but that might be complicated too.

You'd think that Scrabble would be disqualified for all of those reasons, but we have a travel Scrabble and play it all the time. The tiles click into a grid-board. It's kind of a pain to take apart, but it's worth the hassle.

Last night we played a few games that would work on the boat. The first game we played was Catch Phrase. We played with 6 people, guys vs girls. The game has a little gadget that you pass around. A phrase appears in the display window and the reader has to get his teammates to say the phrase without using any of the words in the phrase or any hand gestures. It's like $25,000 Pyramid without the pyramid. Or the $25,000. That was a lot of fun. Girls won 3 games to 2. We also played a community variant where we all guessed and tried to get around the circle before the timer ran out.

Then we played Mad Gab. GREAT game. Hilarious. We played with three teams made of couples who are not couples. Each team tries to get three of the clues right in three minutes. The faster you get them all the more points you get; if time runs out you get as many points as clues correct. Each of the clues is a group of words that if said in the proper way make up a phrase of some kind. The guesser reads the words, and the partner tries to help them (number of words, syllables in each word, long or short vowels, pace, etc). For example, "Ace Lip Puff That Hung" comes out as "A slip of the tongue." Get it? Here's another: "Eye Mull of Mush Sheen" comes out as "I'm a love machine." The funny part is that as a spectator you can kind of hear what the person is trying to say, but as a guesser, you're completely befuddled.

We're definitely bringing those to the boat.

And of course, a regular old deck of cards can go a long way. Allison just learned how to play spades, so hopefully we will get some of that going this summer.

What about you? What games do you have/bring aboard? What games should I add to my list?

spent a little time at the yard

2009-04-11T01:37:00.001-04:00

I got down to the boatyard yesterday/Friday for pretty much the first time this season.

The boat is an absolute mess!

Sometimes during the winter I wonder, "how is it even ever possible that I can wear a t-shirt, outside, all night, and not be chilly?" When I got down to the yard I had a similar thought: "how is it even ever possible that this boat is ever clean enough to enjoy?" The trees around the boat have been dropping seeds that look like bright red grape nuts and they are all over, drifted into corners, and clogged in the drains like a mash of cereal that has sat in milk a little too long. The weather has been pretty wet lately, and with the fermented bright red grape nuts jamming the cockpit drains and not allowing rainwater to pass the boat has gotten pretty dirty. Same with the scupper drains. A mess, I tell ya!

But this is what spring is for! Cleaning!

So that is just what I did. I brought all the boat tools into the boat and organized all the cleaning supplies.

This past Christmas I got one of those tool pouches that fits over a 5-gallon bucket. I have always wanted one and so I spent a little time today lovingly deciding what tools to put in the bucket kit and which pockets they should go into.

I did manage to get something tangible done, too. I replaced all the old, black, nasty, varnished-up edge trim with clean, white, fresh, and sparkly edge trim. This led to a bit of frenzied cleaning with the magic-fiber cloth that no stain shallt resist. This led to the complete dismantling and remantling of the shelf where we store the binocs, the propane, and the sail ties.

And that led to me pulling a muscle in my neck. Gotta get those boatyard/real work muscles back into shape!

I'm either headed back today/Saturday for some work on the stern rail, the rewiring of the engine compartment fan, or the rewiring of the Nav Lights. Or I may go on a resupply trip to WestMarine and the brand-new Ace hardware - right next door to each other! Think of it! Two-stop shopping! All we need now is some kind of beer distributor and you could call it "Manly Man Plaza."

for sail and for sale!

2009-04-08T01:37:00.000-04:00

Found another Redwing for sale on craig's list in Boston (thank you, Google Alert).

It looks like it needs a lot of soap and water, sandpaper, and wax, but damn it's pretty! Redwing is a 1970 and so is this one. I emailed the seller to see what the hull # is, hoping that it's the brother to my own! How cool would that be?

I like the blue hull and the name is pretty good, too.

the Redwing Sweet Caroline

2009-04-07T01:37:00.001-04:00

Here's one more sister for the family tree, the Redwing Sweet Caroline.

I'm digging that red bottom.

Hopefully they will keep updating the site, or move to a blog of some kind.

more Masefield

2009-04-06T01:37:00.000-04:00

A Wanderer's Song

A WIND'S in the heart of me, a fire's in my heels,
I am tired of brick and stone and rumbling wagon-wheels;
I hunger for the sea's edge, the limits of the land,
Where the wild old Atlantic is shouting on the sand.

Oh I'll be going, leaving the noises of the street,
To where a lifting foresail-foot is yanking at the sheet ;
To a windy, tossing anchorage where yawls and ketches ride,
Oh I'll be going, going, until I meet the tide.

And first I'll hear the sea-wind, the mewing of the gulls,
The clucking, sucking of the sea about the rusty hulls,
The songs at the capstan in the hooker warping out,
And then the heart of me'll know I'm there or thereabout.

Oh I am tired of brick and stone, the heart of me is sick,
For windy green, unquiet sea, the realm of Moby Dick;
And I'll be going, going, from the roaring of the wheels,
For a wind's in the heart of me, a fire's in my heels.

- John Masefield, 1916, from Salt-Water Poems and Ballads

..."a jealousy so strong that judgment cannot cure."

2009-04-05T01:37:00.000-04:00

Here's my brother, KC. And I'm not jealous of those beautiful blue eyes either. It's something else...