December 11 13 Daytona Beach to New Smyrna and Two Lay Days There Only 16 Miles

It took only three hours with a fifteen minute delay at a bridge near our destination that opens only every twenty minutes. Cold but clear with more wind than yesterday so we used only the small jib. We passed the Ponce de Leon Inlet with its distinctive lighthouse by the sea.

There were alternate buoyed routes at two points in this short passage and we took the one officially marked as the "ICW route" which was inland from the light. The last time I was here was crewing on a northbound 74 foot motor yacht, m/v "Sea Leaf," in 2012. Then we stopped at a marina by the light before jumping out into the Atlantic for a romp up to Beaufort NC.
Today we could have gone another 32 miles to Titusville, but we broke the trip there from Daytona into two parts by stopping here because Lene heard or read that New Smyrna is a nice town.  This has emerged as our plan for the winter: We are going south in Florida slowly. We are already in Florida but have several hundred miles to get to the Dry Tortugas, which is as far as one can go in the U.S.  This involves a lot of the ICW because many of the ports are not easily accessible from the sea. The two hops from Lake Worth to Fort Lauderdale and from there to Miami Beach, will be out in the Atlantic, during good weather, because of bridges. There are so many bridges that you have to wait for in the first such hop and a fixed 56 foot bridge in the second that we just can not ever get under. And the trip in the Keys is planned as a mix of inside and outside jumps. Having stopped almost everywhere in Florida on our way south, we plan to skip a lot of these same stops on the way north by going outside. A plan that has sort of come to us and like all plans is waiting to be changed.
Anyway New Smyrna is a very nice cozy well run, friendly municipal marina with good showers but mediocre wifi.

We are at the furthest out slip, which, given how small this place is, was not a disadvantage. In fact it was an advantage because we had a clear unobstructed view of the Christmas Parade of lighted boats on Saturday night from our cockpit. About 20 boats, both power and sail, decked out in vastly colorful lights came up the ICW right past our cockpit. The photos do not do the spectacle justice.
They have a decent history museum here run by the historical society with interesting local artifacts such as the equipment used to cut "cats faces" (shallow "V" shaped slashes) on pine trees to collect the sap to make turpentine. The town got its name from the home town of the founders wife in Greece. The Marina is in the background, two blocks from the museum and between them is a 20 foot high plateau

on which is the ruins of the foundation of either the home that was shelled and burned in a naval bombardment from two US gunboats during the Civil War or a fort. The signage was more directed against vandalism than providing information. The museum has a copy (or original of an affidavit signed by a survivor, after the war, in support of a claim for reparations, asserting that no member of the family lifted arms in support of the Confederacy. I was interested in how the legal form of the affidavit has been relatively unchanged from then to today.
One thing I forgot to report from the museums in St. Augustine is that during the civil war, excluding the native Americans, the total population of Florida was less than 10,000, more than half of them slaves. But you cant believe all you learn in museums: In Fernandina I was told that the original native Americans here were a peaceable and matriarchal society; in St Augustine the story was about the chiefs and the wars between them. Because we can not talk to them directly anymore, each historian draws his or her own conclusions.
The main drag on this half of town, west of the ICW, is called Canal Street,

about six blocks long. We had dinner one night at Yellow Dog Eats on that street, which specializes in variations on pulled pawk. Saturday the street was closed for an antique and classic car show. My friend Jim would have loved the car show. Meticulously maintained and highly shined cars from the 30s through the 70s simply parked on the street, with their owners in lawn chairs nearby to answer questions. Some pride themselves on all original components while others have replaced the interior mechanicals with more powerful and efficient engines.
We took the shuttle bus that picked us up at the far end of Canal Street at Dixie Highway and took us to the beach.

The fare is $0.75 one way for a senior. After a stroll on the beach, we walked the two plus miles back through the main drag of the beach side of town, Flagler Street, and across the bridge that detained us on our passage into town.

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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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January 16 to 18 Three More Lay Days in Coconut Grove Zero Miles

Yes we have been stuck in the Miami area for quite a while -- we got to Miami Beach on January 2 -- not that were complaining. It has been quite pleasant with many friends and family. The day we had to leave the Coral Reef YC because our dock space had been reserved by others, we were informed that we did not have to leave until 4:30. So we took public transport back into the city to visit the Miami History Museum. They had a special exhibit on the Beatles that Lene loved. They had a room showcasing the many cultures that have contributed to the city including this art piece representing the Haitian influence,

and an actual tiny triangular boat, more of a raft, on which seven souls escaped from Cuba. I learned that before Government Cut was cut, Biscanye Bay had no access to the sea except for small craft, and that Key West had been the seat of government of southern Florida, with a courthouse and customs and salvage operations. A delicious and quite fulfilling lunch at El Cacique, a store front looking Cuban place with a big coffee shop style restaurant behind. Clean, fast, tasty and I had yuca and plantanos as sides.  And $22.95 for both of us before the tip. They have been here for almost 30 years in the heart of downtown and now I know why. Our short haul from dock back to anchor was uneventful.
The next day, Lene and I separated. Lene took in American Sniper, which I would not enjoy -- the genre, and I took public transit to Miami Beach to attend part of its Art Deco Festival.

I took in  a youth bands concert of, good mostly Latin jazz




while I laid on my back on the grass under a big coconut palm.

Then I met up with Jerry and Louise, listened to Alina Celeste sing.  So sweet was her voice and the folk-like songs she sang for children with no sexuality, no high amplification and no hype. Ill take her over Lady Gaga, any day.

Lunch at Jerrys favorite Cuban beachfront restaurant and lots of people watching -- of people who had come to be watched. Ocean Drive, from 5th to 13th Streets, with lots of art deco architecture, was closed to vehicular traffic except for a huge antique car parade that passed us. The ocean side of the street was lined with vendors booths the whole way. It started to get more crowded as the day wore on and the festival was scheduled to run to 11p.m. We took the bus back to Jerry and Louises apartment and after resting had a big home made salad and I slept there, my first night ashore since October 7. Lene, on the other hand, the one who calls herself "not a sailor" less and less these days, took the dink back to our boat, fed herself and slept aboard without me. Her first time. And in the morning, when she had to take the dink the .9 miles back to the dinghy dock, the gas line sprung a leak which, with phone advice from me, she was able to fix. Did I mention how proud of her I am?
On our last day here I was picked up by Rhonda, the one who had dinner with us at Montys,

Lene, Janet and Rhonda

at Jerry and Louises apartment. We picked up Lene and went to the Beaux Arts Festival at the Coral Springs campus of University of Miami, where we met up with Janet and Ed, and Janets brother Neal and his wife Sandy, who spend their winters down here.
I saw a lot of nice art and I only had time to visit less than half of the booths.

This construction of two types of wood was my favorite, based on the artists pencil drawing of a lovers embrace, shown in the photo. Knees, arms and torsos are visible. I also talked with an artist from Blue Hill, Maine and one who had watercolored in Frenchboro Maine.

Tomorrow morning were off -- for Key West and beyond!

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December 16 18 Two More Lay Days in Titusville and Passage to Dragon Point Anchorage 30 9 Miles

Titusville is a good place to leave ones boat for the Christmas holidays as our friends on Autumn Borne and Seeker are doing. But it is also a sightseeing launch pad. Our first lay day was devoted to JFK Space center on Cape Canaveral, on Merritt Island, which forms the eastern shore of the Indian River (think of boxes of fruit from Florida) and was the subject of my prior post.
Our second lay day was mostly errands: Post office, bank, pet food store, laundry, and supermarket. But we also visited the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. It has a one lane unpaved loop road about three feet above sea level in a very circuitous path  about 7.5 miles long with about fifteen stops for viewing wildlife, mostly birds. But there are alligators there too and the book says there are small mammals as well and their droppings attest to it. It is a birders paradise and made me wish I was a birder, because there are so many species.

t flies but its not a bird.

Out in the middle of nowhere, there is an additional 5 mile hiking loop further than the road goes. I walked about half a mile and back while Lene waited. The wet lands and marshes have a few high spots, about three feet high, and the road simply connected them. The place is not completely natural but rather carefully managed to let seawater in,or out, to preserve ideal depths for different species. I took a lot of pictures but few came out well. Another paved road takes you to Playalinda (pretty beach in Spanish) Beach but we ran out of time.

And our last lay day was for the Universal theme parks in Orlando. Lene wanted this and I think she has gotten roller coasters out of her system. It was mostly monster rides but also a lot of inside rides that are intended to be scary.  For the giant ones a person must check all things that could fly away with the violent shaking of ones body: bags, hats, glasses, phones, cameras, wallets, change etc. They have rooms with walls of lockers that use your fingerprint to lock and unlock them. These areas need to be enlarged a bit. They have attendants to keep things moving when the system fails. The locker areas are the only thing in the park that needs to be expanded. I did not take pictures except these of Lene in chartreuse top with colossal structures.

We were lucky it was not Christmas week when the crowds would be three times as large. Several rides said that the line was 45 minutes, but in fact the times were shorter than that. And they keep you moving and entertained while waiting.  There are two separate parks with different rides in each, though both had Harry Potter rides and villages (One London and the other the suburban school). We were not close followers of the HP phenomenon but enjoyed it anyway. One mistake was drinking a "butter beer:" it looks like a beer with a head, but it is all cream and butterscotch and sweeter than is good for anyones health. All told, we went on about a dozen rides or shows during the 8.5 hours we were in the park. Most rides and shows are based on Universals action thriller or cartoon characters. They have done a very good job with some of the shows. The Eighth Voyage of Sinbad was in a huge amphitheater with acrobats, diving, and explosives. A Neptune show was all large excellent computer animation and pyrotechnics. These two had a watery theme as did two rides that we skipped because the fun is getting drenched. Both of the HP rides and several others put you in cars which move along a track, swivel on center and tilt and shake in myriad ways while 3D computer animations confront you. Very clever use of burning hot big flames -- you could feel the heat. Similarly, when an aquatic villain loomed out there was a spray of real water -- Aldous Huxleys "The Feelies" have arrived. An old fashioned looking railroad takes you from the HP area of one park to the other, with attendants in each area appropriately costumed. But the view out the window of the train would be of the back sides of  the various rides so instead of they put us, six in a small cabin, on one side of the train and amused us two ways during the short ride. For one thing, silhouettes of HP characters were made to appear in cloudy silhouette in the trains corridor, nattering about aspects of the plot. On the other side, a computer animated view of the English scene was shown moving past as if you were traveling by train in England. Clever. And the park is very expensive: $135 per person plus $17 to park the car. And merchandising everywhere. (for an additional $50 per person you can get an express pass which gives you the right to get on a separate shorter line to wait for the rides and shows. Not needed the day we visited.) We had dinner back in Titusville at Chops -- good food at a reasonable price.
On passage day, breakfasting out (third day in a row), returning the rental car, showering, raising the dink and fueling led to a 10:45 departure for Dragon Point (There was a big statue of a dragon here but it has disintegrated). It is the southern pointy tip of Merritt Island. No wind to speak of so; motoring all the way. At the Point we hooked a left into the Banana River, on the eastern side of that island, and dropped the hook a couple of hundred yards up that river in 17 feet of water at high tide with 100 feet of snubbed chain, for a quiet evening aboard. We had thought to stop and anchor half way in Cocoa FL,but skipped it this time. I have stopped reporting dolphins because they are with us every day.

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May 15 16 Colonial Beach VA to St Marys MD and Lay Day There 35 5 Miles

Cool last night. Lene likes fresh air but we kept the hatches and ports closed. We got a late start this morning, 9 am, and it cost us adverse tide until the last eight miles up the beautiful St. Marys River, which was a delicious engineless broad port reach to Horseshoe Bend, with diminishing wind that gradually slowed us from eight to four knots as the headlands on either side cut off the wind. Before this, out in the Potomac, the propeller rattle reappeared and we motorsailed with main and small jib. It was slow at first with light wind and then there were 25 knots, but on our nose, requiring us to beat our way down the Potomac. It was Friday and we saw our first substantial river traffic. A tug was pushing a heavily laden barge in Kettle Bottom Shoals Channel. I called and he asked me to stay outside the channel, which I had planned to do anyway. Also about four cruising sailboats and about ten fishing boats dragging vanes to spread out their lines; they take up a lot of room but we had no close calls. Your photographer was inattentive; sorry.
Horseshoe Bend is roughly circular and about two thirds of a mile in diameter, with water in the teens almost to its edges. On its SE side, near where we anchored in 16 feet of water with 100 feet of snubbed chain, is the waterside sailing center of St Marys College. We are center right. Lots of kids out on skiffs, SUPs, and kayaks. Free use of the schools dinghy dock. A most welcoming place. The school is celebrating its 175th anniversary and has only 2000 students; Lene and I attended much larger schools. St. Marys is

an "honor" college of the University of Maryland. It has the only eating facility in the area, its cafeteria, where you can get all you can eat for $13 for dinner. But with graduation on our lay day, we had their last supper, burgers and dogs. We actually attended the graduation ceremony, why not.  Rashad Robinson, director of The Color of Change, a million member strong on line civil rights group,  gave an address and received an honorary doctorate degree. We stayed until the roll call of the names of the 430 scholars who were awarded their BAs was begun and then toured the campus, which was mostly locked up. We could hear but not see the speakers and a lot more people were seated to the left. The Bend is in the background left. A lovely setting.

 Across the road from the college is "Historic St. Marys City", which was the capital of the Maryland colony from 1636 to 1695, when they moved the colonys capital to Annapolis. Dont get this place confused with the St. Mary on the St. Marys River at the southern edge of Georgia, where we celebrated Thanksgiving.

This is the frame of "a lawyers house" in the former, and possibly future, historic city. It is there to mark where the house was. If they get money they plan to rebuild it as they have some of the houses, stores, a barn a church and the meeting house.





One of the best features is the Dove, built to resemble  a supply ship that accompanied the settlers in 1635. This one has a diesel, hidden away in its bowels, and GPS as backup to its octant. It actually sails, once a month, in the St. Marys River, and once a year it goes further, such as across the Bay.

Here is the Doves Bosn, Jeremy, a retired navy corpsman. We enjoyed talking with each other.

The colony was founded by Catholics who created the first experiment in what our Constitution now calls "the free exercise of religion". But colonial rule was influenced by the religious war in England between Protestants and Catholics, and the experiment was short lived, when the tides of the war turned.








Here is my land docent, (Is it Gretchen, Im so sorry I forgot your name and Lene discarded the paper on which I wrote it!),

soon to graduate from St. Marys with a Masters in Education and return to teaching HS history. The Historic City might become another colonial Williamsburg or Jamestown  but is suffers from a somewhat remote location. They are conflicted between two methods of restoration. The expensive way requires mega doses of expert historians to get it right and craftspeople with knowledge of  and access to period materials and tools. Much cheaper is to erect a structure that looks kinda like what they think the old building looked like. A complicating factor for them is that the land was put to other uses in the intervening centuries, such as a tobacco plantation with its own greathouse in the 19th Century.
I had never heard of the St. Marys settlement and it is a very interesting place to visit and easy for sailors, near the mouth of the Potomac.

Our last night, we experienced a 35 knot thunderstorm. I put on instruments and sat in the cockpit to check against dragging, but we were not, and once having sustained winds of that strength, we relied on the fact that the anchor had dug itself in deep, and called off the watch for the duration. Just a bit lumpy out there.

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March 11 16 Six More Lay Days in Fort Laud Zero Miles

Well, we got the 9 dinghy changed to the 9 6" model and Lene is much happier. An amazing number of small tasks were required for this but it is all done, except paying the taxes, getting a registration number and putting it on the boat.

The Doel-fin stabilizer fins are screwed onto the small horizontal fins of the outboard, under the water, extending their area several times. Without them, when we try to go fast, the stern of the dinghy just digs in lower and the bow higher, which uses a lot of fuel, inefficiently, for a slow ride. But the ones that we got first were a bit too big and would not safely fit onto the outboard. So when we had a rented car for a day we got the right ones and during Lenes HS reunion, Janets husband, Ed, helped me install them. And I needed his help because my initial plan to stand the outboard up against a square garbage bin, with the engines vertical downward fin between the boards of the boardwalk and a line holding the outboard to the receptacle failed. The holes that needed to be drilled through the aluminum fins could not be drilled from the top down because the other parts of the outboard interfered with a vertical hole from the drill and the "vise" I had created was too low to the ground to drill the holes from the bottom up. So plan B was to find a taller receptacle to hang the outboard from -- and it worked. They said it was a fifteen minute job; more like 75. And this was definitely a two man job, if only to lift the engine from the dink to the land. Thanks Ed, for your help and for lunch at the Riverside Market Cafe, after. What a jumping place that is! I was not only the oldest person in the joint, but probably at least twice the age of every other person except Ed. They have an interesting way of selling beer: huge cooler cases line a wall with racks of bottles of beer of very many brands. Take what you want, open your bottle with an opener that hangs from the ceiling on a string nearby, and bring your empties to the cash register with your food check to be charged for both.

I treated the dinks hypalon exterior surface with a rubbing with Aerospace Protectant 303, to keep it clean and supple. And we had a spare tiller extender (so one can control the throttle and steering from a position more forward in the dink) which only needed  me to remove the rubber liner so it was large enough to fit properly over the end of the tiller and hack off about a foot to shorten the extender.
I also rebedded the side opening port above my head in the Pullman berth. When it rained I was rewarded by a slow drip on my head (or pillow) of fresh rainwater that seeped in (until I put a pot under the drip to catch it; but living with pots in ones bed is no way to live). All I had to do was remove the six screws that fastened the stainless collar around the outside of the exterior of the port, scrape away all of the old bedding material (rubbery stuff) from the back of the collar and from the surface to which it attaches, squeeze out a bead of new caulking all the way around, place the collar back on, screw the six screws in tight, and then wipe away all the excess I could and, after waiting for it to set, scrape away the remainder of the excess.

We enjoyed a visit to the Art Museum with Lenes HS classmate, Elissa, who is a member. It featured a lecture by a PhD art historian on photography followed by a viewing of the Museums three exhibits: photography, Frieda Kahlo + Diego Rivera, and William Glackens, who was a painter in his own right but is more famous for buying most of the art that is now in The Barnes Collection in Philadelphia for Mr. Barnes. Then Lene and Elissa had dinner with some Lincoln HS grads and I spent a quiet night at home.

Interesting things have been happening at our Marina. 1). A week before we got here an auto was pulled from the bottom of the river, having rolled down the boat ramp next to us. The person whose body was found inside was a crime victim, an accident victim or a suicide. 2) A burglar, running from the police, jumped aboard a sailboat two boats away from ours, and when the husband was awakened by his heavy breathing, jumped into the river and was arrested by the police, waiting on the other shore. Glad it was not our boat. And this is a very cute little strange watercraft, taken out at the boat ramp near us.

Wildlife too: 1). I was afraid, returning to ILENE one night, that one of the kitties was thrashing in the water with one of the big black Moscovy ducks that live in the marina and fear no man -- or cat.

But it was two ducks mating, a very violent squawking while thrashing, it seemed to me. 2). Lene screamed! She does this when insects appear. It is very unsettling. This time it was a gecko crawling on our galley stove. It took a few attempts before I grabbed him and he was happy to be placed back on the dock. The next one was brought to the boat by one of the cats and I put him back ashore but without a good part of his tail. I dont know if he can live without it.  

We were taken to the Wakodahatchee wetlands preserve by our friends, Dick and Elle where we saw a turtle,

lots of birds

and this somewhat larger waterborne gecko, tail first and then head.

 It is part of a water treatment plant and a two mile boardwalk has been erected above the water to give visitors access to the animals. Im thinking it is misnamed because it is not part of a river and "hatchee" is the Native American word for River, as in Caloosahatchee. Dick and Elle showed us their lovely home in the gated 800 single family home community of Valencia Isles. A beautiful home with room for Dicks woodworking tools. They were in the community production of Fiddler On The Roof, Elle operating a camera to project the play onto large screens at each side of the stage in the auditorium or ballroom of the clubhouse and Dick was a stage hand and had used his woodworking skills to fashion a very realistic looking fiddle out of a block of wood. They had invited us for the performance.We had pizza with them before the show and played in the billiard room of their clubhouse while they got ready for the play. It was very well done with retirees playing all the roles including Tevyas five young daughters. An amateur production but not at all amateurish, with professional equipment and a director.

We had a good dinner with Cousin Naomi

and her sons, Alan and Jeff, at Foxy Browns restaurant. It was within walking distance but had a free parking lot so we drove. Naomi still uses a walker after recovery from her broken bone. Rather interesting food and not too expensive.

Lene had a rather full scale course of beauty treatments in anticipation of the full reunion with her class of 67 schoolmates. Not since October, so she deserved it.

We rented a car for a day from Gold Coast Autos, a very efficient operation which picked us up and dropped us of in a timely fashion. Family run for several decades, exclusively from one Fort Lauderdale office. The only bad part relates to the easy pass system they have installed in the cars. If you take a toll road (and who knew it was a toll road) the device automatically pays your toll and you are billed $6.75 if you tell them, or $20 when they find out if you dont tell them.

While we had the car, on a Saturday, I tried to visit my fathers grave. Many Jewish cemeteries are closed on Saturdays so I called the day before and was told that while the office was closed, visitors were allowed until 3 pm. But when we arrived, the gates were locked so all I could do was say my prayers and think my thoughts from inside the car outside the gates. A disappointment.

Having not filled the propane tank since the day of our first arrival in Marathon, we took it for refill at UHaul the day we had the car. The can was almost bone dry. The valve at the top would not open so UHaul could not put in propane. At Westmarine the salesman told us that they do not sell nor install such valves but Boyes Propane does, and they did, and refilled the tank. They also inspected the tank (looked for pitted surfaces indicating corrosion of the exterior surface) and certified the can for another five years. Luckily this happened when we had the car, though our boat, UHaul, Westmarine and Boyes were all within a couple of miles of each other.

Elissa and Len introduced us to their sailing friends, Ned and Carolyn,

who have a 42 foot Jeanneau in Maine and a 36 foot sailboat at Dinner Key down here. Ned is the brother of Gene, who is a member of the Harlem! It is a small world indeed. After some wine aboard the six of us went to dinner at Nicos where I had the largest stuffed artichoke I have ever seen. It may have been partly because of all the sea stories but I blame the fact that I was still eating artichoke after all the others had finished on the size of that choke.  A fun evening and we thank Elissa and Len, who are not sailors,  for enduring all of our sea stories. And we are invited to Ned and Carolyns house in Rockport, Maine on our next trip up there in 2016.

My final afternoon in Fort Lauderdale was a visit to the Science Museum here on Riverwalk. Lenes business has picked up a bit so she was working. I regret to say that the place was somewhat lackluster.

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January 1 16 New York Boat Show and One Work Day

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

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

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

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

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

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April 15 16 Jekyll to Walburg Creek to Redbird Creek 60 6 and 14 Miles Respectively

We got underway from Jekyll late relative to the tide, at 8:30, due to the need to fuel up. But the first  time we went aground it was solely my fault: Green on the right northbound in the ICW,... I just wasnt thinking. But no biggie; we backed off easily and quickly. The second time it was the fault of the lack of dredging in the ICW: we were in the center of the channel and while we were not stopped, the alarm was ringing and the fathometer said we had only five feet of water so we were dragging the bottom six inches of our keel through eight inches of very soft sediment. But after the first two miles of the days passage, depth was no longer a problem.
St. Simons Sound, gateway to the commercial city of Brunswick, is quite deep. And the tide flowing out, southeast, was favorable, very favorable, so we were motoring at over nine knots. Once clear of the channel we motor sailed during the morning but once the wind came up (a broad starboard reach) we sailed without motor in the afternoon toward St. Catherines Sound. A very pleasant sail under warm and sunny skies. Other than two shrimpers who were working St. Simons Inlet, and a sailboat we were catching up to off St. Catherines Sound, we saw no other boats. We even enjoyed good tide after the jibe, going west into St. Catherines Sound, making eight knots with just the main.
We had started with the plan to go to Wahoo Creek in the Sapelo Inlet. (Most inlets around here are named after the rivers that flow out of them and most are named for Saints: John, Mary, Catherine, Simon -- maybe it was from the period when Spain was influential here?) But while out there, we found that St. Catherines was only ten miles further and we had lots of time to get there before dark, so plan B went into effect.  Nearing arrival, we saw rain clouds gathering to the west, ahead. When we set our anchor in Walburg Creek a light rain had begun and while I was attaching the snubber and securing things it got torrential. Nothing to do when the boat was finally secure but take off all clothing -- everything was saturated -- towel off and put on fresh clothing before dinner.
Walburg Creek is bound by marshes on both sides and sparsely inhabited on land or by boat. We had a scare in the middle of the night when the tide had gone out and we showed only eight feet of water, rather than fourteen, and were dangerously close to the south shore. The wind had come up and the tide was flowing. I got Lene up and she started the engine. I pulled up the anchor, Lene moved us maybe 50 yards to a better spot (there was lots of room) we dropped and set it and, after watching, we went back to sleep. Lene, who edits these posts, criticized me for failing to express our sense of terror while picking up and re-anchoring in inky blackness with current flowing fast and wind howling. She is correct.
In the morning the plan had been to sail to Bull Creek, up in Tybee Roads, which is the entrance to the Savannah River, near Hilton Head. The outside route would have been 43.2 miles as compared to 48.9 via the hairpin turns of the ICW. But the wind was from the north at up to 20 knots and especially for the 20 mile plus outside part of the passage Lene was not enamored of beating into that stuff on a cold grey day with rain forecast. And I was not looking forward to it either. There is a saying to the effect that "Gentlemen do not beat." Beating into strong wind in the ocean beats up the boat and the boaters. So Plan B: inside. But blocking the way was Hell Gate. It is a portion of the ICW, a canal, only .6 miles long, connecting the Ogeechee and Vernon Rivers. But with our draft, we cannot get through except at very near high tide. And the tide was already flowing out and we had a couple more hours to go, so: Plan C: Redbird Creek is a totally uninhabited creek through the marshes and only 4 miles from Hell Gate. It was tricky in Redbird when the strong wind was blowing from the north while the tidal current ran the other way. ILENE did not know how to lie on her anchor. The good news is that the anchor held. No one came through by day or night; it was just us and the kitties. And very dark at night, being for from civilization. We arrived in the late morning with plans to leave in mid afternoon, but stayed the night. The views: N, S, E and W; are impressive for their blandness. At low tide one is six feet lower and sees less other than the banks which are closer.

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September 10 16 The Dinghy A Wednesday Afternoon and A Change of Plans

Our dinghy, "Rojay", has hung from ILENEs davits, with its outboard attached, since we got in in Florida except when in use, which, since we have gotten back north, has been rarely. With the approach of Autumn it would not be used again this calendar year. So I (a) lowered it,(b) took off the lock that holds its outboard on (which was harder than expected due to apparent rust - so I have to take the lock back to Westmarine), (c) removed its equipment to the boat or locker, (d) drove Rojay to the dock, (e) removed her outboard, (f) used a cart to get it to the car and (g) dropped it off at Island Outboard where Tony will change the oil and store it --warm -- for the winter.
Then, with help, I hauled Rojay up onto the dock, used the air pump to evacuate as much air as possible, got it onto a cart and rolled it to the locker house, where the hard part began. We had to get it through the door, along a narrow passageway on its side, up an ever narrower and steep stairway and into the locker, where it fits with its bow low in the back corner and its stern hung up high and by the door.On  this diagonal it just barely fits and my helpers had their doubts about that until it was in. A tough job for three old men!  Thanks to Mike, who had come out for the Old Salts event with me, and we also enlisted George, our Clubs Grounds and Lockers Chairman, who is a ubiquitous and always helpful presence at the Club.  Thanks Mike and George!

The sail was pleasant on Bennetts "Ohana" with he and I and two couples, Mike and Sandy and Morty and Klara. We enjoyed about 2.5 hours underway despite the extremely light winds. In that time we got down to the entrance to Little Neck Bay and back.  At times we made only one knot and toward the end were making 3.5. But we had no destination to get to and no deadline to get there and the refreshments were, well, refreshing, on a hot and  sunny pleasant afternoon. I was a bit left out of the conversation for a while when it turned to skiing, in which sport all the others participated.

As readers know, I had planned to crew aboard Sangaris from City Island to Annapolis in October. And while I remain welcome, it appears that I am not needed for that voyage because Katherine has taken off from work and will be able to help Craig. Meanwhile, Bob, aboard his 47 foot Aerodyne, Pandora, does need crew so I have changed boats. The planned passage is from Essex CT to Hampton, VA during a weather window in early October. I am looking forward to telling you about his big fast new boat and our passage. That passage will likely be the next sailing I do because Lene and I will be on a bus tour of National Parks from September 19 -30, through South Dakota, Wyoming and Utah.

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April 3 Cocoa to Titusville and Passover Seder There 16 2 Miles

A bright warm sunny day. In the morning Witty was not his normal self. He did not wake Lene at 5:30 demanding his breakfast, his tail was down and he kept looking upward as at the ceiling. Lene thought he might have somehow become blind because he was looking up at the light coming through the hatches. But once we emerged from the cabin a different scenario appeared. A large pelican had used the top of our mast as his toilette seat and rained large quantities of guano down upon the boat, where it splattered, especially on its dark blue canvas. Thats where Witty likes to lounge. We think he may have been defecated upon and traumatized by the experience. My mom wrote a copyrighted but unpublished childrens book: "Pele the Pelican." She loved these birds, their grace despite such an ungainly body and their ability to hurl themselves, open-beaked into the water, seeking fish, Well the other end of their alimentary canal creates quite a mess. I spent two hours cleaning. Residues remain that will require a hose and soapy water to eradicate.

With this and inflating and hoisting the dink and closing the cockpit table we did not get underway until noon for the three hour passage. We ran the engine hard, 2800 rpms, which is good for diesels -- to let them burn off the carbon deposits that build up. And part of the time we went quite slowly using only the genoa. This was a short hop, anchor to anchor, and we dropped just outside the Titusville mooring field, where we had taken a mooring on our way south. I tied the new snubber hook to a very short piece of very strong line. and attached the middle of the new snubber line to its other end, to lead both ends back, one through each bow chock. We did not lower the dink here, living in our own very small world.

I made the charoseth and a dish with carrots and dried apricots -- sweetness being a theme of the Passover holiday. and though burgers are not the traditional meat, they were delicious. With store bought macaroons and home cut melon for desert.

But before the feast, the cockpit table was large enough for the seder plate, the matzohs and the three wine or juice cups -- one for each person and one for the prophet Elijah, who is always welcome. This may have been my first al fresco seder.

Seder translates to English as "order" and the order of each step in the home dinner ritual is prescribed in a book called the Hagadah.  Well I forgot to bring one but after 70 years I know the story fairly well and while we had a loose non-orthodox version of things, we did have a Seder. Observers will note that we forgot one of the ritual items that belongs on the table -- a charred lamb bone to signify the paschal lamb whose blood was smeared on the doors of the Israelites so that the angel of death passed over their homes when smiting the first born of the Egyptians.  Our crew was rather bored by the story,

their message: "Show me the beef!"  






A quiet sunset over Titusville where we had lots of room.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

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