06/30/2012, Oyster Bay, NY
Got an early start and went in to the farmer's market at 8:00 a.m. and purchased fresh bread, rolls, more squashes (they are so great and won't be tiny long!), beautiful tender butter lettuce and another tomato. Then headed back to the boat to store our goodies and ready for a day of sailing. We raised sails at 9:30 a.m. and sailed past Stamford, CT and headed west towards Port Chester, NY as the tide was going out. Perfect wind and a 2 hour tack missing all the fishing pots and then tacked across the Sound to head into Oyster Bay. Oyster Bay is where Jordan and Andrea held their wedding reception at the Crescent Beach Club. It is truly beautiful here. Just in front of us is a large mooring field and we are just below it anchored with about 4 other sailboats and a few cruisers. Yes, indeed, we are now anchored with the "Big Boys". As Lawrence said, it is not often you see an 80- 100 foot boat like this anchored. They're usually a "dock boat". It was amazing to watch them anchor and actually quite close to us. There is a nice breeze and I'm getting ready to cook - cheeseburgers and fresh potato salad for dinner. Tomorrow we'll have a leisurely start and sail til afternoon and head back to our mooring in Northport - our summer home!
EL
S/V Elle & I
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Comments [1]
Brian
06/30/2012, Northport, NY
After a scorcher of a day, Adam stopped by while operating the tender service a couple of times just to chat for a few minutes. L. and I then pulled out the wonderful fold up chairs that Andrea and Jordan bought us for Christmas a couple years ago. Brought them up on deck and oh boy, what a difference. The air was so cool compared to the heat of the day, we sat outside til 10:30 p.m. having our coffees. Marin also joined in the relaxation and spent the entire evening on deck. He just loved every second of it.
EL
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06/29/2012, Northport, NY
Last night one of the launch service drivers came by as it was his day off. He has a beautiful Cape Dory with hand-painted sails. He tied up to us for a visit. I pulled together some fresh bruschetta and wine, while he added garlic stuffed olives and a lovely white wine from his boat. He brought me a chart of Long Island Sound - although we have plenty of electronic ones, I really like looking at the paper charts. They give me a sense of where towns are on shore relative to our position on the water. Adam visited for about 2 hours, then took off for a short sail. We had the remainder of the fresh tiny cheese filled ravioli with a red sauce and a fresh green salad with ciabatta bread. Today will be a very hot one - it's 10:00 a.m. and already 82 out. We had planned to sail today but awoke with a terrible thunder and lightening storm all around is - so we buttoned things down and fell back asleep. Still may sail, but I had to order meds and L. is doing some cleaning of the deck while we had fresh water. Still have to empty the dinghy and, of course, save that fresh water for cleaning on another day. Really trying to keep the boat clean and as free of as much salt as possible. Above is a pic of Adam taking off. He ran a kids camp a few days a week last summer and let the kids sponge paint his sail. He really is quite a character but also a nice guy originally from the Keys.
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06/28/2012, Long Island Sound
We got up this morning around 07:00, and the wind was perfect out of the WSW. We decided to go sailing for the first time this season. We motored out of Northport Bay, and put up our Main in Huntington Bay. We sailed for a short time with the Main only, but once we hit the Sound, we put out the 152 Genoa. It was a great morning to sail. The winds were 6-8 knots from the West, and we sailed over to the Connecticut shore. By the time we turned back toward Eaton's Neck the wind had built to 10-14 knots out of the Southwest. We had a beautiful sail back. We had a small mishap when one of the diesel jerry cans let loose and went over board. Fortunately, it floated and we went back to hook it out of the water. No harm done. The jug was sealed shut, and did not leak. We got lucky. It was a good day, and we hope to do a longer sail tomorrow.
Fair winds & Smooth sailing,
Lawrence S/V Elle & I
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06/28/2012, Northport
Had a great dinner last njght - petite filet mignon, sauteed baby red potatoes, and grilled tiny yellow squash. Shortly after dinner the wind died down and we put up our genoa on the furler. Went smoothly, which means we are now really ready to sail. Wind predictions for tomorrow are 10 - 15 knots and should be a great day to try everything out finally. Below are the fresh veggies including the baby patty pan squash - and they were delicious with just a slight nutty flavor.
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06/27/2012, Northport, NY
The roller furler is fixed, so what went wrong. I have to take a large share of the blame for this one. I should have checked the work being done at Hop-O-Nose marina. The guys doing the work didn't know to check that the forestay was attached, and only attached the bracket for the roller furler. I should have seen that, and we would have avoided all the extra work and expense down at Britannia Yachting Center.
Curt and John at Britannia were great. It took 2 hours to correctly attach both the forestay and furler. First, they had to pull the forestay shackle and turnbuckle out from where it had lodged up in the barrel of the furler. They then had to remove the old cotter pins and lengthen the forestay by about 3/4 inch. Next they had to take all the pressure off the split backstay in order to bring the stay and furler down together. Using just the tip of the through bolt, they had to line up the bracket and shackle on the hole in the keel plate. Once they got the bolt through the front of the bracket and shackle, they had to work the bolt through the back of the plate then through the back side of the bracket and shackle. Because space around the plate is so limited, the lock nut had to be held in position while the bolt was tapped home. Finally, a box end wrench had to be held on the nut while an adjustable wrench was used to tighten the bolt down. Each and everyone of these steps took at least three or four attempts to complete. It was a nightmare. Using the main hallyard attached to a rear cleat, we cranked the mast back until we could attach both arms of the split backstay could be attached. I have had fun before, this was not it! Elaine was beat just from watching this whole process. Had Curt and John not been so professional, I do not believe this work could have been accomplished. By the way, they also helped me reattach the goose-neck on the boom. I personally want to thank them for such a tremendous effort. If you are ever in Northport Bay, looking for assistance with a rigging problem, then Britannia is the place to go.
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