A Literary obsevation

"Live the Dream"
"Sell up and Sail"
"50 Ultimate Cruise Destinations"

How the books lining the chandlers shelves tempt you into this life of cruising.

Not many pursue the line of "Fixing Your Boat in Exotic Places".

Our exotic place just now is Port Washington on the eastern end of New York's Long Island.

Originally settled as a shellfish harvesting and processing bay, after a typhoid outbreak and over-fishing killed the industry in the early 1900's the locals turned to sand mining.

Millions if tons were excavated and shipped the 10 miles down the East River to satisfy New York's demand for sand for mortar to build skyscrapers and sidewalks; most of which we wandered again yesterday.

Port Wahington is also the home of the Star Class. 20 were built in 1910-12 for the locals to race not long before it became an Olympic class

Today Port Washington is largely a commuter town with weekend and summer tourists. Millionaires homes line the edges of the bay and I suspect a few might politely point out that on fact they are billionaires.

While tempted to anchor off their immaculate lawns rolling down to the waters edge we are on one of the many moorings in the bay, serviced by the launch service to one of the docks around the bay. The Stop and Shop dock, the Town Dock or the Marina Bar dock. Pretty hood for $25 a night.

Yesterday was time for more maintenance. So, once again buried in a locker, skinning my knuckles as I wrestled with the jammed, sheared nuts on the Duogen it occurred to me that the authors of "Live the Dream", Sell Up and Sail" etc.... must have had a somewhat higher patience threshold than me.

Anyway, it's back running again, the sun us coming out after a night of rain and tomorrow we head up Long Island Sound with Julian and Lyn on Domini, bound for an evening of sea shanties!

What shall we do with the drunken sailor?