Hove to off Swan Point – Page 22 – and sailing as slow as I can….

Berth progress

Managed to put in a few hours yesterday and assembled the berth. Still need to make the facing piece. Christened it with my first nap. Works just fine. I’ll have some pics of the completed project next weekend.

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Tools
Nice working on this project with a crackling stove at my elbow.

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Breakfast's ready
And nice working with a hot breakfast at the sizzle.

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Here are some pics from last Sunday’s sail. Very light breeze, thin overcast, temps in the 40s.

Ready
At the ready. Unusually high water for November. Probably due to the Northeaster that lingered for the previous few days, piling up water in the New York Bight.

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Breeze?
Calm in the Pond; a bit of air out on the Bay.

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Just enough breeze to tack back to the dock.

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Winter position. This time of year I turn around Sjogin so the sun warms the cockpit and shines in the cabin when the drop board’s out.

It’s a Northeaster!

Classic northeaster late last week. Three days of high winds with the highest tides in a while. We had a tide line up on the lawn, just short of the roses. Just a matter of time before rising sea levels close the road and the town gives us true waterfront property.

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Ring around the lake
High tide line on Friday. Only another three feet to get to the porch.

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Beach growth
A bit more sand has been added to our beach. Sometimes it comes, sometimes it goes. Such is life at the edge.

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Whitlin'
Picking away at the berth project. This is one of the supports being trimmed to fit. Guess where the cuttings go?

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Breezy
Last of the Northeaster blowing itself it out on Saturday. Still plenty of water. Let’s hope it doesn’t start blowing out of the south too soon. Cool enough for a fire and the usual.

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Randy
Randy taking possession of the Saturday tradition of Joe Leone’s Hot Sausage Bread. Yummmm.

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Finally, here’s a neat photo sent to me by reader Dave Wagner. He’s sailed on the Bay for years and remembers Beaton’s as a kid. Dave’s the blond in the pic, out for a picnic with family. Look’s like it’s from the early 60’s.

Classic November conditions

Went out for about an hour or so this morning, beating down to and almost hitting Reedy Creek Point. Cool enough with a 5 to 8kt breeze from the south. About 40 when I got under way with a building breeze and a hot stove.

Had a visit from a reader today. He’s a long time sailor/racer on Barnegat Bay and remembers Sjogin always being in that great slip at Beaton’s. Speaking of which, the breeze was just about perfect for sailing in to said slip. Tom was there to hand me my bow lines. No pics though.

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Ready
Ready to go. Sjogin’s (and her Skipper’s) favorite breeze.

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Beating up to Swan Point. Breakfast at the ready, I sailed up past the Point and did the usual.

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Close call
Thought I had Reedy Creek Point on my starboard bow when I hove to and went below to get warm before heading home. Shift of wind and Oh S***. Tumbled into the cockpit, eased the jib and pulled the tiller line to weather and bore off in time. Fun.

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The aforementioned reader, Dave Wagner. Nice surprise to meet a correspondent. Hope to have him out for a sail this season.

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Fall indeed
Fall bits.

These are all iPhone photos; left my regular camera home.

New bits

Julia and I went to Annapolis this weekend for an all too brief visIt with my two sons, Jeffrey and David. No sailing, as a nasty front came through over the weekend. Jeff was in DC for a web analytics conference was able to spend some time with his brother. Here we are at J-Port where David is an instructor.

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At J-Port
David, Shooby, Jeff and Julia.

We had lunch at the Boathouse in Eastport; a local spot for post race analysis. David called it “Yachtie Karate”, referencing the hand motions of all of the sailors describing racing tactics. Too funny.

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Back Creek
I had no idea of the amount of sailboats in Annapolis. Everywhere you look you see spars. Beaton’s is like that on upper Barnegat Bay but this was special. We need to return for an exploratory sail toot sweet.

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Late afternoon light
As the season advances, the low afternoon light lights up the spent roses and volunteer daises.

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Last rose?
Last rose of the season? We usually have them through Halloween. The foliage turns a bright yellow for a bit of late season color.

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A little too high tide. Taken last week during the first of two Northeasters. A gentle reminder of living at sea level.

Sjogin’s about to give Berth

After a number of years with an open layout, I’m about to install a berth on the port side. While there’s enough room to sprawl about, a dedicated bunk has its charms. It’ll extend under the bridge deck and extend to just past the mast. I asked Tom for some cedar and he said there wasn’t any good stock left. He then pulled out a set of Sneakbox floor boards that they had made for a customer a few years ago but never claimed. Just enough stock to cover my needs.

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Setting up
Mocking up the boards. It’ll be 17″ wide in the middle. The rest of me can lay on the existing ceiling.

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Close enough
The supports will will be spiled and cut to length. A fascia board will cover the ends and extend slightly above the bunk flat.

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Harbor view
The view aft. That’s Little Toot with the cut down bulwarks.

A light air sail

Went out Sunday morning and managed a bit of a drift about. Pleasant enough though the first nice day in a while seemed to encourage far too many motorboats and jet skis for the first weekend in October. No worries; my season’s longer than theirs.

The new Hempex running rigging worked fine with no noticeable stretch. We see how it handles in a bit of a breeze. Looks fine and feels like manilla.

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Very light air
Just enough. The breeze filed in to about 5kts with lots of holes.

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Hove to off Sloop Point
Enough breeze to heave to off Sloop Point. That’s one of the new Osprey nests on the Point built by a local Eagle Scout. Be nice to see them all full one of these years.

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Breakfast!
Breakfast on the Bay. Just cool enough for a fire and fixins’.

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Here’s a video of our locally famous Glimmer Glass Bridge. I believe its the only one of it’s type in the country where the balancing mechanism consists of rolling weights. It’s also a local cause celeb’ as the County wants to replace it with a modern bridge meeting current standards. They claim they’ll reuse the lifting system but it’s feared they’ll find some excuse not to do so. We’ll see.

Hempex!

Replaced all of Sjogin’s running rigging yesterday with this Manila substiute. It’s 10mm Polypropylene and finished to look like the real deal. While there’s always a worry about sun light degradation as opposed to Polyester (Dacron), I’ll give it a try. Available from Gordon Laco (new block supplier) at a reasonable price.

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New mainsheet
Hempex has a fairly tight lay, making splicing a pleasure. Managed to do the main sheet splice while having a visit from Mark, a local Forum friend. Still need to put a whipping on the upper end of the splice.

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All rigged
All done. I also tied the old jib sheet blocks to the rail and ran the tiller lines through them. If it works OK (too little friction?) I’ll seize them to a bronze pad eye on the inside of the rail.

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Let’s rig something! Sjogin’s collection of spare lines await. The coil on the left is the leftover Hempex. I needed about 200′ for the all of the running rigging.

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Old Hankins
A very old Charles Hankins beach skiff. Not sure what’s going to happen to her but she needs a lot of work.

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Striper
Striper, a nice old bass boat. She was in the shed with me this Summer, undergoing a thorough refreshing.

Perfect September day on Barnegat Bay

Julia joined me for the last sail of Summer on Sunday and to make sure Sjogin’s new blocks worked. Of course they did but I still need to move the jib sheet eye bolts a few inches outboard and forward. Quite pleased but need new sheets. I think I’m going to try Hempex, a manila substitute.

Breeze slowly built to 5 to 8 knots. Perfect Sjogin weather. Reached down to Reedy Creek and had a one tack beat to MYC.

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Julia
Julia at ease. Temps around 65, bright sun, ideal day. (And decidedly less traffic.)

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Serena
The Beaton built Serena, stretching her legs. Tom heard from a surveyor who had just looked into the for sale Charlotte, Serena’s stablemate. The surveyor told Tom that “If everyone built boats that way he’d be out of a job.” Nice feedback.

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Sleeping?
Look Ma, no tiller. At ease and hove to off Sloop Point.

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Cormorants
Cormorant City. To the dismay of bipedal fisherman, this bird is quite happy here.

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Taken this morning: last sunrise of Summer.

New blocks for Sjogin.

Her new Ording main and jib sheet blocks arrived this week and now are the brightest things aboard. They’re Elm and Stainless with copper drifts. Hand made by a Dutch master blockmaker. Available from Gordon Laco at Traditional Rigging and Outfitting . I won’t need my arm and leg I guess.

Had the first fire of the new season today, complete with tea and a bit of sausage bread. Just cool enough.

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New jewels
Just a touch on the big side but close enough. They’ll look fine with new sheets.

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Main Sheet blocks
Main sheet all rigged. Waiting for Beaton’s to order a spool of 7/16ths Dacron to make new sheets and halyards.

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Jib blocks
Jib sheet eye bolts need to be moved outboard a bit so the blocks clear the house. Or not. I’ll see how they lay when the jib’s backed.

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The Fall migration out of the water is in full swing. Regular readers will recognize Go Y’all, a classic Chris Craft Skiff.

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Joe driving
Went out for a run down to Reedy Creek on The Gale with Joe. Beautiful last Saturday of Summer. Sailing tomorrow with Julia on Sjogin.

She flys….

Sort of. Rigged Sjogin yesterday and had my first sail of the 2009-2010 Season. The first trip lived up to my tag line as I sailed as slow as I could. Barely a breath, with the occasional puff of 3 kts.

Quite different from the conditions a day earlier. We had gusts to 45 with the wind out of the NNE for three days. Classic Northeaster.

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Ready to rig
Set up under the junior rigging ladder. Sjogin’s mast is light enough to be stepped with a simple watch tackle.

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Mast ready
Randy, Saturday Rigger, ready to step the mast. Doesn’t look too bad for just having the bad bits refreshed.

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Ready to go
All rigged, sails bent and ready for a new off-season.

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Randy
Randy, sailing as slow as he can.

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Irene Tansy
Very light air. Almost nothing at deck level, a knot or two aloft.

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Beaton’s to leeward. One happy Skipper.

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Looks the same
Same as she ever was. Shortest turn-around ever: about five weeks from haul to rigged, with a lot of help from the Yard.