Finally, a bit of sun in an otherwise cloudy November.
Our House on a beautiful Thanksgiving Eve afternoon.
A new table for the den. Also a copy of Olin Stephen’s book Lines, open to Kialoa III; a 70’s Maxi.
No sailing today
as little water and plenty of wind. Perfect weather for a fire below.
Also a couple of pics from our visit last weekend to Cold Spring on Hudson to visit one of our Forum friends Phil Heffernan. Neat little town filled with antique shops, interesting restaurants and a world class view of the American Rhine.
Water level down by a foot or so; chilly and spitting rain out of the Northeast.
Cozy below. Had another two fire weekend.
Tom Beaton stopped by for a visit below.
Walker, Julia and Phil at the Foundry Cove marsh. West Point is in the distance.
Julia and Walker in the Foundry Cove woods. Site is litered with remnants of the iron works that supplied most of the Union’s armanent in the Civil War.
Here today… An old Manasquan cottage in our neighborhood ready for “improvement”.
Recent pics:
Here’s a mix of newish stuff; a visit from Bob and Jett, a triumphant Margo and Sarah ( a story I will get to next week), Saturday morning on Sjogin and the 1938 Beaton Sneakbox progress.
Bob and Jett, our six legged house guest.
Bob down below.
Our friend Margo on her recently launched Concordia Yawl Sarah. An epic effort to bring a classic back to life.
Time for toast and tea. Blowing 20 to 30 kts today as Noel goes by; chilly and damp but warm enough below.
Tom Beaton and the restored 1938 Sneakbox built by his grandfather David Beaton; founder of Beatons. Getting ready to steam-bend the coaming.
The deck is to be finished bright as she was when first built.
Odds and ends
from the last week or so.
David on Boss Lady this week. Bob’s on his way south, stopping in St. Michaels for a couple of days. We hope to see David in a few weeks before he also heads south.
Home waters; out for a paddle last Sunday. The tower is at the old Coast Guard Station on Squan Beach.
Saturday morning sizzle.
Winter mode. Before the seasonal Northeasters set in I turn Sjogin to face North east and have the low winter sun shine in the cabin and cockpit. She’s facing the first Northeaster of the season now; it’s been blowing thusly for two days.
Even when the wind blows from the northwest you can sit low in the cockpit with the sun on your face. You can also leave the drop slide out and have the morning sun in the cabin. (Usually showing just how much smoke is going out the stack and how much goes out the hatch!)
A quick soft-wood fire Wednesday evening. No tea, just a visit to close her up for the pending front.
Finally, a first for me and you all as well, the inevitable YouTube video:
Toward Atlantic City
on Boss Lady today. It’s an old custom among prudent mariners that when asked about a pending voyage, one stated he was going toward the destination rather than risk the wrath of the gods and say he was going to it; implying that success was already achieved.
Brother starts the middle leg of his journey South with a run to Atlantic City with your host along for the ride. As he is now connected I hope to post while under way. To be continued…..
Our ride: Boss Lady
09:10 Just past Toms River; Jett napping already. Beautiful morning, light breeze from the south, light haze.
The Starboard watch has a nap.
11:12 Out in the Atlantic, just left Barnegat Inlet.
What sedge is that?
Confirmation of our position.
One eye for the ship, one eye for the Times.
Yes Master, two degrees to Starboard.
03:45 Arrived in AC; second time here by water. Probably heading up to the Boardwalk later for a walk and dinner.
Arriving in Atlantic City; left just before the Sands Implosion.
We had a fine dinner at Bobby Flay Steak at the Borgata. Felt quite the fish out of water but great fun. Looking forward to more BL duty.
More pics here.
We just had the first true weekend of Fall
Sun with brisk westerlies, Simpson’s clouds and temps in the low 50’s made for ideal conditions for the first true fire of the new season on Saturday. Had the obligatory Joe Leone’s sausage bread sizzling on the stove as I left Beatons. Ran downwind till just past the last moored boat and brought her up to heave to on the port tack. Went below for tea and toast with a view of Swan Point to leeward. Finest kind.
Today’s weather was even brighter and windier. Went out for a paddle this morning. (First in far too long.) Rigged a couple of staging planks to keep semi-dry in managing Spartina. There, I’ve named the 15′ double paddle canoe I built a few years ago.
This afternoon Julia and I went down to Sjogin for a quick fire and tea then off to the VFW to say happy birthday to Howard Rogers, one tough 80 year old Bayman (Capitalized to show respect.) Somewhere in my archives is a photo of one of Howard’s fyke nets off Swan Point. A vanishing tradition.
This morning’s paddle; out to the Glimmerglass and back, harvesting trash in Spartina. Also rescued a hat from a gentleman on a fishing boat twice as long as the slip provided. There’s a metaphor there somewhere.
Yesterday’s first fire. Just cool enough to feel good below.
Ready to go yesterday morning.
Derelict barges with who knows what ready to be washed into the Bay. Nice.
Found a photo of Howard Rodger’s fyke net set out in Fall 2005. You can just make out the line of stakes tending SE from Swan Point.
Sailed Saturday and Sunday morning this past weekend.
But still too damn warm for a fire. Breeze mostly W and SW around 6 to 12 kts. Sunday it started to breeze up a bit after I left and I did something I’ve never done on Sjogin, tucking in a reef while hove to. I set up the tack and clew lines and topping lift, eased the halyard and tied down the tack. Even with most of the drive taken out of the main she stayed hove to on the same tack. This allowed me to go aft, set up the clew and tie in the reef pennants. Not quite as pretty as when it’s done with the sail down but it looked a lot better than I thought it would.
After hanging out by Reedy Creek for a while I had a nice quick reach back to Beaton’s.
Ready to leave Saturday morning.
Reading a collection of L. Francis Herreshoff writings while hove off Reedy Creek on Sunday. The photo is of his classic lap strake double paddle canoe. The story is about an overnight stay on the Dry Salvages, a small rock island off Marblehead. Classic fulminations from the Skipper.
The heat is finally leaving and it looks like Saturday morning will require a fire and tea.
Sjogin’s first sail of the off-Season
and watching the A-Cat Worlds were last weekend’s highlights. Julia and I went out Sunday morning with virtual friends Joe (CSoH) and Tabitha. Had a nice breeze from the ENE about 4 to 8. Just cool enough for a token fire with requisite puffs of cedar smoke. We had a successful down-wind landing that impressed sailor Joe.
On Saturday we went out on brother’s boat Boss Lady to watch the A-Cat Worlds on Toms River. Joining us were Joe and Tabitha and Zsa and Robert. Another sparkling day with a NNW breeze that was great for sailing but drove enough water out of the Bay to make for a bumpy ride at times. Brother’s boat draws four and a half feet.
Pics follow:
Russ and Julia relaxing while Joe drives.
Joe holding off a 94 year old sailor. An old Beaton hand, Ed tries to sail through our lee.
One of the joys of heaving to.
First beat.
Tabitha and Julia with Lotus leading the first race.
Tamwock, Wasp and Witch mixing it up.
Robert driving (and drinking a tiny Bloody Mary.)
We all returned to our house for a simple supper and an evening of laughs. Thanks Joe.
On the bench are Joe, Julia, Robert, Zsa and Tabitha.
We had a terrific day on the water enjoying all that Boss Lady and the A-Cat fleet had to offer.
All rigged and ready to go sailing
except for the rudder. Applied the first, and probably last for now, finish coat to the rudder. Will have the Yard install tomorrow and hope to have my first sail of the new season after work. Also got a fresh coat of varnish in the tiller. Changed to jib blocks for ones I bought a few years back from the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle. A little on the small side but since I had to seize them in place, they’ll be there for a while.
Progress on the first Beaton Sneakbox with the new deck almost done.
Also waiting for the arrival of my brother in Boss Lady on his way South.
Once the rudders gets hung, we’ll be open for business.
All rigged; some of the gear renewed. Decided to keep the now gray Dacron halyards. The potential Manila-like replacements I bought seem to be a little to “plastic”.
New red cedar deck on the first Beaton Sneakbox.
A-Cat worlds next Saturday.
Rudder progress
I’ve decided to do a quick fix on the rudder as there doesn’t seem to have very many years left. The wood is very tired with many checks and suspicious dark spots here and there. I set up the rivets so it shouldn’t work too much. After a coat of primer I filled the checks, splits and gaps with thickened WEST epoxy. A little more sanding and painting should see us sailing by Sunday or so.
Finished with the heat gun and scraper. Fiddly work.
All sanded, ready for primer.
Fresh primer. Exciting stuff, huh?
Last look before leaving Beatons.