Happy New Year all.

Just finished taking down our tree and trimmings. Clean start for the new year. Quiet rainy day here with no Sjogin visit this morning.

Had a nice sail on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. Would have gone out yesterday as well but water level was too low so I settled for a fire and a cuppa. End of a fine year on Sjogin.

Pics follow:

Reflections
Last Friday afternoon. Great cloudscape. Cool enough for a fire and tea. Loving this mild winter as no ice yet.

Mackerel sky
Classic mackerel sky this past Saturday. Signs of the approaching front that’s raining on us now.

Tom and Randy
Randy and Tom came out for a quick sail Saturday.

bike
Finally, here’s Julia with her favorite Christmas present.

A Christmas Eve Eve sail

on Sjogin this morning. Conditions were great when I arrived about ten. There was a light breeze from the SSW along with a light fog; about an eighth of a mile visibility. Since the upper end of the Bay is only a mile or so wide, it’s not too hard to bump along without any serious dangers in a medium fog.

By the time I cut up some firewood, got the boat ready and chatted with Tom, the fog had unfortunately lifted. The breeze filled in from the SW about 5 to 8. Reached over to the Mantoloking shore and came about on the Port tack, closely hove to on course for Beaton’s. My tea and bialy were just about ready so I went below, letting the boat take care of us both. After a few looks around now and then, finishing my breakfast on deck, I eased the jib sheet and reached up to her slip and put her to bed.

Terrific sail, just one tack and no one around.

Pics follow:

Off Beaton’s
Hove to off Beaton’s this morning.

Cooling
Tea and Pussers cooling on deck.

At the dock
Just back, the topping lift has been set up, the sheets trimmed, waiting to be put away.

Posting this in front of the fire, counting my blessings and wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a hopeful and Happy New Year.

Russ

Visit from

Julia this morning. Bright sun, not too cold. I went down earlier and got the fire and tea ready. While I waited I almost finished reading (for the Nth time), The Riddle of the Sands, Erskine Childer’s Frisian frolic. Perfect book for our thin waters. Nice breeze today, about 8 to 12 from the SW but spent the morning in the slip as Christmas needs called. (Tree erection and lighting today.)

Julia
Julia on board for tea and a mild smoking from the ship’s stove. Very cozy.

Bright
Bright below with the sun aft. Tea warming and waiting for a splash of Pussers.

Aft
Showing off her delicate quarters.

Swag
The usual swag seized to the mast.

Serina
Progress on the new Beaton Flatfish. Learned this weekend her name is to be Serina, a character in E. B. White’s story The Sword in the Stone. This continues the convention of naming this fleet for characters in White’s books. Charlotte, my Brother’s Flatfish, is named for his best know character.

NAME
And here’s Tom, surveying progress in front of Serina. Oh that Herreshoff bow.

Squirrel
Finally, a local recycling our leftover Thanksgiving gourds and pumpkins. We’ll probably have vines all over the place come summer.

Winter position for Sjogin.

When the late fall winds start to blow from the Northwest I turn Sjogin around so the stove will draw. Also the late morning Winter sun can fill the cabin which makes it quite pleasant. No sailing last weekend, just ships work. Blew too hard Saturday and absolutely no wind Sunday. Sat by the stove finishing the new dock lines. I did go out the week before and took the usual photos.

Also an example of another little cottage in town that’s ripe for a teardown.

Finally a pic of Dave Sherman, a WoodenBoat Forum friend who came for a sail with me on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. After our sail he launched the kayak he built and headed out for a cruise in the local marsh.

Winter position
Winter position, bow to the northeast. With the chimney on the lee side for a westerly breeze the stove will draw better.

Reaching
Reaching for Swan Point on Thanksgiving weekend.

Teardown
Here today, gone tomorrow. Tiny cottage on a lagoon that’s not long for this world.

Dave
Off to the marsh south of Beatons.

Ship’s work today

as I’m making up a new set of dock lines. Stocked up on shop scraps and sailed off the dock into a declining NNW breeze. About 45 or so and pretty damp so the stove felt welcome. Had some Joe Leone hot sausage and provolone bread crisped up on the stove along with the usual tea and Pussers. A very pleasant morning with some occasional sun.

Here are some pics from today, last weekend and other odd bits….

Reaching
Reaching to Swan Point. About 5kts worth of wind with occasional gusts to 12.

PRM
Swan Point ahead. Plenty off water today, surprising with the Westerlys we’ve been having.

Tony
One of the Beaton irregulars enjoying the Bay.

JL
Hot sausage and Provolone bread from Joe Leone’s, a world class purveyor of Italian delights.

Sunrise
Sunrise as seen from our tiny patch of salt marsh last Thursday.

Sheep
Finally, one of the highlights of my commute from Manasquan to Route 1. The farm is between Clarksburg and Roosevelt in Western Monmouth County.

First fire and tea of the new Off Season

last weekend. After struggling to get the stove pipe together, friend Paul loaned me a crimper to narrow the top of the first section. (The lower section in the photo below.)

Pics follow, including some other photos taken in the last week:

First fire
First fire after finally hooking up the new stove pipe. Last years Galvanized elbows rusted away. Thanks Paul.

I still need to have a custom flue made with a proper cast iron damper. Maybe copper? Are you reading this Quinten?

Candy
A bowl of “candy” from Venice. It’s Murano glass, twisted to look like wrapped candy. Tres cool.

Plan
This may be hard to see but it’s the Construction drawing of a 24 foot Scow Motorsailer I designed for Phil Clarke in 1978. I drew this for him while taking the Westlawn course. Through Phil I met the Beaton family and the rest is a very pleasant history for the last 25 years.

Solitude
An image of Sjogin and myself taken and refined by a local Artist, Paul Barlo. There’s a great story about this image that I’ll get to soon.

Lift
Another Barlo work of the old lift at Beaton’s with the Yard Garvey lying in the slings.

Eventful week

where your host continued the fortnight’s celebration of his 60th Birthday. Last Sunday I had a quick mid-day sail with Jeff and Julia following a party Saturday evening with friends and family. From Venice to our backyard, it was a fine turning.

Pics follow:

Julia and Jeff
Julia and Jeff, hove to off Swan Point last Saturday.

Dad and Jeff
Dad and Jeff, home from Deepest Oregon.

Dad
Tiller lines not set up yet. Phone pic by Jeff

Party
Heart of the party. Oh, the wine we drank.

Toast
Jeff, Dave, Cheryl and Robert. On the right is a print of the old lift at Beaton’s that David and Jeff gave me Saturday evening.

Sjogin
And here’s some pics of Sjogin, freshly painted and rigged. (Absent the hatch which is being stripped for varnishing.)

Kirby
Love the new Kirby paint. Low luster helps hide the scars.

First sail of the season this evening

but no pictures as I left my camera home. Went down after work and rigged the boom, sails and sheets. Wind very light but went out anyway and truly sailed as slow as I could.

I do have some boat pics to show but not the usual ones from Barnegat Bay. Julia and I went to Venice and Florence Italy with my brother for my 60th Birthday. Here are a few pics and here is the link to more on Flickr.

Amerigo Vespucci
Our ship has come in. While having breakfast in Venice last Tuesday, the Italian training ship Amerigo Vespucci came into the Grand Canal.

Taxi
One of the Venetian Taxis delivering another lucky guest to the Hotel Danieli. Our room overlooked the canal entrance.

Old skiff
Here’s a typical Venetian small boat. Seems to be a classic flat bottom work boat. There are a lot of these tied up to the canal walls, some rather spiffy.

Gondolas
Whatever the collective noun for a group of Gondolas is, here is a prime example. It was like a taxi stand, with all the gondoliers standing around, drinking coffee, BSing etc.

R&J
And here we are, taking the obligatory Gondola ride.

Still floating

and waiting to get rigged. She was supposed to have her mast put in yesterday (just finished with the varnishing on Wednesday) but the recent Northeaster had something to say about it. We had water on Stockton Lake Blvd. for the first time this year. Still blowing NNE about 20 as I type.

New heaving to pictures will have to wait for our return from Italy. In the meantime here are some pics from the A-Cat Worlds held last Saturday:

Mixing it up
Raven leading at the windward mark.

Leewartd mark
and Raven leading at the leeward mark. There was great, close racing due to a half mile windward/leeward course.

B&B
As an added treat, Bull and Bear were racing as well.

More pics here.