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June 28, 2009
How Many Toys Do You Need?!
Chis and I sailed over to Oyster Bay on Long Island yesterday, and dropped the anchor in one of our favourite spots. We were being chased by a thunderstorm out in Long Island Sound, so we headed in a little early. The winds were a little light. We read, lounged, and had barbequed salmon with stir-fried veggies and a big salad. It was a delightful evening, so very far from New York City.
On Sunday morning, we were having breakfast when we heard a growing noise that became almost deafening. It was a helicopter, perched on the back deck of this massive motor vessel. It took off. We pondered the places it might be going. Drug run? Breakfast in New York? Or maybe to church? Hmmm.
Oh! I finished Ken Follett's "World Without End", the epic sequel to the equally epic sequel "Pillars of the Earth". Both excellent, although I think I enjoyed Pillars more.
I started another book that Chis got me for Christmas - "The Thames: An Autobiography". I'm struggling to get into it, but I do love historical fiction!
Posted by dave at 06:51 PM | Comments (0)
June 26, 2009
Stonewall Sails Regatta
My good friend, Toby, invited me to crew on one of the J24s in the 7th annual Stonewall Sails Regatta organized by the Knickerbocker Sailing Association. This year is the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.
I jumped at the chance because I get few invitations to race. I went with four others (which is a lot of people on a J24 - three would have been ideal). It was a blast. Everyone had a great sense of humour, and while we didn't win the regatta, we did pretty well. I will definitely try to do this again next year!
Posted by dave at 06:41 PM | Comments (0)
June 25, 2009
How to Fail with Dignity
Posted by dave at 10:05 PM | Comments (0)
June 20, 2009
Jericho Project
If it keeps raining like this, we'll have to move to higher ground. Or the boat.
Instead of going to Stamford this weekend, we decided to volunteer through Franklin Templeton's "involved" program. We painted a supportive housing residence in the Bronx. One of several housing residences in the Jericho Project , this is an amazing place for people to get off the street, off drugs and find a new start. Founded in 1983, the Jericho Project currently provides housing and a wide range of services to over 250 residents throughout the Bronx and Harlem. Jericho's safe, clean housing units provide homes where real recovery - of sobriety, self-esteem, family, and hope - can begin.
The Jericho Project helps homeless men and women move off the streets and on with life complete with homes, families, jobs and dreams for the future. Thousands of individuals have already benefited from our holistic approach and permanent solutions. Fewer than 5% of our graduates return to homelessness.
We had a terrific time, and the team performed extremely well together, getting more done than they expected. In all, a great effort for a good cause, and good for the soul. What a wonderful day, what a wonderful sense of community, and I'm proud to have made the effort to help people who are clearly willing to help themselves by making significant changes in their lives.
Posted by dave at 05:40 PM | Comments (0)
June 14, 2009
Rain, Rain, Rain, Sun!
The rain in New York started Monday, and was relentless until Friday afternoon, when finally we started to see a little sunlight, but still, the humidity remained very high. A series of low pressure systems moved along a cold front that stalls just south of Long Island. Everyone in the city was talking about the grey skies and rain. And then, on Friday morning, another low formed and was threatening to spoil the weekend.
No way, Jose!
We left Stamford on Prana around 10 on Saturday morning. The winds were definitively from the east, around 8 knots. We got out of Stamford Harbour and discovered great sailing conditions. Under full sail, we had a wonderful time bombing along at 6.5 knots. The skies were filling in the west, so around 2pm we decided to start heading in to Oyster Bay on Long Island. We sailed almost the whole way in, when the winds completely died. We put the sails away and motored to our favourite anchorage. There were a couple of boats already in.
As we set the anchor, the rain started. By the time we got the dodger and bimini up, the rain was heavy. It seems our timing was excellent because the rains came hard, and remained hard until well after dinner. We had a lovely evening sitting under the bimini with the rain pelting above our heads.
By morning, the rain had stopped, but the skies looked grey and angry - like a winter sky. But the wind was picking up. Chis had work to do, so we headed back to Stamford shortly after breakfast. Well, for the second day in a row, we had a marvelous sail in east 10-12 knots. Fantastic. And quick. We were on the dock in Stamford shortly after noon. We left Prana at 2pm and the skies were clearing.
This was a sad parting because we plan to be in the city next weekend. Friday we will finally go to the much-raved-about Blue Hill Restaurant. Saturday we are painting a women's shelter in Harlem. Sunday is the Fathers' Day Prostate Cancer Run in Central Park, which we may crash (because it is sold out). Or if the weather looks great, we may go to Stamford Saturday night, but we kinda think we're going to be tired after painting all day.
Still, we left dear Prana sitting peacefully in her slip, and she has plenty of company.
Bye, sweet Prana, see you in a couple of weeks!
Posted by dave at 05:22 PM | Comments (0)
June 12, 2009
Blind Pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii
This from the Wall Street Journal: "Classical pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii listens to the conductor’s breathing for cues, since he can’t see the baton. On stage, he feels for the edges of the keyboard before he begins playing, to orient his hands. He learns new pieces through listening and memorization, rather than reading the notes. The 20-year-old Japanese musician last weekend became the first blind pianist to win the prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition."
Click HERE to read the full article.
Posted by dave at 05:18 PM | Comments (0)
June 11, 2009
Permission to Marry?
"Whose permission would you need to get married to the person you love?" won the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Rights Award at the annual "Media that Matters" film festival. If you don't see the YouTube video embedded immediately below, click HERE to watch.
Posted by dave at 09:46 AM | Comments (0)
June 07, 2009
Homeward
Despite sunny skies and warm temperatures this morning, the weather forecast calls for deteriorating conditions. We considered heading from Port Jefferson to Oyster Bay for our last, but decided to head home to Stamford, give dear Prana a good bath (and ourselves for that matter), and do a couple of chores. The trip was a motorsail in very light north, then south winds. We arrived in Stamford in the early afternoon, fixed the shackle on the genoa tack, adjusted the genoa halyard tension, and cleaned up the mess we made after 10 days on the water. We hopped on a late afternoon train back to New York and settled in for a relaxing evening. Chis has planned to take tomorrow off (Monday), and he wants to go for a run, see Angels and Demons, and run a few errands. Then home for his last night before returning to the salt mines. I can see the tension in his face already. He lost it for a few days out there on the water. In fact, I think he was furthest away from work (figuratively and literally) on our beautiful sail from Mystic to Block Island. Another magical adventure. And we are already planning the next one!
Posted by dave at 06:26 PM | Comments (0)
June 06, 2009
Port Jefferson
We awoke in Joshua Cove to beautiful sunshine and warm temperatures. A significant improvement over the strong east winds and heavy rain of yesterday. Always the first to awake, I set about hanging all of our wet foul weather gear, gloves, hats, boots and clothes out on the lifelines to dry. By the time Chis awoke, our gear was pretty much dried out. We left Joshua Cove and set out for Oyster Bay, but the winds and current did not cooperate. We headed into Port Jefferson and dropped the anchor behind the breakwater.
We had a lovely evening lolling about reading, doing Sudoku puzzles and playing solitaire. Following a barbecue dinner in the cockpit, we both fell asleep under the stars.
Posted by dave at 08:13 PM | Comments (0)
June 05, 2009
Drying out
The day after the storm...
Posted by dave at 08:02 PM | Comments (0)
June 04, 2009
Joshua Cove
Ok, so the problem with sailing east out of Long Island Sound is that you must sail back west. The winds prevail from the southwest, which makes the trek back a little tricky. Unless! Unless, there is a storm. Storms brings winds with east in them. So after a short overnight in Stonington after leaving Block Island, we decided to head west in bad weather. But... with winds from the east. We left Stonington in light drizzle, and light winds. The winds gradually picked up, to 10 knots, then 15 then gusting to 20. We were both in full foul weather gear.
The rain got very heavy, and we started to get cold. Chis offered tea, which I accepted gladly. It was the best tea ever.
Our aim was to get back to the Thimble Islands, and the forecast was for northeast winds. But the winds were solidly east, not conducive for the Thimbles. Dave checked the charts and spotted an anchorage that would be suitable for the night. We pulled in. By the time we were anchored, we were both soaking wet, cold and shivering. We hunkered down, crawled into pyjamas and under fleece blankets. A little red wine warmed the spirits.
Posted by dave at 07:50 PM | Comments (0)
June 03, 2009
Grace's Cove, Block Island
We rented bikes and cycled around the island, initially in the rain, then the skies gradually cleared.
Bluffs at Grace's Cove, west side of Block Island
Beauty at its best. Note the swarm of no-seeums?
Note Prana sitting out on anchor in the background!
Posted by dave at 07:41 PM | Comments (0)
June 02, 2009
Block Island
After a wonderful visit to Mystic, including a visit to Mystic Seaport Museum, we sailed out of Long Island Sound to Block Island. Leaving Mystic we rode a 2.5 knot current, which spat us out Watch Hill Passage. The winds picked up to 15 knots and we sailed on a beam reach to Block Island. The winds were well above 20 knots by the time we reached the channel into Great Salt Pond. We had reefs in both mainsail and genoa, flying along at 8.5 knots! Fabulous sail!
Posted by dave at 07:28 PM | Comments (0)