The NYYC cruise, 163rd edition. Been there done that…
Well, it’s over, the 163rd cruise of the New York Yacht Club, my first, and I’m back home. No, I haven’t joined the club as my involvement in the cruise was as a “hanger on” or tender to one of the race boats, Alix. Here’s Alix before one of the races below. Not much of an action shot, you say? Perhaps not as I had to skedaddle to the next anchorage each day to be sure that I was able to get a good spot so they could tie up with me at the end of racing each day.
Along with a good supply of moral and anchoring support, I also supplied water for the crew to shower aboard Pandora, well, at least until my water-maker stopped functioning about midway through the week. Of course, that was in addition to an occasional rum punch and Klondike ice cream bar for the crew. However, expect that the showers trumped everything else. Nothing like a shower for the crew after a day of racing on the water but somehow ice cream aboard Pandora seemed to be a close second.
The whole experience was a lot of fun but, I’ll admit that it sometimes felt a bit like a “forced march” as the fleet made it’s way from harbor to harbor on a tight schedule and ALWAYS into the wind. Isn’t that always the way, the wind on the nose? To me, cruising on a tight schedule always feels like “you can’t get there from here”.
In only one week we covered a lot of ground, moving every day but one, beginning and ending at their clubhouse, Harbor Court in Newport, the NYYC “summer home” overlooking Newport Harbor. It’s a spectacular venue. 
Day one took us to Cuttyhunk Harbor, a place that holds a very special history for me as I have have visited it with every one of our boats, beginning way back in the early 80s on our 20′ catboat Tao. It was also a spot I visited with my boys and dad a few years before he died. It was the last time he was aboard and a very special time for us all. Here’s Dad, Rob and Chris photographed with me at the highest point on the island. This photo always makes me feel a bit teary.
The crew of Pandora and Alix shared some of the famous Cuttyhunk oysters on in the harbor washed down by some “Pandora imported” Caribbean rum fueled rum punch. 
Our next stop was New Bedford, a somewhat gritty, but in a nice way, fishing port. This is the view from the observation deck of the New Bedford Whaling Museum, where we had a terrific cocktail party. 
The food and drink flowed liberally.
As I entered the harbor earlier in the day, I was passed by Columbia, the reproduction of a Grand Banks fishing schooner built in Panama City FL. I was aboard her for a tour in Antigua two winters ago. She’s a wonderful yacht. I wrote about her in this post. 
She’s even more impressive up close after her most recent refit. 
I particularly love this angle. What beautiful lines. 
The next day, and yes, we were only there for one day, was to head to Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard. Happily, we spent two days there, our only “lay day”.
This was where we had a reception, overlooking the harbor. It seems that this “double lot” is owned by a NYYC member. When Walter Cronkite was alive, he was his next door neighbor. Nice digs. Really, really nice digs. How about that double nice boat house?
Pandora was on a mooring directly out in front of the place, tied up with Brilliant, another boat on the cruise. Her owners also happen to be members of the Essex Yacht Club. There family has deep ties to Edgartown, deep enough to snag a mooring in the most perfect spot imaginable it seems. 
We took a Edgartown Yacht Club launch to the reception. There’s Pandora rafted with Brilliant on a mooring directly beyond the boathouse and to the right. Perfect location, right?
It was a lovely summer evening and a perfect spot to survey the harbor. Jacket and “Nantucket red” slacks required. I now have both shorts and slacks in that particular color. 
The next day was a “lay day” so we could enjoy Edgartown, one of my favorite spots to visit before the “march” got underway again. Interestingly, Pandora’s “sistership”, hull #2 of three, has a slip there for part of the summer. She is owned by two attorneys from PA, one keeps a home in Edgartown and the other near three mile harbor, in the Hamptons. She’s the same design as Pandora but different in many ways, including a much smaller hard dodger and none of the cruising gear that is so important on Pandora. She is perfectly maintained. I wish my decks were as perfect as hers.
I understand that she will be in 3 mile harbor later this season and I hope to raft up to her for an evening. I expect that will be the very first time that two of the three boats will ever have been together. I wonder if I can arrange for #1 to be there too? That would be amazing. Hmm…
Craig and I took a walking tour of some of the historic homes in Edgartown, arranged through the Carnegie library, the headquarters of the Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust that oversees a number of historic sites on the island. They do wonderful work. The background of the Carnegie is quite interesting as the building was one of thousands of libraries funded by the philanthropists in the early 20th century.
We visited a number of spots on our 90 min walking tour. I have always admired this particular one, once owned by a prominent physician and now part of the trust. I can not think of any porch that I’d rather spend time on than this one. 
I took a long walk around town on my own. There are so many lovely homes and beautiful gardens to admire.
How about this ivy covered garage. The gardens at many of the homes make it clear that they are not managed by their owners, who probably get plenty of “exercise” writing checks. 
Our next stop was Tarpaulin Cove on the west side of Naushon. This cove, more of an “indent” on the eastern side of the island, was once a popular spot for schooners to anchor and wait for the tides around West Chop, Martha’s Vineyard, a place where the tide runs hard. It is very secluded and while it’s private, as part of the Forbes Family Trust that controls the island, you can enjoy the long sandy beaches that rim the cove for nearly a mile.
There is only one home visible from the cove, and it is a lovely one at that.
And, of course, a charming lighthouse. Many of the boats on the cruise stopped in the cove for the night.
Some of the yachts on the cruise were remarkable including this lovely yawl, Bolero. She was built at the Nevins Yard in City Island, launched in 1949 for the Brown family. The same Brown University family and once owners of the NYYC clubhouse, Harbor Court, in Newport. This is indeed a famous yacht. 
I met her current owner Ed, at a cocktail party the night we were in Tarpaulin Cove aboard Enticer, this beautiful 1935 Trumpy. We spoke about Bolero and he offered me a tour which I enjoyed when we returned to Newport. I’ll write about that visit in a subsequent post. Man, what a boat. 
Anyway, back to Enticer. Notice that there is a boat rafted up to her. That’s Onawa, one of six identical boats built at the Abeking & Rasmussen yard in Germany. The design was the original model for the America’s Cup 12 meter rule for members of the NYYC. Onawa was launched in 1928 for Cameron Forbes of Boston, once an owner of the island where we were anchored. The island is still in the Forbes family.
Both of these boats, Enticer and Onawa, are part of a “timeshare” program that you can “buy” for $200,000 and use them for a prescribed amount of time each year. Interested? Check out this link and she could be yours, sort of.
I was aboard Enticer a few years ago at the Wooden Boat Show and wrote about her in this post.
So, cocktails aboard Enticer… What an experience and quite different than when I saw her at the Wooden Boat Show. On this visit my tender was “valet parked” by one of her crew. They held my painter when I pulled up to her boarding platform and then she was whisked away only to be returned when I was ready to depart. “Welcome aboard Enticer, would you care for a drink?” Indeed, what an experience. 
Some of the crew of Alix, including my friend Craig David, the owner and skipper of Alix, David, to the left. 
Onawa, rafted alongside, was open for tours. I met her captain Barb and we talked about the history of the yacht. She was headed to Nantucket for a charter the next week and there was some discussion about my helping out as crew. I would have loved that but my schedule was too tight. Alas, the busy life of a retired guy. So much for the lazy days of summer. Had I been available, would I have been invited? I guess I’ll never know. I really hope to visit Onawa again and take some proper photos for a post. Until then, follow this link for some background about this amazing boat.
The next morning the sun rose, framing one of the beautiful carbon cats that were on the cruise. This one had passed me a few days earlier doing nearly 20kts.
A short while later Bolero sailed majestically out of the harbor, headed back to Newport. Now, that’s another boat I hope to sail on someday. Her captain, Casey, told me that she will be in the Caribbean this winter. I will too. Hmm…
Unlike Bolero, my run back to Newport wasn’t all that great, motorsailing into the wind. The wrap-up dinner for the cruise was held, as was the opening night, at Harbor Court. A cocktail party followed by a lobster dinner with all the trimmings. 
Dinner was brought out family style by a line of waiters holding platters dramatically high over their heads, marching along in a line. It was quite a spectacle and plenty tasty. 
Of course, each place had a printed menu in the unlikely event that you did not know what you were eating or perhaps forgot why you were there. 
The Key Lime Tartlet, complete with some sort of crunchy green thing on top, “how dey do dat?” lived up to it’s name. Unfortunately, I was limited to only one piece. Never the less, yum!!!
So, there you have it a blow by blow, or as my father used to say “perhaps more than you want to know about penguins”, of the 163rd edition of the New York Yacht Club cruise and I was there. There of course, largely due to the generous support of my “sponsor” David, surely helped along by the fact that he and his crew needed a shower. Happy to oblige David. Thanks for having me along.
Oh, just so you don’t think that the week was all fun and games, as I made my way back to Newport one of my fuel tanks started to leak and ended up spilling nearly 10 gallons of diesel into the bilge. After hours of searching I was able to trace the leak to my aft 50 gallon fuel tank ripped up much of the cabin sole and removed it a few days ago. It seems that someone left a stainless screw loose under the aluminum tank when Pandora was built in 2007. Well, over the years the stainless screw, a more “nobel” metal than the aluminum tank it was touching, ate a small hole in the bottom of the tank as a result of electrolysis.
Well, the tank is now out for repair and I’ll put it back in tomorrow followed by all the fuel I siphoned out of the tank into jugs. Hopefully, the tank will be ok and not leak. I will say that I did notice a small amount of fuel in the bilge from time to time and never thought much of it but I guess that the bouncy ride back to Newport and home must have jostled the tank enough to shift the screw and open up the hole just enough to substantially increase the leak. What a mess. The good news is that I wasn’t 500 miles from shore when it happened.
More to come on that project. Oh yeah, and the repair of the watermaker. It’s always something. As they say, BOAT. Break Out Another Thousand.
So, to close on a more serene note, well more serene than 10 gallons of diesel in the bilge, here’s the evening scene that greeted me as I headed up the CT River and Essex, where Pandora will be for about a week until she heads to Stamford for some paint work. 
Once moored, Brenda joined me for cocktails as we enjoyed the growing twilight over the marshes.
A good week, except, of course, 10 gallons of diesel…
Nope, all good.
The club is named for a famous lighthouse keeper that manned a lighthouse on the same pile of rocks in Newport Harbor. She was revered for her bravery in rescuing sailors that came to ill in the harbor. She received many awards from the USCG including their highest honor.
The clubhouse is approached via a long walkway from shore that seems endless.
It is a charming clubhouse and perfectly maintained. 
Brenda would love this image and would probably agree that it would make a great subject for a tapestry. 
What a view of Newport from their deck. 
And what better place to watch all the action from. This Trumpy is Enticer, sistership to the once presidential yacht Sequoia. 
And, of course, a perfect view of Pandora, not far away from the Ida Lewis clubhouse. 
How about this beautiful S boat. She’s perfect. 
On my way into the harbor I passed this classic 12 meter America’s Cup boat out on a day charter. 
And this super modern cat. 
As I left the Newport Harbor yesterday this monster arrived. It’s only two years old and is over 250′ long. She was built in Germany for Joe Lewis, not the boxer and cost $250,000,000. And, she takes 25 crew to run her and take car of up to 16 guests. This yacht is in addition to his private jet, chopper and a few homes, including a huge spread in Argentina. I guess that’s what you can buy if you’ve amassed a fortune of nearly $6,000,000,000.
I expect that the Lab on this paddle board feels the same, probably thinking, “this is my BEST DAY EVER!” Well, either that or “I wonder when I’ll get another cookie? that would make today my BEST DAY EVER”
This home at the entrance of Wickford harbor is particularly charming. 
Before I close, a bit of housekeeping. Pandora sports a stainless steel anchor and a galvanized steel anchor chain. The problem is that when stainless and galvanized chain are linked there is a tendency to have the first few chain links loose their galvanizing due to electrolysis because stainless is a much more “noble” metal. Each year I have to cut off a few links to remove the ones that have become rusted. It’s not hard to see that this isn’t a good thing. What to do?
I borrowed a bolt cutter from the yard and clipped them off. It was alarmingly easy. What a scary pair of scissors. 
So, an experiment. I secured two small sacrificial zincs, designed to corrode easily and save the more important metals from damage. It’s not a perfect solution but I hope it will help. I’ll report back on that.
So, here I am getting ready to hang out with the “big boys”, and I wonder how many of them will look at me and say “what are you doing here?”. Not to worry, I know, I am acting as tender and know my place. Wish me luck. Good thing my ego isn’t all that tender.
We’ve been on the move for about a week now, with a short visit to Maine (by car) where I gave a talk at the Camden Yacht Club about cruising the southern Caribbean. Our visit was brief, only two days, and we stayed with our cruising friends Tom and Jane of Bravo, who we first met in Bequia, the winter before last. They were very gracious hosts and we loved staying in their charming home, snug in Camden village.
She has lovely lines and is probably in better shape than when she was launched so many years ago. I’m pretty sure I have seen her before, perhaps in Antigua. 
It was painful to know that I would miss all the action of the regatta as we had to head back home the next day.
Camden harbor is perhaps my favorite harbor anywhere. It’s terribly quaint. Being here reminds me of so many fun cruises to Maine in years past.
There is a babbling brook at the head of the harbor, and it was babbling away as expected. I can recall time years ago when we were in this harbor when we had a huge summer downpour and the babbling become a roar. 
All of the traffic that heads for points east has to wind itself through the impossibly quaint center of town. The buildings evoke an earlier, simpler time. Well, it probably wasn’t simpler but that’s what we all say.
This is the Camden Yacht Club. They host a “summer speaker series” with guest speakers, sometimes twice a week, on all sorts of topics. I was thrilled to be invited to speak here as we’ve been coming to this friendly club for many years. Our host Tom, was my sponsor and invited me to speak. I really enjoyed the evening.
This view from the club, of the aptly named “Camden Hills” is beautiful in the afternoon light. 
Over the winter I had also organized an event with another group that I am a member of, the Corinthians, their summer cruise wrap-up dinner at the ApprenticeShop in Rockland. 
However, as I didn’t make it to Maine with Pandora, we weren’t able to stay and participate in the dinner. Just to be sure that all was in proper order for the event, we visited the shop and met with my contact Liz and the caterer Jenn. I was sad that I wouldn’t be a part of the event that weekend but wanted to be sure that all was set. Reports were that it came off well. No surprise there as Liz and Jenn seemed to be quite buttoned down.
We were told that this boat, once completed, will be shipped to Europe. There are a number like this being built at different shops, some in the US and some in Europe, to the same design, and they will all race together when they are completed, I think in Scotland. 
The ApprenticeShop is a place where students can enroll to learn a trade in wooden boat building and they have been successful over the years, with many graduates moving on to full time work in the business. I understand that it is possible for “mature” folks, like me, to take a two month intensive course as well and that sounds like a great idea for down the road. It’s not an inexpensive endeavor but you do get to take home a small completed rowing or sailing boat, which would be fun. Something to think about.
Interestingly, I had been introduced to the commodore of the club at the Essex Yacht Club the night before. He and commodores of a number of other clubs were visiting with our own Commodore Klin for dinner.
The prevailing winds in the NE are generally from the SW in the summer but, as luck would have it, not, the wind was blowing directly from the SE and Block Island, our destination. After a frustrating few hours tacking toward Block and waiting for the expected southerly shift, I gave up and turned on the motor. We picked up the Essex Yacht Club mooring which was open.
Snug in Great Salt Pond, we were treated to a perfect sunset. 
The Essex Yacht Club maintains a few guest moorings in popular harbors and it is a real treat to go into the harbor and pick up a mooring for “free”. I say that as the rental moorings in Block are always full and there is a mad scramble to get one when a boat leaves, with those waiting in the wings zooming up with their dinks to claim their prize.
We were joined by our friends George and Bonnie and the six of us rented a van for the day and toured the island. One of our stops was the North Light, a beautiful spot at the end of the most northern spot on the island. In the distance, on a clear day, you can see Point Judith. 
On the south east side, the now famous, and to some infamous, wind mills, the first of their kind in US waters. I, for one, hope that they put out many more in the coming years.
Along the way we visited, as you’d expect given the fact that Brenda and Karyn are knitters, a fiber store near a farm with all sorts of exotic animals including camels, emus and, well, other animals, a few in bronze. Brenda and Karyn have been friends for many years. This coming week Brenda will travel to Cape Cod to spend a week with Karyn who’s hosting a workshop. 
Beginning with a visit to rural Fisher’s and then on to the summer hot-spot of Block what better next stop could there be than Newport, home to so many beautiful yachts. We enjoyed a stroll downtown followed by dinner ashore and then a harbor tour on our way out of the harbor yesterday. I am always blown away by the scale of some of these yachts. Even more amazing is how much of their time they spend tied up at in a marina. It’s a small world and I have seen this one before. 
A somewhat more diminutive but still big yacht. 
We passed Harbor Court, the Newport home of the NY Yacht Club, once the summer home of the Brown family that founded Brown University. The family made their money running opium to China in the clipper ship days. I expect that the family doesn’t like to be reminded about that sordid little detail in polite company these days. Somehow that little bit of history doesn’t seem to attract the same justly deserved animosity as the current problems facing the Sackler family, the makers of Oxycontin that has fueled the tragic opioid epidemic. Forgive the starboard list as I was snapping shots while dodging moorings in a crowded harbor. 
As a side note, Pandora will serve as “tender” to another boat on next week’s NYYC Cruise next week and I’ll be attending the opening event of the week at Harbor Court next weekend. Stay tuned for more on all that.
So here I sit, the sun is just peaking up over the horizon in scenic Wickford. Not a bad view to begin the day. Yes, I know, that starboard list again. It was 05:00 and I hadn’t had my first cup of coffee yet. 
It’s nice to be aboard again and on the move. Yes, it’s not Maine but it’s not so bad.
These are remarkable, powerful machines. 
And the spectator boats, none the less impressive. I loved the lines of what is probably an old Huckins. What an elegant, classic yacht. 
Of course, where there are big money yacht owners, there is a photo chopper, flying over the fleet documenting the excitement. Later at the awards dinner they would be selling their work to excited owners and crew even more enthusiastic after a few drinks.
As we approached the harbor we passed Brenton Point, the day’s site for a kite flying contest, it seems. What a sight. 
As we passed, I was struck by some of the particularly large kites like this octopus and whale. I wonder how hard it is to hold on to such a huge kite.
Of course, what better spot to watch all the fun than from the lawn on one of the historic inns? “Jeeves, I’ll have another gimlet, and make it snappy. Muffy will have a third mimosa while you’re at it good man.” 
There’s clearly no shortage of money in Newport where a “dink” has over 1,000 HP. How about one with four outboards?
The evening festivities for the regatta were to be held at the International Yacht Restoration School, known for rebuilding small boats all the while teaching a new generation of builders and restorers the art of wooden boat repair. The most popular design for the school is the restoration of Beetle Cats, and there are plenty of tired hulls to choose from. Buy an old boat, they will fix it up and sell it to you. Easy!
So there you have it, a failed run to Maine but all is not lost. I’ve already spoken to Brenda about moving plans around so that we can do a bit of cruising and enjoy what’s left of the summer before I head south in the fall.
Oh yeah, and about that headliner. The canvas guy might think he’s done but oops, not quite as there more than a few details that seem to have escaped his guy’s attention when he finally stepped onto the dock from Pandora on Thursday evening. I’ll be calling and I’ll be sailing.
The new trim is a big improvement on the old corroded aluminum. The trim was never properly bedded so the stainless screws ate away at the metal. 
Now, it looks a lot better, better than ever. 
I also ordered new fender covers to protect my expensive new paint job. They are a lovely grey with Pandora’s logo on each of them, six in all. They are 10″ in diameter and pretty big fenders. 
Anyway, it’s mid July and I am still messing around and trying to get Pandora ready to head to Maine. Every day it seems to be getting a bit hotter. Did I mention that it’s going to be 90 today? It’s hard to believe that when I started really working on Pandora on a nearly daily basis way back in March and recall wondering how I was going to be able to work comfortably aboard with such cold temperatures. I purchased a portable propane heater and used it just about every day for weeks on end. No need for that heater now.
Without the headliner in place I can’t really put much aboard like cushions, bedding and clothing. All the stuff that makes living on a boat fun and with two days till “liftoff”, this isn’t feeling even a little bit like “fun”.
Opened up it’s pretty impressive, “boogers” and all. Actually, if I squint just a tiny bit, it looks pretty much perfect. I heartily recommend Epifanes varnish. It’s wonderful stuff. I can’t believe that it took so many years for me to “discover” it. 
Part of the reason that I have tried to be understanding of the delays on the headliner is because I learned from the canvas guy that he had a few customers scheduled to leave on their vacations as of last Wednesday and he had to get their jobs done.
It looked like such fun, to be on the water in a small boat. Yachting is often described as a rich man’s sport, but it doesn’t take a big bank account to mess about in small boats. 
Sure, sometimes sailing can be complicated and there were plenty of boats for the well healed. This little beauty may be small but she’s clearly designed for an owner with means.
Every detail is exquisite, down to the partially balanced bronze rudder. 
Something as simple as a paddle can be a work of art. This one is made out of my favorite wood, cherry. The grain is fabulous. Cherry is a pretty heavy wood for a paddle, but what a sight. 
The often say that “God is in the details”. If that’s the case, this wheel is divine.
This dink is as much a work of art as a means of transportation and to row her would be transporting indeed.
A boat doesn’t need to be big to be fun. At 24″ long, this remote control racer is a replica of the famous Gold Cup racer, Miss America. 
What about these passengers? It must have been a rough ride. 
And speaking of a rough ride, how about an ulralight racer with a huge motorcycle engine and handle bars to match? Not Brenda’s first choice for a relaxing cruise on the river. “Where’s my cup holder?”
Boats have always been a part of our history. The Mayflower, just finishing up from a multi-year restoration, will be launched in September. 
Some have said that there is nothing that typifies art and design like a boat. Look at the detail in her stern. 
So much detail in her construction. 
Unfortunately, we will be out of town when she splashes in September.
These sweet little boats have a loyal following with owners passing their cherished Beetles down from generation to generation. Beetle has a program, “mooring to mooring”, where owners call to tell that they are done for the season, Beetle comes to pick up the boat and returns it in the spring to the same mooring. In that case, not a lot of effort to head out sailing but clearly makes the point that “Whatever it takes. Whatever it costs” is the answer to getting out on the water.
Brenda sent me a link to a letter-to-the-editor that she read recently in the NY Times,