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I’m calling this the last batch, although there are dozens of photos I’ve not posted. I’ll do the same as yesterday and number the shots, commenting on some. I didn’t have access to my VHF, so whatever announcements were made, I didn’t hear them. However, photo 1 shows the boats jockeying for the best position when the race signal was given.
1.
2. Once it was given, schooner Brilliant flew that bulging sail (a spinnaker or an oversized jib or a golly wobbler? ) and raced ahead.
3. The race was on.
4. Brilliant was way out front racing downwind. It appears the jib has not been raised.
5. It soon became apparent that for some reason, there was a problem and the race was off. Secondhand information said that incorrect instructions had been given, so the race needed to be restarted. That meant getting all the boats back to the start line. For power boats, returning to the starting point is direct and easy, but for sailing vessels,
6. … herding cat fish comes to mind.
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8. I believe this was part of the line up, and the race was restarted.
9. Below, the two nearer boats are in the lead; the three a bit farther off and sailing to the right have yet to round the the inflatable buoy.
10. Here was the most exciting duel of the afternoon; l to r, When and If and Narwhal. In photo 10, Narwhal was trailing but moving to overtake When and If.
11. And here, Narwhal makes the move and races to the winning time. The two schooners on either side have still not rounded the buoy.
12. Click here for the 2022 race results.
All photos, WVD, Thanks to Artemis for the ride.
The following photos were all taken between 12:30 and 1:00, my favorites from a half hour’s harvest of photos just before the race began. I’ll number them for reference purposes in case you choose to comment.
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All photos, WVD, who will post the race–the recalled one and the real one–in the following days. Post time is always noon.
Again, I was crewing on Artemis. Check out her site here.
I’m having a hard time deciding what to post . . . so I’ll do multiple posts. Hundreds of photos from the schooner fest is an amount that overwhelms my decision making even as the clock ticks down the time until noon. So here goes . . . for today, random sights. Maybe by tomorrow, I’ll have a plan. For today then, just a few photos, minimal identification.
I crewed on ketch Artemis and as a ketch, we were not involved, although we tested her wind-propulsion from the sidelines and did quite well. Artemis is a popular name these days.
Sail rigs of every sort caught the breezes and my eye.
A parade of sail took place in the morning in the Inner Harbor, or maybe this could be called a re-enactment of one of Fitz H Lane’s canvases.
Human power crossed the harbor also.
I’ve no idea why those folks are trying to sail that navaid.
Some sailing vessels had white sails, some tanbark, and some had both.
More tomorrow . . .
All photos, WVD.
I’ve a question for longtime Gloucester area residents: my first trip to Gloucester was in winter 1986-7 or 87-88. I took a half day off work in Newburyport because I’d read in a local paper that a Soviet factory/trawler had been granted permission to enter the harbor for a few days, and I can’t recall the reason. It was a raw day, but the sight of a large rusty ship with the hammer/sickle on the stack was unforgettable. I did even own a camera in those day . . . maybe I’d left my smartphone at home . . . . Does anyone recall details, get photos?
I was thinking to call this “summer sail,” but that didn’t seem to fit.
At least two other dredging projects are happening in the sixth boro simultaneously. The one in the Buttermilk Channel came to my attention because of the following two photos taken by Captain Malcolm of schooner Pioneer.
Neither this tug–Miss Gloria— nor the dredge were ones I was familiar with. Miss Gloria is a 2003 Rodriguez Brothers tug operated by Marquette, and plenty of other Rodriguez boats work the sixth boro, and Marquette boats have been here before as well, mostly involved in dredging projects.
Malcolm’s photos intrigued me enough that I decided to come out for a night sail on Pioneer; it had been far too long since I last had done that, especially given Pioneer‘s role in my starting this blog to begin with: I’d been volunteer crew on the schooner before I started the blog, had taken lots of harbor activity photos, and then created this blog as a means to share those photos.
Here’s a one-photo digression then for a photo I took more than 16 years ago from another vessel of Pioneer–black hull–and Adirondack sailing together in the Upper Bay at dusk. Although both are schooners, over a century of age and shipbuilding materials development and some very different history separate them.
To return from this digression, the following photos I took of the Great Lakes D & D dredging in the Buttermilk, photos i took after Malcolm suggested I put my feet back on Pioneer‘s deck. More photos of that lovely evening to follow.
I also have not shared photos I took of outstanding GLDD equipment I took in March. Click here for a January 2022 preview.
Miss Gloria was elsewhere, but Smith Predator, who’s been doing dredge spoils runs the past few weeks, was standing by as a dump scow was being filled. I’d seen Smith Predator on AIS, and with a name like that, it had attracted my attention, but to date, I’d not gotten a good clear photo, only very distant ones.
Thanks to Captain Malcolm for the first two photos and the suggestion to come sailing; all others, WVD.
More photos from the Pioneer sail to follow.
Maiden is in the boro, an impressive thoroughbred sailing since 1979! I hope you click on that link for her amazing history. Here‘s more on its current voyage.
The definition of yacht is quite loose. I’d argue that the sloop passing in front of the Statue is someone’s yacht, although it’s not a global circumnavigator like Maiden.
Sportfish Markella was eastbound on the East River . . . maybe trolling for tidal strait tuna . . .
Or this one, Zada Mac, in pursuit of and hoping to snag Hudson River halibut? Yes, those were written in jest.
Mariner III looks delicate and outsized here passing alongside a tanker in the Kills.
Yacht Liberty carries the St. Vincent Grenadines flag, but besides that, I can’t tell you much.
Yacht Full Moon is a 65′ beauty once owned by Jerry Lee Lewis, a stunner now operated by Classic Harbor Lines and
dating from 1950. It was built by Grebe.
All photos by WVD, whose tugster blog is currently operated by riverine robots.
Count them . . . at least four very different vessels: Saint Emilion with barge, JRT waiting to assist, Grace D shuttling people and supplies, and a sloop.
Here’s more from hither and yon around the sixth boro: Navigator at “old navy” topping off the ferry reserves,
Popeye fishing in front of Ellis Island,
Meagan Ann taking the stern of this interesting sailing trawler,
another sloop passing the Statue line, a Circle Line boat, as well as a Statue Cruises vessel,
and a NY Media Boat touring RIB.
Yes, I’m back to that trawler. It’s called Briney Bus out of Miami, but besides that, I don’t know much. My guess is that, like many boats, it’s heading for the NYS Canal system, which opened two days ago.
The parting shot . . . Meagan Ann.
All photos and any errors, WVD.
Let’s jump back to May 2012. Over along the Manhattan side of the East River then, I caught this scene. Since then, there’s been some movement: Peking to Germany, Marion M to the Chesapeake, Helen McAllister to . . . rebirth as new steel.
Cheyenne has migrated to the Lake Michigan for now.
Twin Tube is still around but sans the boom.
Ellen McAllister is also still hard at work in the sixth boro, but I don’t see her doing much indirect towing as here.
Mark Moran was just passing through from the shipyard to Charleston.
Swan, built in 1981 and showing as her last movement three and a half years ago in China, has likely gone to rebirth as new steel.
But a decade ago in May 2012, she was here to move some used tugboats over to West Africa. Here she’s already down and BFT No. 38 with a crew boat strapped on has already been loaded, while
McAllister Sisters and McAllister Girls wait with three Crowley tugs,
Cavalier, Pioneer, and Mars.
After they are floated aboard, the tide turns the anchored Swan.
Socrates and Heron also float aboard, and
overnight, Swan gets deballasted and raises the hull, so that we can see their five-bladed wheels. More of the story here.
Also in the boro those days was Picton Castle, showing the flag and more, maybe recruiting some hands
before sailing away. Does anyone have news about her? Has she really stayed in Lunenburg since late 2020?
All photos, WVD, exactly 120 months ago.
Unrelated to any of this, read this May 2004 article by the late great Don Sutherland and reflect on how much change has occurred.
They say the devil is in the details, but so are the delights. I often take photos without knowing what delightful details I will uncover. Like the photo below . . . what caught my attention was that it was the first ketch I’d seen in the boro in 2022.
When I looked closer, I saw it flew a French flag. Unfortunately, I can’t make out the vessel name below; maybe you can.
Lion’s Paw looks to be a non-winter boat as well.
Aluminum hull and red flag caught me here, and no, I don’t mean the tugboat, which is obviously Frances.
Is this “flag” called a “red duster”?
I saw the name on AIS, but have forgotten it; it started with an A and had an X, I recall. I do know that it’s a Boreal 47 though.
And on this gusty day last week, she appeared to share the wind with a local sail school boat, I believe.
I’d taken the next photos earlier and couldn’t quite figure out why the tug–clearly Pelham–-and the party boat were so close together. My first thought was that Pelham was towing a party boat that had possibly broken down. However, there was no tow line.
Later I thought these folks clustered on the bow of the party boat hardly looked like they were going fishing!
Have you figured it out?
Look closely at Pelham.
Nope! That does not say Pelham. I imagine I’m a good reader, given how much of it I do, but because I recognized the profile as that of Pelham, I never bothered to read the name boards, which clearly say . . . Katrina. It took me two and a half weeks to notice that. OK, I know that spring gives everyone giddiness, but let’s settle down here. My conclusion now is that Sound Bound Star was the camera crew boat and Pelham/Katrina, the talent. Anyone know the project, the movie?
All photos, WVD, who’s likely to get even more giddy along with the rising temperatures.
Sometimes I’m conflicted about what to post, like today with too many competing stories, and we’ll start with news, and Cisne Branco, which translates as “white swan.” The photo below shows Cisne Branco, a Brazilian Navy training vessel, in the sixth boro in May 2012 for a sixth boro OpSail event. Earlier this week, the 1998 vessel got swept downstream the Rio Guayas in Guayaquil, Ecuador and came to rest against a pedestrian bridge. See it and hear about it here.
Here’s another shot of Cisne Branco in Gravesend Bay.
In other news, the 1967 83′ steel schooner Mystic Whaler, a regular in the sixth boro, has been sold to a party on the West Coast. The Egintons have owned it since 1995.
A few weeks ago now, the 1943 laker Mississagi was towed to the scrapyard in Sault Ste Marie. I caught these two photos of her in summer 2016 in Lake Michigan below and
along the Saint Lawrence River below. Other photos can be seen here.
While looking up my May 2012 photos of Cisne Branco, I saw this photo of Taurus in the North River. She’s now Joker, featured here several times recently. In May 2012, the K-Sea fleet had just been sold to Kirby, and in the photo below, the red K-Sea visor was painted blue, the K-Sea logo was removed from the stack, but the Kirby logo had not yet replaced it. Also, in the background, it’s Harvey and Frying Pan at Pier 66.
This photo also from May 2012 shows Ellen McAllister coming alongside Dewarucci, an Indonesian training ship. Between the two, it’s Scotty Sky, the small bunker tanker now sold somewhere in the Cabibbean.
Since there’s a lot of media attention on the congestion in SOME US ports, have a look at what’s off Savannah. This was a screen grab from VesselFinder almost a week ago, and it’s not much different today. A personal frustration is the outermost vessel shown, CMA CGM Marco Polo. I missed getting a photo of her in the sixth boro on Saturday, October 9 because I was out of town; in the wee hours of Monday, she departed for Norfolk and then Savannah. She’s now been anchored, about 60 miles out from Savannah’s container terminals since the 15th. Earlier this year she was setting a new record in US/Canada ports, and now she’s stuck in a jam.
And finally, two photos from April 2018 showing Mon Lei getting towed to a marina just north of the GW Bridge, where it stayed for some time. Question: Where is Mon Lei today . . . asking for a friend.
This red/white junk was once quite the fixture in the sixth boro, and although I was never aboard, I’m told the interior was sumptuous! Click here for posts I’ve done on the boat. I talked with one of the owners once on the phone.
That’s some news from my desk in Queens. All photos, WVD.
I’d really like to know what became of Mon Lei.
Cooler temperatures and brisker winds can make autumn sailing more exciting, or maybe in the sixth boro those winds clearly hint a winter and gales to come.
This Lagoon 450 headed out under power, and will have to set sail soon, given where
they might be headed.
That looks like Spring of Sydney to me . . . Sydney where this would be the time of spring sail.
Inbound, it’s a catboat ketch . . . if that’s what you’d call this sail rig.
Above it’s two boats sailing, and below, the cat rig is the only one sailing.
There’s a nice belly in that sail there,
Wild Cat. You seemed content to ride in on the wind and current in no particular hurry.
All photos and any errors, WVD.
Click here for my photos of the Chesapeake schooner race, currently happening to our south.
Greetings to my friends in Australia.
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