Spring Sail 2

Here was the first time I used this title.

America II looked resplendent bathed in a last burst of late afternoon sun yesterday.

She was one of several sail vessels out;  here Pioneer seems headed over to a new loading point.

On a meteorologically different afternoon a few weeks ago, I caught Lettie G. Howard out headed for the Kills. Here was another spring when I caught Lettie under very bare poles.

 

 

I saw Topaz briefly only once, so far away she was only a tall mast, but Claude Scales caught this from his daily vantage point.  Click here for a close-up of Nantucket WLV-612 from three years ago.

No words . . . no gilding the lily!

Pioneer heads back to the dock.

Anyone know where Mary E is sailing from these days?

Thanks to Claude Scales for use of his Topaz photo.  All other photos by Will Van Dorp, who has used the title “autumn sail” much more frequently.  And if you have not yet read my article about sailing to Cuba last winter, you can read it here.

Weather 6

Here was 5.

Yesterday before noon I saw rain, sun, and then rain again.  Afternoon was the same.  The foto below of Norwegian Star I took at 16:06.

16:21

16:21 . . . a rainbow spanned from Red Hook Brooklyn to Newtown Creek Queens, although I couldn’t see the Queens’ leg.

16:35, and by this time I was again getting rained on.

16:40

16:44 and here comes the main act . . .

a rainbow spanning from Battery Park to

midtown, although I couldn’t fit it all on a single shot from the middle of the River.

then 17:26.  Is that a sundog over Jersey City?  Snow soon?

An hour later I was watching the moonrise but got no fotos.  Check these out in the vicinity of the Mackinac Bridge here.  And while AIS to try to identify the Wagenborg vessel in Ken’s post,  I noticed someone off Sarnia who’d been in Bayonne only two weeks ago!  Kongo Star!  Check her itinerary here.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Classic Week

If you noticed a lot of sail on the sixth boro the past few days amidst all variety of weather, then you witnessed at least part of New York Classic Week.  Below, Pride of Baltimore2 and When and If pass below the cliffs of lower Manhattan.  Foto compliments of bowsprite;  all others by Will Van Dorp.

Here When and If, Adirondack and Pride of Baltimore2 head for the Statue in the “farewell race” today.  Notice crewman setting a topsail on Pride.

Here, a view from the water, shows some of Lower Manhattan’s cliffs aka “the new palisades.”

The foto below taken yesterday just seconds after the red racing flag appeared shows America II, Black Watch (ex-Tabor Boy and ex-Edlu II), Imagine, and Adirondack.  For info on each of the vessels, click here, then navigate to NY Classic Week and then 2008 participating yachts.  Winner was Black Watch, with Adirondack, 3rd.

Also, at the start yesterday, When and If and Pride, finishing 6 and 5 respectively.  By the way, When and If was built for General Patton.

Naturally, a tug appears in these fotos . . . here a Buchanan moves a sand scow downriver as the sailing yachts prepare for the red flag signalling the race start.