Narragansett Bay 4

Summertime . . . and today I’m lazy after finishing two projects that’ve been transfixing me all month.

So how about some sail . . . in the evening, like Aquidneck,

Long Island built?

a moth . . .

in flight

a Fathead (?),

a classic catboat,

I’m wondering if Meow man has ever tagged one of these?

Aurora (1949) with tanbark sails,

Adirondack II,

launched 1999

The Blue Peter  . . . unfortunately AFTER she had dropped her parachute spinnaker.

and finally Black Watch . . . built in the Bronx and a veteran of World War Two.

Note the different materials of each mast.

I’ve been to the Narragansett Bay before, but I need to spend more time there in summer.

But first, I hear there’s some big sail coming to the sixth boro.  Last but not least, all photos by Will Van Dorp

Twelve Hours on the Sound

USMMA Foundation vessel Tortuga needed hands for a transit from Kings Point to Newport RI, where it is serving as support for Warrior Sailing program races this weekend.  I didn’t wait for a second call. I just needed to get there by 0250.  No problem, since this IS my favorite time of “day.”

tug Elizabeth Anne at 0236 h.

sunrise from the bridge of Tortuga at 0502.

Past Port Jeff ahead of ferry PT Barnum  0638

Passing Bruce A. McAllister with Vane barge on the wire along North Fork 0937

Meeting ferry  John H near Plum Gut at 1002

Seeing a distant ferry Cape Henlopen (?) and  S/V Mystic Whaler off New London 1030

Many thanks to Chris.

UNREP from M/V Otter for second breakfast at 1035

Passing S & S yawl Black Watch off Fishers Island 1042

F/V Skipper off Point Judith Light 1259

Schooner Aurora near Newport  1352

Tortuga at rest as Warrior Sailing crew moves in 1615

 

Many thanks to Jonathan Kabak for the invitation.  All photos here by Will Van Dorp, and I have many more.

Click here for numbers on Long Island Sound.   Actually this trip involved the Sounds of Long Island, Block, and Rhode Island.

 

Hudson Downbound ’13b

To start part 2, I’ll go back upriver a bit to Esopus Island.  Craig Eric Reinauer with RTC 103 is anchored to the south.  Much of the Hudson has  associated with some unusual characters, both in fiction and in real life.  Esopus Island is no exception:  about a century ago it was the magical hideaway of Aleister Crowley.  My friend Mitch–Newtown Pentacle–wrote about him here.

Farther south is a place with a magical name but a quite mundane though necessary construction on it.  This is the current resident of Duyvil’s Danskammer Point, idled in litigation I think.  The Dutch called it “devil’s dance chamber” because they saw natives doing a ceremonial dance there by firelight . . .   A lighthouse and several brickworks also once stood here.

Looking back upstream . .  the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge and Danskammer Point in the background.  Foreground is picnic boat Gem.  A Hinckley?

River Rose previously appeared here about three years ago.

Justine McAllister . . . I caught her the day before east- and then northbound at the KV buoy pushing RTC 120.  Also, three years ago I caught Justine towing the same barge on the Hudson.

Upbound off Cornwall . .  it’s Kimberly Poling, also a frequenter of both this river and this blog.

I’m not sure why so many large yachts were on the river the other day . . . off Bannerman’s Castle, location of a ceremonial swim a few months back, it’s Blue Moon.

Here’s Bannerman’s from the south side, juxtaposing the residence (left) with the warehouse.

I’ve yet to deliver on closeups of the residence, but here’s a preview.  The “picture window” serves to illustrate the interior for now.

That’s Bannerman’s in the background as Black Watch passes northbound.  Slope on the right is dauntingly named Breakneck Ridge.

The Hudson is truly loved.

Here a crowded Clearwater lowers sail in the Hudson Highlands.

Seastreak New York, usually shuttling south from the sixth boro, travels north when the leaves start to turn color.   Not pictured to the left is West Point.

Peak behind Bear Mountain Bridge is Anthony’s Nose, which I scaled back in April.

And finally . . . just south of the Bear Mountain Bridge . . . it’s another people mover usually associated with the confines of the sixth boro, Circle Line Queens, here assisting in leaf peeping.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Autumn Sail 7

A sailing race a thing of beauty is.  It’s graceful, regal, with no extraneous noise.  It’s slow . .  not to a swimmer but to the speeds “dinosaur fuel” propels us.  From left to right here, I think it’s America 2.0, Intrepid, Bernice, Black Watch, and  Pride of Baltimore II.

Black Watch (?)  takes Pride of Baltimore II’s stern as they both try to read the barely visible.

The beauty of a race like this is that it’s enjoyable even from some miles away, as

each rig differs a bit from the next and progress is about unhurried urgency . . . like “slow food.”

The hulls suggest  agelessness, although they benefit from a wealth of loving, skilled maintenance.

The Pride of Baltimore II always leaves me wondering, given that NYC is the place of the 99% AND the 1%, why the sixth boro and the supporting five can’t boast of a Pride of New York floating hither and yon around the globe.  What’s wrong here?

Gantry cranes are the early 21st century’s version of Walt Whitman’s “numberless  masts.”

Pride … , of course, does have an engine . . . two Cats, in fact, and it can

make a lot of noise if she chooses with her artillery.

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.