Sailboats in Newtown Creek

Our good friends at Gage & Desoto Design sent us a shot of two sailboats docked against a bulkhead on the Brooklyn side of Newtown Creek. The small sloop looks to be under 20 feet with the other in the 29-to-33 foot range.

Of course we don't have any information about these vessels, their captains or the sailing scene along the Brooklyn/Queens border, but we're happy to see more sailboats in unusual spots in Brooklyn.

Hello Portland (Oregon, not Maine)

Next week we'll be in Portland Oregon to celebrate Baby Salt's Great Grandfather's 88th Birthday. We're also looking forward to getting some well needed R&R and checking out the area, which we hear is amazing (we've never been there before).

While we are there, we would love to check out the local sailing scene, which looks very active. We've done a little research and have seen a number of active sailing clubs incluging the Willamette Sailing Club, Island Sailing Club the Hood River Yacht Club, and of course, the Portland Yacht Club, which turned 100 years old this year.

We'd like to acknowledge the Sail Portland Website and YachtClub.com's Oregon club list page which are good resources.

We'd appreciate any suggestions from readers or also hope to hear from other sailing and water blogs, like Proper Course, Frogma, Messing About in Sailboats, and Tugster.

On the Water Edition

Gowanus Canal Boat Yard?

Along the Gowanus Canal, on the hard behind the Tom Ottterness studio, lies a 20-something foot sloop. While not the first sailboat we've seen along the Gowanus, this is much more peculiar because a crane was needed to pull her out of the water. From our vantage point, we could see that the boat is fully rigged with a mainsail and a relatively new outboard. She appeared to have decent bottom paint. We know the boat has been out of the water for at least six months.

In the water is what appears to be a Boston Whaler. It is conceivable that this Whaler is used to commute and for pleasure or even a run to Fairway.

Perhaps Otterness knows the story of the boats.

Sheepshead Bay Yacht Club's Centennial Celebration

Sheepshead Bay Yacht Club will celebrate its 100th anniversary this Saturday, June 7th.

For more information, contact Sheepshead Bay Yacht Club at 718-891-0991.

Our Second Anniversary

It is the 110th blog post since our first two years ago. In that time, we crafted 110 entries, roughly one post per week (the stats include the semi-dormant six month period following the Baby Salt's birth), generating 15,000 visits.

Thank you for your support

The 2008 Sailing Season has Commenced

The 2008 sailing season has commenced.

While my 76-year old father, Pappa Salt, has been sailing in the very cold and rainy Midwest for over a month, our season started yesterday. Typically, we'd take a few weeks to prep the boat, ensuring that she was sanded, varnished, well cleaned, polished and painted (both below the waterline and the bootstripe). This year was different, a combination of family obligations, parenting Baby Salt (who's almost one year old) and work limited my boat prep schedule to one weekend. And it wasn't really even a weekend, I had a free weekend day to get the boat prepped and one day to get her in.

Thankfully, our boat is very heavily built, in decent shape and we've been slowly upgrading some of the more critical components, combined with the fact that she's a fairly low-maintenance boat, enabled us to do a good enough job to get her in the water for the season. In one afternoon, we applied two coats of Micron CSC bottom paint. Its supposed to be multi-season (the rep said we could get two to three seasons use), and at $200 a gallon, were planning for this to be the last bottom paint job for a few seasons. We also had a few prominent stains on the hull, which we removed. Other than that and a mild washing of the hull, we didn't do anything other than check the rigging to ensure that it was fine -- which it is.

Yesterday, we headed down to the bay and dropped her into the water, stepped mast, rigged the boat in under three hours, leaving us enough time for a little sail. Which we did. Life was perfect that afternoon.

Becoming a first-time father in June of 2007 didn't leave me with much time to sail, so we are trying to figure out a way that we can add more sailing into the mix, while, at the same time, being fair to Mrs. Salt in terms of weekend baby duties. So that is what we need to figure out this year. I expect in a few years that this issue will subside, because Baby Salt will be sailing with us. As I know some readers have expressed interest in balancing a marriage, sailing and a newborn, we'll do our best to tell you how this works.

Springy Dinghy

Today's lazy-as-heck post has me link to Frogma, which has a post and photos of some Laser sailors from the Sebago Canoe Club.

Yacht Clubs of Brooklyn: Sorta Edition, Sebago Canoe Club

It's finally Spring, which means that we'll be sailing soon. But what do others, who have a passion to breathe the salt-air and experience the aero- and hydro-dynamics of sailing, but have a very limited budget do to start making plans to get on the water?

The simplest thing would be to find a friend with a boat and mooch! (For those moochers out there, the appropriate etiquette is to offer to help the skipper perform pre-season work on their boat, such as sanding and painting. And when you're invited, bring something, whether beer, fruit, water or sandwiches. It will be appreciated.)

Let's say you don't know anyone with a boat, there are still some low-cost options out there for you. One is the Sebago Canoe Club located on the Paerdegat Basin in Canarsie, Brooklyn. SCC has been around for 75 years and is easily accessible to Jamaica Bay after a short sail/paddle under Belt Parkway. As we can personally attest, Jamaica Bay is a fantastic sailing area, but our friends at SCC tell us that Paerdegat Basin "can be a bit nasty at times - particularly when the sewage goes to the storm drains and empties into the Basin, but once out of the Basin and into the Jamaica Bay it is an amazing place to sail and perfect for small boats and truly beautiful."

Sebago Canoe Club's sailing program is very different from a traditional yacht club/sailing club. The club is all volunteer - no paid staff so everything is done by their members - and the sailing committee is quite small (15-20 members) by comparison to the club's kayaking group.
All of Sebago's boats are limited by what can be carried down the ramp that goes to their dock. In terms of sailing, they sail one-design dinghies including Lasers, Sunfish, and Force 5s. The club has several sailors who have larger skiff type boats and some members still have and use sailing canoes. The club's boats include two Lasers, three Sunfish, a Super Sunfish, a Force 5 and a Club 420.

SCC's club boats are available to members who have been "certified." (Information is on their website outlining the requirements.) Additionally the club requires yearly work by it's members as part of the membership requirement. Because SCC maintains all of its boats, their sailing members must be self-sufficient with getting their boats down to the water and launched. Unfortunately, SCC does not offer rentals and does not have a youth program.

SCC has an annual sailing class for members, that includes classroom, rigging instruction, some on-the-ground practice and then on-the-water practice both days - (second day usually includes an extensive cruise, followed by a beaching, setting up buoys and putting the students through the paces of boat handling and capsizing). This year it takes place on June 28th and 29th. Our friends at Sebago Canoe Club limit their classes to members because the class has a 1:1 ratio of students to instructors. In addition, SCC's sailors plan cruises once a month throughout the summer and have races every Friday evening (on the water by 5:30pm). If last year is any indication, SCC is serious about racing. They had more than 16 club races in 2007.

The only time SCC takes out non-members is at their open house, which is scheduled to take place on May 24th.

Considering that family memberships start at $250, individual memberships are $175, this may be one of the best summertime options for New Yorkers looking to get on the water. I'm sure that even Madame X would approve of this expense.

Learn To Sail

Are you one of those people who's always been interested in sailing, but never stepped aboard a boat. If that's you, now is your chance to take some action by enrolling in Miramar Yacht Club's introductory sailing classes. The classes will cover the basics of sailing, including: basic safety, nomenclature, points of sail, sail trim , tacking, jibing, leaving and returning to a mooring, heaving to, anchoring, rules of the road, how to tie basic knots, weather, tides, and chart reading.

The three onshore classes and one lesson on a boat, are a perfect opportunity to test the waters. Classes start Friday, March 28th at 7:30, p.m. and run the same time on April 4 and April 11th. The classes cost $50 per person, $75 for families. Refreshments and materials are included.

For more information, call Miramar Yacht Club at 718-743-5823.

Wind-Powered Freighter Crossing the Atlantic

Admittedly, we are a bit late to this story, but better late than never.

Beluga Group equiped a shipping freighter with a sail, specifically a SkySail, a parachute-shaped sail that is the size of a football field. The Ship, MS Beluga SkySails, departed on its first trans-Atlantic voyage earlier in the week. According to Beluga and SkySail, a ship‘s fuel costs can be reduced by 10- 35% on annual average, depending on wind conditions. Under optimal wind conditions, fuel consumption can temporarily be reduced by up to 50%.

During the fuel crisis of the 1970s, the idea of adding sails to fuel-powered freighters to reduce costs was floated around, but the technology wasn't available to make it work. Even earlier, in 1966, the DynaRig, a modern version of a square-rig, was conceived in Germany as a means to add sails to freighters, but it was never tested because the technology wasn't available to make the masts. Fast forward 35 years and this is a viable option. In addition to the SkySail, the DynaRig is the powerplant behind Tom Perkins' 288-foot Maltese Falcon.

The fact that the SkySail technology can be easily adapted to most cargo ships leads us to believe that we'll start to see more creative wind-powered solutions to help the world's shipping fleets reduce costs.

Major National Sailing Championship Coming to NYC

A major U.S. sailing championship will take place this spring in Staten Island. On May 15 through May 18, the Richmond County Yacht Club (RCYC) will host the 2008 J/24 National Championship.

The J/24 Class Association expects anywhere from 50 to 70 boats and crews, coming from across the country, to participate. On May 15th, boats weighed and measured at RCYC. Over the next three days in Lower New York Harbor and Raritan Bay, the boats will fight it out to determine who will be the National Champion .

The Staten Island Advance reported spoke with Doug Olsen, an RCYC officer and resident of The Rock, who said, "We're absolutely excited to be holding it. We hosted the J24 Northeast Regionals in 2005, but this is the first time Staten Island has had the Nationals ... and since there's a 20-year rotation of where the Nationals go, this could be the only time Staten Islanders get a chance to see it."

The J/24 is the world's most popular one-design keelboat, with more than 5,000 sailing in fleets around the world. While the racing is purely amateur, and more about bragging rights than anything else, to win this regatta is very prestigious among the sailboat racing cognescetti. Eight to 10 windward/leeward (upwind/downwind) races, consisting of five 1-1 1/2 mile legs, are planned each day. All boats are involved in every race, which can make for a very long starting line, and tight competition at each rounding mark. Local sailors know that the strong currents and tides, combined with pretty consistent breezes will be a factor in determining the winner.

Photo of the Day

A wooden double-ender docked in Sheepshead Bay.

Designed in Brooklyn: Sail Magazine's Best Boat of 2007

We know they used to make sails in Brooklyn, but did you know that modern sailboats -- ones that you can buy and sail today -- are designed in County of Kings? Neither did I.

A number of boat manufactures have recently introduced classically styled daysailors with modern performance. One notable model among this new fleet is the e33, designed by Brooklyn-based Wurmfeld Design. The e33 conceived by America's Cup veteran and sailmaker Robbie Doyle, who collaborated with Jeremy Wurmfeld to create one of Sail Magazine's Best Boats of 2007 .

The boat very thoughtfully designed: it has a huge, 16 foot cockpit, with a nice space to comfortably spread out behind the rudderpost. We've read that the seats are designed with proper lumbar support. Below deck, the cabin is nicely equipped for a weekend or overnight, with an enclosed head, opposed settees and a little v-berth. But where this boat really excels at is sailing. The sailplan is designed to give the e33 a lot of horsepower, especially with the asymmetrical spinnaker hoisted. Its also designed to be easy to sail. All controls leading to the cockpit and the sails can be trimmed without the need for winches, which make for an easy boat to sail singlehanded. All of that, plus the fact that it can be easily launched using a typical yacht club crane, using its built-in lifting points. It really does seem ideal.

We'd love to take it out for a sail. So Jeremy, if you're reading this, keep us in mind.

Sail Brooklyn Celebrates its First Year Anniversary

On May 21, we celebrated our first year anniversary. Since our inception, we've had approximately 6,555 visitiors, viewing more than 12,400 pages on our blog. We crafted 80 posts over the past year.

We are thankful and grateful for the response and the positive feedback and hope to continue to keep our readers informed.

Red Hook Community Sailing: Get Involved

In Red Hook, there is a good organization called PortSide New York that is dedicated to making connections between Red Hook's land lubbers and its storied waterfront. In addition to to saving and preserving the tanker Mary Whalen, which acts as their home base, the group has a job board and and plenty of maritime information relevant to Red Hook and the greater waterfront community.

We were particularly excited to hear that PortSide New York is working to start a community sailing program in Red Hook. We've been told they have a "classic plastic" Morgan 24 sailboat donated to this effort and will be holding a meeting on Wednesday, May 16 for anyone who is interested in helping. The meeting takes place at:

Community Board 6 Parks Committee
Red Hook Recreation Center
155 Bay Street (@ Henry Street)

We love the idea of community sailing and applaud PortSide New York for their efforts.

1000 Days at Sea: It took only 15 Days for a Major Disaster

On April 24, we wrote about Reid Stowe and Soanya Ahmad venturing off for their 1,000 days at sea venture. The Combination of Reid's gung-ho attitude and Soanya's complete lack of sailing experience, particularly any blue water experience, led us, and many others to believe that this is a disaster in the making. Unfortunately, for the crew of the schooner Anne, their dream voyage turned south two days ago, during their 15th day, the Morning of May 6, Anne had a collision with a freighter.

Stowe writes, " I was on watch in the pilothouse looking for lights of ships every 15 minutes to a half hour. I heard a loud bang and some scraping. When I opened the hatch, I saw the stern of a freighter passing by. We were not hit hard." They lost the bowsprit, the bow pulpit, and the headstay that keeps the foreword mast attached to the boat. Instead of calling it quits or getting rescued by the freighter that hit them, and perhaps returning after 15 days to make some needed repairs and re-start 1,000 days at sea, Stowe is pressing on. He adds, "its imperative that we get part of the job done before we hit any heavy weather." And Soanya adds, "...we could make it work. The 1000 days voyage is still in full swing."

Huh?

What we can't figure out is who's crazier, Reid or Soanya? Reid is 55, was married and is, according to what we can gather, a very experienced sailor. Soanya is 23 and has no experience at all. Why would he take someone so inexperienced with him? And is he some sort of Svengali who convinced Soanya, against general common sense, to take a chance and head off to sea for three years? And why would Soanya agree to go on a voyage like this? Hadn't she ever seen Gilligan's Island? (and that tour was only three hours). We can assume that she really didn't know what she was getting into, but didn't she know how badly this can become.

As one blogger put it as they departed, "this could go very badly" and we also wrote "there are often closes that foreshadow the story." We'll continue to follow this tragic love story.

We wish them well and hope they come to their senses.

From the Bahamas to Brooklyn in Search of a Laundromat

A large, blue visitor came stopped by over the weekend, her name is Pasha.

Pasha, we discovered, is a custom, 55.2-foot aluminum cutter-rigged boat. She was built in 1998 and was designed by Mr. William C. Frank. We went out to the boat to pick up the owner and also saw it had beautiful beautiful teak decks and a teak cabin house. In plain English, Pasha is a very large, expensive boat.

Typically, boats of her caliber would moor in the Upper New York Harbor, most likely in the North Cove Marina, by the World Trade Center. Thankfully, these smart sailors decided to spend some time in Brooklyn.

While the boat is registered in Nova Scotia, Canada (that's why the large Canadian Flag is flying off the stern), the owner is British and lives in the Bahamas. He, along with two crew members, is delivering Pasha to her summer home in Nova Scotia. When we went to meet him, he was heading onshore to find a local laundromat. Unfortunately we couldn't help him.

First Sail of the Season

The Pearson Ensign Wanderer, one of the boats from Ensign Class Fleet 21, out of Sheepshead Bay, takes a "shake out" sail using only the mainsail on a beautiful early May afternoon.

Boat in NYC or Hamptons Share: You do the Math

When Mrs. Salt and I tell people we are Brooklyn residents who keep our own sailboat in New York City, people often come to the conclusion that we are rich. While we're not starving, we are hardly rich. We don't have trust funds, and neither of us work in investment banking. In other words, we need to work for a living. However, we are thrifty, and perhaps we are even crafty. This enables us to enjoy our summers at a fraction at the regular NYC price of a beach house share. We also like the fact that we can enjoy a beautiful summer day, on the water, in the privacy of our own vessel with guests of our choosing. We can also get to the boat from our house in less than 30 minutes and sleep in our own bed during the evening. This seems ideal compared to sharing a house, hours away from your primary residence, that may not be that close to the water.

A two bedroom cottage in East Hampton will cost $7,000 for the month of July, or $8,000 for August. We've seen another house that gets someone "seven prime weekends" for $1,000. And a three bedroom rental in Fire Island during Father's Day weekend is being advertised for $1,100. Any way we look at it, perhaps with the exception of the "seven prime weekends" house, its seems rather expensive.

For $3,500, you can get a classic 28-foot Columbia Sloop. We know she needs a bit of work, so throw in another $1,000 and you could be in the water. If your budget is a bit larger, $6,900 will get you a very well maintained and well equipped 27-foot Catalina sailboat. Its a bit of a deposit, but its about the same price as a month in the Hamptons. But you now own a sailboat.

Now that you have your boat, you'll need to keep it somewhere. At Gateway Marina in Brooklyn, for as high as $84 per-foot (or slip size whichever is larger) for a private slip; $74 per-foot for a semi-private slip. For arguments sake, we'll take semi-private slip for our 28-foot Columbia, which will set us back $2,072 (plus NYC sales tax, of course). At Gateway, the seasonal contract runs from April 15 through October 14.

A few other considerations to think about: winter storage and maintenance. Winter storage for a boat that size can run in excess of $1,000, perhaps even as high as $1,500. This would include pulling the boat out of the water, a power was on the bottom and blocking it up to sit "on the hard" during the winter months. And while owning a boat is fun, they do need to be regularly maintained, particularly if it's in saltwater. Figure on another $1,500 annually for maintenance (which includes bottom paint, engine, and any other systems). And if something really breaks, it will cost you more money. One reason that Mrs. Salt and I downgraded from a 29-foot hand-me down we generously received from Papa Salt was the maintenance. The boat was decent, but it was over 20-years old (which isn't a big deal) and had been raced very hard in her lifetime. By the time we got her, a lot of her systems were starting to fail, and we were spending more time maintaining the boat instead of sailing her. Instead, we sold her for a song, and downgraded to a bulletproof daysailor, which doesn't have an engine or any internal systems like a head, thru-hulls or water systems.

We almost forgot, if you are dying to go to the Hamptons, you can always take your new boat and sail there.