Sailing to Brooklyn from Ireland

It is really amazing how many international sailboats come through Brooklyn. Earlier this year, Thomas Coville's maxi trimoran Sodeb'O was moored at Gateway Marina prior to its attempt to set a North Atlantic crossing record. And last year, we came across the crew of S/V Pasha, who came to Brooklyn in search of a laundromat.

I was fortunate enough to go sailing this weekend. With Baby Salt's arrival, it has been rather difficult squeezing in time for a sail (more on that to come). Following the sail, we saw the sailing vessel Safari of Howth, a Halberg Rassy 42, docked at Miramar Yacht Club. The ship, owed by Carmel & Ken Kavanagh, hailing from the Howth Yacht Club, was easily identified by its Irish flag flying from the stern. Safari of Howth left Ireland about two years ago and comes to Brooklyn by way of a long journey which included stops in the Caribbean, Florida and up the Eastern Seaboard. The boat will be in Brooklyn through the end of August, then will sail to the Chesapeake and Washington areas where they will stay until mid-October. Then its back to Ireland for Christmas.

The skipper, graciously invited us aboard, prior commitments kept us from accepting his offer. And while we didn't board the Safari of Howth, the skipper didn't leave us empty handed. We were each handed a beer prior to our departure.

On the Water Edition

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.

Learn to Sail in One Night: $25

On Friday, June 6, Miramar Yacht Club is offering its "Learn to Sail in One Night" class to non-members. The class is condensed to only the basics of what's needed to know how to sail. The veteran instructors will cover:
sailing nomenclature, parts of a sail, apparent wind, Bernoulli Principle, points of sail, luffing, sail trim, slowing and stopping a sailboat, sailing again after a stop, tacking, jibing, general rules of the road, red-right-return, anchoring, docking and a few knots. Whew!

And they are offering a free sail the class runs from 8:00pm - 10:30 p.m. and cost $25, which includes materials, refreshments and we'll mention the free sail again.

To make a reservation or get information please call 718-743-5823 or e-mail sail@miramaryc.com.

A Late Start to the Season

On Saturday, May 24 there were a number of empty slips sat alongside boats being worked on and not yet sailed. We saw a number of boats that had just been launched with the owners making last minute arrangements to get ship shape for the season. Typically, at this point on the calendar most local sailors have been in the water for a few weeks. The strange weather this May has stalled, but not killed the start to the season.

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.

Photo of the Day

Winter in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. Its amazing how many boats are still in the water.

Photo of the Day

A wooden double-ender docked in Sheepshead Bay.

Winter Swans in Sheepshead Bay

A family, or a few families, of swans live in Sheeepshead Bay throughout the year, even in the Winter. (The picture above was taken on December 29.) The swans are deceptively large, maybe 25 or more pounds, and the whitest, white I've ever seen. They also make a mess, so people try to keep them off their land, docks and boats. The swans are generally passive and don't bother people, they are not afraid to protect or their turf. You don't want one of these things to charge at you. Trust me!

The October 24, 2004 issue of the New York Times writes about Sheepshead Bay's swans noting they are mostly feral mute swans native to Europe. And for many years wildlife workers have been controlling the Jamaica Bay swan population to keep the swans from proliferating, crowding out native wildlife and fouling freshwater ponds. The swans are good relocators and have made their way to Sheepshead Bay where they've most likely grown used to being fed.