The Bridges of New York City
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- Written by Dave Dave
- Category: Captain's Log Captain's Log
- Published: 24 September 2021 24 September 2021
- Hits: 608 608
New York City’s bridges are iconic. The Brooklyn Bridge spanning the East River from Brooklyn to Manhattan was an engineering marvel and the root of an idiom about gullibility. Further upriver the Queensborough Bridge, which reached pop icon status as the Feeling Groovy bridge in a Simon and Garfunkel song, connects Queens to Manhattan. North of the Brooklyn Bridge the Williamsburg and Manhattan bridges are as much sculptures as bridges as they reach from Brooklyn into Manhattan.
Sailing, Finally!
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- Written by Dave Dave
- Category: Captain's Log Captain's Log
- Published: 06 September 2021 06 September 2021
- Hits: 351 351
It has been a long time coming. Over a year and finally Second Star was moving under sail. She was re-launched last Friday, and we moved aboard. Saturday morning, we set off for Charles Island near Milford, CT. Noticed I wrote “set off” not sailed off, once again the wind was mostly absent and what wind there was light and not in our favor; a good opportunity to try out the new transmission.
Sunday dawned with gray skies and mirror seas. The forecast was optimistic for south to southwest wind at 10-15 knots. Within a half hour of weighing anchor, the forecast winds arrived gradually building to 15-20 knots all on the starboard quarter. It was a fast sail with speed through the water in 7-8 knot range. At the halfway mark, the tide changed and soon were making 9 knots or better over the ground, even hitting 10 on occasion. And best of all, no tacking or gybing for 50 miles! We had a peaceful evening in Chocomount Cove on Fishers Island. Labor Day was spent relaxing and addressing never ending chores.
Waiting for Henri
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- Written by Dave Dave
- Category: Captain's Log Captain's Log
- Published: 25 August 2021 25 August 2021
- Hits: 391 391
Nine days ago, we were towed into port with a dead motor. Today we are in our second hotel and on our third rental car. Henri has come and gone, leaving western Long Island Sound unscathed save for a few trees and lots of rain. Eastern LI Sound and Rhode Island were different stories, near hurricane strength winds, tidal surge, and rain. If all had gone according to plan, we would have spent most of last week looking for options to avoid the storm. Instead, we spent the week trying to solve the transmission problem.
In the last post I noted that we had found a transmission. Well that was almost correct. More accurately stated, we learned a direct replacement was no longer available or being built, however, we were able to identify a suitable alternative. There was a twist. This new transmission came in two flavors, one with a 2.1:1 gear ration and in a 2.6:1, neither matched the existing 2.45:1 gear ratio. Which one to choose?
Waiting for Paint to Dry
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- Written by Dave Dave
- Category: Captain's Log Captain's Log
- Published: 27 August 2021 27 August 2021
- Hits: 355 355
The new transmission has arrived, earlier than expected. The paint is drying and it will be installed by early next week. If all goes as planned we'll be sailing again in a week.
Stuff Happens
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- Written by Dave Dave
- Category: Captain's Log Captain's Log
- Published: 19 August 2021 19 August 2021
- Hits: 376 376
Stuff happens. When it does, we humans are quick assign it some value or make some judgement about the occurrence, is this good stuff? Bad stuff? Terrible stuff? Just what kind of stuff is it and how will this stuff affect the future? I would like to report that on Monday, July 16, 2021 at 1000 these were the lofty questions being contemplated, but I would be lying. At the time I was busy practicing my bad language. What happened?
At 0830 we left Oyster Bay in light winds headed east towards the north shore of Long Island Sound. Of course, the wind was absent, and we were motoring along making about 6 knots and then we weren’t. That’s when the bad language practice session began. We had been warned.