Return to Seasons

This is a photo post with images of homes along the north shore of Long Island, from Oyster Bay to City Island. If you are into architecture, this will be pretty interesting, if you are not, and want to see more sailing, jump to here.
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The morning began with a bit of work, Jeff hunkered down below, grading papers, while I went out and scrubbed the waterline, which was getting pretty slimy.

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We intented to leave Port Jefferson first thing, but when we turned on the engine, we smelled the faint odor of burning plastic. We checked the windlass solenoid, the batteries, the water pumps, and sniffed in the lazarette enough to make a dog jealous. After we unpacked the inflatable dingy parts from the lazarette, we decided to get going, and deal with the ramifications later. We hoped not to need a TowBoatUS rescue but we had just signed up for their gold coverage just in case 🙂
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Check out this video of Jeff putting up the main while we sail from Port Jefferson Harbor to Price Bend in Northport Bay!

Thursday was our last day in Port Jefferson Harbor, as we anchorage hop our way West toward NYC. We woke to a drenching rain that lasted until the afternoon and used this time to make a good breakfast, grade papers, and edit photographs.

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It has been a busy few days here on Bear. We had some mechanical issues that needed to be addresses and a lot of work to do ashore at the library, where we are able to get free wifi.

Packing the dingy to head ashore

Jeff pulling the dingy ashore – you can tell by the lines in the sand we have been here a few times before!

The dog/dingy beach busy with sun bathers and dog walkers

The most fabulous memorial to a pet we have ever seen!

Jeff and I are both teaching online classes this summer to supplement the cruising kitty. While we have had numerous challenges with the boat since the shakedown cruise, we have also had quite a few successes!
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Harborfront Park at Port Jefferson Harbor

Bayles Wooden Boat Shop Co-op in Port Jefferson ” a post and beam construction created by volunteers working together since 2006. It will keep Port Jefferson’s maritime boat building heritage alive through active small-boat building and restoration projects”.

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For our non-sailor readers, a shakedown cruise is the term for the first time you take the boat out for a sail. As the term implies, it is a time to shake out all of the kinks in the systems and determine what components may still need work or upgrading. We spent the last 10 days getting ready for our shakedown cruise, which took us across the Long Island Sound from Branford, CT to Port Jefferson, NY. At 19 miles from point to point, the transit took us just over 6 hours, with roughly half of that time under sail. It was a beautiful, but chilly day, to be on the water, with winds between 4-13 MPH, though they were unfortunately not in our favor. We had to tack (zigzag across the water) in order to sail, which dramatically increased our “ground covered” and, therefore, our time on the water.

Before I get too far into the story of our transit, let me tell you about some of the crazy antics that happened in the few days prior to our departure.
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A day in pictures:

I woke up to Jeff eager to work on the anchor chain and drive up to West Marine to pick up a new head. Unfortunately, I needed to wait until 10 AM for the dentist to open to see if he could see me today 🙁

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