Finally . . . the first sail of the season

. . . although I found out that Paul had taken JB out last Thursday, the sly dog.  And now that Dane has gone with us, he'll also probably be borrowing.  I cannot borrow alone.  I am a doofus.
I wouldn't get out of the anchorage without causing a million dollars in damage to everything around me.
To remedy this, someone dropped off a small, indestructible boat in my yard about 3 weeks ago.

Which I can practice on.  I cleaned it up a bit. It is a Galilee 15, built in 1983 by a company in MD that no longer exists.  But I have the owners manual and it says they can never sink.  Which is key, when you are me.

In the meantime, here is Jeff on a very hot Sunday (yesterday), "racing" against Winsome (which has a centerboard so we were kind of dusted).


 but that didn't last long because soon there was no wind at all and I was asked to whistle a few show tunes (apparently that calls the wind); Don told me you should drop coins into the water to buy a bit of wind but I didn't know that at the time. Plus, I don't think the wind was selling yesterday.

This is Fishers Island and North Dumpling island on the right, looking, as always from this angle, like a battleship, even in the haze.
 
 Dane did a nice job on the bowsprit. Which I was out on the end of, clinging to, as we came in, looking for rocks since we were going so slow and couldn't maneuver very well.  At least I was useful.  Clinging, watching, whistling, wanting another day when just me and Paul would go out so I could humiliate myself in private.  Except for everyone with binoculars on shore.  That's why Winsome came out--they saw us and got shamed into it. :)
 

Jeff Brown's debut at the Wooden Boat Show

Gosh, I almost forgot to post these.  Last weekend was great--perfect weather, big crowds at the Seaport, and Jeff moved to his rightful place beside the Emma C. Berry for all to admire.

Jake the caulking god just happened to be rowing by in a "crimping" boat with his mom, invited me to hop on and take some up-close photos (which is how I got the one above).

Then we went on a little tour andI took some more from different angles

Jeff and Emma had many admirers, although I have to admit that the amount of gleaming varnish, perfectly-faired hulls and blinding brass on the other boats there drew some of the attention away . . . but they were mere flashes in the pan compared with these two dignified smacks.  Unfortunately Winsome was not able to attend, but she's now in the water so we'll see her zipping around the Sound shortly.
When will the sails go on, you ask?
Je ne sais pas, but I'm hoping soon.

Happy 4th of July to all the boats in the harbor!

JB goes upriver

Wow, what a pretty day today.  Paul and I took Jeff up the Mystic River to the Seaport, where hopefully he will be sitting beside the Emma C. Berry tomorrow in "Smack Alley."


So we get underway and slither out of the harbor . . . 


First stop: the Stonington train bridge, which always reminds me of the Gulag.  Paul was impressed by my ability to whistle (3 times) for the bridge to open (we'd forgotten the air horn).  This is a very cool bridge, which rotates around on its axis so it is parallel with the river and there are two "lanes" to pass through for those coming and those going.


Then on to the Bascule Bridge in Mystic, where we twirled around a bit waiting for it to open (at 20 minutes to the hour).



Here comes the Seaport.  The amount of gleaming brass and perfect varnish lining the piers was making me a little woozy.
 
I have to say, this was thrilling me to death.  I don't get up the river much, and never on an old smack being pushed by a skiff.

So we anchored Jeff on "the flats" right off of the main area (the show had started today, which I didn't know) and presumably the staff will move him to his rightful spot by Emma this evening.  Said Paul, on our way back, "At least it's in shallow enough water so if the pumps fail it doesn't have too far down to go."  Ever the optomist.


JB looks right at home!

On the mooring . . .

. . . and ready to go to the Wooden Boat Show tomorrow and have a side-to-side confab with Emma C. Berry. 

Although I'm a little nauseous . . . I've seen the photos of those boats that are going on display and there is not one grain of wood or particle of brass out of place on those things. 



Here's our current neighbor at the mooring.  Kind of a monster . . .


And here's a kayak view of old Emma at the Town Dock, the day before she went back to the Seaport.

Paul tells me that visitors will like seeing what a "real working boat" is like. I just hope Jeff is not too embarrassed by my efforts this year.  But he'll be far enough away so the "10 foot paint job" might fool some of the people most of the time . . .

If you can't join the party from the mooring . . .

. . . watch it from the shore, that's what Jeff Brown will be doing.  Bruce (my new idol) got this idea yesterday, since he feared a quick descent to the bottom-o-the-cove if we just threw Jeff in the water and dragged him out to the mooring.  He has to sit in the straps for a few days, for the electric pumps to do their work.  He normally has three solar pumps  but Bruce made that sort of waterfront-skeptical face that I am learning to recognize in these old maritime types, and I trusted his judgment.  Was just abut to give up when he shows up at the house and outlines his plan: why not bring it down to the town dock, where there is going to be a celebration for Emma C. Berry's big 150th-birthday weekend--and the 50th anniversary of the Historical Society, and the two old things could attend the party together.
So that's what we did.

Here's Emma all refurbished and coming down the Mystic river to Noank, ready to go through the bridge.  Louisa Watrous took this great photo.


Louisa was also standing on the original railway where Emma was launched when she took this photo.
 

And from the sublime to the fairly-ingenious: here's Jeff getting towed down to the Town Dock:

and here's Bruce sliding Jeff into his temporary party spot (the sunbathers were mildly amused.  You can see the Argia going by in the background.)
















 
Party time! Emma C. Berry is to the left.  And the weather is perfect-- they're both ready for their close-ups.

I just hope Paul doesn't have a cow.  We couldn't find him to ask if this was okay, but I've got oatmeal cookies ready, to soften the surprise. Paul was on the crew of the Berry when she was sailed from New Jersey to the Seaport after she was donated in 1969.  This is a very big day, and I'm so glad Jeffie gets to be part of it.

Tick-tick-tick-tick . . . .

3 more days till the 50^th anniversary celebration of the Noank Historical Society . . . and the arrival in Noank of the Emma C Berry, who’s 150 this year . . . and Jeff is supposed to be in the water, right out on the mooring for all to see . . . and Bruce has not showed up yet!  Paul says don’t push him, since he does everything for free, which is incredibly nice (I have no idea what storage, launching, trailering and hauling fees are but I suspect I could not afford them), but the man has got to shake a tailfeather.  We won’t be able to get the rig on in that amount of time (ie, a day).  Geez, it’d be nice if he got it in in time for the wooden boat show.  Oy!  I suspect it’s time to deliver another pie.  Worked the last time.

The Memorial Day Parade was cancelled due to rain so the anniversary and boat show are JB’s only chances to vogue in front of a mesmerized crowd.

Jeff’s all painted and ready to go but I wanted to include this photo of the seam compound—seems that roofing tar was the material du jour after all. And, I might add, it is not leaking like it did last year when we put a garden hose in the bilge.  Just a trickle.  Amazing!!!

 

Dane finished all the varnishing last week and both the mast and bowsprit look swell.

 

 The white paint on the tip of the bowsprit  is a new addition this year--it used to be old nasty weathered black (I didn't do anything with it last year), and the jury is still out regarding the white--we may go back to black--but I think it's kinda spiffy. A white tip for the mast, however, was soundly vetoed.

 

Look at that mast--it's positively gleaming!!!

I should take more photos, but you’ve pretty much seen what the deck and topsides look like all done, and I feel like a mom at her 5-year-old’s school play, so I’ll wait to take more when he’s being admired by his public (or being transported to the Seaport).

And the boat-lettering winner is . . .

 . . . for the second season in a row, Do It Yourself Lettering.

After Sloane could no longer hand letter the stern (hip replacement--ouch!), I had to find some appropriate, stately, old-fashioned-looking, and really cheap letters that would do the job.

All the other companies had stupid-looking fonts, or were wildly expensive. (Wildly for me, anyway.)

The nice people at Do It Yourself have a great selection, really reasonable prices, and very patient customer service reps (I believe I made them cry last year).  The one thing I do not like is their absolutely asinine application instructions.  The way they say to peel the backing off and slide it below the letters . . . well, its physically impossible.  I just ended up (both times, even after 30 minutes of phone assistance the first time) just peeling the thing off like a bumper sticker and placing it (hopefully) carefully in my pre-marked spot.

Before . . . 

And After . . . 

Not bad, right?  This cost $30, including shipping.  And a dignified old font.

Not something like 

 

We are more genteel than that . . .  

Paul still hates the serif font but I think it'd be too dull without it.