Summer

Saturday was a pretty gusty 10 - 20 veering from SE to SW. So I am glad Lauralee and I decided to go sailing instead of heading to the ocean or Heckscher in hopes of a thermal. It doesn't look like it was an "epic" Demo day. Plus, sailing Segue allowed me to spend some actual time with Lauralee; not just the car drive. [Giving my shoulder another day of rest after all that waxing, was an added bonus.]

We finally had "classic" June Manhasset Bay sailing. Bright sun, cool breeze, just warm enough to get some sun on my back, and tons of Motor Heads! Evevery time we sailed past the No Wake / 5MPH sign, we ended up turning back into the bay. The confused chop and wakes from all the Cigar chomping Buddha bellied, top heavy Clorox bottles was just no fun. So we just toured the mooring areas, looking at all the floating real estate.

Most of the fleet are ugly Clorox bottles, or tennis shoes. These boats look so top heavy, and have so much freeboard, it's no wonder they need bow thrusters. Their hulls are strictly designed for wasting gas, and planing. And I doubt anyone who operates one ever looks aft at their stern wake. Plus, they have this obnoxious practice of powering full throttle right up to the 5MPH zone, then dropping their speed from 30 to 5 knots instantly. This creates a huge wake! One such wake hit Segue so hard yesterday, that her bow was completely underwater as she pierced the wake. LL and I were so shaken up by this that I stopped paying attention for just a few moments. I was so preoccupied with the boat who had no idea he almost swamped us, that I failed to notice that I was on a collision course with another sailboat. It wasn't until he screamed "STARBOARD!" that I noticed him and tacked out of his way. Sorry dude; MY fault.

So again, we just stayed in the bay looking at all the boats. One trend I've noticed this season, is the return of "classic style" boats again. Yes; the bay littered with high freeboard, plumb bow, BenaHunterLinaToues.

But there are a number of new Hinckley, Picnic/Lobster style boats; not the modified day boats created by retrofitting an old Down Easter. These come complete with jet drives, modern under bodies, and vacuum bagged Kevlar, and Carbon hulls. I am also noticing this trend among Sailboats. I am starting to see a few new Hinckley's, Alerons, Tartans, and Island Packets.

The greatest trend I am seeing is restored, MBOs, Knickerbockers, Ensigns, Sparkman Stevens, Cape Dorys, CrisCrafts, Hershoffs, and Bristols. Beautiful to look at, as well as sail.

I promise I'll have some photos, ifI can find the cable to connect my camera to my PC.