Mamaroneck, New York 40°56.5’N, 073°43.9’W

Henry Ritchie keeping it real.

(while sanding the boat hull in about 95F)

Mamaroneck, New York 40°56.5’N, 073°43.9’W

Simply because it's a great photo (taken by Greg, naturally)

Today we finished the hull (looks good hey!) and it's smooth and fast, and, well, finally, finished. To celebrate I decided to replace the shaft-seal (the shaft is that thing the propeller is attached to, the seal is that bit where it passes from outside the hull to inside) before we are launched tomorrow. Now that I have 'adjusted' it, if the boat were launched, it would sink. Not ideal.

So we'll have to see how it goes. I have new ratchet wrenches from Home Depot (so I can't blame my tools). My friends at UBS have invited me for a drink. Henry, at whose apartment I am staying, and who came in last night at 5am (5am!) and woke me for a couple of beers - HA! - which we had - despite it being a school night for him - is still generously letting me crash on his couch. (Hang in there Henry - he's now out at dinner with his McKinsey & Co partners - and I dare say he's having a ball, or at least feeling like curling up into one). So there's lots of reasons to stay...

...but we're determined to get cracking and head up north. Current plans are to sail up Long Island Sound, and back to Shelter Island, chill for 4 July (and I have an undisclosed urge to catch up with the Saga 43 Rendezvous at Coecles Harbor) and probably the rest of the week, before setting off proper for Maine.

For those of you not in New York (is there anybody out there anyway?) it's been very, very hot: today it was 95F and very humid ahead of this thunderstorm (that's 35C), although the 'real feel' was 103F (41C) according to the radio. Wearing a spacesuit and respirator it's like painting on the Sahara...and this explains (at least partly I hope) all the whinging about the last 11 days working on the boat.

But for me, while I'm keen to go, it's also a bit sad. New York may well be the best city on earth. I have wonderful friends here, know how to get the xfer from bus to subway ($2 saved - yes! - a new post work phenomena) and feel like I'm tapped right into the heart of the place: it's been my home for the last nearly 8 years and I genuinely love it, despite it all. The throbbing humidity, sirens, cars, tantrums, smells and madness. Oh man. I don't really want to go. And I wouldn't if it wasn't on a beautiful sailboat with my best friends...

Mamaroneck, New York 40°56.5’N, 073°43.9’W

What we expected to be a several day job to re-paint the hull has turned into 10 days. The reason is the bottom paint that was on the boat already. While good quality paint, the boat came from the Great Lakes, and the paint is designed for fresh water. So we knew we needed something different. Normally, you would give the old paint a light sand and then overcoat. But I called Interlux, the paint manufacturer, and they noted the old paint is made with Teflon. So just like your omelet pan, nothing will stick to it. Accordingly, we've had to strip the hull back to the gelcoat - a huge job. (Interestingly, we found a citrus based paint stripper the most effective). Then, given we are back at the gelcoat, I felt it was smart to put on an epoxy barrier coat as a preventative measure against hull blisters: Saga's don't have a reputation for them, but even the oldest Saga's are not yet 10 years old.

So, quite a haul, but we're almost there: last night, after dark, we put on the first layer of Micron 66 antifouling (only $220 a gallon by the way), the first of six gallons, and we hope to be back in the water this Friday, in time for the 4 July fireworks etc.

Happily, lots of people have helped. Greg, a machine, as he always is, has been there almost every day, and Henry, Patrick, Vikky and Dan Pasette have all come out and lent a hand. On your own it's overwhelming, but with a few mates and a cold beer or two it's (almost) fun, and I'm super grateful for all the help.

The tough part this last couple of days has been the heat: we hit 95F (35C) which is hard work when you're in the sun and wearing a spacesuit and respirator.

Meantime (my sister) Clare and Heath had a baby boy - Henry Peter Lowe! (or Dean Barker Lowe to his friends).

GO Team New Zealand! 2-1 how does it go today?....as I write this we're under a bit of pressure. GO LADS!

Port Jefferson 40°57.6’N, 073°04.8’W

Absolute RIPPER sail from Shelter Island to Port Jefferson - had the kite up for the first time! - 10.8 knts and 62nm - with big surfs down waves as the swells built up in the afternoon. Greg took some superb pictures...

[on the instruments, the top number is the depth - say 102 feet - the bottom is the speed 10.2 knots]

Crabs! Shelter Island, NY 41°04.9’N, 072°20.4’W

Maryland Crabs! In one of the funniest nights to date, my good friend Greg showed up with a big pile of Maryland crabs smothered in Old Bay Seasoning and we banged them on the barbie.

Greg is from Maryland and when he eats one of these things there's shells and seasoning and Pabst Blue Ribbon (beer) flying everywhere, it's more of a dissection than what you or I would know as eating. You will see we are wearing foul weather gear, only partly to do with the occasional rain shower coming through. The good news is that being on a boat, we could just tip buckets of water on the cockpit to get rid of the mess! (and we threw ourselves overboard).

We had sailed over to Shelter Island, to a fav spot, Smith's Cove, and got involved. I cut my finger - a crab injury - and as blood oozed out Greg beamed at me...I think it's a Maryland rite-of-passage.

Hilarious fun, and these photos of Greg will tell the story of a complete aficionado. Today we managed to sail about four miles, and otherwise swam and messed about in the sunshine...the best way of dealing with a hangover yet discovered.

Sag Harbor 40°59.74’N, 072°17.37’W

The weekend held a fun sail with Patrick Nihan and Vikky. A forecast thunderstorm (and clearly visible on the weather radar) led to a delayed departure from Newport. Ultimately, we left at around 1pm and sailed and motor sailed in overcast, gusty conditions with a choppy sea to Block Island. The storm had passed once we were anchored in Great Salt Pond and we had a wild and shifting vista as the clouds and storm blew into the distance, and one of the better tandoori chickens I have cooked on the barbie!

Although Saturday was a rough day, by Sunday we had a nice NE 10-15 knt reaching breeze. Sunny weather, and a fast sail until abeam of Montauk Light, and this despite that we were fighting the current -- in fact all of Long Island Sound draining into the Atlantic ocean through an area known, quite appropriately, as The Race. My new crew seemed to have settled in by the end! (see photo of Vikky asleep on the bow motoring into Sag Harbor).

Pat and Vikky were great on the boat: intuitive and helpful, and very quick to learn the boat's many idiosyncrasies, although I'm a bit scared of Pat's rum & ginger ale concoction that he describes as 'spicy' but that I would describe as 'concentrate'!

We stopped at Ceder Point light for a swim. The water nearly 20C now, way above the 16C we saw at the start of the season, and incredibly, nearly 2C above the temp in Newport, only 52nm away in a direct line. Lovely! I had a dive on the hull: it looks okay, a bit of weed and a few barnacles on the prop - I gave them a brush, but they'll get a full work over next week.

Newport RI 41°29.10’N, 071°19.28’W

In a matter of minutes this evening, the Newport sunset and the Jamestown bridge were enveloped in fog, rolling in off the cold Atlantic. Kind of scary. It's accompanied by a chill damp breeze, and the eerie sound of the fog horns at Beavertail Light and Brenton Reef overlapping each other.

Nice to be snugly anchored (for a change) with the prospect of a madly flying dinghy ride through the fog and darkness to pick up Pat and Vicky!

Also appearing in the murk....

If I had [five] million dollars... A Swan 100. Now that, dear friends, is a boat...

Newport RI 41°29.10’N, 071°19.28’W

Today I finished installing a Raymarine SmartController. Over recent months I have installed a number of critical items, notably safety gear for when we are ocean passaging. This isn't one of them, it's really just fun.

The SmartController is a wireless remote for the autopilot. In other words, we can control the boat's steering from anywhere on board, while sitting on the bow with our legs hanging over the water as an example. It also includes a repeater of all the ship's instruments: heading, course over ground, speed over ground, windspeed and direction, water temperature, depth, waypoint, VMG, ETA, etc. I can come up with a safety angle if you'd like!

Now that the instruments are all linked together through a SeaTalk network, it's amazing what the pilot is capable of. Here's an example: Imagine we're offshore sailing, heading for Bermuda. We can trim the boat to the wind so it's fast and on course, hit a button and have the boat steer not to a heading or waypoint (although you can do that too), but to the current wind angle. Thus the boat should remain fast even as the wind clocks and veers. It may, however, follow the wind off course - if the wind did a 180 the pilot would follow it around. So you set an alarm to alert you if you deviate from your correct heading by more than, say, 15 degrees, of if the cross-track error is more than 0.5nm.

The radar is great but power hungry, and we have to run our 55HP engine to top up the batteries; a nuisance. So the radar can be set to do 20 sweeps every fifteen minutes (roughly how long it will take for a fast-moving tanker to appear on the radar while providing some time to react) and fire off an alarm if it gets a target. Once it hits a target, it can track it and alert you if there's a risk of collision.

Not a replacement for frequent cross-checking and careful navigation, but fun. I'm really trying hard to keep things simple (everything breaks on boats) but I figured that given most of the kit was there already, stand alone, it's a small step but big improvement to network it all and get the full benefit.

Heading to Block Island tomorrow, and on Sunday to New York's Shelter Island. Shelter is adjacent to Sag Harbor, and one of my favourite destinations. Patrick Nihan, an old mate from when we were kids in Hong Kong and Malaysia, is coming up to Newport tonight, with his girlfriend Vikky. They'll catch the Long Island Railroad back to NYC on Sunday night.

Greg Larson is permanent crew. He comes back Monday, and we're sailing through Plum Gut then back down Long Island Sound, waters we both know well, to Mamaroneck, from where I have sailed for the last 7 years. We'll haul the boat out of the water, strip the bottom paint, wax the hull and apply two coats of Micron Extra. This is ablative bottom paint (it 'sloughs' off as you sail revealing new anti-barnacle chemical) and I hope it will last 18 months. It's an unpleasant job. I find there's lots of people who would like to come sailing, but most people seem to be 'away' that weekend!

Go Team NZ! Newport, RI 41°29.10’N, 071°19.28’W

4-0 in the Louis Vuitton finals - go lads!

To celebrate (both the Kiwi victory and fixing my anchor windlass) I have anchored directly in front of the New York Yacht Club, and am flying my huge Kiwi ensign on the stern, and have hoisted the NZ America's Cup flag 'Loyal'; it's just under the US flag under the starboard spreader. The Loyal flag may be from last America's Cup, but it's still fun!

We are in US waters, so out of respect to our host country, the US flag must fly highest - of course.

(Observant readers - that's both of you - may note a cocktail party occurring on the New York Yacht Club lawn).

It's not quite as much fun as being anchored in front of the Société Nautique de Genève (too much hassle getting the boat to a Swiss lake), but at least the NYYC members will enjoy the enthusiasm. I dare say too, that now the American entrant, Oracle BMW, is no longer in the event, they will be right behind us.

I've been fortunate enough to have been invited to the NYYC - both in New York and in Newport - and it is a great club and simply spectacular. No armchair sailors here - it's great to see a yacht club that is all about sailing, rather than a 'yachting themed country club' as we sometimes see nearer New York City. Just as I write this, the yacht club's cannon fired over the bay: it's official sunset and flags come in.

BTW, the US does a lot of good stuff for sailors. Most notable in my opinion is the provision of GPS. It's one thing I've been happy to pay taxes for. Otherwise, I wouldn't be writing this - I'd be looking around blankly saying - as they like to on the Cape - where the fugawi?

Nantucket

A cool photo of Kady, Hunter and Sage, in Nantucket Harbor, enjoying a drink as the sun sets.

Newport, RI 41°29.10’N, 071°19.28’W

On a mooring in Newport Harbor, an unusual luxury. I have a busted anchor windlass. This device sits on the bow, and hauls up the 200' of chain and 45lb anchor. I've been considering throwing out the spare Danforth anchor on a nylon rode (there's 150' which is plenty in this 18' water) but there is a storm coming in tonight with predictions that gusts will hit 30 knts. If there's any problem with the anchor, I'd be unable to pull it up against the force of the wind on the boat. So on the mooring, and will sleep peacefully.

Have now sailed 330nm this season, including Hyannis - Edgartown - Nantucket - Woods Hole - Newport in the last week. Have had excellent company too: Henry Ritchie, Greg Larson, Kady Tremaine, and this weekend my good - and oldest - friend Patrick Nihan and his girlfriend.

After seeing Newport empty just a few weeks ago, it's now packed: there is hardly any room in the anchorage, and there are all sorts of interesting boats. Newport has a long nautical past, is home to the New York Yacht Club (strangely), and has hosted the America's Cup several times (although not recently!). But I suspect the main reason there's so much fantastic hardware here is that it's tax free for boats!

There are boats here and arriving for the HSH Nordbank blue race. It's a pretty substantial race: Newport to Hamburg or about 3600nm, and the more so when you consider many of these boats have sailed here to race back! There's a raft of striking Swans, including at least one 90 footer. It starts on 16 June. The boat expected to win is American, it's called Rambler, and it's a 90' hard-core Reichel/Pugh design racer owned by the CEO of United Technologies. Not sure if he sails very often. Aussie readers may know it as Rambler was formerly raced in Sydney as Shockwave, with an NZL registration. There are also boats here for the mini-Transat, and the new Puma Racing Team sailed in today in their Volvo 70 (it's actually ABN AMRO 2 from the last race while their new boat is built). It looks great: bright red, and were all the joins are - think hull to deck, and the coach house - it's been painted to look like stitching on a shoe. The skipper is American Ken Read, the same guy racing Rambler to Hamburg.

The photos above are of two boats outside Edgartown (nothing under 100' here), my trying hard to look cool, and two 12 Meters - Weatherly and Columbia - sailing in Narragansett Bay yesterday.

America's Cup update: GO NEW ZEALAND!