Odalisque - August 30, 2003 Log

Log 2003 - August 30th

August 30, 2003

Caleb and Jessie met Jackson and I at the pier, as instead of heading out to the Odalisque Jackson and I decided to wait, and speak with John. We sighted Caleb walking down the path within a minute or two. This was going to be our last Sail of August.

This was Jackson's second sail, his fourth time on the Odalisque and I was prepared for his motion sickness with 2 tubes of homeopathic pellets and a pair of wrist bands with acupressure beads. He felt sick in the car and I had already given him a single pellet. I think I gave him a second pellet on the launch. On his first sail I gave Jackson a half a Bonine. Since then I have discovered that this class of drugs, including Dramamine, work by inhibiting the production of acetylcholine. As reduction in acetylcholine production is a core element of Alzheimer's I have decided to avoid giving this to Jackson at all costs. It just doesn't make sense to mess with a 7 year old brain in that way.

Caleb tipped the launch and we settled in to eat a fast lunch. It was already late in the afternoon. If we had come earlier there would have been little wind, now a storm was threatening (but our timing was really due to Jackson and I losing track of it playing basketball at the Y, while Caleb and Jess secured our winter storage arrangements in Glen Cove). The cloud cover was thick, we had a strong north wind - the anemometer at the pier read 15 knots, white foam was visible. Lunch complete Caleb and I decided to use a single reef and raise the main. We did a much better job rigging the sail with a reef than our previous attempt. Of course the key was to well tighten the reef lines before tying down the foot of the sail. What we also discovered was that it was best to not finish raising the head of the sail until last. Upon tightening the reef line we popped the lowest luff slide from its track. I don't know that tightening the luff last would have prevented this, but if we reef again we will try. We lowered the main slightly, finished tightening the reef lines, tied down the foot, and then tightened the luff with the halyard. Our cunningham is pretty useless with a reefed sail, and with the popped slide (we didn't want to take the time to reset the slides) the bottom of the luff was a little loose, but otherwise we had a nice tight main.

Caleb and Matt Matt and Jack Jack and Jess

We headed from the mooring without the engine. The wind was blowing hard from the north and without a foresail I found I was not able to head up, the best I could do was a reach with the wind pushing us side-ways toward the shore (releasing the centerboard was no help), so we ended up under motor heading west of the barge. We then began to sail toward the lighthouse. Caleb wanted me to keep a tight course, as at first we intended to head west after clearing the lighthouse. Again I found it very difficult to keep a true course without a fore sail. I tacked toward the east as the wind was slowly pushing us below the lighthouse and it was not a day to explore the renown rock formations hidden in those waters. We let out some of the genoa and this helped us keep course to a great extent. We continued to tack east. There were a couple of other boats within sight and they were either powered by foresail alone or motor. The rain had begun almost immediately upon departure, yet none of us, Jackson included, was perturbed by it. Fortunately the rain was medium to light, but consistent. We broke out the rain gear. Jackson basked his face in the rain, eyes closed tasting the droplets on his lips. On our third tack we released some more genne and finally allowed the Odalisque a healthy heel. In the last of the gusts I headed up wind to calm the rabble, though as we did not nearly bury the rail I think we could have maintained our course and trim without any danger. Again I headed into the groove getting as much from the remaining wind we could.

Though we were tacking near to the mooring field we were approaching Manhasset Bay when Jackson announced he felt sick and we needed to head back. He had truly enjoyed this sail, even with the rain, and it was disappointing to have it end with him feeling sick. Heading back the storm had seemed to pass and we let out a full genne. We motored part of the way and then ran once we passed Willets Point, for a while wing and wing. After furling the genoa Caleb took the helm as I headed to the bow. Caleb hit the mooring, and we quickly lowered the main. I discovered that, like our first reefed outing, the top most slide at the head of the main popped from the track. We will need to reset all the slides on our next trip, and I would consider not reefing again unless really necessary. It seems the force at the head of the sail will always pull the top slide out in a reefed configuration (without a taut halyard pulling the head against the top of the mast).

It started to pour and we considered Jackson's timing fortuitous. All soaked, pictures were taken as we snacked under the shelter of what I think of as the stepping stone boat house.

— Matthew Schlanger

In spite of a gloomy forecast we set out to Odalisque around 2ish. Matt and Jackson would meet us (Caleb and Jessie) at Stepping Stone. We decided to hit West Marine, one more time and pick up some cheap foul weather gear for Jessie, just in case. It turned out to be the case.

As we walked out the launch pier we could see Matt and Jackson waiting. It was windy where it had been still, and cloudy where it had been sunny earlier. We had a quick bite on board before setting up sails. Since we had Jackson and we needed the practice we opted for reefing our main to its first reef line. The set up worked OK. We were a bit modest with the genoa though as Matt had trouble making the tiller respond. Eventually we let out more RF on the genoa and the helm was more responsive. Next high(ish) wind situation we try using only the Genoa. The main takes so much to set up and reef properly.

It began to rain. We had foul weather gear and we used it. Expensive and cheap foul weather gear. It was actually kind of cool and fun to be sitting on our boat in the wind and rain. There was no thunder but we stayed close to home just in case. The case turned out to be Jackson feeling sea sick so we headed back.

We hung around Stepping Stone after being picked up in the rain and wind. The rain subsided and so did the wind. We enjoyed the afterglow of a nice short sail in the rain cajoling with a much more chipper Jackson who was admiring the jungle gym and slide playground toys. More his speed I think – but he did well.

He wanted us to play “Pirates” with him; “2 against 2”.

— Caleb Davison