Odalisque - October 10, 2004 Log

Log 2004 – October 10th

Sunday October 10, 2004 – “There by the Grace of …”
Winds: 15-30 NNW
Temp: max 68 degrees
Crew: Caleb, Noah, Isaac (10), Nathaniel (12), Isaiah (12) - this could be the beginning of an Exodus.

My wife Jessica was feeling down with this seasons first cold so I drove out to Great Neck alone, leaving NYC at 1230 and was able to make the trip in about 40 minutes. I stopped at the deli and got 3 hot knishes, a pastrami sandwich and a ginger ale. At Noah and Beth’s house Noah picked me a couple of handfuls of Habanero peppers he had grown in his garden that summer. They are now in my freezer and will be used in cooking some fiery stews this winter. We managed to get his boys to put on long pants and long sleeved shirts, reluctantly. Shortly, we picked up Isaiah and met his Mom at her house and headed off to Steppingstone with 3 PFD’s for the boys (the launch operators will not take children out without one). Isaiah’s mother asked him to wear his PFD for the whole trip and he did. What a great kid.

It was a bit intimidating on the water with 3 foot waves in 20 knot winds rushing over a 3 mile fetch to the NNW. The launch operator warned us to make haste as we boarded as he recognized the difficulty of keeping his launch comfortably abeam of Odalisque without hitting her or having to let her go. We got the boys on after I boarded and helped them all get on. Then Noah boarded last and we thanked the launch as he headed back to his station.

The wind was coming 3 miles over water from City Island to the north and we were rocking about in the big wind driven swells. Noah and I looked at each other at one point and he said: “Should we be doing this?” To which I replied something like: “Why not?”

We stowed our gear below and set about rigging up our green flecked reef line for the main (the second reef point – reef before you think you will need it). We ended up with a workable reef if not beautiful and set out with motor and sail. Under these conditions it was wise to head out of the mooring field and avoid trying to weave around our fellow moored boats. Some of the other sailboats that were out were using there jib only, some using main and jib, but we were using only a reefed main with engine backup. We tried using some jib but I found that I had to keep the helm alee to head up at all. We furled in most of the jib but that still made it difficult to head up so we furled the jib entirely. This seemed to work better though I did use the motor to come about, for the rest of the day. We were not going to try to do any racing sailing with 3 teenagers aboard and our intent was more about dragging a fishing lure than teaching them about sailing in 20 knot winds.
Noah rigged a pole with an eel lure and we headed ENE towards Hewlett Point. I was able to shut the engine off and beam reach until we got closer to shore. There were seabirds swarming over the water just ahead of us and soon Noah was fighting a fish on the line. I tried to stop as much forward motion as I could without the sail coming about. While Noah was fighting the fish we found ourselves amidst a nautical feeding frenzy. Sea gulls were diving to the surface, which was roiled below by streaks of light that could have been albacore, bluefish or bass gnashing at peanut bunker schools. It was an incredible sight. The fish on Noah’s line jumped several times and he got it reeled in close to the boat. It could have been a 2 foot bluefish but we sill never know as the lure (again) mysteriously parted form the line and the fish was free to shake off the lure we had set in its mouth.

There was still some activity on the water with gulls and lunging fish near the surface as Noah set up another lure. We headed back around to where we last hooked something. Going downwind we didn’t need the motor so I kept it in neutral. Nothing. We headed past Steppingstone lighthouse. Nothing, except for a nearly 80’ pleasure yacht that sped by us and left a nearly 8 foot wake. I yelled to the boys who were on the foredeck, to hold on. They did and we steered through the floating house’s wake. It was fierce out beyond the lighthouse, in the channel, south of City Island. We headed back on a broad reach under sail only, eventually dropping all sail and motored back to the mooring. Isaac reeled in the lure before we could have caught any moorings or buoys. Thanks. The boys had all been well behaved the whole time while Noah and I had made it happen.

When we got back to the dock, a fisherman was cleaning his catch which he said was a bonita which he caught using the peanut bunker as bait. The bonita is a sleek semi-tropical fish, which only sometimes shows up in these parts. This October had been one of those times and I surmised that the silver streaks we could see zipping through the water were probably schools of bonita.

Fishing sailors Noah fishing

— Caleb Davison