Odalisque - October 15 & 16, Logs

Log 2003 – October 15th & 16th

October 15, 2003

We had not planned to sail this day as it was a workday for most working stiffs. And it was fortunate that we did not. On this day there were very strong gusty winds out of the west up to 50 mph, according to the weather channel. Also on this day the Staten Island ferry crashed into its apron and killed 10 people in the chaos that ensued. 30 or so more were hospitalized from the accident. That was on the news at around 5 or 6 pm.

Around 7 pm we got a call from Noah’s wife, Beth, who told us that she had been contacted by a salvage operator named Dan that our boat Odalisque had freed itself from its mooring (he had been contacted by Steppingstone marina). We had all noticed that the mooring that had been provided for us by Steppingstone marina had only one hawser (line to attach the boat to the mooring with). We had talked about getting an additional line but never did anything. Hurricane Isabel that had passed through weeks earlier had generated very strong winds, but out of the east and Odalisque had weathered that like a rock. The only telltale sign of the hurricane’s passage was some chafing on the hawser. Yet we had no chafing protection on the line. Live and learn. There are some stunning photos that Noah took of Odalisque’s bow stuck in someone’s pier infrastructure at low tide with the 50 mph wind behind her. She took off lots of barnacles off the wooden infrastructure with the wave action generated by a 3 mile long fetch on LI Sound.

Odalisque

We debated on the phone throughout the evening on whether or not to go out there and try to get her untangled from the mess she was in. Noah was the closest and urged us to come and try to help get her unfouled. We decided to call Boat US. Getting insurance on the boat was one of the best decisions we had made considering that Boat US contacted Dan and he found Odalisque around 4 am and called Matt to let him know that the boat was in pretty good shape and it would be tied up at a marina at City Island. The insurance covered Dan’s fee but we were nearly convinced that this fine boat could be done for. We resolved to meet as our triumvirate of owners and inspect the damage the next morning.

— Caleb Davison

October 16, 2003

After a night of fitful sleep we all set out to City Island to inspect the damage to our boat. Barring NYC traffic we made it in a relatively short time. Our genoa was in tatters and the bow pretty chewed up by barnacles and pilings from the dock it had gotten ensnared in. Some of the toe rail at the stern had also been damaged by other pilings and wave action. There were barnacle shells on the foredeck where the pier had been bracing Odalisque from coming closer to the shore. In many ways we were so lucky about all of this. The boat had not come on shore in 3 to 4 foot seas, and did not founder long where it was stuck, nose into the pier, in shallow water. Had the boat been pushed up on a beach it would have taken on water as it would have obeyed the north to south coastline and made itself abeam of the waves that were pushed by 50 mph winds. Instead it kept its stern (ass) to the wind and nuzzled its nose within the confines of a deep pier. We were worried that as the tide rose she would get trapped under the pier and start taking on water as her bow was trapped. Instead, the rising tide allowed the roller furling forestay and sail to push itself away from the dock it was trapped in. Still our genoa was ruined and we are still not sure about the roller furling apparatus.

We arrived at the boat around 12 noon at City Island and ended up setting out for Glen Cove marina at about 12:45. We thought we should add some gas to our tank as it was nearly 1/2 empty, but decided instead to head west towards Glen Cove rather than make the engine work too hard.

It was a really beautiful October day and the temperatures were in the mid to high 60’s. There was abundant sun and blue skies as well as wind as we motored west towards Sands Point and Glen Cove. The following waves made the boat a little hard to control and the following winds where pushing the freeboard and tattered genoa but we hugged the buoys as we made our way east. The wind appeared to be very strong and fresh out of the west with white caps and rolling waves following us as we motored. We debated using the only sail we had left (the main) to help us in our eastward journey. But we were a bit worried about our boat’s standing rigging and hull after it had been through a bit of a bashing. The wind was strong enough to convince us to motor all the way to Hempstead Harbor where our winter home for Odalisque had been previously arranged.

Glen Cove could not pull our boat out of the water that day so we left Odalisque at a double hawser mooring at the Hempstead Harbor club until we could get a date to have her pulled next Tuesday. We sat briefly, moored, and checked the wind speed at around 35 mph with our wind gauge. It was really very nice the way all of Odalisque’s three owners came to check on her after her ordeal. After her A4 motor purred on and she got us through some 35 mph gusts on our way we all resolved that we loved this boat after only one summer season and that many repairs are necessary.

— Caleb Davison