Category Archives: Caleb’s posts

Hudson River sailing turns out to be not that different then sailing in the L.I. Sound except that the tidal currents are generally stronger and the high cliffs and mountains that line the lower Hudson valley tend to make the wind a bit more erratic. Continue reading →

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We started our third season with ‘Odalisque’ on the LI Sound and happily there were no issues with the boat. The highlight for me of this season was the delivery trip we did with ‘Odalisque’ bringing her up to Nyack … Continue reading →

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We knew that our stuffing box was leaking excessively. During one sail with Noah and Jessica one of us discovered the trickling sound of water coming from in back of the engine. It was almost a pleasant sound that one might hear in a Japanese garden except that it was alarming to be hearing it inside our boat. We also knew that our aft chain plate was not to be trusted after it pulled up about 1/4″ while out for a sail in a decent wind. Matt’s wife Laurie had been sitting behind the tiller and I was not far from her when we heard a loud twang come from the rigging, particularly the aft stay. I quickly realized that we needed to take the tension off the back stay so we furled the jib and motored back to our mooring. This was just great! Now our boat was not even trustworthy under sail power. Continue reading →

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After my overheating incident in the early summer of 2002 I felt a bit helpless since I hadn’t the first clue about how to proceed. To make matters worse there was a persistent drip coming from the stuffing box and I had to make frequent visits to the boat to run our bilge pump. I was beginning to think that owning a keel boat was more then I could handle. I remember bumping into a smiling John Klee Jr. on the HHC launch and he asked me about my boat. When I told him that the engine had overheated and the stuffing box was dripping he made it sound as if it would not take much at all to fix those items. Continue reading →

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There was a wonderfully breezy day with winds out of the northwest that moved all the trees in Sea Cliff as I drove my wonderful new bride Jessica down to our boat at the HHC. The wind was a brisk 10 – 15 knots but what I had not accounted for was the fetch and wave action we got off a nearly 6 mile fetch. I took my new bride for a sail. Continue reading →

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I enjoyed spending time in the boatyard with our boat, working on it, jawing with other owners or yard workers who came by, admiring other boats and just generally being happy that I was not in an office with cubicles while the sun was shining, clouds drifting by, sea gulls calling and all kinds of boatyard dust and chemical vapors drifted by. Sometimes the electric sanders that would be going on at the same time sounded a bit like a ‘sanding symphony’ with a gyrating sound like a swarm of worker bees on a sunny day. Continue reading →

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Steppingstone was not really bad or ugly once we had figured out where not to sail in our immediate area; the Steppingstone rocks appear at low tide. Well, the amount of litter and flotsam that regularly turned up on the beach here was kind of bad and ugly but that was not the marina’s fault. The East River either flows from or into the Long Island Sound (LIS) depending on the tide and no doubt brings much of the garbage that seems to accumulate on the shore here. Continue reading →

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How had I come to be a one third owner in this boat in the first place? I had resisted buying a keel boat because I had an idea how much just the yard fees would be for a boat like this. I had also resisted buying a bigger boat as I had an idea how much work a larger vessel would require, having owned a smaller sailboat or two. I was talked into being a partner in this boat by my partners, Matt and Noah. I had no idea how this odd triumvirate of owners would work out either but I opened the door and stepped into the darkness hoping that my feet would find the ground.
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I happen to like older boats, even wooden ones. I’m not so crazy to think I can deal with a wooden boat so a Classic Plastic boat is what I’ve got with the Tartan 27′. Ours is from 1967 and mostly in mint condition with very few previous owner (PO) modifications.
The Tartan 27′ has some pedigree. It was designed by the legendary firm of Sparkman & Stephens (S&S) and was one of the first mass produced, or production, fiberglass hulls made starting in the very early 1960′s. It is a well designed CCA era boat that has some following and many of the 600+ hulls that were made are still around today. Continue reading →

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