Fall Sailing – Long Island Sound

September 23, 2018
Jill Gallin

Wednesday September 19 – We have done it again! We’ve escaped the work week early and it’s starting to feel a little bit less like we’ve broken all the rules and more like we’ve done something super smart. We meet in the dark at McMichael’s, the shipyard where Gerty’s deck defects are being repaired. When I see Michael’s smiling face and the words, “welcome home,” drift across the floating dock to my ears over the din of seagulls and sailing rigs there is this happiness between us. We have given ourselves the gift of change.

Thursday September 20 – The next 24 hours is a bit of a blur as one of my patients gave me the gift of a whopping gastroenteritis. I am up all night with symptoms and sleeping it off the next day. I have faint memories of Michael sailing us to Huntington Harbor in 15 knots S wind. I am supposed to be on watch while he installs the pump to our new water maker, but I can’t stay awake. He keeps my cup of hot water full. He seems very pleased with the installation process of our new echo tech. He likes the challenge and we both know the outcome will be luxurious. The ocean breeze is perfect for napping and I am recovering quickly.

Friday September 21 – It is impossible to deny the tinge of fall in the air and the bitter sweetness that tinge is bringing to this sailing voyage. The air is warm, yet crisp. The light is autumnal. There is plenty of room at the dinghy dock. We take a morning dinghy ride to Huntington. The harbor is very dense with boats. We get a good laugh at a monohull named Passing Wind. We arrive not at the hip town where my mom lives, but at an industrial area. West Marine is having a sale and I purchase a pair of boots for the wet cold weather we know is coming. Michael laughs saying that of course I found another pair of shoes!

All summer I have been wanting to relive a childhood memory at Sunken Meadow State Park. It’s a gorgeous 2 hour sail. 15-20 knots S on the beam.

We dinghy to Smithtown Kings Park Bluff and hike to Sunken Meadow. It is not how I remembered it, but it is a beautiful, long hike through wooded and beachy terrain. Highly recommend.

The sail back to Northport Harbor is even more invigorating on a close reach in the same 15- 20 knots. Michael is exhausted and probably coming down with the GI bug I had, but he can’t give up the tacking and pushing Gerty hard in this marvelous wind. Gerty is heeling and I can’t help but screech like a little girl as I balance myself on the cockpit table to keep from tumbling over!

The days are a tad shorter, but it is a treat to snuggle inside the cabin for dinner. We both eat watered down ramen noodles with seltzer to calm our turbulent bellies. Of course, my mind drifts back to that aptly named monohull in Huntington Harbor- Passing Wind. (Yes, I have the sense of humor of a 7 year old)

Saturday September 22 – I surprised myself by becoming a late sleeper when Gerty came into our lives. Even in college, I was up by 6 am, often getting no more than five hours of sleep. Honestly, in a million years, I never would have thought that a V birth could be described as comfortable in comparison to any other mattress sold by the ‘Sleepy’s for the rest of your life’ mattress professionals. After all, Joshua has been singing that jingle in the car since he was three years old! They will sell ya a posturepedic foaming expensive high tech cooling form fitting topping support mattress because you ‘need’ that for a good night’s sleep. And I believed ‘em. Until I met our V birth on Gerty that is. SO comfortable! My fear, that I would feel claustrophobic inside a boat, was alleviated by the three adjustable hatches that provide the perfect amount of airflow. Sometimes it is hot, but Allures had the foresight to install his and her fans for those hotter nights (get your minds out of the gutter folks- I meant the hotter temperature nights). Anyway, I have clearly digressed from my original thought process which was to say that I typically sleep in past the sunrise on Gerty, but today I had the pleasure of waking up early and this flamboyant sunrise nudged me to take a photo.

The rest of this day was a delight. We dinghied over to a yacht club in Northport and walked to the Vanderbilt mansion there. It was closed, but the walk was just right. Then we dinghied over to town for the farmer’s market where we chose poorly- apples over pickles. Big mistake! You wouldn’t think so in September, but we’re picky about our apples being from New York and all. Then Michael had his coffee ice-cream. At 10 AM! He said he was anxious after having missed two days of ice-creams and he didn’t want to risk missing another, so he thought it best to just ensure that he got his fix when the ice-cream presented itself. He said, since it was coffee ice-cream, it was close enough to a cup of coffee, hence the time was a non issue.

On the dinghy ride back we met Andrew and Kate on Wildside. Always such fun to chat with cruisers from far off lands! To say the least, the conversations give us food for thought for days on end. What a glorious sail we had midday! 15 knots out of the North to sail to Greenwich.