TIME OF THE SEASON: Eldridge Tide and Pilot Book

As the cold wet spring gives way to warm temperatures I finally start to get on with idea of finally launching BIANKA.  Last minute items like installing the shaft zinc, polishing the prop and grounding plate are done. Telling the boatyard to paint the bottom and take down the mast from it's storage location. One of the final items is picking up the latest Eldridge Tide an Pilot Book. A most useful book of information for sailing the waters of Long Island Sound and the entire Northeast United States. Beyond the tide and current information it is also packed with information about the skies as well as a number of interesting articles of a nautical nature. The latest edition is an example. There is a page with sketches of the various rigs and types of sailboats. I have always described BIANKA as a Catboat.  Though the latest Eldridge describes it quite accurately as a Wishbone-Cat. I always learn something new with an Eldridge on board.

TOO LONG ON THE SHORE

I spent the last week out on the east end of Long Island. Where my girlfriend likes to take a beach vacation now and then. It was a nice week full of chowders, wine, lobsters and such. But, I also was reminded it's time to get BIANKA in the water. Reminders were everywhere I looked. We would be dining at one of the local restaurants at the Inlet to Lake Montauk and my eyes would be fixated on a sailboat a few miles out after rounding the nearby point. It got me wishing I was out there on BIANKA. A walk along the beach had me looking out to sea and once again thinking of doing a solo around Long Island cruise.  Well the vacation is over and the prop is polished. I have my 2017 copy of the Eldridge Tide and Pilot Book already on board. The boatyard should have painted the bottom this past week. All that remains is to put on the new zinc on the prop shaft. So I expect to have BIANKA floating at her mooring this week. Both of us have been too long on the shore.

GIFTS FOR BOATERS: Eldridge Tide and Pilot Book

 A great stocking stuffer gift for northeast boaters and those sailors you know who travel south for winter and return to the east coast  in spring is the Eldridge Tide and Pilot Book 2014 . It is full of data and charts that will help those boaters make the journey faster and easier.
 

Along with astronomical  data and interesting articles on things like fishing, currents and nautical history. It's a book that I always carry on board and keep in the cockpit when underway.
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TIME TO GET MOVING

Well, Memorial day weekend has rolled around and despite my best efforts to have the boat in the water before now, BIANKA is still high and dry. Some freelance work gigs and and a two week vacation that included a week cruising the Florida Keys have once again conspired to delay the splashing of my boat. But, now it is time to hit the ground running. I already have the shaft zinc ready to put on and my copy of the ELDRIDGE TIDE AND PILOT on board.
But, I've still got a few projects I'd like to get done before the boat is put into the water. I've bought a Chain Stopper  which will help me raise and secure the anchor chain. I kind of need to install this this while I have access to the anchor locker and before the mast gets stepped. So it will be somewhat of a priority I also need to permanently mount the now completed helm instrumentation panel. Likewise the AIS electronics also needs to find a permanent home. The Lexan part of the solar bimini torn off by hurricane Sandy need to be reinstalled. I also need to look at why the wash down pump was not working during winter layup.  Then there is the usual bright work touch ups. The list will grow but, one thing that does not need much attention is the electric propulsion system. It's been charged up over the winter ready to go. No fluids, zincs, hoses need to be checked. No impellers replaced and no mysterious leaks to be traced and cleaned up. With a little luck I hope to have BIANKA in the water by next weekend. At least that's the plan.

FROM BIANKA'S BOOK SHELF: ELDRIDGE TIDE AND PILOT BOOK

One of the things that signals the start of the sailing season for me is buying a nice fresh copy of the Eldridge Tide and Pilot Book 2013   .  If you are sailing through the waters anywhere from Maine to the Chesapeake this is the one book to have on board. Just make sure you have this years edition. By the end of the season my copy of this book will be well dog eared and beat up from the crisp pristine condition it is now in. That is because I use just about every time I leave the harbor. It is one of the items I bring into the cockpit before heading out along with items like binoculars, horn and the handheld VHF radio. I will refer to it a number of times on just about every sail trip I take. The Eldridge has most of the tide and current information you will ever need to transit the waters of the northeast coast of the U.S. and has been providing that information for well over 100 years. Yes, you can get some of the same information on many chart plotters and computer programs. But, the  Eldridge Tide and Pilot Book 2013 being a paper publication will always work and allows you to quickly find the information you need without going through a bunch of menu screens. It also contains various interesting articles concerning tides, currents, fishing, astronomy and seafaring history. I often bring it down to my cabin and peruse it when planning for the next days journey before nodding off to sleep. If you know of a northeast sailor or someone who will be sailing in the northeast U.S. waters who does not have a copy on board  it would make a great gift.

LABOR DAY WEEKEND

Here in the states it is the three day Labor Day weekend. If you are to believe the mainstream media it is the end of summer.  But, a quick check of my Eldridge Tide and Pilot Book  tells me this is not so. Still millions of people believe it and so make a mad crowded traffic filled dash to enjoy it. That goes for those on the water too! Where many harbors and anchorages are very crowded with boaters trying to squeeze in some boating during the last three day holiday weekend of the summer:

Not me. I sometimes live a complicated life, this summer was no exception. These days I work freelance and work when the phone rings. This summer I worked about five weeks between July and August and then my girlfriend wanted to spend a few days on the beach on the eastern end of the Island of Long where I stared at the seagulls and they stared at me:

I'm not complaining by any means. Even though I did not get to spend much time on board the boat in July and August. Having some money coming into the wallet from the work gig and spending two weeks on the beach is not such a bad thing. But, it's not the same as being on board the boat. So today I finally get back on board with nothing on my schedule for the next several months. But, I'm not going to be joining the crowd on the waters just yet. I'll be hanging out on the mooring until at least Tuesday. I've got a few projects on board that can keep me busy until then.  I'll let the crowd of boaters get their frenzied last licks in while BIANKA stays attached securely to the mooring. I'm happy to wait until the crowds leave.While for many this Labor Day weekend marks the end of the sailing season for me it is just the beginning.

GIFTS FOR BOATERS: Eldridge Tide & Pilot book

Whenever I head out for a sail even a local day sail the cockpit seems empty without my copy of  the ELDRIDGE TIDE AND PILOT book within reach. It is easily the book on board BIANKA that gets opened the most. A boater traveling the waters of the northeast U.S. from the Chesapeake to Maine can save a lot of time and money on the water just being familiar with it's contents. In it are times and depths of the high and low tides for various points and harbors up and down the northeast coast.  Also most valuable are the times of current changes and velocities at various important points on the waters. Places like Hell Gate, The Race off eastern Long Island, currents in the Cape Cod Canal etc... The Eldridge also has diagrams of the currents at various times of major bodies of water like New York Harbor, Long Island Sound, Nantucket Sound, Buzzards Bay, The Chesapeake etc...  I've personally used it on cruises from Sandy Hook to Boston. It also has interesting articles on fishing, nautical lore and astronomical data. If you have a boater in your family who ply the northeast waters of the United States  this makes a great gift at Christmas. If you've been invited on board by a boater who is spending the winter in the Caribbean but, you know they will be heading up to the northeast in the summer it also makes a great gift to give to them too. It's data is updated yearly so make sure you get the proper year when you buy it. As for me I never leave port without it.