On the Hook

Long Island off our port side.

"I see-ee land," Bly said, tapping on my window.

Around 1 pm, my phone beeped with the message: "Are you shipshape and Bristol fashion? Good passage?"

As we sailed into the Bay and around the top of Long Island, I got to put on a harness and climb out onto the headrig to help fold up the sail. I may have been more handicap than help, but it sure was exhilarating to stand out over the waves.

Rigby coming in off the head-rig.

The rest of the afternoon was spent cleaning belowdecks. It's confounding how much dust builds up when you're underway. We are slowly getting shipshape, so we can be presentable on Tuesday when we make our grand arrival in Greenport. (As for Bristol fashion, we might well be if I only knew what it meant!)

While we cleaned, we listened to the first music we'd heard in ages. While underway, someone is almost always sleeping, so you're always trying to be quiet. Except at mealtimes, but those are usually quick affairs, lasting little more than twenty minutes so as relieve the watch that's going off.

I have a game I play with the crew. I pick a word and iTunes generates a playlist and they have to guess the theme. We often play games. "Do you feel more like Freulein Maria or Mary Poppins?" Eve asked me today.

Another question we played at after listening to the This American Life episode on superpowers, was what superpower we each would have. Harrison would be able to breathe under water. Bly would have the power of invisibility. Smith would take indestructibility, but with a secondary power of being able to look at things that need nine layers of varnish and, with a single wave of her hand, have it be done. Rigby wants to have invisibility but with the addition of some other power I can't remember. Eve wants a "pause button" so she can stop time for a moment, or slow it down. I want the ability to put words in people's mouths... I love the idea of watching people speak words they don't mean. That trick always gets me in the movies.

After eating all together for the first time in five days, we spent our first night on the hook watching the Treasure Island Muppet Movie. While washing dishes, I said I hadn't heard of it and the deckhands' jaws dropped. Bly went rummaging through our DVD collection and low and behold, found it in the back of the cabinet. It actually made me a bit sentimental.

The Big Magnet
We anchored in Orient Harbor, inside Gardner's Bay.

I feel a little out of sorts about being back in the New York area again. I've been drawn back to this place, inescapably, over the last two years. I'm flooded with memories. Sometimes we are indeed tied to people and places in a way that defies reason or logic.

It was a cold night. I couldn't go to sleep without a nalgeen bottle full of hot water in my sleeping bag. And I had to wear my long johns. Brrr....

If you're following story, and want to hear about our adventures underway, I'll back-post the highlights over the next few days.

Sunday's Menu

One version of a Cuban sandwich.

Breakfast
Hash with yesterday's pulled pork and my now-classic biscuits (thanks, White Lily!)

Lunch
"Cuban" sandwiches - because I put out mustard and ham and pickles: pickled eggs, pickled jalepenos, dill pickles, pickled onions. But I also made homemade sub buns - delicious. A kind of southern slaw with red cabbage. Caramelized onions. Lettuce and gouda and turkey and celery sticks and thinly sliced green bell peppers. Chips and salsa.
Dinner
Chicken al fredo; mushroom al fredo; bread in a pot; salad

Dessert
Chocolate-peanut butter bars (in honor of the winner of the Great Marlin Easter Egg Hunt)