Tag: sailing

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Photo of two sailors on a sailboat approaching a dock. Textbook all the way.

Finally got out for a sail this season. I’m not counting an earlier attempt in July, which was a lovely day, but we didn’t manage to raise sail. This Friday, however, was an action packed day. First, we sorted through the extensive sail inventory and bent on the sails we thought most appropriate for the weather conditions. In other words, we grabbed the ones on the top of the stack. We ended up with the correct main, and a handkerchief of a jib. Just fine for a shakedown sail.

Before heading out, there was one more important detail to attend do: Renaming. The ceremony has two parts. First the old name must be expunged from Poseidon’s Ledger of the Deep. Then, and only then, can the new name be added. As the skipper appealed to the gods of both sea and wind, we looked on, awaiting our time to share some of the libation.

With the ceremony complete, we cast off the lines and motored off on the newly named S.V. Leviathan. We were confident that the gods would see to it that her mighty, and recently rebuilt, diesel engine would deliver us not only to the prime sailing grounds of Long Island Sound, but also safely back to the mooring.

We had a lovely sail indeed. No need to deploy the anchor, nor was a tow called for. She handled beautifully and is really going to fly with a more appropriately sized head sail. Here’s to many more fine days on the sea for S.V. Leviathan.

Back on land, our building organized a Longest Table inspired dinner this week. It was great having a chance to chat with some of our neighbors for more than just a few seconds in the lobby or elevator. The food was also great. We brought lasagna and brownies, both of which were wiped out. While I’m glad people enjoyed it, I was hoping for some leftovers.

Photo of a home dashboard display being tested on the bench--circuits boards exposed.

On the project front, the last of the parts for the display arrived this week. I had been waiting on the LCD driver. I was skeptical that the driver and LCD were going to work together, so hooked it them up on the bench for a quick test. Everything fired up as expected, and with the help of a translation app, I was able to get the menus changed from Mandarin to English and tweak the settings. Putting the rough mockup on it (pictured) revealed a flaw in my design. The viewing angle of the LCD is such that it is difficult to read in portrait orientation. Back to landscape it is. This will necessitate some reworking of the layout. The design is still pretty rough, so now is a great time to fix it.

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Photo of a NYC Halloween Voter sticker with a drawing of a pigeon wearing a witch's hat carrying a jack-o-lantern candy pumpkin in its beak. Silhouettes of bats and a witch also appear. The text reads "HALLOWEEN VOTER 2025". There are also small white ghosts and Vote NYC logos.

Voted early again this year but didn’t make the rookie mistake of not voting on Halloween this time. Sure, they give stickers to all voters, but none can match the cool factor of the coveted Halloween sticker!

I realized that it was a year ago this week when I loaded my former sailboat on a trailer. While I miss sailing as frequently as I did when i had my own boat, it was wonderful not having to think about hauling a boat out this fall.

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Photo of a blue sailboat named Fury being moved in a boat yard.

Spent some time this weekend splashing a friend’s boat. Instead of sailing, we cleaned. Power washing is almost as fun as sailing though. This might be one of the prettiest project boats I’ve seen. She’s going to be gorgeous next season, and a hear a new name is coming as well.

Also spent some quality time with a wood fired pizza oven, which inspired me to make some more pizzas at home. We don’t have space for a wood fired oven, but I think we can turn out some quality pizzas in our kitchen.

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Went for a sail in a buddy’s boat on Long Island Sound this week. It was a somewhat late shake-out sail. While smooth sailing is far from guaranteed on the first sail of the season, nothing broke or fell apart on this voyage. In fact, it was a lovely sail. We got back in time to watch the afternoon thunderstorms roll through from the deck of a local yacht club. This was followed by some home pizza making, good conversation, and a just a couple sips of wine.

The following day, I went for another sail (lucky me). This time in New York Harbor was much more spirited with a gusty 15 knot wind and accompanying chop. It ended up being a short sail due in part to my own schedule. We did manage to have a quick beer after, which is almost mandatory.

While we were having that beer, I noticed that almost all the serving items in use at this busy restaurant were disposable. Cups, glasses, plates, napkins, all used just once then bound for the landfill. This seems both unnecessary and irresponsible. Perhaps the cost of these plastic and paper goods plus the disposal fees are slightly cheaper than proper dishes and the staff required to clean them. However, I expect better, especially from an establishment located in a park with a mission statement touting “…innovative, and sustainable management and design.”

I won’t return to this place, nor any other that needlessly uses so many single-use items for dine-in service. They won’t miss me, but there will be one or two fewer plastic cups carted off to the landfill or becoming litter on my behalf.

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SailGP is on this weekend. We were fortunate to have a view of Saturday’s racing action from the (covered) comfort of the Adrenaline Lounge. Light winds, heavy rain and a strong current made for challenging racing conditions. It seems like those boats spread out a lot more when the wind is light, perhaps because falling off the foils kills their momentum and it takes time to start flying again. When the boats are all over the course, there aren’t as many contentious mark roundings and finishes, which are the crowd favorites. Even with the rain, it was a great time. I hope today’s race sees better conditions though.

There are another handful of AI related links below. One of which is an example of a corporation using these tools the right way (AI documents the legacy system, humans write the new system). Denis Defreyne writes, more eloquently, about some of the same AI thoughts I did last week. He mentions his employer’s mandate to use AI, which doesn’t seem uncommon these days. These mandates seem like an effort to force the x% savings their tech leadership promised AI would bring.

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